Vovchandr

End of season Edit: not sure why the pictures are coming through as tiny attachments until you click

Unfortunately my "7'sDate.com" venture hasn't been very successful so far

Told you to go this site at the light and hopefully you'll see this. Didn't know there was another 7 in the area!

Cold weather conversion done. It's toasty now! http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=16077&stc=1 http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=16078&stc=1 Swapped badge over

There's this "thing" https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1972-lotus-super-seven/

This should resonate well with the crowd here [video=youtube;mUO5bp-wyLU]

A shot from a recent cars and coffee http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=16064&stc=1

Very well said across the board. I've had a double whammy of scratching my head about the previous builders and owners decisions. With that said, unless you're buying brand new beware that with our cars it's just natural to have certain problems as seen from this thread. Even under optimal conditions they are hand built in England, neither one of those two aspects is particularly known for reliability, compared to lets say the expectation we would have with like a new Accord. Realistically ours get assembled likely through one of the few dealerships in the states. Each one can be hit or miss depending on the year and how familiar the people who assembled them were with the cars at the time. Once they get bought they see few miles on average and more track days or hard driving per mile than an average car. Further compounding on that, once the car does need service or work, wherever it gets taken to with few exceptions will actually know how to work on the car or where to source parts. Which can lead to guess work and short cuts. Further causing issues with reliability. Have realistic expectations going into it and expect the unexpected. :driving: Honestly for me it's half the fun to always be tinkering with it and taking it out on "shake down" runs following the said tinkering to see if the fenders stay on this time...

I went across the country for my 7. It was a forum post but might as well have been a craigslist listing. (it was also listed on some racecarsforsale website). Low posting member with little communication. Lucky for me I had a friend that lived out in the area and did a preliminary overlook for the car before I flew out, took pictures etc. The car still had lots of issues between original build and whatever the previous owners did. Took close to a year to get original issues sorted out, but the price was worth it and in my history of cars I expected it needing work, so no regrets on my end. As AB said, having somebody local come out and check it out first can save everybody a lot of wasted time, particularly if you have no reason to trust the seller. You'd be surprised at how many people are willing to dedicate a day to check out a car for somebody else, especially if it's something they are passionate about. When I was buying my first bike over a decade ago and the forums were much stronger, I actually had two volunteers to check out a bike for me that was about 11 hours away before I made my trip. The pre-inspection can eliminate a lot of guess work and make you feel a lot better about committing a trip without having your stomach in knots about the unknown.

http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=16023&stc=1

Passenger seat sits almost as far back as possible and with windshield and no doors it's in a bad buffering spot and with doors the draft on head gets to you. I've heard people reversing/flipping the rails over to fix this. When I tried it, it seemed perfect and would have moved forward about 4 inches. However I was at least 1 inch away from the holes lining up in the floor and the seat couldn't go forward anymore as it was being squeezed by the frame channel. Is there something I'm missing? Is this trick more common for the SV chassis?

For those of us who actually have to put our cars away in the winter, it gives us a good opportunity to plan and procrastinate on upgrades to the car while it's down/away. I plan to * rewire the headlights to have a disconnect plug and use the new front "lower" mount points that site closer to the front. * have the 620R nosecone painted and mounted * swap the rollcage from old style single diagonal to new style double diagonal * lower the nose so I stop having the raised rake as I was told I have during the NJMP day * get the tuning software issues figured out etc etc :auto:

Cold temp "conversion" complete just in time. http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=16020&stc=1 http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=16021&stc=1 Not pictured but had my first outing with the half hood too

Lots of things seem.. off with that one. Was that motor a cable clutch?

So far summary: Problem discovered - clutch spring retainer failure due to metal fatigue/defect. OEM Ford clutch T9 transmission leaks fixed in the front and top of casing and shifter housing (time will tell but old gaskets/seals were bad) Sequential shifter potentiometer housing was pretty destroyed and damaged. No direct replacement available so seals up as best as possible and put back in place. Works so far (fingers crossed) Rear main seal replaced as it appeared there was a leak there too TWM throttle bodies had 3 out of 4 runners fail by the gasket due to metal fatigue after being bored out by original builder/contractor. Manifold welded and machined back down to a flat surface. New single gasket made to replace individual runner o-rings Existing throttle body velocity stacks were a disaster. None sat flat and one of the runners was hammered down to fit under the hood and wasn't round at all. All replaced with shorter but uniform stacks Existing AIT sensor moved out of the velocity stack where it impeded air flow and new mount made on the new velocity stack housing Existing Zetec Centerforce clutch (came with the car) was confirmed to fit a Zetec before install, was actually for a different configuration Zetec than I had It was for a bigger flywheel configuration. New flywheel matched Existing starter did not work with new flywheel, a new one had to be matched (didn't quite reach for engagement) Existing slave cylinder bleeder configuration was poor, so remote bleeder hose was bought and adapted to fit. Now it will no longer bleed directly back into the bellhousing. While the console and passenger seat were out I rotated the passenger seat mounts to move the seat more forward out of the turbulent air flow when the windshield is on A brief test of MPG yesterday while breaking in the clutch, shattered the optimistic hopes that the ITB issues/air leaks caused the poor MPG. Went about 13 miles on one gallon all highway. Weak test, but also very bleak results. Sourcing parts and figuring out the different configuration Zetecs was not fun, but I'm glad I did it as now I know a bit more about the car for future reference.

Current update: Car runs! Who knew one little spring would be such a PITA? After lots of troubleshooting, finding new problems, fixing old problems and mix and matching parts from different Zetecs car is together and I'm going through the period of breaking in the clutch. Not sure yet if the clutch is slipping but it certainly feels "off"/weak on engage. I'm giving it benefit of the doubt through the break in process but not optimistic yet that everything is kosher and it will hold full power. Staying off getting too on the throttle for a few hundred miles.

Race number are a better identifier then a license plate could ever be [emoji848] Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

I came across many old threads where people had similar issues to mine such as At this point I'm split two ways, find a new clutch to work with my flywheel (OEM or go overseas or source soemthing else) or option two, just get a new fly wheel that matches the performance clutch I already have (a 9 7/16 one) it seems to be more common as a size for zetecs and is likely going to be easier to source. This is likely the avenue I will pursue over the next couple of days trying to source parts. Why did you say you were unable to find a replacement? It's an OEM flywheel isn't it? SVT might be a little harder to source if it's different? In the mean time while taking everything apart I discovered that my gear selection output unit that sits on top of the transmission has started to fall apart over time and use. Plastic housing is split and mounting tabs are falling off. It still works but its in rough shape. Replacement again is hard to source and is about $200. I'll try to fix this one for now. I'm learning that there is no quick turn around with fixing these cars even with US motors as a donor.

Alright new discoveries and questions as this rebuild continues. Did Caterham USA source the Zetec engines locally (in US?) from some supplier or did Caterham UK ship them to be installed into US cars? Lots of part numbers coming off the motor only cross reference to obscure over seas websites and even dealer fails to match some. Along the same note I've discovered that the Centerforce Ford Focus clutch for 2000 doesn't fit onto my Zetec. Too big for the fly wheel and bigger than my OE clutch (came with the car). 9in vs 9 7/16 as I discovered are the differences on Zetecs in different models. Since I have VCT, I'm more than likely sourced from a ~2000 Contour. However part number from Autozone for Ford Focus shows a 9in clutch that I matched in the store. No idea why Centerforce was bigger. Contour replacement shows to be 9 7/16. Escort ZX2 clutch looks similar but splines are different so that won't fit. Cougar 4 cyl also shows as a bigger unit.

I know that I could have ordered them from CC parts. Was just wondering who did they source it from as I know they CC doesn't make any of their own parts, lots of existing bits and pieces from other makes.

I believe you are correct! Perfect. Thanks. I see they are available in clear as well, gives some options. The two screw modern/UK style bigger lights haven't grown on me yet, so I'm considering all options. To tell the truth, I didn't realize that UK/Modern were different than early 2000's US until I got mine in the mail. Small difference that easily gets overlooked but will bother you once you know. Just like roll bar supports being straight vertically on the sides vs angled towards the middle of the car. Also changed sometime in the later 2000's.

Croc, I already have 3x sets of UK replacements, Amber, Clear, and LED clear, which is partially why I ask. I'm familiar with UK ones and where they come from but there isn't a whole lot of info on US. USA ones are smaller than UK with a chrome ring on the outside. Sourcing pictures from BAT for ease of finding good USA pics http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=15864&stc=1 http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=15865&stc=1 Regular Caterham http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=15866&stc=1 http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=15867&stc=1 Car isn't local to me right now so can't check with ease maybe when I get to it next time. Edit: Mine weren't replaced by the builder, they match every other US spec of 2000+ (there might have been a cutoff year around 2010+ when they started using uk ones?). I've seen many other ones with the same ones as me. As a matter a fact almost every 7 on BAT has the chrome ring smaller indicators. One yellow one is exception because they painted the ring black like I did, but it's still the smaller amber assembly.

Does anybody know where did Caterham USA source their amber turn signals from? Smaller ones with the chrome ring around them. I know the bigger UK ones are from misc British cars like Land Rover Defender if I recall.

They show up because you were given access to view attachments on the site. Which is exactly why I need help. Even though I've been a member on their site for longer than a year and actually bought my car by messaging a member on there my account has never been activated. I can't post or view attachments. I've tried to contact admins but from what I gathered they are all inactive. This is precisely why I need a previously activated member to save those pictures and re-host them here. Much appreciated. http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=15828&stc=1

Pictures don't show up for me? Are they linked or reuploaded?