athens7

I guess I just don't understand the idea of a 2 owner, 23 year old car with 1800 miles on it. My car is by no means a daily driver, but it's hard to imagine not finding a little time to go for a ride now and then. Then there's the whole "cars don't like to sit" issue. One would believe that every seal, hose, and gasket on the car would be rotted. That said, there likely aren't many Caterhams for sale at that price with 1800 miles on the odometer! I just saw RubberBanjo's posts-this was not meant as disparagement to the car or it's owner. Please don't delete me, Mazda!

Isn't a 1450 lb S3 Superlight kind of like Kate Moss with a pot belly?

I've noticed my car's shift into 3rd, up or down, can be balky at times (more when cold). Also, on occasion the shift into first from neutral can be balky. No grinding, no feeling of teeth, just a stop before the gear is engaged. I have had the top cover removed to install a fill/check plug. Is there any adjustment in the shifter mechanism or cover that might affect this issue?

Has anyone else seen the cover car from March's Caterham Life? It has an interesting set of mirrors that don't seem available from Caterham UK (it's also a very pretty shade of blue that also looks custom). The mirrors certainly mount differently than any others I've seen. http://www.caterham.co.uk/assets/html/news_download.html

McMaster-Carr have a number of u-bolts available, with work load limits up to 5000 lbs. (and more). How about one of M-C's bolts with plates similar to the ones in the relevant pictures?

Martin- Thanks for the offer. One of the appeals of the u-bolt is that the driveshaft doesn't have to come out. I have a local fabricator looking into this; I'll post any build options, if anyone is interested.

I'm absolutely a prospect for the one we can't get! I like the install; neat and clean with no holes. Perhaps I can find someone locally to do this based on the pictures.

That's a big reason I got rid of my Beck Spyder and got a Caterham-it's a tough little car!

CaterhamSVT, how do the power curves look across the rev range? Every SVT powered Caterham's dyno chart that I have seen has a dip in the power and torque curves around 3000 rpm. The tuners and owners with whom I've spoken believe it is due to an airflow restriction caused by the exhaust. Did you find such a dip and, if so, what did your tuner have to say about it? Also, was your car dyno'ed on a Dynojet dyno, or another type?

I installed a set of Toyo R1Rs. We bent the wing stays very slightly to accommodate the tires, something I found to be a simple matter, as noted earlier in this thread. The tires are UTQG 140 AA A, so street legal and not requiring race mods to run in D Modified (prop shroud, external cut off, etc.). I have been warned that the tires will wear fairly quickly for street use on most cars, but most cars are a lot heavier than 1420 lbs. I drive about 4000 miles per year, plus about 15 autocross events. If I have to put on a new set each year, it seems a fair price to pay in terms of cost to compete. I have put a couple of hundred miles on the tires and run one autocross so far, and the tires are great! They ride softer than the Avons on the highway, with a slightly higher tendency to react to road crown as well as a little more jiggle in the wheel on uneven road surfaces. These traits are only noticable with hands off the wheel, and they do not cause the car to react uncomfortably in normal driving. As an autocross tire, they transform the car: turn in is dramatically sharper, and the back end just sticks. Previously, the car was very easy to overdrive, oversteering on throttle and brake, but also capable of plowing as the front end lost grip. Now you just point and the car goes there, and lateral grip is very high. In my first event on these tires, with no practice, I won my class by almost 3 seconds against a CRX running 255 series DOT slicks, and was fast modified in any class (including beating an E Mod Cobra with a 500 hp turbo V8 and Ecsta V710s). On a 60 degree day, the tires never got above 90 degrees F, and the pyrometer I used showed a 5 degree spread from edge to edge at 21 psi (I run 18 psi on the road), with sidewall roll over just barely on the vertical side of the tread edge. I don't know that these would be the best choice as a road only tire due to the softness of the compund, but for my purposes I am very pleased.

Rob, Saturdays are work days for me. Sunday is the only day I could make an event. I miss a lot of neat stuff due to work-but, then again, work is what got me my car!

If you want to autocross your car, the next Atlanta Region SCCA event is Sunday March 28th at the Turner Field Green Lot. Our class will run in the morning if you want to run D Modified. If you are new to autocross, ARSCCA has an excellent novice program that runs in the afternoon. Registration information is available at http://www.soloatlanta.com http://www.MotorsportReg.com Welcome!

:hurray:

I am generally a student of the "buy the most expensive solution possible" school. It's not necessarily the best school, but it has pretty diplomas. I recently replaced my front hoses with Samco Sport silicone hoses from Merlin Motorsports. I am pleased with the price and quality, as well as Merlin's service. What type of radiator do you have? More specifically, what is the diameter of the radiator fittings? If you have a standard Caterham USA set up, you have black plastic pipes that connect both the top and bottom driver's side hoses from the radiator to the thermostat housing and engine. Those are 35 mm outside diameter. I have the Caterham triple pass aluminum radiator, which has 32 mm o.d. piping. The cooling submarine (Caterham's phrase) connecting the 2 bottom front hoses is 32 mm o.d. I was unable to find replacement hoses for the originals from Caterham UK. Darren Phillips, who knows virtually everything about any Caterham, said they had no experience with our motors in the UK. Ben at Caterham USA said their replacements were generic pieces, from several different sources. Samco makes universal racing hoses in a variety of sizes, and I found 90 degree reducer elbows and 90 degree constant diameter elbows to fit the car (RE90 35-32 and RE90 32). The tricky front hose is the top driver's side hose (see picture). I wound up using a Samco 35-32 reducer elbow, an alloy connector, and a length of Nissan radiator hose with a bend in it for the half that connects to the black tube (I can get you the Nissan part number if you want it). A big problem with my original hoses was they were all 35 mm, tightened down with hose clamps to fit the 32 mm radiator outlets-a guaranteed way to prematurely wear the hoses! The new solution is much better, but I have also been told Samco will custom make hoses, so one could also send them the old top hose and get a custom replacement, if one had a couple of months to spare...

I'm due for new tires before autocross season starts. I want to fit tires that are streetable, but as aggressive as possible. My choice was a set of Toyo R1Rs, which are one of the very few types available in 205/45R16 like the original Avon ZZ3s. When I went to have them installed, I found they were too wide, and rubbed against the wing stays (I had been warned that this was a likely possibility). Another choice is the Bridgestone RE-11, but I fear the same problem will exist with them. I am told most of these types of tires are bigger/softer than sized as a way to shade competition rules. A 5 mm spacer would allow the tires to clear the wing stays, but it looks like they will then contact the outer lip of the cycle wing. I would prefer to avoid the extra expense of new wheels, and I cannot use a tire with a UTQG less than 140 (R comps) without making a number of other modifications to the car to remain legal, so Advan A08s or Toyo R888s are out. Can anyone recommend a tire/size to fit my wheels? If I must go to a 15" wheel, what are some good choices for light weight? Is the Caterham 15" wheel any good, or am I better off with an Enkei or other aftermarket wheel?

If a Camel is a race horse designed by a committee...

:drool:

IIRC, in 2006 the GOP had the white house and both houses of Congress. Bush tried to pass immigration reform, and the conservative wing of his own party scuttled the legislation over the amnesty issue. I am certainly not in favor of the "progressive" agenda being foisted upon us by the Democrats, but I was a disgusted Republican after seeing the '06-'08 Congress accomplish NOTHING of substance. For all the talk by politicians of bipartisanship (the best way to accomplish any meaningful change IMO), in today's political world, it seems any politician who even tentatively reaches across the aisle is accused of treason by their contemporaries. Our parties seem more concerned with scoring rhetorical points and preventing any successes by the opposition than they do addressing any of the serious issues that face our country. No one has a direct line to The Answers, regardless of party label. Maybe a little compromising, and acknowledging that almost everyone has something valid to contribute to a good solution...? :rant:

Caterham VINs are 17 digit, US conforming format, and located on the right side of the engine bay on the top lip of the sheet metal, where the edge of the bonnet rests. Georgia recognizes both the VIN and the brand of car for titling purposes, and my VIN also pulls up on Autocheck, albeit with incomplete information about year and equipment (can you believe they couldn't intuit the type of engine from the VIN? Amazing!)

Caterhams should come from the factory with the attention to detail your car has...of course, then none/few of us could afford one (certainly not me)! Congratulations on a superb execution :drool:.

7 "day" episodes and an epilogue.

Pictures of the Mocal gauge are to be found here: http://www.usa7s.com/vb/showthread.php?t=3913

Having been spoiled by the mechanical oil pressure gauge I installed this summer, I thought it would be nice to have a water temperature gauge I could rely on as well. Mocal makes a mechanical water temperature gauge, but the capillary tube probe is too big for my sender hole. Stack claimed on their website to make a mechanical gauge with a 1/8 NPT thread pitch probe, but when I got it, it was 1/2 NPT. So I went with one of Stack's electrical stepper motor gauges. Again the Stack website was wrong about thread pitches, but the good folks at Merlin Motorsport got me the correct parts. The temperature gauge sender hole on the SVT Zetec thermostat housing is 1/8 NPT, as is the sender for both Metric and English Stack water temperature gauges (the Stack website says the metric gauge sender is M10x1). In order to not have 3 different types of gauges on my dash, I swapped out the Mocal oil pressure gauge for a Stack unit. I have a Stack fuel gauge on order to complete the set. Pros to the Stack gauges- very high quality compared to stock better mounting hardware very accurate/responsive solid state senders Cons to the gauges- they look very different than the stock gauges -brighter lights (LED) -illuminated needles -purple/black bezels, especially noticeable in sunlight Stack recommends a 1 amp fusible link in the wiring, which they do not provide As one can see from the night pictures, there is a striking difference in the brightness of the gauges. The Stack gauges are not too bright, just whiter and more visible. I am getting LED bulbs to replace the incandescent ones in the speedo and tach in the hope that they will be closer to the Stack lighting. All in all, the Stack gauges are very nice, especially if one is willing to go whole hog and buy the complete set. If the goal is simply to replace the crappy Caterham oil pressure gauge/sender, I would recommend the Mocal gauge, as it looks and lights very much like the stock gauges. With that honest but perhaps shameless plug said, I am selling my Mocal gauge if anyone is interested. Less than 6 months old, new condition. Cost new $50, $30 obo plus $5 shipping.

Ok, some respect is due AMC for making a series that doesn't beat us over the head with everything, assuming we are too stupid to "get it" if it isn't completely explained. I like the utopia/distopia concept, and it is interesting and not a little bit relevant that 6/2 is convinced he can build a better utopia, especially since he was so desirous of the downfall of the village. Hubris, even with the best of intentions, is dangerous. On the other hand, the idea that we could all live in simultaneous conscious/subconscious planes, wirelessly connected to each other (or the mainframe that hosts us), and existing in a world that is the subconscious creation of a single, again wirelessly connected, individual, is quite a leap, even for suspension of disbelief. Oh, and if someone who came from the real world dies in the village, it would seem that they are just out of the game, and not dead in the real world, if Mrs. Curtis' condition at the end of the show is any indication. Hell, everybody should just jump in the holes, then! All in all, though, better than much of what passes for network TV these days, I think. It did get better as it went along, IMO.

No car, not much story, and little or no acting, other than Ian playing Ian. It took AMC an hour to set the stage, something that the original did in the approx. 3 minutes prior to the credits of the premiere episode. And what was with the little "mini-previews" of the upcoming segment at each commercial break? Do we have such a short attention span that we can't wait 2 minutes to see what's going to happen next? To AMC's credit, at least the now commonplace promo for another show on the bottom 1/3rd of the screen while the current show is running was missing. I'm surprised the guy from Mad Men didn't keep popping up in the corner! How about a pool with bets on whether the new show airs 17 episodes, or more, or less?