Andy69

I’m in the Quince and Kirby area. I’ll bet it’s a blast. Mine has the fuel injected 1.4 K series so about 130 HP. My son and I went down to Collierville a coupLe days ago. He says he hates it but he always wants to go for a ride. He ratted me out to his mom about the donut I did. Lol. Id be all over it but I just sold a car to make room in the garage for the car that was sitting in the driveway. But like I tell the Mrs when she asks how many cars does one person need: n+1

Wait, now how is it there is another 7 in Memphis and I haven’t seen it?

Ended up buying an aftermarket cap for a Rover 100 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Softening the rear will make it worse. I had the same issue, turns out the front springs were too stiff relative to the rear. If you have an adjustable rear ARB, try moving it to a stiffer setting. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Set it on the back cover then got distracted answering questions about the car, and drove off. I noticed it when I made another stop a few minutes later. Retraced my steps but no dice. Ive seen the aero caps, but really all I need is a basic non vented cap. Anyone know where one is available so I don’t have to wait a month and pay a $150 stupid tax?

Made some adjustments to the suspension, corner weights, and alignment, and dropped about 4-5 seconds per lap. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

OK, an update. Some previous owner replaced the stock front springs with 260# springs. I dropped them back down to 175, adjusted the ride height. Handling was much better and I was about 2 seconds faster per lap. It still has a tendency to understeer though. I'm going to adjust the camber back to what it was (changed a bit when I set the ride height) and move the rear bar up a notch. Should tame the rest of the understeer. I'll be able to try it out at MIR tomorrow at our last track day of the seasonl.

Stock Bilstein dampers on a 1992 Supersport. Tried to adjust the ride height in the rear, left rear perch won’t budge. I’m thinking differential metals corrosion. Have it soaking in PB Blaster now. Is this a common thing and are there any tricks? I only need to move it up one slot, so no biggie if I can’t get it, my lard butt should even it out with the right, plus I’ll be buying new ones soon. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’ve been emailing with Simon from Meteor about what to do about the springs/dampers. Should get it straightened out in short order. It’s a bit baffling to me that the springs are so stiff in the front. I keep thinking I measured them wrong, but it does understeer A LOT - worse than my compact GM totally stock 4 door sedan did. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Yes that answers most of my questions. Thank you. And at the same time confuses me as to my particular car. The title says 1992, and the chassis year (N) matches. But the engine is a supersport k-series with FI, which also matches the RI in digits 8-9 (decodes as “post 1992”). Is a mismatch in years like this common? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

So I get the impression that Caterham used its own engine serial numbering for the data plate. Is there any way to decode this? Examples I've seen have the form of KD-XXXXX-XX with the last two digits being letters. Mine has the form KD-XXXX-XX. I ask this because mine is a 1992 model with a Supersport 1.4 K-series (fuel injected), but those didn't appear until 1993.

Is that at the wheels? If so that’s pretty good for a normally aspirated 2.0 Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I keep thinking I must have measured that wrong but I double and triple checked. It would certainly explain the ridiculous understeer. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Well ok, like a dummy I shot off my mouth prematurely. I didn’t think to lift the car up and take the weight off the springs before measuring :clonk: and I also counted the non active coils. Fronts 350# Rear 180# ARBs look to be the biggest available from Caterham. So, it still seems there is too much front roll resistance. I’m going to order some 170# springs for the front and see what that does. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

If I did my calculations right it sounds like someone set this car up to be soft and comfortable in the rear and handle well enough for fun on winding roads but not for any kind of track use. Looks like a set of good coil overs should fix the issue Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I measured the length, diameter, number of active coils, and wire diameter and used an online spring calculator. The one variable that I couldn’t get was the type of wire which didn’t make a huge difference in the end result Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Ok, I've got some specifics on the suspension setup on my 7. Front: 260# springs, unknown dampers, .71" ARB Rear: 90# springs (not progressive rate), Bilstein dampers, .45" adjustable ARB, set on the 2nd softest of 4 settings. Is a differential like that between front and rear springs normal on these cars? Seems to me the front is way too stiff with those springs and the bigger ARB, even accounting for the spring angle

We’ve got SCCA autocross and track days, plus a NASA region that has club racing. Jackson has a small but dedicated club that holds autocross events at Jackson Dragway. Lots of stuff going on. Give me a shout when you get here Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I’m right in town. Takes me about 20 minutes to get to MIR. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Had my 7 out for Track Night in America yesterday for the first time. What a blast that car is to drive on the track. It was a TON of work to drive though. I'm much more tired than when I track the Honda, and it has manual steering and 225 slicks. Also, I found myself being sandblasted every time an overheating Corvette passed me on the long straight. I was picking OPR out of the cockpit between sessions. It gives plenty of warning before the front starts to slip and it's really easy to hold right at the edge. I think some suspension adjustment will make it quicker. And it absolutely LOVES trail braking. It's about equal in lap times with a Spec Miata on old tires, and a little slower than a Spec Miata on race rubber. The race Spec Miata easily passed me on the long straight, which is odd given that I have slightly more HP and way less weight. I guess the aero penalty of this design is bigger than I thought. Anyway. boring track day video below

I’m 6’1” 255 and that guy makes me look smalll Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I’ll take another look at that. I had seen some online but didn’t recognize them on the car Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I never understood why car makers make a limited run of a popular car like this. All they’re doing is leaving a million bucks per car on the table for the purchaser to have when he sells it two years latrr Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

At some point you end up with a spring that is essentially an infinite spring rate, in that there isn't enough weight in the car for it to compress against. Still, people run upwards of 1000# springs in CRXs and Miatas, so even though the Caterham is significantly lighter, there is some room there. Depending on what the car has now, I may not even change them out. The car has no ARBs, so I can change roll resistance by adding them. I'm hoping still to model the suspension though. The thing is, you can reduce understeer by reducing roll stiffness at the front or increasing it at the rear, but my approach is to make sure the fronts are at their "happy place" first - optimal roll stiffness - and adjust the back to match. That way you are sure you are getting the most out of the car. A car can be neutral handling and still not be as fast as it could be.

I think all major manufacturers do that. Perhaps these have been refinished at some point. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk