Road Ready

I've been having a persistent problem with hard starting with my ZETEC-engined Seven. When I checked the electrical system that sends signals to the fuel injection system using a noid light test kit, I found that I typically got only one good flash and then some weak ones (if any). Codes shown: P0720 P0453 P0443 P1451 My car has one of those MSD devices screwed to the firewall. I don't even know what it does! I'm only asking about that because it's so accessible. The first start after the build was a disaster as there was a bad short in or around the starter and melted some wiring. We've got that straightened out but still have this hard start problem. Once finally started, the car runs great! What say you ZETEC geniuses?

http://pics3.city-data.com/trn.gif My experience with getting a speeding ticket. My last speeding ticket was some time ago. I didn't have the kind of internet access that is common today. I showed up at the courthouse with a repentant attitude and a checkbook. Standing there in line in the Buncombe Co. courthouse with maybe a hundred others offenders, sharing our stories, a 'fixer' came down the line of people. He may have had a list of who's offense could be fixed and how, but I don't really know. What I do know is that he scribbled some stuff on the document that I had in hand and sent me up to the office of the county clerk. I paid some money (I don't recall if the check was accepted, they might have demanded cash of cash-equivalent). From the standpoint of the county, reducing the load of the court was worth giving a lot of people a break. Perhaps scaring them was enough. I didn't see any points on my record, nor was there an insurance penalty. Maybe four decades ago, I got stopped on South Carolina State Road 11. I had been speeding. I was polite. The trooper gave me a ticket ($80.00 if I recall correctly) and demanded cash right then and there. Fortunately, I had that much on me and gave it to him. I never saw any insurance repercussions or anything. When in SC these days, I carry cash, just in case. You don't want to not have the cash and get hauled in to meet Boss Hogg or somebody. I've never driven over 110. I wanted to test my car. It was one that my son and I had built in our garage; a 50th anniversary edition Caterham. I selected a long grade near where we live. I used the 25/70 between Marshall and Weaverville. I knew that a trooper sometimes sat at the bottom to catch speeders. I think he lived just off the bottom so it was very convenient for him. I figured that if he was there, he'd be looking for speeders coming down, not going up. I put the pedal to the metal going up to hit 110, then backed off. At that point I'd satisfied my curiosity and the aerodynamics of the car were working against me so I slowed down and sedately headed home. There was nobody around so I figured the worst that could happen was that I'd get busted (a very low likelihood) and have to show up shamefaced in court or perhaps stood in line so the fixer could fix me. Nowadays, I suspect that that function is handled by one of the attorneys that you will soon be hearing from. When driving the Seven, I typically stay much closer to the actual speed limit and select roads with curves, the kind of roads this region is blessed or cursed with. Driving my regular car, I'm sedate and cautious around town, but I still find myself having to back down on the highway. It's never a good idea to be the fastest one on the road. Second fastest is way safer. Drive smooth. Be calm. Be careful.

If somebody wants to do a modest production run of the deflectors, count me in.

When my son and I finished the build on our seven we scheduled required inspection. Remade sure that the lights worked, mirrors installed, all the stuff that one might expect to be checked in a normal NC safety and emissions inspection. When the inspector arrived wearing a sidearm we got our first clue that this was not going to be an exception like any other. Unfortunately the aerial number on the side of the engine was not legible, inspire of our creative use of mirrors and lighting. that meant that we would be required to post a one-time indemnity bond in case the engine turned out to have been stolen. It was aggravating but not expensive. My "07 Caterham is titled as a '57 Lotus Replica. In NC replicas are subject to the same requirements as what it is that they're replicating. In this case it means no need for a safety inspection, ever. I guess they figure that if you can build it and keep it running then you'll do fine without the safety inspection and emissions.

Has anyone here, or anyone that you know of ever subjected one of our cars to a G-meter on the skidpad? I did find this affordable app for your iPhone: I would love to know if someone on this forum has had experience with the app before I spend $12.99.

I picked up a friend and headed north on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Recently reopened, the road was more crowded than usual for a Sunday morning, but still wide intervals between cars and bicycles. The Oak leaves were starting to unfurl at the lower altitudes, all golden colored. The spring ephemerals were blooming and the sky was a vivid blue except for the smoke of far off-brushfires. We passed one stretch that had recently burned. I made a note to myself to stop by a year from now to look for Morels. We switched drivers at the Big Butt / Point Misery trailhead and my guest had his first experience driving a Seven. His first car had been an old Porsche C that eventually rusted out on him in New England. Salt is really bad for steel. If you're planning to be in the Asheville area in your Seven or similar, let me know and possibly we could blat up to Mt. Mitchel together or something.... To the south, the Graveyard Fields trailhead is under improvement; that section of the parkway is still closed for maintenance anyway. The speed limit on the parkway is 45 mph but in 30 years of driving sections around here I've never seen any enforcement. The road is extremely well-engineered and the views are stupendous. You can loaf along in 4th gear and enjoy the experience. The wild turkey on the side of the road that eyeballed me didn't know what to make of my little car.

I may be in the market for the right battery for my car. The one I have is way smaller than the space available and I have unresolved starting issues. i've been told that a bigger battery might help. What Banner battery do you have and where do I find one?

Conor, how is it going with the Title, etc?

My 2007 Caterham is titled (NC) "1957 Lotus Replica."

Do you drive the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC? It's closed now for tunnel maintenance but I'll be one of the first on it when it opens in (perhaps) April. I'd love to know of any of y'all will be up there around then. My favorite section runs from Weaverville north, by Mt. Mitchell to Little Switzerland and beyond.

You're an idiot if you've driven 800 miles in the summer not realizing that the heat has been on 'max' the whole time. Gee, this is a really hot car.... Todays boat was delightful. 75 degrees up past Hot Springs to Spring Creek and back. Much of the time I had nobody in front. There were some spots where the road was damp; where the sun does not shine for three months of the year. I even spotted one of those low-slung three-wheelers that have been described on other threads. The neighborhood is going to heck; I've seen a Maserati three times on my road. Anybody who runs the Blue Ridge Parkway (now closed for the winter) I would like to be in touch with....

I used the Noid light set again, this time with the battery fully charged. I saw better results, still most flashes weak or intermittent. I did see only one BRIGHT flash, like the ones in the YouTube video that I watched. To start with, I'll be checking ALL connections. Then it's on to checking other stuff.

Used a borrowed noid light set to check the signals to the injectors. Weak or intermittent flashes. Nothing like the helpful YouTube video on the subject. Bingo! So now what?

Citizzzen, I feel your pain, vicariously, of course. My fuel pressure tested good; 35 psi. I'm developing a theory about when in the start process is a good time to give it a little gas. We're in Indian Summer Part IV here. This weekend might be good for a last run this year. Running with the top off seems less attractive when the temperatures are in the 40s.

In NC, my '07 Caterham build is titled as an '57 Lotus Replica. As a '57, it's not required to be inspected, ever.

Just finished a blat on the Blue Ridge Parkway Weaverville to Linville Falls and back. This is about to be the sixth week of Indian Summer here. I saw some ice but none on the road. The car was perfectly comfortable without any heat on. I did use the doors. What a wonderful road! This is the last weekend that it's open on that stretch. They plan to close it Dec. 1. They will be doing some much-needed tunnel maintenance this winter. The tunnels are no fun when there's ice in them anyways. It's a wondrously engineered road without tight curves but thousands of long, sweeping ones along and around ridges and mountains. This time of year not too crowded, either. For much of the time I had the road to myself. I have a courteous driving incident to report. Had one of the slow-pokes pull off so I could resume a comfortable speed. He was driving an Audi A4 1.8T. For some reason, those folks are more understanding of our needs than the SUV/minivan crowd. Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina

Does anybody remember what type of diff fluid goes in the Quaife limited slip? I'm changing mine; there was more noise than I wanted to hear coming from the differential.

My Seven with the Zetec engine has always been hard to start. It could start on the second or third try or sometimes takes many more tries. My son says maybe the fuel pump. Do any of you guys have any experience with this problem? Getting to the fuel pump is not simple. I'd hate to do that job if it's not really necessary. The returnless fuel system seems pretty dependent on a very responsive fuel pump. What else should I suspect? The car runs great once started.

What do you guys wear on your heads when blasting around? I'm not talking track days, which of course have their own requirements, but, say, a morning on the Blue Ridge Parkway or suchlike? So far, my best solution has been a baseball-type cap tightened to the max and pulled down as far as it will go. I've tried a more purpose designed sun cap with a french foreign legion-like neck-cover but it was too unstable in the wind. I've seen a nice 'steampunk' WW1 pilot's cap and goggles, but the goggles wouldn't fit over my prescription shades. Otherwise, the retro look would work nicely, I think. Whatever advice you guys might have will come too late for my planned jaunt up the Blue Ridge Parkway north of Asheville tomorrow morning but I can't wait to hear.

It was right at the end of my last run on a warm afternoon at the end of winter when I noticed that my turn signals had stopped working. after a few weeks of thinking, poring over the wiring diagrams, I hit on the idea of checking the functioning of the emergency flashers. Sure enough, they're not working either. So, the obvious solution would be to replace the flasher relay, right? The problem is, I have no idea where that part is located. Anybody have any ideas of where to look? I'm thinking that it would resemble the metallic, cylindrical thing plugged into a strip of other similar parts. Then I notice that the emergency flasher uses it's own relay. What are the chances that two relays would go bad at the same time? I see that the horn relay is on the same strip; the horn works. The lights work, so there must not be a general problem with the strip. I'm just assuming that there is a four-relay strip because all four relays are shown in-line on the assembly guide wiring diagrams.

Door hinges, that sort of thing?

Who has a Yellow Caterham in the Asheville/Weaverville NC area?

How attached?

Hank? Can I ask where you got those deflectors that we see on your beautiful Seven? The two main drivers of the car are 6' so the panoramic mirror of http://mirrorsforsevens.com/ seems a good fit from our '07 Caterham.

What's the best way to go without the doors that doesn't loose the mirrors? Some kind of hinge mounting bracket? Do you go for a run with the doors or not?