Alaskossie

I'd put money on the possibility that Caterham's new car is a minimalist, road-license-able track-day car with a rear engine (4 cylinders), all-independent suspension, and an aerodynamic body with space for two. If Colin were drawing a car today with the motivation and the parameters similar to those he had in 1957, this is what today's "Seven" would look like. Let's hope that Caterham without Graham Nearne does not lose its way -- or this could sink the company. BTW, the Miata's supposed design inspiration was the Lotus Elan, not the Series 1 Lotus Elite. I always thought that the Miata's claim of Elan inspiration was a bit of a stretch, since the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce was much closer to the Miata in terms of weight, wind-up windows, steel body construction, etc. The only thing that the Veloce lacked (and that the Elan and Miata had in common) was IRS.

Supersportsp, Don't forget the Mike Rohaley undertray for the S3 rear suspension and diff....

I wish Caterham would offer the ducted nose and the chin spoiler for the Series 3 -- there is no reason why the earlier, narrower Caterham should not also be able to take advantage of these anti-lift improvements. Now that I think of it, I believe the S3 R500 Superlight does have the ducted nose.....now if someone could just solve the problem of excessive heat buildup in the engine bay caused by the redirected airflow through the nose and not through the bay, a ducted nose would be all gain and no pain. As far as rear diffusers go, this looks like an area where a beginner in the art of carbon fiber fabrication could hone his skills, without any mistakes being too visible to the hoi polloi. I'd like to try my hand at it, after I re-profile a new custom gas tank for more capacity.... So some photos of seven rear diffusers not installed on the car would be helpful.

What are you replacing this gearbox with? Just curious....

Mike, That is known as an "Executive Superlight" -- or so Nathan Down dubbed my S3, after finally putting everything in and on it that I wanted. I got my "upgrade-itis" done before, and not after.

Now I know what a Seven would look like if powered by a flat-4 engine....Subaru, Porsche, etc. Can't say I'm particularly in love with it....

I installed the Freestyle lowered headlight brackets after having them chrome-plated. They have a 2-point mounting system, which took a little shimming to fit into place on both mounting points. My headlamps do not vibrate at all. I wanted to avoid the standard Caterham Seven frog-eyed look of perpetual surprise -- it's nice to see that the current Sevens have a somewhat lowered headlamp bracket. I guess that the Euro regulations (which I though had forced the earlier tall-headlamp look) have been changed. I also went from the 7-inch standard lights, to 5 3/4 inch carbon-fiber buckets, with discreet turn signals mounted on the side of the buckets. I wanted the normal turn signal housing to serve as a m/c-type "always-on" driving lamp, so my man Nathan modified the aftermarket c/f turn signal housings to mount Hella driving lamps. The turn signal are now LEDs, mounted to the frame below the driving lamps. See photo. The traditionalists argue that a Seven should always have the large 7-inch headlamps -- preferably in chrome buckets, so that the constant reflections show you the passing scenery in a fun-house mirror style. But the original Lotus Seven in 1957 had one 4 1/2 inch Lucas long-range main beam, and one Lucas 4 1/2 inch dipped beam. Talk about inadequate lighting...

I do -- 2007 Caterham with Cosworth 2.3 Duratec and internal Cosworth dry sum/pump system. The increased ground clearance with a d/s has saved my bacon several times.

Birken was the Caterham licensee for Caterhams built in South Africa, and I believe later started building its own Seven-type cars. I don't know what the present legal relationship, if any, is. Birkin was subject to the same kind of "design infringement" and "passing off" litigation that Caterham brought against Westfield in UK a number of years ago, but unlike in UK, the court in South Africa held in favor of Birkin. The complex story of Lotus, Caterham, and "Seven-like" cars is all detailed in Dennis Ortengeberger's book, Lotus Seven & the Independents. Birkin owners on the list can add a lot more to this question, I am sure.

Since your original inquiry was about the Caterham variety of the Seven, i think you should not plan to consider putting any V-8 or V-6 into it. Other purpose-built variants on the Seven theme have used engines other than lightweight straight 4's or motorcycle engines, but the Detroit-sourced domestic V-8 or V-6 just doesn't go into a Caterham. If you are still looking at Caterham, I'd personally recommend a Ford Duratec in 2.0 or 2.3 form, with from 180 to 250 hp, which is plenty. It is a modern engine, and it is relatively light, being all aluminum. Engine mounts and a variety of transmissions are available.

Looks like a lot of fun was had by all! Are those S4 Sevens the Steele Bros. variants that were made in NZ under license from Lotus? Do any have the Jensen-Healey 4-cyl. engine?

i've got a couple of black leather vintage-style motoring helmets from Aviation Leathercraft in UK :http://www.flying-jacket.com/product-details.aspx?id=15 They make accurate replicas of the WW II Irvin bomber jacket, etc. The quality is outstanding, and the wind and cold protection are excellent. There is a nice cloth lining, and a short brim, and an elasticized collar for your neck, and a snap-strap in the back to hold your goggles on. It really looks like something out of the rugged days of motoring around 1905-1915. When combine with a windstopper-lined climbing jacket and a fleece vest, it does the job, and stylishly, too.

The latest Caterhams have a direction switch on the dash that has a beeper. Works pretty well.

Does anyone know of a good book or other reference source on the general subject of laying out and installing hard lines for compressed air in a garage, from a fixed compressor location to various places in the garage? Thanks in advance.

Here are two photos of my simple Volvo "side-mount" stand. I don't know if something similar would work for a Jag engine.

I have a factory Volvo 4-cylinder mount that bolts to the side of the block, and then at the other end has a rotatable turret that fits the standard engine-stand base. I suppose something similar, but wider, would work for a 6-cyl. Volvo engine, or a Jag engine I'll take a photo of it, and post.

I've got a replacement parts list from Ben at Caterham USA, and the parts are on the way from UK to Denver. It came to $1860 including freight from UK to Denver to Anchorage. The only other expense will be getting the bonnet hole cut in Boulder, and getting the parts painted here in Anchorage. i plan to do do the installation of the new cowl, as my car has a few add-ons that I want to make sure get done right. Besides, the body shop here has never seen a Caterham. The overall cost appears to be a bit less than expected. The other driver's insurance is paying the bill, of course.

Yesterday, I thought I should exercise the Seven one more time, with our unseasonably dry roads and no snow -- and with my annual seasonal registration running from April 1 to November 1 only. So I bundled up for the 35-degree weather, and went with half-doors and no top. It was decidedly chilly, but with the heater sending warm air up from under the cowl, my hands stayed fairly warm. Can't say the same for my cheeks, though -- next time, I'll wear a balaclava. Today the forecast is for 2 inches of snow, so it looks like I got my Last Blat in the nick of time.

John, Those are very close. I do not remember them as being quite that tall, but that is the general idea of the ones i tried to buy four years ago. Based on my blat yesterday, I find that with half doors and no top, angling the standard CC wings outward just an inch or so makes a noticeable difference in how much wind buffeting hits your face.

lancylad, No, those are not the ones. The ones you linked from the Westfield site are wider but shorter than the ones I saw in 2007. I looked in my messages, and found that the fellow's name was Tony. His windwings were tall enough that one side needed a cutout for the kill switch. I will e-mail him to se if i can get dimensions, etc.

There was a fellow in UK who was mentioned on Blatchat as making custom windwings. They were a bit taller than normal, and the bottom edge had a horizontal angle that turned in at right angles to the windwing, and held the windwings away from the body a bit. I contacted him, and he told me that unfortunately he was no longer making these windwings; so I deleted his bookmarked information. Perhaps this is where you got your windwings, solder_guy?

i had plenty of time to think about wind buffeting on my 6100-mile drive from Colorado to Alaska in August. Most of the time, I ran with CC windwings, a SoftBits bikini top and SoftBits rear wind deflector/filter (stretched between the headrests), and SoftBits canvas half doors. The wind buffeting was still present, but the combination of half-doors, bikini top and windwings reduced it to some degree. The only exception was not really buffeting, but stiff crosswinds, like crossing the Mojave Desert. it was such a hot, drying wind ( and 100 degrees F. +) that I had trouble with my eyes drying out, and had to resort to goggles. Of course, for those who want to run without any top, the buffeting would be increased with this combination, any time the top would be removed. I did notice quite a bit of flex and rippling of the bikini top at interstate highway speeds, which put me to thinking about adding 3 or 4 removable carbon-fiber tent-pole sections as stiffeners. Also, some spring-loaded hinges for the CC windwings would keep them from rapping against the body when luffing in a trailing wind. (You have lots of time to think about Seven mods and projects on a trip like that!). After a while (like when I started up the Alaska Highway), I removed the half-doors and windwings, and put on the contoured Caterham full doors. This really cut the buffeting, of course, and gave me more elbow room than the flat canvas half-doors (as well as a better latching system, with the CC armrest/latches). I'm thinking of a winter project that consists of new c/f half doors from Mog, and then adding a removable flat lexan window panel that wopuld hing on the windwing hinges like the full doors, so that assembled, you would have a full door, and disassembled, you would have a half-door with elbow room and an armrest/latch assembly. Storing the flat Lexan panels in the boot would be a lot easier than storing the full CC doors, which take up much of the boot. John, do you think that buffeting would be reduced on your windwings if the top and side edges had a return of an inch or so, rather than just an narrow vertical edge? Hard for an amateur like me to know what the aerodynamics do here... Alaskossie

Kitkat, I don't now about MightyMike, but I am thinking of adding a go-faster stripe down the bonnet of my silver S3, in the same gray color as my wheels....since I have to get new paint the bonnet and cowl during my repairs, in any event. It'll help me keep the nose pointed in the right direction... Sounds like the CSR that RMSC is selling has a similar color scheme.. Tom

Mike, I meant to add that unlike the "flat" Carbon Mods c/f stone guards, the Millwood c/f guards that I have on my car curve around the edge of the rear fenders; I'd like to keep that feature if I can -- see photos. I'm thinking of getting longer Millwoods to cover a bit more of the fender, and to eliminate the vestigial "notch" in the Caterham left fender -- which serves no purpose on a car with the exhaust on the other side, or even with a side-exit exhaust on the lh side. You can see from the photos that in 7000 miles last August, rock chips pretty well peppered my existing Millwood guards, which were clear-coated but not otherwise protected. Next time, I'll cover them with 3M Clear Bra (and perhaps the c/f-pattern film you suggested!).

Mike, The 3M film is a great idea! I am philosophically opposed to covering items with c/f film if the covered item is not really carbon fiber, but here I would be covering real c/f with c/f film! I like it! However, on my car, I did make one exception to my rule -- I covered the exposed frame cross-members in the cockpit footwells with a c/f channel, to protect the paint --- then I covered the c/f channel with 3M film, to protect it.... No wonder my car weighs so much....