Vovchandr

Noted. Today after work I've 1) installed the heater T bleeder fitting and bypassed the heater. I'll play with the loop to get it to sit lower. 2) tested the Thermostat. Strangely didn't appear to open at boiling. Only opened with heat gun. Tested with my OEM which I believe did. I'll double check tomorrow. 3) Due to stuck downstream o2 bung. Took off the stock exhaust. While I'm at it I'm installing OEM upstream o2 sensor.

I'm not sure why you're calling Ferrari slow. It's literally one of the fastest production cars ever made. Modified world with a one off build is irrelevant in comparison to a mass produced vehicle with a warranty that you can walk into a dealership and buy. Also times are vastly different on a prepped surface with tires that can't be used in the rain - ie not "daily driven" tires.

Rimac is a production car that meets regulation and can be daily driven with ease. Is being called slow when compared to a dedicated drag race car on a prepped surface yet getting a ballpark close time?

Hi and welcome. In my limited experience Caterhams don't have much room to negotiate. In general between having low miles on average and few features to begin with and very few changes between the years and the fact that most of differences are a bolt on combined with low supply makes them a "I know what I have" type of situation and as long as the asking price is within reasonable range they will get the asking price. However if the asking price is above the average for the type of model and year etc then you can try to use other listings as a bargaining chip. I believe Canadian 7's are even more limited in supply further helping sellers rather than buyers. On the flip side whatever the price is, it's likely to stay true to that price in the future if you were to ever sell it yourself even if you think you might "overpay" now in your mind. Obviously the condition overall. Look to make sure it runs overall, doesn't over heat, doesn't have throttle sticking issues (ask me how I know?), damage to paint or other physical damage. Look for rot in the corners where the chassis rails meet the footwell in the engine bay. Look for leaks, all can be common with age. Fuel, oil, coolant. Gaskets go bad. Common one is on top of fuel pump where the sender sits.

Your quotes are messed up in the post above. I think I pulled your comment. With the government regulation Caterham as is isn't allowed to on the road to begin with as a production car. Why is this part of the argument? Are we talking a 7 that has to comply with all safety or a 7 as is now just electric powered? Two completely different arguments. Also why are you bringing a low production number 2.1 million car as your example? Especially after saying that with regulation everything is at least 3000lbs. So is it or is it not? I'm losing track of your point. Lets review 1) Electric cars can be built light 2) Electric Caterham can potentially be made light We hope that it does to stay with the ethos but without noise. That's the whole point of the thread. You keep bringing multi million dollar cars in comparison to sub $100k electrics and are surprised that they are slower? You need to compare them to Lotus Evija and Rimac Nevera. 2000hp electric cars won't be slow and now the price is comparable to the multi million dollar cars you bring into the argument. You're all over the place in a thread where the point is how an electric Caterham can be in the future.

Without looking into it, just happen to come across this at a perfect time for this argument Video is time stamped to important part for this discussion Tesla etrofitted 308 GTS weights less than stock according to the video (I'm sure range is diminished and pack is smaller, but point stands)

I understand you clearly don't like electric. I personally don't care for them either but for the sake of discussion lets keep the figures accurate Tesla 3 Performance "electric pig" shows 4250 lbs on Google. Modern BMW M5 shows 4,345 lbs on Google. Being a "pig" is more of a modern car problem rather than a purely electric problem. Any modern production car that's going to have modern safety of plethora of air bags and crash reinforcements, miles of electric cables, creature comforts etc is going to be heavy. Days of Elise are long gone. *minor exceptions of extremely purpose built cars and of course Miata* Civics come in at 3000lbs now a days. Morgan Electric trike I believe was about 1200lbs, which according to your math is unachievable. Edit: I think I found part of your problem. You're using 1000lbs worth of batteries as math. That's to give a full weight daily driver a range of 300+ miles. That is simply irrelevant for a niche car like a 7. We don't use them as dailys and we don't need to hit 300 miles without stopping for a charge. Most of us most of the time barely go 100 miles a day. Long range will simply not be a goal and in any case, that's not a total day range, that' just until next charge, which can be very quick with a small battery pack. I'd personally be happy with 100 miles of range or even less, which would require much less battery power in a light car to begin with. Extreme short range versions can be even lighter. Potentially lighter than a fully working 7 is now. Just look at the Locost battery builds. They dont achieve a huge range and remain quite light. As you're well aware weight makes everything worse. Braking, accelerating handing etc. However this puts a 7 in a very unique portion where since we don't need much range, weight can be kept down, which means less batteries, which means quicker charging which is also a major problem for big battery banks for regular cars. Its fair to judge electrics on lack of noise and flair, but if an electric 7 was made as a 1500lbs car it would actually be a very good vehicle with instant torque etc.

What's the weight of a Caterham with no engine, gas tank, radiator, coolant, transmission etc? The average wet Caterham is about 1350 pounds I believe.

It's all part of the adventure. I wasn't tinkering with it or constantly worried about the cycle fenders flying off I feel like it would take away from the experience... However lines get crossed for me when I get stranded or car accelerates against my wishes, which is why I have such a high priority for these two issues, especially considering the two seem to be somehow related. One seems to cause the other, still not certain in which order. @ashyers theory isn't crazy where my tune/timing is off at idle, its causing heat issues which in turn cause accelerating issues etc. As I've already discovered my 2 throttle cable housings have failed at a point right above the exhaust. I might disconnect the heater entirely as part of troubleshooting. Not a bad idea! Cold compression and leakdown tests can be done next time I drive it to the shop (30 miles away), still in local drive troubleshooting stage right now. I'll look at plugs too. Also pending setting up the wideband to keep an eye on that. Have to swap mufflers for that, which is likely going to turn into another project.

When I took everything apart to take Tstat out yesterday I blew through that hose. It did give mild restriction at first strangely (as I didn't find any contamination or anything) but afterwards it was free flowing. I can check again and double check the Tstat housing for obstruction, since I have to put Tstat back in anyway.

Thanks. I'll look into this too. Using water while troubleshooting, won't use it once its all sorted out. The funnel always drastically creeps up as I get closer to operating temp and then either settles lower while running or definitely drastically drops in level once shut off. To the point where I have to add more.

Good call on the T fitting in the flush kits. Didn't realize that. Will pick that up! I did not grab a hose. You mean just squeeze the upper radiator hose? Noted on distilled water without antifreeze or wetter. May I ask why? Yes TPS/idle is still messed with. TPS removed and reinstalled now reads slightly less and ITB's have been open to eliminate IAC. If anything I idle higher (too high) as of right now. Heater tubes are all wrapped now. It will be impossible to tell by eye what's happening with them now. Laptop would tell me timing? I'll poke around. All the recent videos are without T-Stat. Removed it first thing today. Makes sense. I'll retest the Tstat and put it back in. I think I should have the original OEM around as well I can test. Temp gauge started to run hotter than 80 to around 100 at the time the spilling (boiling?) effect happened when park. This would make sense too. Thanks!

Hose flush Nothing really happens until 6:15. Volume expands a lot while we are still below 80 degrees. This is typical for me every time I've been doing this. Not certain if this is normal.

Current dump Heater valve is shot Replaced heater valve with hard unions for now Oil cap. No obvious residues That brown at the bottom is more dirt than anything

Disclaimer: There is a lot of information and I'm trying to follow it step by step. Particularly @Croc's order Todays progress 1) Thermostat removed 2) Corrosion found in Heater valve. Completely removed and hard connected right now to partition it out. New one is on order. 3) Everything is flushed with hose until clear. 4) Oil cap inspected. No residues (but I don't expect to get milky with water vs coolant either?) 5) Discovered that Champion sells a coolant filter with a see through window. Ordered to help keep an eye on debris and bubbles. 6) Looked into T's with bleeder. Found these options and Neither is readily available but I'll order either one. Not particularly happy with plastic options but it's a means to an end. Results: 1) Ran it until hot with extra tall funnel without pressure. Things stayed relatively clear and then started to expand greatly towards 80 degrees and overflowed again. Likely a normal result. Shut it down and closed cap off (topped to the max) 2) Drove it to work just a few miles. Seemed to run alright. Went to restart in the parking lot and was struggling to start. Pulled around the building and temp climbed past 80 into hot territory and spilled out passed cap when shut down. Likely overfilled and also expected? Pending: NAPA test strips and radiator flush fluids Sourcing power flushing More driving to see get the air to collect in expansion tank and see if color of water changes. Notes: Car is already nose up in my sloped driveway. You can see how tilted the level is. The funnel is highest point for sure. @ashyersyes iron block Using tap water while troubleshooting. Will switch to distilled for summer use once more confident I don't need to drain again.

Thanks for reposting that. On my first read I thought that he was talking about a purge system such as this and thats what I was planning on using to test 1) whether system holds vacuum/pressure and 2) to refill the system without air pockets. @ashyers I've replaced the OEM cap with a new good cap as one of the first things I've done when troubleshooting. The expansion tank is unchanged. Can't I just test it with either the pressure test above or taking it off, putting fingers on holes and blowing into it if it needs a test? The reason why I have that type funnel setup is due to what mechanics have advised me this will create the highest point in the system to bleed the air out. Doesn't this setup achieve the same as you're suggesting with T'ing into the heater system? I've done this in the past without pressuring it and I've never had this boiling effect. Not saying it isn't boiling now, it certainly seems to be, but under normal circumstances as I recall this type of funnel has worked fine even at operating temp without sealed pressure. I'll start reaching out to shops and friends to see what I can secure for tools.

2:30 into the clip Throttle response on the F1 is so good, that it feels like a Caterham. That's some high level praise when one of the all time greatest supercars gets compared to a 7

That sounds like a good plan. For 1) I'd need to hook up a vacuum test correct? Can I hook up my pressure washer into the system to give it more power than a garden hose? I don't have air on hand. I'm sure I can find an angle/entry point where the initial force isn't damaging (also a more spreading nozzle) and the overall pressure will carry throughout. Just a thought. Otherwise I can ask around my shop friends to see if anybody has that piece of kit to borrow. I'll be doing the flush this week. Back in March I did this 10x times to get it to clear without going into the motor/past Tstat/without starting just by refilling and emptying the radiator and massaging the hoses and using a radiator flush solution. This time obviously I'll be doing a more throughout/proper solution. Thanks everybody for the help so far.

@Croc and @ashyers thank you guys. I like that plan and go with that. Croc you're right, this needs to be figured out first. I've gotten advice to also pull the Tstat and flush (I heard using a hose?) the entire engine as well as run a descale through it to get things clear. I believe there is a plug on the engine block. I'll do oil test and coolant test. Coolant/Water has been brown since I've bought the car. This leads me to a realization. Car was not in good working order when I bought it. Radiator fan wasn't even connected. Without knowing exactly what previous owner did to it, it's not out of the realm of possibility that it has been over heated during previous ownership. It would start and operate but it had no means of cooling down. This could potentially have lead to emulsification as Croc has suggested which would explain why coolant has never really been clear. I'm not certain what the brown mixture and deposits really are. Is there a good test for the deposits? @coffee break thats a good idea! Glad to hear somebody else had a similar problem. This morning I used electrical tape as a temporary solution to continue other troubleshooting (before I ran into the bigger issues). Your solution sounds like a much more permanent avenue, knowing how well electrical tape would perform long term near the engine block.

Starting to think head gasket might explain a lot of my issues, including idle issues.

I'm running out of ideas. As I chase one thing down more problems appear. Went to bleed the air today after last nights violent over boil and it violently bled air and made all sorts of mess. For starters I'm not sure why there is such a huge variation in level while running. Before thermostat opens the volume in bleeding funnel grows and grows to the point where I had to take some out. Then thermostat opened and the violent reaction seen in the video happens. It got so violent I had to shut it down before I got anything into the air filter and risked hydro locking. Didn't help during all this I was still having rev hang. Then during cool down process at the end of the video I heard strange crackling from the overflow tank that I've never heard before. I'll have to chase that noise down as well. After the noise stopped the coolant from the funnel all got taken in all of a sudden. I have no idea whats happening. Compression test was done last year. Leakdown test was done last year. Gas in coolant test done at same time. Granted maybe I need to do this again but I've had similar volume/bleeding issues last year during all this as well, which caused the testing to begin with. In the meantime the car would drive fine, stay at temp. Fan kicks on when needed. No real issues other than last nights violent overboil while messing with idle. Video above. Likely same thing that happened here. Coolant is just water. Brown is due to rusty water rail. Likely going to end up changing the head gasket and water pump at this point.

I think I just solved one problem. The partial throttle input is likely caused by my cable shield popping out of the housing and getting stuck on the housing. This is the first time I've gotten to observe it and catch it. Checked the ecu and it's reading 20% TPS when it gets stuck, which explains at least some things. It's the black shield stuck on silver bung. Will fix tomorrow and continue texting. Still doesn't explain overheating but should help narrow things down

while waiting for the cooldown, might as well upload videos edit: short hand video urls aren’t working. Copying full proper url before video address doesn’t work either. I’ll fix links when I get home Also not sure why videos are vertical when I made sure I was holding phone horizontally This is the backfire in cylinder #1 that I saw right before it stalled and overheated. Not sure if it's an issue but it's certainly an outlier

Fixed the cable. Went out for a test drive and now I'm back to bring broken down. Same issue as the other day with idling out of control at about the same spot. This time I took careful mental notes. It does apply throttle when in gear as well. Felt like cruise control. I lifted off the gas on the highway but the car kept cruising. I quickly downshifted and it revved in between and then kept cruising like on cruise control. It would maintain speed at lower gears down to 20mph or so and then accelerate down hill. Struggled coming to a stop while in gear. Not sure what throttle it's applying but it's not WOT. Went to check the cable. It's not taunt on the throttle body. So I went to bump up the idle in case my theory was correct and TPS is triggering the 90% input. It got higher than I wanted but the run away condition hasn't returned. Then I tried to dial in the idle with the screw to where I and the car would be happy. No luck. Too low and it wants to stall. Too high and it's problematic in another way. Besides that, I think if it's too high in ITBs it runs lean and overheats at idle. Which is what happened as we speak. Kept messing with it. Temperature pegged and coolant spilled. It was interesting cause there was a backfire I captured on camera right before temp shot up and car went to stall Edit: it also started to give me issues starting before overheating. See videos below