Vovchandr

Correct. No heating can overcome an open dome and wind-chill. If you've ever ridden a bike in the cold you know the feeling well. Ive gotten caught with the windscreen only a few times late season after the sun goes down and temps plummet. It's not a pleasant experience even with the heat. You're sliding down in your seat to get out of the air stream as much as possible as cold air is blasting your face. With windscreen and or half hood it's a different story. Heat can actually stay. With doors even more so. The 7 you're looking for is it Zetec or Duratec? I ask because I know on Zetecs even without a heater all it takes is removing the pedal cover in the engine bay and you have unlimited heat in your compartment. More than you could ever need and much more than puny blower produces. Engine temp and your headers being directly ahead of your feet will make you miserable in summer and cozy in colder months.

Swapping over to a modern platform will be an overwhelming amount of work. It might seem like "well I'm already doing the same work to fix this one" but no, it's almost monumentally more work for a gain that can be achieved on existing platform with less work and likely less money. Our choices in US are Zetecs until mid early 2000's (like you and I have) and Duratecs which came later and are a more robust platform overall. Duratec swap would require an obvious Duratec (likely $2k+), new mounts, new wiring harness, cut a new hole in existing side skin on the right, new exhaust to go on the right, either replace the side skin on the left or just leave it as a hole, new cooling system routing etc for starters. For Zetecs your options are what you have now (I believe it's a non SVT Zetec), or swapping to an SVT or building/force induction on the Zetec you have now. After much reading from the gurus, SVT is a better motor stock for stock (~170hp, vs ~130hp) and has a Coworth head, however minor common changes to a stock Zetec make it essentially an SVT comparable motor (they are both Zetecs but are totally differently built motors). Stock Zetec 130hp is chocked by stock exhaust (Cats have a more free flowing exhaust), chocked by stock intake (ITB's are a common swap like I have) and head/cam work with a tune to give it a claimed "200hp" selling figure on the Zetec as advertised as a package. If you want more than "200hp" (crank) you'll either need to go for a complete build (like another member is going for here now from Raceline) or go forced induction (Both Turbo and Supercharging has been done with relative ease on the SV platform). I personally battled with the same decision and will currently long term be trying to shoe horn a Rotrex type supercharger into my Zetec S3. Roots type blowers have never been made fit (to my knowledge) on an S3 but there has been success on SV's. (I'm literally 1/4 in or so short from fitting one of the superchargers I have on hand). As other advice has been given here, test your motor as it is now. Confirm whether it's worth saving (good compression etc) or whether you just need another Zetec. Some of these motors can be found for $500 or even less and would be an easy direct swap that can put you back on the road quicker.

Lotus 7 gets honorable mentions here and a brief screen appearance The Lotus Elise is unlike any other car ever made | Revelations with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 21

Good luck! One step at a time it will get there. A trick not having a key to those lugs (not sure what yours is exactly without looking at it) but you can either drill/dremel a slot into it and use a flat head screw driver to get it out (unless it's REALLY stuck from all the years), or you can drill a small hole and then pound in something like a Torx to get it out. One more alternative is to use a hammer punch to screw it out. I've used method on trick bolts that were anti-tamper.

Not a 7, but in our wheelhouse of English and quirky

Are you running ITBs?

Welcome! Good to see another NE member. That green Caterham might be a member?

The Caterham Seven’s design dates back nearly 60 years. It has more in common with a 2018 Lotus Evora than you might think. https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/car-comparison-tests/a21082648/caterham-lotus-evora-comparison/

lotus super seven donuts

For my car I have what I call a "winter mode". Heater helps but can't defeat the aero screen and cold ambient temps overall. I get the windshield on, half hood and doors. Those combined with the heater are enough to make the car toasty in any weather.

Two questions: What's the furthest you've gone in the day? Also what failures have you experienced on the road? (at any time) So far my furthest has been driving down to NJMP for the 7s day from upstate NY before I had a trailer. About 4.5 hours and 280 miles. This was a one way trip because the car had to be towed back. Drove it with aeroscreen mostly on the highway. Was an okay drive accept being caught by a single storm cloud over head in one location and then my throttle being stuck and car starting to overheat while being in traffic. Definitely not pleasant. Otherwise failures on the road: Battery cable coming loose at night on the highway. Took a minute to troubleshoot. Throttle cable being stuck. Overheating. Plastic hose joint snapping in half. Exhaust shield clamp failing.

I concur. Recent one I can remember is placing the battery in a not so ideal spot and latching the hood down on it. Battery > Aluminum. Had to have a PDR guy come help. I'm curious to see this thread as well and how you progress. I've already learned from Croc above good methods for such situations

I've had a number of bad events even somewhat close to home. I used to carry a soft Ridgid bag of tools in the trunk and then decided to be fancy and bought the Soft Bits tool bag for the same purpose In there I keep a misc amount wrenches and sockets and screw drivers and fuses, tape, tester, extra coolant, headlamp etc. I'd rather be over prepared and never use it then be under prepared and get caught with a small issue that I can't fix in the future. I do not have a specific slimmed down list of what could be needed however.

What are your goals and plans for this year? In no particular order Swap headlights to the front mount position of later years instead of the rear position Install CF headlight buckets Figure out overheating at idle issue Install Westermann bits and pieces (CSR wings, CF mirrors, wishbone aero) Get SLR wheel center caps manufactured/fitted Mock up 620R nosecone and get it painted Bump up agreed value on the insurance policy Enjoy and put a bunch of miles on the car.

For the price I typically just refer to the range of them saying "anywhere from $40k to $100k depending on the model". I don't have any reservations having that as an answer. I do agree that answering yes to a "kit car" question leads minds to go in the wrong direction as to what it's actually is. I typically say "no, it's dealer bought"

The wordy answer that it's a "continuation of a Lotus 7" assumes they know what Lotus is to begin with and just saying "it's a Caterham" or the like just leaves curious minds more puzzled. I've seemed to have settled on telling people that it's an old British roadster

Lobbying works wonders

I've had good deals on buybacks as well. Usually worth it