Pokey

Fun fact. Here in Washington State you need a certified scale weight to pass inspection. My nearest scale is at Cadman, a purveyor of concrete and rock. I took a few minutes from work and zipped down to get a weight only to line up facing one of these to get on the scale: This tire-cleaning device for semi's was spraying water at about door level when idling and over my head when activated. There must be a loop that activates and it either runs on a timer or the loop sensor isn't calibrated for something as wee as I was so I was able to squirt through as it cycled between wet and soaking. I think the gal manning the scale thought I was loopy they way I shot up there.

Thanks!

Two weeks to go before my appointment with Washington State Patrol for the prerequisite inspection to get licensed. So far I've been able to get 200 miles on the odometer using temporary trip permits - you can purchase up to three trip permits in a 30 day period, each good for three contiguous days. I've got time left on the current trip permit so am going to try to sneak out and get an alignment. Anyone want to offer up setting advice? Currently I'm setup with neutral toe and with caster set to a bit more positive than Caterham's build manual specifies. I have negative camber, no idea how much, maybe -2 degrees or so. So far my impression is the car is planted, stable at road speed, more prone to oversteer than understeer, and it takes a fair bit of effort to turn in. Turn in might be my caster setting, but I'm thinking that I should live with it for a while and instead compensate with toe. I'll be doing mostly street driving, but plan to track and might autocross. My completely naive and somewhat random thoughts are: Ride height 145mm Rake 10mm Toe 1 degree out Camber -2 degrees I'm also going to get flat floored and am seeking opinions on that as well. So far my wife has been with me a fair amount, but when she is with me I purposely tone down my driving to maintain marital bliss. So my thought is to get flat floored with just me in the car. The reasoning behind this is (a) I'm not pushing the suspension (much) when she is with me on the road, and (b) when on track she won't be there and that is when suspension setup will be most pronounced. Does this reasoning seem sound or am I missing something?

Thought it might be helpful to post the dimensions of both the EarthX 'E' size case and the Odyssey PC680 case (information from the respective manufacturers' websites): EarthX 'E' 6.5 L x 3.1 W x 6.6 H PC680 7.15 L x 3.0 W x 6.65 H And the weight: EarthX ETX680 - 3.9 lb Odyssey PC680 - 15.4 lb If I remember correctly, EarthX has at least one other option that would work in this application that weighs less and has a smaller case, but I wanted to stay with a form factor that would allow for using the Odyssey too if needed.

I'm using an inexpensive case EarthX sells, BB-MU, but there are a lot of choices that fit both the EarthX "E" size and the PC680. In many cases you will wind up shimming with foam supplied with the battery. The ETX680 needs about 3/16" on either side, and I believe that for the PC680 the shimming is front to back to account for the tapered shape of the battery. One thing to be mindful about is some cases allow battery removal only from the top, whereas others also allow removal from the front. The other option is to use one of the hold downs like Croc and Ashyers mention. For what it is worth, I personally would not have spent the extra money to save that much weight. I've used lithium batteries in off-road racing motorcycles and for that application the weight savings was important to me, but for me and the Seven the real benefit is (sadly) being able to leave the battery unattended for long periods. I just sold a motorcycle that sat for five years with no tender on the battery and it still cranked.

EarthX ETX680. Roughly the same dimension of a PC680 so you can use in the same case, but is much lighter and has all of those great characteristics of a lithium battery like holding a charge for a long time.

Oh man, sorry, not fun. This doesn't explain all of the symptoms, especially the racing idle, but have you considered that perhaps you are suffering vapor lock?

Clams plus British racing green, iconic!

I'm intrigued, what's what in the picture?

I got the version that vibrates.

Rather than get frustrated I prefer to think that Caterham is just furthering the great tradition of British car builders

That's awesome John! I had no idea you had the GoPro going on little 'ol Slow Pokey, what fun.

Yah, you can't find much information from the factory. Heck, their online parts catalog doesn't include descriptions, just titles. But I wouldn't sweat it, if Bruce recommended then you are good.

So... had my first adventure. This morning I was going to meet John at his place and go for a drive. We are about 20 miles apart, maybe 35 minutes or so driving, and about half way there I noticed the engine stumbling a tiny bit. It cleared up with revs so I thought maybe it wasn't up to temperature or I had fouled the plugs - something that would take care of itself. About two-thirds of the way there I knew I had a problem, but now I was past the point of no return so I crossed my fingers and ventured on. I came to a sputtering stop at about the 15 mile mark. Here's the dumb(er) bit, I brought only a bottle of tire inflator and one box end wrench to adjust side-view mirrors with. A call to AAA to learn that they wouldn't touch me with a 10 foot pole, and then a call to my son to have him fetch my truck and a trailer. In the mean time John delivered tools and we got to troubleshooting with Mike (Croc) on the phone and Bruce on text. The issue wound up being an Econoseal terminal in the fuel injector harness that wasn't fully seated. Strangely, and probably not coincidentally, that pin is shorter than the other five in that connector. Such is life sometimes.

Race, but I've no idea how it compares to what folks actually race with... I'm sure there are those watching (Croc?) who could comment. And I don't want to mislead, it isn't a suspension that I would pick if all I wanted to do was tour, but for what it is it is plenty comfortable.

Enormous

Drove well, but the driver could use help. I'm finding that the accelerator is awfully close to the brake pedal and at the same height. I'm sure onlookers were confused to see the car slow with the engine accelerating The brakes are not as grabby as I expected. I am/was attributing this to needing to get pads and rotors seated but someone mentioned it may be more that I'm not accustomed to non-power brakes.

For first impressions, I would say that the chassis was more compliant than I expected given how flat it corners. Hard to say on power at the moment because I'm not winding it up too much, but so far I'd say quick but not scary. Even though the Caterham has more power per pound than the Camaro I just sold, it doesn't feel like it will get away from me like the Camaro could at times. The build was fun, interesting and had a few challenging moments. Definitely something that doing a second time would be much easier and quicker because you would spend so much less time trying to figure out what goes where and why. You would also know what to do when the build manuals conflict and which fastener packs you need that weren't included. Folks will tell you that the first step is to inventory, which although I agree with you can't truly identify what you don't have since you won't have a complete list to inventory against and the list you do have won't be completely accurate. So the best advice I can give you is to ask questions rather than struggle. There are some folks on this forum that have many years of experience, and then there are a few of us newbies that have recently completed a build. Tap into both. And enjoy the process, rushing won't get you to done faster but it will zap the fun out of it.

Kind of the first day of summer here in the PNW. Everyone was out for a drive, including me!

Well it looks like tomorrow is the big day. I just finished moving the washer bottle from the boot to the engine compartment (next to the battery in the picture below) and tomorrow morning I'll adjust the toe. I also managed to grab an open slot for the VIN inspection to get a registration (not until August 26th and a 2.5 hour drive away, but I'm not complaining). Until then I will exist on three-day trip permits. Here in Washington State you can use up to three permits in a 30 day period.

Old thread but hoping to revive. I'm considering switching my cargo trailer for a flat bed. The cargo trailer is 71" at the door opening, and my SV chassis is about 69" between the front wing indicator lights so I'm thinking eventually I'll make a mistake and damage something. I've measure the angle from the bottom of the nose cone to the contact patch of the front tires at about 26 degrees. Does that seem right? If so then any of the Aluma tilt options should work as they are all about 15 degrees or less unless I'm missing something.

Nice looking Seven Jim. In case you aren't aware, that stripe is a factory option, you can get the nose band with or without the stripe. I opted for without but got thinking what it might look like with and hence the exploration. The single stripe blending into the nosecone is clean, something I'm not going to be able to replicate after the fact with vinyl. If you are going to have a noseband and a stripe then I think what you have works well. I was just organizing all of the vinyl stripes I've now have...

Yah, that sounds about right to have a pro do it. I managed to do the leading edge of the front and back wings, fuel filler cap, front bonnet latches and the bit that is in front of the rear wing and behind the elbow (no idea what that is called, kind of the equivalent of the B pillar) fine. The lower half of the nose cone came out fine too, but the top, that was 30 minutes of pure, unadulterated, mind numbing frustration. I've half a mind to Amazon a piece of bulk film and try again for no reason than the satisfaction of peeling it off. But I did it for the experience, something new, as much as to protect the car, and like many things I try one time is enough.

Thanks! I'm of the same mind as you, the introduction of silver just made things busy. I tried just black yesterday and it looked better, but in the end decided that I'm just not a stripe kind of guy and removed it. I've left the vinyl on the sides beneath the doors for now to see how I feel about it in a few more days. Food for thought if anyone is thinking of putting vinyl on their car, the adhesive reacted with the clear topcoat. The effect was nuanced, sort of a miniature orange peel effect, and strangely it wasn't uniform. Took a buffer and rubbing/polishing compound to bring it back. And I met my match with that protective film. I've always thought that in most things I can match a pro in my work (hence I'm frequently over my head), it just may take me 10X more time than the pro, but protective film on a nose cone proved to be my Achilles' heel. I got the bottom half of the nose cone done with a little mumbling, but the top was just not happening. I swear it wasn't cut correctly as there was simply no positioning it such that things aligned. So a bit of a botched job, one I've thought about pulling off but in the end the film is on and will protect the paint.

I wasn't thinking of a central silver stripe on the bonnet and black on the nosecone, but replacing the center silver with black entirely. That's the part I'm not sure about, use of silver versus all black. I've changed my plan and will install protective film on the nose cone under the vinyl instead of on top, and with drying time for the adhesive it will be a couple of days before I get back to doing the vinyl. That gives me the time you and John suggested to live with it, and I can move on to getting the Seven off of the jack stands today.