ukchris

More broadly thank you all, sorry for the delayed response but I ended up spending most of the weekend preparing the 7's new home in my barn, built a new staircase, installed a garage door opener and made a start at tidying up! I'm thinking I need to invest in some axle stands fairly quickly, and recommendations? Amazon and Harbor Freight seem to have them for around $25 a pair, any horror stories? I figure I need to make sure that a) they will not collapse and b) are high enough. Need to replace my floor jack too that I somehow lost in a divorce..! I'd think the Harbor Freight low profile race jack again?

Great post Steve, thank you. I'm leaning towards polishing and will look at ordering some Nuvite, is the Cyclo what you'd recommend as a polisher?

I need to check if the seller will include the build manuals - or if I can get them online, I suspect they'd be a very handy reference to have around.

Did you do it yourself? I've been watching videos on youtube and I'm tempted to give it a go myself, the vinyl doesn't seem expensive and as it is (in theory) easy to remove it seems reasonable to give it a shot before paying someone else to do it. Much as I like the BRG I'm leaning towards either carbon fiber look or bright orange.

Thanks Tom, it's a 1.6 Sigma/Zetec SE Ti-VCT with a Radtec radiator, I get the feeling that once it's here I need to ferret around a little based on your guidance then post questions / photos if I'm still confused. Need to assess if it's a leak or a dribble but as you say swapping hoses shouldn't be a big deal so may be worthwhile experience either way.

So things are moving, finally, I've agreed to terms and started the transportation process for my 7, it'll no doubt be a few weeks yet but I'm starting to plan things I may want to do, particularly while waiting for the weather to improved. I wasn't sure whether to start separate threads, for now I figured one thread and a list would be more efficient. Polishing an Aluminium (Aluminum?) Body My car will have an unpainted body, fenders and nose in BRG. This (I think) my favorite combination but I'm debating if/how to polish it. Part of me wants to go *shiny* but I suspect it may be a lot of work and then a lot of work to maintain. How do those of you with base bodies maintain them? Fenders/Nose I may have some chips to deal with, if so I am inclined to have a go at wrapping them in vinyl, there seems to be a lot of different opinions on wraps, has anyone tried to do the fenders and nose themselves? Coolant Hoses The care has a minor coolant leak, not sure it'll be a big deal but I may look to replace all of the hoses, how big of a job is this for a relatively inexperienced mechanic? Are there any procedures / tutorials out there you'd recommend? Removable Steering Wheel My last 7 had a removable Momo which I liked, this one has a fixed Caterham wheel, what is involved in terms of cost and effort to swap from one to the other? General Maintenance Once the car arrives I'd like to do a general check-up, does anyone have a list of what to focus on (and quite possibly how to do it) as I get in to things? I'm sure there'll be more...

I'd be very interested in whether we have any board members in the San Diego / San Marcos area who'd be willing to assist and maybe take a look on my behalf.

I think you're referring to escrow.com which looks to be an option, my current thinking (subject to discussion with the seller) is something like 20% up front and exchange title/registration, 40% on pickup and 40% on delivery, if we're lucky we may both use the same back and have traceability through transfers should anything go amiss. I simply cannot get to the West coast to inspect in person but feel confident in how open the seller has been regarding the car.

It's looking like I'll be buying a 7 very soon which brings up the topic of how to pay for it. Do any of you have recommendations on how to facilitate a purchase that both buyer and seller can feel secure with? Clearly the seller wants the money and the buyer wants the car and nobody wants to take a chance on losing their part of the equation, do folks typically do part payments? Escrow? I'm sure in this day an age there must be mechanisms that are appropriate for this?

Depending on how the annual dance with the tax man ends we might be having a discussion soon to see if we can work something out. I infer from the comments that transferring the title to NH should be straightforward, I seem to recall when I had a Birkin it was registered (or maybe insured) as an antique which limited how/where/when it's supposed to be used. Do you guys have any advice on what I should expect for insurance in NH if I get a 7?

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/caterham-ceo-%E2%80%98i%E2%80%99d-love-produce-aluminium-chassis-seven%E2%80%99

I'm still working on how to get an accurate all-in price for building my own, should be talking to someone tomorrow all being well. The benefit is it can be done in stages so while I might not stick to $20k it isn't all at once either. I gather from Tom's site a Birkin SV starts at $5k for groups 1&2 then (I assume) $3-$4k each for groups 3, 4 and 5. I'm assuming I would still need an engine and transmission and no doubt other stuff, seem to be struggling to find a reasonably accurate total.

Oh trust me I've read that multiple times and watched the video and deliberated the "no lowball offers" text...!

Are you referring to Sevens and Elans? I spoke to them many years ago, the web site is a little confusing as the map shows the MA location but the address nw shows Florida. I'll drop them a note and see what's what.

Good day, it seems proper to introduce myself as I'm new to the forum but not to the world of Sevens. While I'm originally from the UK I have lived in the US for the last 18+ years in the New England area, currently in Southern NH. In the UK many years ago I went to a "driving weekend" which was the first time I found there was such a thing as a Seven and fell in love, not long after I bought a live axle Caterham 7 (red with flared arches) that I owned for several years, mainly pleasure driving although I also took it to Le Mans with the owners club for the race which was a blast, sold it when I moved to the US. In the US I had the itch again and owned a Birkin for a while, I guess I came from a perspective of "Only the Caterham is a real Seven" but soon learned the Birkin was a great car and lots of fun, circumstances at the time however didn't allow me to enjoy it so it moved on to a new home. Now I have a little more freedom and a little more garage space I have that itch again, I have started casually looking around for something fun, probably a Caterham/Birkin, I am tempted to build one but really need to get a better understanding of cost and the amount of work (and technical know-how) necessary to do so. I probably wouldn't track the car, it'll be for pleasure so I don't need anything special, also my other Sevens have been "snug" so some of the longer body options intrigue me. Bottom line - I'd love to hear from folks who have built their own, get an idea of cost and complexity as well as support in the NH/MA area, also interested in options for a car that is ready to go if I hit the right one at the right price int the right place. I haven't set a budget really but would like to aim around $20k, depends a lot on the car obviously and whether how well it would retain its value etc. Anyhoo, hello, glad to have found usa7s.net and look forward to a lot more reading/discussing! Chris.