athens7

While looking through the September issue of Classic & Sports Car magazine (60 years of Ferrari!), I noticed that the October issue will have a feature on 50 years of the Lotus Seven. According to the blurb, the issue will be available September 6th-probably in Britain, later here in the colonies. It's something to watch out for, though.

The man, and the car, that pushed me over the edge into Seven ownership!

Less than 1 week old, and I've destroyed both exaust mount rubber bushings. The design is horrible; soft rubber with nothing inside to keep it from separating. My mechanics solution was to craft new rubber mounts from hole sawed round sections of a Z rated tire sidewall (about 3 stacked, with 1 more on each outer side of the bracket), with a fender bolt and washer running through the whole shooting match. I get a tiny bit more vibration, but a nice stable exhaust that is no longer hitting the side of the car, or vibrating against the frame at the rear suspension (I thought my roll bar had a rattle in it!). What other solutions have members created for this problem? I'm sure someone has come up with a better idea.

Car nut since a toddler, in the car business for 24 years (46 now). Saw my first Seven 20 years ago, when a guy drove one to the dealership where I worked. Didn't start owning my own cars until about 10 years ago (demonstrators are nice!), but since then I've had a 1971 240Z, 1987 MR2, 1993 Miata, 1987 Alfa Spider Quad, and a 2003 Beck 550 Spyder. The Spyder and the Caterham were the two cars I had always coveted, and, thanks to an understanding wife, I've had a chance to own both. Northeast Georgia is a great place to drive fun cars, with lots of nearby, quiet, twisty roads, plus, Road Atlanta is 45 minutes away. The Spyder was neither safe enough, nor strong enough to track, so now I have the car for the job, it just needs a more skilled driver. Any thoughts on driving school choices (expensive!) or other opportunities to gain experience would be welcome; I know just enough to know I don't know much.

The car finally arrived Friday afternoon, so no more athens550. Now its athens7, and a new 2005 Caterham SV SVT motor with Kent camshaft upgrade 5 speed box with standard 1st gear ZF limited slip 3.92 rear AP brake upgrade 3 pass aluminum radiator FIA roll bar w/petty strut race fuel filler sump skid plate Jet hot coated exhaust leather seats carbon dash/sills/stone guards adjustable spring seats quick release Momo steering wheel 16" wheels w/Avons weather gear hood bag perspex wind deflectors carbon side mirrors interior insulation kit From the first drive, one can clearly see how solid the car is, much better than my Spyder. The rear end steps out easily, but is easy to control. Much fun ahead, especially as the weather here is getting nice and cool (only 90 degrees!). Thanks to Jeff Sloan and the guys at British Auto Specialists, and to Jim Robertson for letting me ride in his car and also for referring me to Jeff. Looking forward to blats with any willing co-conspirators.http://www.usa7s.org/aspnetforum/upload/964753258_DSC00653.JPGhttp://www.usa7s.org/aspnetforum/upload/1973465412_DSC00654.JPGhttp://www.usa7s.org/aspnetforum/upload/1560777431_DSC00655.JPGhttp://www.usa7s.org/aspnetforum/upload/1346971800_DSC00656.JPG

$1100.00 to ship a big brake kit, racing fuel filler, petty strut, and some other odds and ends for my car, so I'm in at $4000.00+

My roll bar is the current Caged X brace FIA bar. When I was learning about them, I got the following info from Cody @ Caterham USA: The standard bar is made out of 16 gauge (.065” wall thickness) ERW steel, and as Jez told me is “cosmetic”. The FIA bar I sent you is made from .090” wall thickness cold rolled seamless steel and has been crash tested for FIA approval. I will take it back if you want, but that is the only other bar they make. The only other option is to go for a cage. The petty strut (bar from the roll bar to the passenger foot well) is a separate option. I got one of these as well, as it is easily removable. A little more info from Jeff @ British Auto: Received the roll bar. The hoop is only 1.5 inches as the original bar presently on the car is 1.75. The diagonal bars are the same for both. Do you know if Caterham offers the track day bar in the original size which is 1.75 inches. Don't think my customer will go for the smaller size bar. Why would a track bar be smaller in diameter? Oh,I know the answer........ it's Caterham. Please ignore the avatar image; it's a picture taken before I bought the car and had the mods done. When the car arrives (Saturday?!), I will post pictures.

Don't let GA DMVS force a Rebuilt branded title on you. Rebuilt means wrecked and rebuilt. GA can and will issue a "special construction" branded title: I had one on my Spyder. It took some work, but much better than a salvage title. Kit cars are handled by the DMVS Salvage Section: call the main number in Atlanta, stay on hold the requisite 30-45 minutes, then asked to be connected to the Salvage Section. When you get them, ask for a supervisor, leave a message with your cell phone number. They will call you back from a direct line; keep the number and handle all future business direct. The salvage section people can get you a list of inspection stations in various parts of the state. I had my car inspected at my dealership; the inspection was easy, but much follow up was required to get the special construction title (the inspector didn't know it was available, and wrote rebuilt on the inspection form). Of course, this was all in 2003, and some things may have changed since then, but Georgia is actually pretty lenient on kit cars. Good luck.

I had the car built as a complete car in 2003. There are several builders of both complete cars, and kits, just like with Sevens. Originals are worth $800,000 to $1,000,000+++, and are rarely seen outside of museums, concourse events, and vintage racing gatherings.

I thought I heard the sound of sudden wallet decompression...

Dave- The original cars came with full or half racing windscreens, not windshields, but US import regulations required the cars to have tops. The solution was a birdcage frame with a top stretched over it, and strapped to 4 dash loops. Original pictures exist, and boy was the top ugly. My loops are a cosmetic shout out to the original, commonly installed an more detailed builds of the car.

Per Mazdas request, a couple of pictures of my previous toy (now sold). I await the parts fairy from England for the upgrades Jeff at British Auto is putting on my SV; hopefully, I'll have the car sometime in August.http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/202319896_DSC01167.JPGhttp://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1121233690_DSC02149.JPGhttp://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1773767639_DSC02153.JPGhttp://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/235828378_DSC02146.JPG

I've got the 550 now, but I hope to have it sold by the time the 7 arrives (lack of garage space). It goes on sale this weekend on www.spyderclub.com and I'll post some pictures here if anyone is interested in seeing another take on the 1400 lbs/180 hp concept.

Thanks for the info. It looks like I've reached agreement with Jeff Sloan at British Auto on his demo, an SV with an SVT motor. He's going to do the cam upgrade, and a few other things, then on to Georgia!

As I've learned today, 2 problems seem to exist with the Duratec/Arch frame combo. First, the height of the engine may necessitate a dry sump oiling system. Second, the factory throttle body/ECU setup has clearance problems near the foot boxes. Apparently, the people using Duratecs are getting the motors from Raceline and using non OEM ECUs. This requires a lot of dyno/computer ECU mapping time (way over my head). Any feedback on this info?

I've been a voyeur on the site for about a month. I'm looking at a new Caterham SV, but I wonder about waiting for the Caged frame and a Duratec engine. I hear that the Duratec won't fit in the Arch Motors frame, but I see posts here implying that a fit is possible. What do you all know about fitting the Duratec in an Arch frame, and is there any word on a time frame for availability of Caged/Duratec SVs?