Cranky

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My wife and I drove over to Lake Woodlands this morning and took a few shots of the car. The sky didn't cooperate, but we did what we could with what we had.

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I'm not sure how appropriate it was to drive a British car decorated with Chinese made flags, pinwheels, and bunting, but it was a lot of fun. The kids along the parade route seemed to love it.

Please notice the American Flag sunglasses. We each wore a pair during the parade because I thought they looked cool. They were awful as sunglasses and gave me a headache, but they did look cool.

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I'm very sorry to hear that.

I'm up in The Woodlands with an S3 Caterham. I didn't build it, though, so I can't offer much build advice.

There is an active Houston area Lotus group - LOST (Lotus Owners of South Texas?). I think they'd welcome a Birkin owner. There was a storker at the last event I attended.

I think xcarguy is the most active member of this site in the Houston area, but I think he's moving soon (if he hasn't already). I think pksurveyor is the head of LOST and is a super nice guy.

Don't have any leads, but I wanted to express my sympathy. I'm up in The Woodlands working for a local oil and gas company. We did an almost 20% layoff earlier this year. Tough times in the oil patch.

Hope things work out well for you. I don't know much about aviation, but I have to say that I like flying corporate a whole lot more than flying commercial.

I need to rivet a few snap poppers to my car to connect door straps. I've never riveting anything before. Will a tool like this do the job:

http://www.amazon.com/Astro-1423-13-Inch-Heavy-Riveter/dp/B0039697ME/ref=sr_1_sc_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1448842556&sr=8-3-spell&keywords=riveter

Any other advice?

I watched the LOST (Lotus Owners of South Texas?) track day last weekend and took some pictures. There were several Sevens there, as well as some Elises, Exiges, and Esprit, and some non-Lotus stuff. You can see the pics here:

http://photos.barbierifamily.org/Sports/Cars/20151114-LOST-Track-Day-at-Gra/i-w79BND9

I apologize for the extremely large number of pictures. I'm work several other projects and didn't have time to cut it down to just the best.

I've seen this topic come up a few times, so I thought I'd add my experience.

I drive a 2013 R300 (Ford Duratec) that came with a UFI 2311800 filter. Obviously, the local auto parts stores don't have filter listings for my car. In theory, I could use a filter from an equivalent Ford, but while it would thread on, it wouldn't fit into the tight spot for it. After doing some research, I found that the WIX 51335 would supposedly fit, but I couldn't find one of those locally either. I ended up with an STP S3512. I fit perfectly and appears to work.

I am not an oil filter expert. I am not claiming that it is an appropriate replacement in terms of filtering ability or pressures or anything like that. All I can say is that it fit and appears to be working OK.

I bought some doors for my Caterham S3 R300, but they didn't come with a way to attach them to the car. I assume that I need hinges. Is there a US parts store with them? I found them on the Caterham UK site, but I'd prefer not to deal with intl shipping.

http://caterhamparts.co.uk/product.php?id_product=1282

Also, how does one typically attack these to the doors and the car?

My alternator is making a lot of noise. It sounds like a bearing is going bad. This is on a 2013 Caterham R300 with a Duratec engine. What's the best course of action? Replace the alternator or open it up and replace the bearing? Can I buy an alternator in the US or do I need to order one from Caterham?

I searched around and only found one thread on the topic and it didn't give me a good answer. I just bought Texas toll pass for my Caterham and I'm wondering where to put it. I could try the windshield, but I suspect that the fact that it is a heated windshield will cause problems. I'm also not keen on giving up much of the tiny window to another sticker.

Any thoughts? Try it on the window anyway? If I do, how easy is it to move it? Put it on the plastic seat back? Stick it on the underside of the luggage cover?

Thanks. I just ordered a bunch of snaps from them.

Anyone have a good source for replacement snaps? My boot cover snaps are breaking, one by one. I think I'm down to fewer than 50% working. I found some on E-bay, but they aren't black.

I sent them an e-mail several days ago and haven't heard back. I guess I'll keep looking.

Any recommendations for where I can order a half hood for sun protection that won't interfere with my MirrorsForSevens rearview mirror or my rollbar mounted third brake light?

My local garage, Mo Muscle Cars, fixed the issue. The fitting on the steering wheel had a metal lip inside the splines, presumably because someone tried to force the wheel on with a hammer or something in the past. They filed down the lip and it now fits on and locks in place. I feel much better driving it knowing that the wheel won't pop off. That could be very inconvenient.

It seems like I get the same few questions asked frequently at stoplights, gas stations, and parking lots when I drive my Caterham. I'm curious as to how you guys answer these questions, mostly because I'd like to steal your lines.

1) What is that? This one is hard because I never feel like I can answer in a way that means anything to them. If I say a Caterham R300, I've done the equivalent of answering in gibberish. Calling it a Lotus 7 would be less accurate, but would be more likely to lead them to useful information if they try to Google it. Sometimes I just say "a car", but that's because I'm cranky.

2) How Fast Does It Go? I don't know what people are looking for here. I have no idea what the top speed is and it probably wouldn't be much different than the top end on our mini-van. A 0-60 time might be more impressive, but only to people that know something about cars and they probably wouldn't be asking that question. I usually just say that its very quick.

3) Is That a Kit Car? Did You Build that? I usually just answer yes to the first and no to the second because it was bought as a kit but I bought it from the person that assembled it.

On either side of my car, there are poorly coupled wires dangling below the dash.

Driver's (left) side - blue wire connected to green wire.

http://photos.barbierifamily.org/photos/i-8nP5kBP/0/L/i-8nP5kBP-L.jpg

Passenger's (right) side - black wire

http://photos.barbierifamily.org/photos/i-jFC4jqs/0/L/i-jFC4jqs-L.jpg

I'm starting to think that the mounting hub is faulty in some way.

This is the steering column without the steering wheel mounted.

http://photos.barbierifamily.org/photos/i-JktRXR8/0/L/i-JktRXR8-L.jpg

This is the hub one the steering column without the steering wheel mounted on it. I have the large spline in the correct location and the hub slides on past that. This is as far as the hub will go. I cannot get it to slide further. It feels like it is hitting a hard stop. I have tried pushing it on with the release plate completely pushed in so that the balls are free to move.

http://photos.barbierifamily.org/photos/i-ZcDDscC/0/L/i-ZcDDscC-L.jpg

I tried wiggling it. I tried pushing on it harder. I even spent an hour filing it and de-burring it so that there is nothing rough on the inside of the hub. I also tried mounting it backwards and it doesn't mount at all in that direction. At this point, I'm at a loss and am considering ordering another hub to see if I can get a different hub to match. I've tried, but I cannot figure out what is causing this hub to stop as I mount it.

Thanks! Got it.

I recently bought a Caterham R300 (2012 model). It was assembled by an individual and sold on consignment by a non-Caterham dealership. I got an owner's manual, but I didn't get any build instructions. It would be awfully handy to have something like that to help me with repairs. Any idea how/where I could get one?

I was just looking at the Texas DMV site on how to register it. I think I'm going to need to hire a consultant to help me figure it out. I think I'll call the dealership in Dallas tomorrow to see if they can give me some guidance.

I found the handbrake adjustment. I also found a blown fuse that was preventing my horn from honking.

I'm still vexed by the steering wheel issue. I'll dig into more this weekend and will probably post pictures/videos in an effort to solicit more help.

I need to figure out the speedometer/tachometer issue as well. I noticed that the tach does move. It appears to just read really, really, really low (never going above about 800 rpm).

OK, I've got things working well enough to get to, I think, pass inspection. I need to get it inspected before I can get it titled and licensed. Until I get it licensed and inspected, I can't drive it. So how do I get it to the inspection station? Do I hope nobody notices my lack of plates and drive it there anyway? Do have it towed? Are there inspectors that make house calls?