CarlB

The Avons were made for the car. I use the Falkens on my MINI ad love them. The issue for a Caterham is the Falkens and most other tires are not made for light weight cars. The only other tire I would consider for a street tire is the Toyo Proxes RA-1. That tire isn't available in the sizes you are looking for.

I like Cole Hersee switches. Like MV8 said they are made for the commercial market. You might have to hunt around for a particular switch. I wanted an off-on-on switch. It took some time, but they make it. There are lots of off-on-off switches.

The car is primarily used on track. I have owned the car 5 years and haven’t gotten tags yet. I didn’t want a key. It is just something else to keep up with. The switches aren’t labeled because someone would not know how to start the car. It take a combination of switches.

The amount of work required to this is way beyond anything reasonable, but I wanted it and enjoyed building it. I got one of the new BMW Minis in 2005. I really enjoy the car, it isn't very fast, but just fun to drive. I have had a number of Minis. I found and still own a 2006 JCW. One of the unusual things about the car is the instrument panel. Like the original Mini the instrument panel is in the center and the switches have little loops to separate the switches. There is a Caterham model that used a similar switch panel. When I first got my Caterham I got a switch panel that used the loops, but they were contained in a panel I did not really like. Additionally, I had to cut them apart and glue them together to get the number of switches I needed. Let's just say I was not pleased with my workmanship. In general, I was not happy with the dashboard layout I had configured with the old first switch panel. I wanted a carbon dash and the loops mounted flush to the dash similar to the way Caterham did it. To get started I attempted to bend tubing to the same radius as the loops I had in the old configuration. After several attempts I gave up and decided to use the loops from the original switch plates. I designed and had the plate burned out. This really starts the design process because now you have to consider tolerances. The loops I had were not bent to a close enough tolerance for the plate I wanted. I determined the average for the loops after discarding the high and low and had the holes in the switch plate made to that dimension. When I got the switch plate back, I wasn't happy. The loops were too tall. To recess the loops I made some parts on a lathe to recess the loops. That was easier than trying to cut and re-tap the loops. To fasten the parts made to recess the loops to the switch plate I swedged them. Not all the switches I used were the same dimension and the area between the recessed loops was now thinner. A little hand work got that taken care of. The stacked-up clearances required some hand work to get everything fitted, but I am happy with the result. 3D printing this would have been easier, but I do not know how to do it. I look forward to more post here. I suspect the 3D printing would have required a lot of hand sanding on a lot of small parts. I tried to upload my drawing but I couldn't get i to open. If anyone wants to see it let me know.

Always fun to watch someone with a lot of skill.

I have gotten a lot of things from this Company Del City - Electrical Supplies & Professional Grade Wiring Products. They have AMP connectors and a number of other popular brands. You might want to look at the Deutsch connectors. They are very popular or race cars. Del City also has knock off Deutsch connectors and I have had good luck with them. The real Deutsch connectors use a pin that requires a specific tool. They are very easy to use, but you have to have the tool. The Del City ones can use the Deutsch pins or the pins that crimp similar to AMP or Delphi.

Thank you - I did not know they could provide body panels. I need to look into that. I love my car, but it has been used hard. NO TRAILER QUEEN. It didn't happen to me, but I have a hole on the right side where a connecting rod took flight.

I have what I believe is a 1999 S-3. I think I found the Arch motors chassis number and some other markings. The roll bar indexes on a round knob (for lack of a better term) The main hoop fits over the knob. On the passenger side looking towards the rear of the car and reading top to bottom it says AM98. In the middle of the knob is a hole, and on either side it says J 2. At the bottom or closest to the seat is what I believe is the chassis number 4452. Am I correct about the chassis number and does anyone know what the other numbers mean?

It is my understanding that Ford called the SVT version of the Zetec a Duratec. The regular cars had stopped using the Zetec when the SVT version came out. Cosworth developed the SVT version of the engine. They changed a number of things, but it is still a Zetec.

You are correct. The traditional way to scale a car is to get the cross weight to 50%. You can look at it as a bench with four legs. The bench has more weight on one side. If the left rear leg was a little longer than the right rear leg the bench would have cross weight or wedge (the stock car term). If you remove the weight from the bench and the leg is still long, you still have cross weight. If the right front was high, you would have negative cross weight.

Bartman, Dallasdude probably as a better configuration for you than the way I did it. I am not using an oil cooler. The oil is only 225 to 235 in the pan. The pickup for the pump from the radiator on my car is on the same side as the pump. My radiator hose goes under the steering rack.

I haven't watched the video but have done a lot of done a lot of setups. Except for single seat cars you always have more weigh on one side or the other. KnifeySpoony is correct about setting the car up for corner entry or even balance in left and right turns. I have scales if you would like to use them.

Here are two pictures. I told Gus that QuickSilver has the castings attached to the water pump. The lower part is a piece of tube. This fits under the steering shaft. Your radiator is different than mine. Both my inlet and outlet are on the same side. You might want to point the water pump outlet a little different.

The Zetec engine is very reliable in my experience. You are correct about its power potential compared to a Duratec . If you look at the bore and stroke difference and the size of the intake ports you will understand why the Zetec doesn't make as much power as the Duratec. The Duratec is lighter because of the aluminum block and the Zetec has a belt driven cam that is more tolerant to harmonics from high RPM and racing camshafts. Raceline would disagree but I think the reliablity goes away over 7500 GPM with the stock crank. You can have a very reliable 200 HP with a very wide torque curve and run pump gas. I turn mine 7200 RPM. You can put in bigger cams and raise the compression to get about 220 HP. You would need race gas and raise the speed to 7500 RPM. If you are looking at swapping engines, I would look at the new Ford turbocharged engines. There are people in the UK who are saying they get over 350 HP from the 1.6 L ecoboost. The stock 2.0 L ecoboost is 250 HP and the 2.3 L ecoboost is over 300 HP. Junk yard engines are available with all the power you need. Ford Performance sells ECUs and wiring. I have been looking for pictures of how the intercooler is installed in a 620 R but haven't found anything. Does anyone have pictures? If you really want to look at something different, The Polaris Sling Shot has its own engine now. It is a 4 cylinder version of the engine they use in their ATVs. The potential power of a naturally aspirated engine is determined by the size of the intake valves. A bigger bore allows bigger valves. The Polaris engine has a 3.50 inch bore. It also has a forged steel crank and rods. The red line is 8500 RPM and the power rating in the slingshot is 200 HP. I haven't gotten any real information about this engine, but it looks very interesting.

I will second Bartman's recommendation of Gus at Eurosport. He is very good.

I did not know about the Lotus 11 with a slant 6 engine. I would point out that the first slant six engines were aluminum block, but I think had an iron cylinder head. The cars were raced successfully against the Corvair and Falcon. No comment on how good any of these cars were. There was a high-power version of the Slant 6 that had a four-barrel manifold like the picture.

I believe you are supposed to replace the steel clutch disk surface every time you replace the clutch. The flywheel manufacturer will sell you one. They aren't that much money. Your flywheel may have been made by Fidanza. They are very good people and can probably help. The flywheel may have been sold under a different name but they build a lot of flywheels for other people.

I am sure you can find street pads that will reduce the pedal effort. It certainly sounds like you are driving a car with pads that need to heat up. I do have a recommendation for you with some draw backs. There is a racing pad that has the highest coefficient of friction at low temperatures I am aware of. I have used them on an autocross car I drove on the street and on my Caterham. They work at low temperatures and develop an average coefficient of friction of .56. If you use this pad really really hard on track and get the pad over 1000 degrees they fade, but you are not likely to see that unless you are a pro race car driver. The disadvantage to racing pads is the dust. Street pads do not get your wheels dirty. Porterfield R4-1 pads will reduce your braking effort and I love the instant deceleration rate. Racers try lots of different pads and one of the evaluations is called initial bite. These pads stop fast. A lot of autocrossers use this pad because of the quick deceleration.

I totally agree the artist was not trying to represent the cars perfectly. The paint on the car I believe is the artist interpretation of a Scarab that looks like the cars raced by Reventlow. The gentleman who put the team together that created the car. Art is subjective. I also believe the artist was trying to create a time line. And the Scarab placement is appropriate between a Allard and a I think a M8 McLauren.

Totally agree with this statement, but I think the number 1 car is a Sarab.

You will gain ground clearance in comparison to a lot of wet sump pans, but not all. To lower the engine, you will need to make new motor mounts. You will also want to consider the drive shaft angle change. The engine transmission is mounted at an angle and the differential is mounted at the opposite angle. This is done to make the universal joints work. You might want to look at how low your flywheel is in relation to the oil pan. That might determine how low you can go. Dry sump systems use an external pump with a belt. this can be a reliability issue. If the car sits for a period of time all the oil can drain out of the tank and into the oil pan. The best thing and primary reason to use a dry sump is not losing oil pressure when the oil sloshes away from the pickup tube when you are cornering hard.

I agree with MV8 the hose is not the best for gas and will eventually fail. The Fragola hose is made for modern gasoline but is very difficult to push on the fittings. If or when you want to change this line, I would suggest using AN fittings.

I would need more information to say anything about the fitting that screws on. The fitting that attaches to the fuel rail is available from Dorman. The fittings are made for Nylon fuel line, not what you are showing. If the other end of the hose hooks up to a metal fuel line you can get a connector to use nylon fuel line. Russell is an aftermarket company that makes AN fittings and hoses. They have a fitting that will attach to your fuel rail and let you convert to 37 degree AN fittings.

You can’t get a car tagged in Virginia without a windshield, wipers, and defroster. Caterham has a heated windshield for the defroster.

Light flywheel is a big deal. You want to get that.