lotsats

The last picture was taken at the start of the "Tail of the Dragon" in NC/VA.

A while back, someone backed into my old Caterham. I ordered the parts from Caterham, and had them, nicely packed, in just a few days. The other guys’s insurance company paid for everything including the shipping. Just sayin’ ——————-

I have two Lotus 7’s: 1960 Series 1 vintage race car updated over the years so it looks like a Series 2. BMC A Series motor. If anyone wants to buy this, I can arrange it for you. 1966 Series 2 thoroughlyrestored a couple years ago, Lotus Twincam motor, obviously not the original one. Other non-original things too like dual brake master cylinder, new wiring, harness with nine fuses, and four relays, Ford Cortina rear axle, frame reinforcements, etc. I also have a 1984 Caterham with the usual Kent Crossflow motor. I would probably sell this one also.

I live in the Raleigh, North Carolina area and I’m thinking about doing a run on the Blue Ridge Parkway for some leaf viewing. I know the dates vary each year, and I’m thinking maybe mid October will likely be a good time. I have done this before in my 1984 Caterham. This time around, I have a recent 1966 Lotus 7 S2 restoration to try out. I did a 100 mile day with it last weekend and am thinking that maybe I trust it’s reliability now. My preferred route would be from Boone to Asheville, or the reverse, or maybe do it both ways. Are any of you interested? Joel

I just looked at both tachs, and the one from India is a little different without a red line marker and the small writing at the bottom. It looks just like it belongs there, however. The first picture is the defective tach that came out of the car, and the second is the one from India. If you want to go to the copyright violation way, you can buy the tach in a package with an assortment of other “Smith’s” instruments for just slightly more money. My ‘66 Lotus 7 isn’t totally original, so I replaced the ammeter for a voltmeter use with the alternator conversion, and installed oil pressure and temperature gauges with a larger sweep of the needle. The car also now has a Lotus Twincam, Cortina rear axle, self made and better wiring harness in correct wire colors with more fuses and relays added, fuel gauge, stronge seatbelt mounts, bigger electric radiator, fan, and other items that make it, for me, an improved road car

It is really that simple. I actually changed my Bugeye Sprite to negative ground when installing a new engine a few years ago. This spring, I went ahead and changed the generator to an alternator in a generator case. This actually included the tax drive on the back of it so I stayed with the mechanical tack. All you need to do to change it to positive ground is to change the cables and re-polarize the generator. The most time-consuming part of it was reversing the battery, cables, honest to gosh! If desired, you can also get a negative ground Smith’s replica tack from India on eBay for a very low price. I have no idea why Smith hasn’t hit them up with a copyright violation. The only appearance difference I recall from the original attack in my 1966 Lotus 7 is that the numbers are written differently: 10-80 instead of 1-8, or the reverse of that, I can’t remember which and can’t look at the car right now.

I skimmed all of this fairly quickly, but it seems to me that no one brought up the fact that you could just convert your car over to negative ground. All you have to do is change the battery cables over and touch a wire to the appropriate terminal on your generator or voltage regulator to change the generator’s polarity and it will change immediately. I’ve done this with all my positive drive cars with the exception of an MGTD which happens to have a positive ground electric fuel pump that I don’t feel like swapping out. On my Bugeye Sprite, this allowed me to buy one of the alternators in a case that looks like a generator, and I get dramatically more output to keep the battery charged and have brighter headlights. It is amazingly quick to do, and definitely cost-effective. Enjoy your Seven!

If you want to undertake a project, this is fairly easy to make. I sewed mine using Sunbrella fabric, plastic convertible top clear plastic, the appropriate straps and adjustable plastic buckles, and maybe something I’ve forgotten. I recall buying everything from Amazon. For what it’s worth, I also made a new hood/convertible top, storage bags, side screens with more visibility using Lexan, boot cover, tonneau that attaches to the front of the boot cover using Velcro and snaps, and storage bags for everything. The whole project, of course, took a bit of time and fiddling with to fit, and wasn’t all done in one evening. One advantage to the Sunbrella fabric in addition to its durability, is its light weight which means it’s a lot easier to store things when I’m not using them as they don’t take up much space in the boot. Both the tops fit in a roll that snaps to the roll bar back braces and rests on top of the boot. While I was at it, I also made storage bags for the side curtains on myBugeye Sprite. The side screens now have about the top 2/3 clear Lexan, and then a piano hinge attached to a black plastic material for the lower part. This allows me to have ventilation, and also they can be folded, put in the storage bag, and easily placed in the boot. These are all on a 1966 Lotus 7 I restored a couple years ago.

Caterham has them, and they are cheap.

I need a heater for a Lotus 7 Series 2. My 1984 Caterham uses the same heater so one from the pre fresh air models would work too. Whatcha got? Thanks!

I bought them at ————- Walmart. Giggle. LED’s.

Just remember “he who dies with the most toys wins”.

I am 76 years old and after finishing this recent restoration, and it’s the last one I’ll ever do, I had surgery on both hands due to arthritis that was probably aggraved by all the work done. The restoration used over 700 pop rivets. I did have a pneumatic rivet gun, and now have a large supply of clecos. Lots of modifications. I didn’t go for an original restoration because the engine, and rear axle were not the original type. It had not been driven since 1988 and was partially disassembled. It is a very thorough restoration. I did everything, but the paint myself including sewing a new half hood and full hood (I have the rough originals top and side curtains), boot cover with tonneau that attaches to it’s forward edge, storage roll that will carry the top and half hood together,storage bags for the side curtains.New side curtains are frameless Lexan polycarbonate with hinged black plastic lower panels. I used the incorrectly upholstered bench seats that came with the car. The half hood is fitted to the side curtains as the one on my Caterham is not. Other work and modifications: Replaced the missing non-Crossflow motor with a Lotus Twincam in fast road configuration. The new exhaust headers were made for me by Craig Chima who did a really fine job on them. If you need some work on your Seven, give him a call. He’s a really nice guy and thoroughly knowledgeable about Lotus 7’s having won an SCCA national championship with one he built that is a real work of art. Added fluid catch tanks. Cleaned and painted the frame. Reinforced frame at front and triangulated the tube where the rear trailing arms attach. Put plates for strong outboard seatbelt mounts in this triangle, added strong inboard seatbelt mounts. Currently have Schroth 6 point harnesses instead of the counterfeit Sabelt harnesses you may see in a picture or two. New suspension bushings and grade 8 bolts. Used the original cowl top, rear shock covers in the boot, and a louvered bonnet from a Caterham. New side and rear panels, floor pan, front of cowl, all engine compartment panels including driver’s side footbox, transmission tunnel with insulation and carpet to control interior heat somewhat. New steel interior side panels with thin black plastic covering, put the same covering on the dash. New grill. New switches and instruments. Will probably replace the steering wheel sometime. New wiring harness with correct colored wires, made from a pile of old MGB harnesses, wrapped with non-adhesive black harness tape. Fuse panel has circuit breaker, 9 fuses and 4 relays for horn, high and low beams, and wipers New mechanical fuel pump, but put a wire for an electric pump in the harness just in case it is needed later. Added an alternator. New aluminum fuel tank and added fuel gauge to the dashboard. Added a new dual brake master cylinder from a Triumph Spitfire. Also a brake balance valve. New steel/copper brake pipes, hoses, etc. Polished the windshield frame. Panasport alloy wheels came with the car. New tires. and ————- other things I can’t think of at the moment The last two photos are of my 1984 Caterham, and 1960 Lotus 7 Series 1 (Yes, it is indeed a Series 1 with S2 fenders and nose) vintage race car. I have 13 cars right now and will put one, or both of these up for sale in a few months.

I am interested in the rear disc brake set up. Would need, of course, to make sure it will fit properly. The car is a 1966 Lotus 7 Series 2 I recently finished restoring. A prior owner converted it to a Ford rear axle (front hubs changed too). The car is far from original and standard steel wheels have been replaced with 13 inch Panasport alloy wheels. Obviously, I would need to know if the brace will fit inside these wheels.

If either of you is still looking for an exhaust shield, I have one to sell. It appears to be possibly unused and is black in color. I bought it from a Caterham owner for the restoration of the 1966 Lotus 7 I just finished ended up not using it. $40 plus shipping seems reasonable. Send me a PM if interested. I also will be selling a number of extra parts from this restoration, but am waiting to recover from some surgery on my hand so I can pack things more easily. If anyone reading this happens to have something specific they need, drop me a note. I don’t have everything, but the selection of parts is relatively diverse. Joel