11Budlite

I don't know where the starter came from in my old Birkin, but this is a photo of the setup I had. The engine was from a '96 Contour and the gearbox was a T9 with the stock Birkin bellhousing operated with the slave cylinder mounted on the top of the gearbox cover. I'd be surprised if the bellhousing was the same between the Birkin and the Caterham because I believe the Birkin used the short input shaft, and the Caterham used the long input shaft on the gearbox. I know when I ordered the close ratio gearkit from BGH I had to tell him which input shaft I had. I guess yours could be different though. Is there a P/N on your starter?

I always wondered why you would need a quicker than standard rack. As a non-autocrosser that makes perfect sense.

That's to hook up to a manifold vacuum line/fitting to automatically adjust fuel pressure by throttle opening (manifold vacuum). In general terms, high vacuum @ idle = lower FP, low vacuum = higher FP. Not typically used on our setups. I put a cap on mine just to keep any potential debris out.

It looks like the same FPR I ran in my fuel injected Birkin. I think mine was an Aeromotive.

IIRC the Birkin recommended offset was different than the typical Miata-based wheels that most people used when they upgraded from the stock wheels. The stock wheels on my old Birkin were quite a bit heavier than the RPF1's that I replaced them with. I remember several Birkins that used the same Kosei wheels that you have on your car. If you have the 38mm version of the Kosei it could be that they added the 1/4" spacers to get the offset closer to the Birkin stock recommendation. I think stock was around 30mm but it's been a long time since I played with Birkin wheels so I could be mistaken.

Looks good Charlie, but I think your concern of rubbing on track will come true. When I went to 13" wing stays I had very little clearance between the tire and the stay and knew that on track they would rub. I had the fenders off and was able to make two bends to get enough clearance where it doesn't rub. The first bend was in the area circled in yellow to get enough clearance on the angled section of the stay to the tire. I think I ended up with about a 1/4" of clearance. I was able to bend that relatively easy by hand using an aluminum drift stuck in the end of the wing stay. The second bend was made in the area circled in red to get the top surface of the stay parallel to the tire tread. I had to put a block of wood between the tire and the angled portion of the wing stay to maintain the clearance. I used the same aluminum drift stuck in the end of the wing stay and bent the top section back down to get that surface parallel to the tire tread. At first I thought I was going to have to heat up the stay to make the bends, but it ended being not too bad of a job just doing it by hand. It did take a fair amount of time to bend all (4) wing stay sections though. My wings are held on with cable ties and those bighead fasteners so that made it a lot easier to remove the wings and bend the stays. You could probably do it with the fenders still attached but I'm sure it would be a lot more difficult. Hope all this makes sense. Hoosiers will definitely be a little wider than the R888R's and will reduce the clearance even more so keep that in mind.

I have that same connector on my 310S and it wasn't used on my car. I just cable-tied it to an adjacent harness. Not sure what model it was used on and what it was used for. Yes, the MAP sensor port is left open to atmosphere.

I've done it before using compressed air and it was pretty simple. You have to have the cylinder you're working on at TDC on the compression stroke and use shop air to keep the valves seated. I use the adapter from my compression tester to pressurize the cylinder. Then it's just a matter of using a valve spring compressor to remove the collets/retainers/valve springs to gain access to the valve stem seal. Others have used a suitably sized rope inserted thru the spark plug hole to hold the valves in place instead of shop air. Just do one cylinder at a time making sure that the cylinder is at TDC on the compression stroke with both valves completely closed. It's been a while since I've done this job so I might be forgetting something.

I too don't have a membership but would like to be part of a group buy if that happens. I'll send you a message.

It should be an Airtex E8248 fuel pump if it's like the one I had in my Birkin. I replaced mine with a Walbro pump because I went to all AN6 fittings in the fuel system. I still have mine for sale if you're interested.

If you find out you can't use a 4-pt harness, there should be bosses right in front of the main rollbar supports that are threaded 7/16 UNF for the upper seat belt mount of a 3-pt harness. I can't tell from your photo but is there a plug in there?

You can see photos of a heater assy with attaching parts at this thread:

There should be (4) nyloc nuts plus (2) upper screws in the engine compartment holding the heater core assy to the firewall. What you're seeing are (2) bracket assy's with (2) rivnuts/studs per assy that supports the interior ductwork and sandwiches the whole heater assy to the firewall. Pg 31 of the assy guide has a good exploded diagram of the assy.

No, if you look in the title they're 4x95.25 pcd (or 4x3.75).

I think the biggest decisions you have to make depend on the intended use of the car and how big you are. That will determine whether you get an S3 or SV, and if you get the S pack or R pack. I'm 5'9" and 160# and fit fine in an S3. If you get an S3 I would go ahead and get the lowered floors regardless, unless you're on the short side and really don't need them. Not sure how important lowered floors are in an SV. If you plan on doing track days I would get a 420R (or a 620R if you want crazy) and get the 13" wheel option and the track day rollbar as a minimum. Then you can check out upgraded brakes and suspension depending on your budget. If you plan on just driving it on the street an S pack car does just fine, and to me the stock seats are very comfortable and work well enough on track too. When I ordered my 2019 310S I was looking for the best all around driver to use on the street with maybe an occasional track day. As it turns out, I did one track day in my son's TurboMiata before my Caterham was complete, and I was hooked. Over the last couple years I've progressively added mods to make it more track-focused. Track day rollbar, aeroscreen, 13" wheels/Toyo R888R's, side-impact bar, lightweight flywheel, wide track suspension, Tillet seat, and upgraded springs/dampers. If I had known how much I would enjoy track days, I would have ordered a 420R from the beginning with maybe a couple options and been done with it. As far as Customs in 2019 I don't remember anything being a PITA. Josh at Rocky Mountain Caterham made the whole process pretty easy. Not sure if the process has changed in 2026. Registration will vary depending on the state. I previously registered my 2001 Birkin in CT and it was a bit of pain but doable. I haven't registered my Caterham yet but hope to in the future.