athens7

A pretty, low mileage example. I've had my car about 15 months and it's got 5200 miles on it. Tom, I bet 150 hp makes it easy to handle; but having spent last Sunday on a dusty, 50 degree ambient temp autocross course with street tires, I can attest that 200 hp ain't easy, but it's fun!

Congratulations, Paul!:party:

My. that's much faster!

All the posts I have seen on Toyo tires reference the 888s and RA1s. Does anyone have experience with the R1Rs? That is one of the few aggressive tires available here that fit the standard Caterham wheel/tire package (205/45ZR16).

:thumbs: Sure is pretty!

I have always carried my spare, except for 2 weeks when one wheel was out to be replaced. Without the spare, the back tires would spin all the way to 7000 rpm in first gear. The little extra weight seems to be just enough to help the rear hook up better.

I order parts from RMSC/Caterham USA (now one and the same, for all practical purposes) when possible, but I also order directly from Caterham UK if USA doesn't have the part in stock. The shipping is no worse than ordering anything else from overseas, and the parts are usually here in a week or two. Darren in the parts department at Caterham is very dutiful about answering emails quickly, and has no peer when it comes to knowing the cars. I have never been told my order had to wait for the monthly container (I expect that's a Caterham USA thing).

David- The Spa mirrors in the Sevens and Elans link are the best solution I've seen, but the mounting can be done better. Contact Jeff Sloan at British Auto Specialist in Ft. Worth, TX. www.britauto.net He has the Spa mirrors with a pin arrangement, like a door hinge, that requires no drilling and uses the door pin recepticles on the windshield frame. They can be used with or without the plexi wind screens. Just remove them when it's time to put on the doors.

I'm still looking for the car in that picture!

A nice car with lots of options. Certainly a steal at the current bid, but probably a long way from the reserve. It's also a 2003, not a 2004. The 10th digit of the VIN is the year of the chassis: Y for 2000, 1 for 2001, 2 for 2002, 3 for 2003, and so on. Some states may give you the year of assembly as the year of the car, but most will title it by the chassis VIN.

Big improvement on the stock Caterham bulbs; whiter, brighter low beams, and x2 improvement in distance illumination on high beams. Purchased from www.powerbulbs.com. $45 including shipping, and a free set of peanut bulbs for the parking lights. I couldn't get the same bulbs as cheaply (without the freebie) in the US. Size H4, btw.

OK, if it's a Sunday thing.

The catch can is now installed, retaining the original PCV system. http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/247258019_DSC01726.JPG http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1435903119_DSC01725.JPG http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1519233423_DSC01724.JPG The catch can had to be upgraded, as it would not hold a vacuum, which caused the car to run VERY unevenly. Once this was corrected, the car runs as if no modification was made. Now for a hard right-with 2 autocrosses this coming weekend, hopefully I will get a chance to test for a positive result!

FINALLY, 11 months after purchase, I received the Georgia title for my car :hurray::hurray: :hurray: :hurray: . All it took was months of stonewalling by the Georgia DMVS, lobbying the legislature, a new state law, more stonewalling by DMVS while they wrote their rules for executing the new state law, an inspection, and then a title with an "assembled" brand on it. Much better than the old "rebuilt" titles Georgia used to put on kit cars. People who know about cars know that rebuilt means wrecked, salvaged, then repaired, a process that has a nasty effect on a vehicle's value. Once the process was in place, all of a sudden the people at DMVS were much nicer, even solicitous! If I wasn't a car dealer, and therefore able to use a dealer tag on my car for the last 11 months... If anyone needs any help or info on the Georgia titling process, let me know; I've learned a lot more about it than I ever intended. :7fume:

Vehicle ID number shows it to be a 2001 chassis, not a 2003, or 2005.

Pros and cons of keeping the PCV system intact, with an in-line catch can vs. plugging the hole at the intake and ending the PCV system at a ventilated (filtered) catch can: Lower intake air temperature/cleaner intake air/more power Less plumbing vs Correct emmissions Scavenging effect from intake pulling gas from crankcase (?) ECU used to vacuum in PCV system, won't work correctly otherwise (?) I don't care about the ECU throwing a code, just that the engine runs correctly. Any thoughts on this?

The smoke was from the exhaust. A catch can seems the popular solution. Can it be integrated into the existing PCV system, or must it eliminate the return to the intake?

Saturday, I attended an autocross on a fast, clockwise course. The last sweeper was fairly fast, with a full throttle exit from a late apex. On this section, the car started emmitting blue smoke and exhibited a crackling misfire. As far as I can tell, this didn't occur anywhere else on the course, and I saw no smoke on the 90 mile drive home from the event. When I got home, I found the car had used almost 1/2 quart of oil. In the 1800 miles since my last oil change, the car has used less than 1/3 quart, and it was full when I checked it Saturday morning before the event. The car is equipped with an SVT Zetec with a Raceline wet sump, and the block and heads are stock, save a camshaft upgrade and some tuning changes (no porting, polishing, or other modifications). The motor was new when I acquired the car, and now has 3700 miles on it. I have been to several autocrosses with the car, and not had this problem, but I have also never run on a course with this particular direction/speed/g force of curve. What causes should I be looking for, and what are the possible cures?

Congratulations! Jeff certainly did a nice job putting my car together; I wish I had a neighborhood Caterham dealer!

Perhaps that's why the CFM pump is $299 and the billet gear set only is $249; A cheap a$$ Ford pump!

Ohh, that's nice!

I am planning on replacing my stock pump with CFM's SVT oil pump (referenced above). They are, however, on backorder until around the 11th of July. It is a stock Ford pump, only with billet aluminum gears instead of plastic. Supposedly, it is no more durable than a standard pump, but it will take greater revs. The stock pump gears come apart over 7400 rpms. The people there are friendly and helpful, and the parts I have purchased from them so far are 1st rate.

Lowflying magazine (Lotus 7 owners club) lists several UK insurance carriers that offer track day insurance. I will attempt to reach out to them and see if any similar coverage is available to US drivers.

As important as word of mouth is to any business, but especially small, specialist companies like the ones that serve our hobby, some type of response to/clarification of this transaction would seem to be a necessity.

Jim- If you haven't checked the alignment lately, it's a good place to start. My car (2005 SV Roadsport with Avon ZZ3 205/45ZR16 street tires) was set up by the dealer with a little toe out and no camber, good for autocross turn in, but bad for straight line road driving. Now I'm set up with a little more than 1 degree of negative front camber and zero toe, the rear ARB on the 2nd softest position, 18 psi front and 19 psi rear. The car is much more stable in a straight line, and still turns in well. Also, rake (the difference between front and rear ride height) can have an impact on oversteer/understeer. Caterham recommends 15mm rake (higher in back). My car came set up very low in front, with 30mm rake. I adjusted it to 20mm by raising the front end, which seems to keep the car neutral to slightly oversteering. The Avon ZZ3s break away fairly easily, so the car always feels a little loose, but they are easy to recover. I believe the ZZ3 is the successor to the ZV1.