Anker

Mine has a really stiff suspension. The absence of the rear sway bar ensures that both rear wheels stay planted in high G corners. It should induce some understeer, but I haven't noticed.

I am interested, but have no idea what these go for. I saw that your inbox is full, so please let me know. In the meantime I will research reasonable prices. Thank you, Anker

I keep mine in the boot with some zip ties. If I get stopped and they point out that the plate is missing I can claim that it fell off and then zip tie it on until I am clear, and then remove it again.

I got one AND a repair kit from Pegasus with 2 day UPS delivery, so by the weekend I should be safe!

Yesterday I drove the 137 miles down and back to the Lime Rock Park Historic Festival. My goal was to enter the Caterham in the Gathering of the Marques in the hopes of meeting other Caterham/Lotus 7 owners. It was also a test whether I could tolerate such a long trip with a significant portion of freeway driving. To reduce buffeting, I mounted the doors. A 6 AM start in the dark gave me an opportunity to adjust the headlights and do a bit of driving in the dark. The great news is that my only bother the exhaust noise, which at 75-80 MPH is really loud. Strangely it felt louder with the doors on than with the windbreakers. The positive is that with the doors on I don't get slapped in the face by the loose ends of the 4 point harness! The festival was great. Loads and loads of fantastic cars. Not as many Sevens as I had hoped. There were just two of us: myself and Ed Lawson from Farmington, CT. My well used and heavily patinaed looked somewhat rough next to Ed's beautiful car. They are both 1700 Supersprints, and it was fun comparing them with one another. Mine was built for high-performance driving and has seen plenty of that, while Ed's was built for street use. Ed's is also five years younger and has a number of upgrades relative to mine, like real double wishbones in front, instead of incorporating the sway bar as an element of the top wishbone. Walter Irvine from Lime Rock Park came over early and introduced himself. He organizes monthly Lotus drives from the park and has included me in his distribution list, which adds a number of new names to my list. I also met two people who knew and recognized the car. They both knew it from 15 years ago when it was for sale through Sevens and Elans. One had considered buying it, and the other did a few laps on track in it at the tender young age of 15. The best represented Marque was Porsche. There was a sea of them. I am glad I was wearing my Porsche cap. Some other year I'll have to take one of my Boxsters there. The car loved the Italian Tuneup from the trip. It really sang, no, roared, on the highway on the return trip. I couldn't resist momentarily hitting triple digits in a pass. Since it is an old car, I had all three required in the trunk, rather mini-boot, and needed to top up the clutch reservoir. I have been losing fluid slowly and hadn't found exactly where it was, but when I wasn't able to get it into first from a light, I turned into a parking lot and topped it up again. The leak is from the master cylinder, and I see it coming out of the rubber boot around the actuator shaft. The remaining fluid looked really ugly, so there is a seal that is deteriorating badly. This must have been going on for quite a while before I bought the car earlier this year. The heater box paint close to the pedal cylinders is gone. So this weeks project is to find someone who can supply me with a new master cylinder, hopefully soon. I am afraid it is going to quit all of a sudden.

Thanks. Don't need one now, but good to know. The battery to alternator setup on the Supersprint is really strange. The only thing driven directly from the battery is the starter motor. Everything else is powered from the alternator.

There are some gotchas. The car has a rebuilt title, and it was sold to the current owner on BaT a year or two ago.

I am almost finished installing a set of shift lights on my '87 1700 Supersprint. The materials cost me less than $50. A basic Arduino, some LEDs, plastic to 3D print the cases, and lots of my time, which is free. I autocross the car and I don't have time to look at the tach, and the shift lights are right in my field of vision. On a fast course I exceed 60 mph and I am concerned about over revving my baby. The issues I ran into is that the software I found on GitHub didn't work, and the other is a really interesting one. Electrical power for the car comes out of the alternator, and not the battery. It is way too noisy for me to be able to pick up the pulses from the alternator at the coil. In order to make it work, I have to take power from the battery and not use switched power from the fuse panel. To prevent the Arduino from draining the battery I have a switch for the power and when the RPMs are zero, I turn on the last red LED on the switch lights to remind the driver to turn it off. A bit of a kluge, and I may use a relay instead if this doesn't feel convenient.

Wow, that's impressive!

Also check that all wires are plugged securely into the alternator! I had the same problem and a loose alternator wire was the issue!

They limit the number of spectators, but I have a ticket for Sunday! I am not going to be racing. Belts are too old and I am not going to race her without a 6 point harness and a HANS device.

Is anybody planning to go to the Lime Rock Park Historic Festival over Labor Day Weekend? I am considering going, and meeting other Lotus 7 and derivatives owners would make it even more fun!

I had something interesting happen. After the new idle jets were installed it runs much, much better. The smoking has also changed. At first it would smoke a lot less when hot, but today it barely smoked at all, even when cold. My guess is that a piston ring was stuck and now has become unstuck. Interesting!

In a frontal collision, a 5 point is guaranteed to crush your nuts and change you voice to a falsetto. A six point may miss them.

You should try learning tracks using sim racing software. It works really well. A couple of weekends ago I took a Skip Barber racing course at Lime Rock, which I have driven extensively on my simulator. It drove exactly the same virtually and in reality!

I'll post before and after video after the next autocross tomorrow!

I got the car back today. They diagnosed the problem as lean running at light and mid-throttle because of undersized idle jets. They were right! It's like night and day. Spitting, sputtering and hesitating is gone. Idle isn't great, but I suspect that's because they didn't adjust the idle needles with the engine hot. It idled great when cold. I am a very happy camper and I really like Accel Auto in Waltham, MA. They aren't cheap, but I don't care. I so all maintenance and repairs myself, and I am happy to pay a shot to deal with the difficult stuff! The car has had the problem since new in 1987. I am surprised all previous owners, 3, haven't had it dealt with!

It was the rears that gave them the most trouble today, and they aren't affected by DAS. Also, the commentator noted that front end camber affects front end wear, and appeared to claim that Mercedes is aggressive with their front end camber. I don't know whether camber is affected by DAS.

Good to know, thanks. I will love to hear what works for you. Anker

Accel Automotive in Waltham, MA checked it today. Their assessment is that it runs too lean in the 2,000 to 3,000 range and needs bigger idle jets. They are on order now and I will take it back on Wednesday to have the bigger jets inserted and the car road tested. I hope that takes care of the issue.

The spec sheet says Caterham BCD with high lift and short duration profile.

If I stomp on the throttle it does better, so the acceleration pumps seem to be doing their job. I will pull the emulsion tubes and compare them with the recommended ones. Thanks for all the suggestions/Anker

My hesitation about taking it on the track isn't because I haven't driven on tracks. It is more that the harness is a 4-point and old and it just has the standard roll bar. I have had my Porsche Boxsters on tracks many times. I am also taking a Chris Barbar one-day racing class this coming Monday at Lime Rock Park. It sounds like a great time, so I'll give it serious consideration! Anker

Does it make any sense to come if I don't plan to take the Caterham on to the track?

I have checked and adjusted float heights, adjusted the idle screws as specified, and synchronized the carbs. The first thing I did was to replace the gaskets between the carbs and the intake manifold with the Swedish ones (can't remember their name). There definitely aren't any air leaks. I also replaced the distributor and coil (Lucas electronic ignition) with a new distributor and coil from Burton Power with an Aldon Ignitor. The ignition timing is spot on. In short, I have done all that I feel competent to do. It is better than when I purchased the car, but not to my satisfaction. The information I needed is that this is not normal. It will be going to a specialist shop that knows how to set up Webers next Thursday. I appreciate the reply! Thanks/Anker