catracer

As S2k7 says, Brown is "British" for unswitched power, meaning hot +12V all the time. There should be a large diameter 10 or 12 ga solid brown wire with a 5/16" ring terminal coming off the chassis harness in the engine bay at about the same location as the connector for the engine harness. That wire powers up some of the unswitched chassis circuits (horns, lights) and then, through the ignition switch, powers the switched circuits. It should be connected to the large terminal on the starter solenoid (the one opposite the terminal that is connected directly to the starter). That same solenoid terminal should have 2 additional connections, one to the alternator, the other through the battery cable to +12V on the battery. From there it follows the chassis harness, penetrates through forward section of the the transmission tunnel, then is ganged with several other solid brown wires on the right hand side, under the scuttle, just behind the hazard switch. One of those brown wires, in turn, goes to the ignition switch and provides the +12V to energize the rest of the *switched* circuits. We have had some issues with the connectors at the rear of the ignition switch also. There are a lot of them in a small space. If you can locate and hook up the brown wire in the engine bay, and still have in issue, check the ignition switch connectors. Hope that helps.

There has been some interest but it still needs a new owner. Current owner says sell. Some clarification regarding questions that other parties have asked: Idle and Camshaft "Problem with the idle is likely the increased cam lift and duration skews the mixture to the limit of the stock ECUs ability to manage at low load situations. As far as I can determine....I've swapped virtually all parts (save cams head and engine block) from a perfectly functional sister car over to the superlight and nothing made any difference. Then as a check, all the superlight parts to the sister car, which performed fine. The symptoms are a high idle during warmup (2500 RPM plus or minus) that does not decrease as the engine warms. Then, for some unknown reason, if you shut down and restart, RPM drops to normal....??? I've checked wiring harness for continuity and resistance and everything looks fine. All sensors function. After many 10's of hours of head scratching I gave up thinking that a new buyer may just take this engine on a different development path and the whole issue would be null. At any rate, it's more an annoyance than a running fault and would almost certainly be rectified with a stock cam reinstalled. The car runs great on the road, with the cam delivering a lot of zip from 3000 RPM on out." The missing diagonal on the roll over bar. "As originally provided there was a removable diagonal from the top hoop behind the driver, forward to a hard point on the passenger side knee area. If installed, there is no where to locate a passenger, but, in the UK at least, it was required for some speed events. It's gone. It would not be a huge issue to fabricate a new one should the need arise." Mileage and Odometer reading "The first owner used this for street only, as I remember. The current owner mostly for autocross and would drive it to SCCA autocross events in No VA or MD, compete, then drive it home. Mileage on speedo shows 10,108 and the owner claims that it only has 500 more or so. He had an encounter with a cone that took out the mechanical speedo drive at the transmission. It has been blanked and needs an electronic instrument installed, I think this may have been the same incident that caused the small rip in the RR fender. Regardless, the title would need to transfer with "nonfunctional odometer ". Regarding track use of car "For track use, these are really great dependable little cars at this level of tune. At one time my comany owned 7 of them and ran an SCCA/NASA and Drivers Ed race rental program. I'd guess, at the peak we were running about 50 entries a year not counting track days. Very few had any issues. The components that Caterham uses were originally designed for cars that weigh well over twice as much. They tend to be very lightly stressed and last a long time. For a 8-9 weekend race season we would figure 2 sets of front pads, two sets of slicks with rotation, a set of rear pads and 2 oil- filter changes. Then a full service offseason. Thats really about it. The norm was a car cleanup between weekends, usually nothing else. " Regarding painted Carbon Fiber wings and nose "This paint job was provided by Caterham at the time the car was purchased. The owner thought the raw carbon looked....well...."odd" against a painted chassis and asked that they spray the entire car. At the time Caterham had not come out with the carbon wing protectors and was providing the stainless versions with the Superlight package. They looked....again....."odd" with the red/black color scheme and the factory black out trim package. We used the same industrial version of Plasticote on the leading edge of the rear fenders as we did with the race cars. It does not get nicked or damaged with gravel/stone impacts as the factory protectors are prone." Questions? It's a great running and looking car at a bargain price. Chip Bond GT Classics, LLC Barboursville, VA 22923 Cell: 540 661-2944

PM sent.

SOLD. Thanks to all for the interest. 2000 Caterham Superlight R This is a 2 owner car originally sold by us (GT Classics). The current owner has just retired from the Army and is consulting with the government of Germany, where he now resides. He has asked me to find a buyer. The car is located near Charlottesville, VA and is titled in Maryland as a 2000 Caterham with the Caterham VIN. As ordered from the factory in 2000, this is the Superlight R package which included: Up rated shocks with adjustable spring perches. Vented front brake disks with upgraded calipers. Carbon-fiber nose, fenders and dash fascia. Quick release Racetech steering wheel. AP Suretrack limited slip differential with 3.62 ring and pinion. DeDion chassis with Watts linkage “7" Grill 6-1/2" X 13" front and 8-1/2" X13" rear 3 piece wheels. As factory options, the first owner added: Heater Leather seats, headrests and tunnel cover Tonneau cover Full weather gear, (screen, wipers, hood and sidecurtains) Full carpet set. 6 point harness, both sides FIA roll-over bar. Alloy Radiator Hood bag (to stow the top) Caterham racing fuel cell. Full paint with bonnet stripe At the time of delivery we also added a plumbed in Fire System and a Master Disconnect switch. The first owner later added the “motorcycle” flaps to the trailing edges of the front wings to help deflect gravel. The engine is the period Zetec with a more aggressive intake cam. Transmission is the Ford Type 9 five speed with 0.82 overdrive. Both were purchased through the Caterham engine program at the time from Rocky Mountain Sports Cars. Cosmetic condition is very good with some minor road rash, a small hood ding and a bit of a tear in carbon at the rear of the RR fender. Some leather fading has been touched up with dye then Lexol. All honest wear from 14 years of service. Mechanical condition is very good to excellent. It has an idle issue (cam), a nonfunctional speedometer, and a small weep from the transmission. I’ve given it a good go-over and there are no other areas that are lacking. All of the Ford emissions as provided by the Caterham program at the time are intact, including the integrated Caterham catalytic convertor. All necessary maintenance has been completed. Some accessories have been lost. These include the spare tire and its securing hardware, the original front carpets and the removable diagonal for the FIA roll-over bar. Also the plastic wheel center covers are gone. The owner is including a bar mount camcorder mount and a G-Tech Pro performance meter. A set of matching red clamshell front wings, still in factory packing is included as well. These were mis-shipped from Caterham at the time and never mounted. In addition, I have all the original sales documentation and all the service invoices. Tires are brand new Avon ACB10s. Not for the timid, the car has blinding acceleration, stops before you can think about it and generates G loading in corners that will leave you smiling.....as your competition grimaces in disbelief. It looks great and is fairly priced at $XX,XXX. REDUCED TO $29,900. Photos are at: http://s1264.photobucket.com/user/thumbdrum/library/2000%20Caterham%20Superlight%20R Contact me at chipb@ntelos.net for a viewing or for further questions. Chip Bond GT Classics, LLC Barboursville, VA Cell: 540 661 2944

I'm stunned. Ed was, without a doubt, one of the finest people I've met. Really one of the good guys. I had the pleasure to work with him on VX7 over the last decade. He was just here several weeks ago to pickup the car after some additional work over the winter. We visited a while. Always the gentleman he would always ask after all my family, my wife, the kids..... Goodbye Ed.

Hi Michael. This list is quite old, but there are many items still available. Of note, the T-9 stuff is all gone. The only fiberglass left are green front clamshells. I'll update after inventory the first of the year. Sorry haven't been checking in much as of late. Been swamped in the shop since January. Cheers Chip

Slomove, Sounds like the core has been sitting for a while? The Torx fastener is an abomination that should be made illegal and the inventor locked away in a small, dark place. They are horrible and are produced and used only for the benefit of the original assembler, robots in the Ford factory.... If you haven't already, I'd soak the heads, perhaps several times, with PB Blaster or some other penetrating oil. And If you don't have one already, now might be a good time to invest in an impact driver. Said tool with suitable extension, and a carefully aimed 2-3#, short handled engineers type hammer, will probably give you the best chance of keeping the Torx bolt head intact enough to actually remove it in one piece. Try and keep any extension as short as possible, limiting torsion trying to twist the extension. Give it a gentle tap, soak, bigger tap, soak again etc. over time. Nice thing about the impact driver is that it creates a LOT of downward engagement force as it rotates. Whereas one slip of a pneumatic impact will likly distort the Torx surfaces, making further attempts less and less effective. Good luck. ...oh yea....ARP makes a real stud and nut kit that will serve indefinitly and is just a bit more than the throwaway head bolts you just removed.

MIL is "Malfunction Indicator Light" aka check engine light. I really do not think that the MIL was ever fully implemented in the Caterham USA Zetec range. Early on during development, the wiring harnesses were speced with connections allowing such, but the light, I believe, was never installed...or only in rare instances. How 'bout some other owners comments about the red LED in the tach?

Hmmm. I was speaking of the earlier dash layout where there are separate indicator lights positioned in between the tach and speedo. Are the LEDs you are refering in the speedo or tach? What year is you chassis? Caterham used a lot of different instrument variants. I guess 2002 or 2003 started to see the LEDs in the guage. I do not know if they changed the function at that time. I'd be happy to compare with what I have in the shop, but all I've got in right now is a 1999 and a 2009 (and a couple racers that are different) You may want to check continuity between pin 2 ECU and the pins in the connector on the instument. Please disconnect the battery first! If you find continuity, that would be the MIL light. The color codes mentioned earlier may be of use. If you strike out there, check the two wires in the alt connector back to the guage. If continuous, then that is the charge indicator, If not, then I would guess the red light may indicate that the ignition switch is on.

That's the old Britsh standard issue, "not charging" light (i.e. insufficient smoke ). It will be on with ign on, engine not running and at low idle when the alt ouput is not sufficient to maintain battery charge. It should be off at anything above a low idle.

7Heaven. Go to http://www.car-parts.com, enter year, Ford Contour, then select the checkbox for "engine computer". Look and see if you can find an ECU for a manual (MT) transmission and "standard emmissions". Install it and that'll take care of the Auto trans codes. It may also give you a bit of a kick in the butt since the calibrations from ford are a bit more agressive on the MT ecus. Don't screw with the low-emmissions ecus. These, I understand, were rather ramdom installs from the factory to help drive fleet MPG averages up (tricky eh?). It may, however, help to have one of them on the shelf, for sniffer tests, if required. I know of no solution the vapor canister code issue, and also suprised that anyone is seeing a AC code. FYI the check engine light (if installed) is energized by the ECU shunting to ground on ECU pin #2. My notes (a mess) show that ECU pin2 has a black wire with an orange tracer that connects to pin#5 on the 13 pin connector between the injection harness and the chassis loom. The mating wire is black with a red tracer in the chassis loom and runs to the check engine light on the dash (if installed). The check engine light would, in turn, have a +12V supply. Any intermittent grounding on the black/red or black/orange wires would cause the light to flash.

So true. This madness started in 1975. Graduated from college, sold the VW microbus for $600 bought a TR3-A for $375. Picked up the 3 and drove home from NoVa in a pouring rain with no 1st or 3rd gear. heater not working, steamed up inside, I-64 rush hour......wipers marginal...water coming in through the numerous rust holes in the floor, screen and sidecurtains. Survival was so unexpected that the hook was forever set. I've had a TR3, or at least enough boxed parts to claim a car, ever since. The current is actually running/driving, for now anyway.

OH my, BRG TR 250? or a TR4 for next door neighbor? Raced a 4 for a while. Talk about dropping a boatload of bucks....

Having spent considerable time with Graham, I can attest to his great warmth and humility. A true gentleman. He, more than any other, will be credited with the creation of this icon. He lives on in each of us as we continue to delight in the results of both his vision and his life’s work.

Zetec. Contour/Mystique. The base Caterham engine delivered from 1999 to the Duratec. Valve lift limited to .380", 10:1 compression max. Unlimited ECU. Stock Sierra 5-speed. But we do get a special dispensation, we can run pump fuel, 87 from Sheetz...or who...ever....

Wow, Learned something today. Eric's engine is the 1500 pre-crossflow! Checked specs for the class...the series 4 car is allowed the crossflow but the S3 cars max allowed displacement is 1503 cc. That and a required weight with driver of 1530#. Exceeding the gvwr, I think. No clue what a full built, no expense spared, 1500 can make with stock valves, a pair of DCOEs w/ 30mm chokes. 160?, maybe a bit more.... What an impressive drive that was. Loved the sound of that engine in the video. It was really singing.

Here's a link to the onboard video from the FP race last Friday. '09 Runoffs - Prill In Car on Vimeo

That is the very same car. Locust. Interesting. It's coming in for a little work this fall. I'll put it on the scales then. Many many variations on the theme. Cool. Thanks.

Anyone know anything about a Scottish manufacturer that built marine grade plywood 7's? Have a local customer that bought one from ebay a couple years back. Needed a ton of wiring ( well, complete rewire actually) and some suspension work. Ply body on steel ladder frame. Pretty well executed I thought. Aluminum clad over the plywood. Crossflow with a T-9 and four link solid axle. Ran great. Just curious. Chip

Thanks for that, John.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys, but Christ T. does a good job. I've had many dealings with him in the past with cars and parts and never an issue.

MN, Suggest you do a quick search for any import repair shop, restoration shop or race prep shop nearby. Here's one in Princeton, MN (don't know anything about them). http://www.davenportracingusa.com Good luck

Spoke with Kevin Leigh yesterday. The car took a pretty big hit. Kevins a bit bruised and sore but in good spirits. We lamented the fact that an entire season can come down to a single tire choice. As I watched the webcast while they were still on grid, it was apparent that the weather was really iffy. Flip of the coin. Really got nasty on the 3rd lap or so. From Kevins description yesterday, seem the car will need at least a full front clip. The Brit's call it a "long frame" It's the frame section from the front bulkhead forward. Arch Motors can provide it. I've put in several over the years, not a terrible job. In fact, frequently you do not even need to remove the side skins, just free them up to the cowl, and spread them enough to provide access to the tube frame. Anyway, After he gets back home and settles in, I'm meeting with him later this week or over the weekend to take a look. I'll take some pix and post them if anyone has interest. The winner, Sam Halkias, had a great drive and made the right call. I was running a TR4 in SCCA before I switched to Caterhams when they were first classified in 1999. Everytime he saw me at the track afterwards he jokingly would call me a "traitor". Great guy, he's been looking for this win for almost 30 years. Can anyone tell me where, or if there is a link to "club member join info" or something. Like to make a contribution to the admins. Help pay costs associated with the board and migration. BTW I had a lot of 505 errors a few minutes ago. Cheers Chip

Well you could use a relay then to handle any high amperage load that might be present. Understand the detector does not draw much, but at some point someone will try and use it for their mobile coffee pot, mobile air compressor, cigar, something. Guess you could alway wire it in without the lighter connection to a switched circuit. If so, pretty easy to tap directly off the ignition switch.

MN, I'd run a dedicated circuit for the lighter, just incase it ever gets used as, well, a lighter. Just a straight run of 12 ga from the battery +12V through a 15 or 20 amp in-line fuse holder to the lighter then to ground. The windscreen fixing is adequatefor the ground. Try to use ring terminals and solder at battery and ground. Best to Solder and shrink all the other connections.