mccasksl

Thanks John, I have Mintex 1144 pads front and rear as installed on the car when I purchased it. (2008 Roadsport S3 very low mileage). Once I get the master cylinder sorted, I intend to visit the front / rear bias as is the thread topic. Cheers!

Greetings (sorry for the long rant): I've read this thread and a few others that touch on brake issues / problems I'm experiencing and my questions, so I'm posting here. This is after talking w/ AP Racing, Caterham, Demon Tweeks, Questmead, and researching AP documents as best I can. But of course, I may have missed something so defer to the collective group wisdom which greatly exceeds mine. Does anyone have direct experience replacing the "STD" 0.700 bore brake master cylinder w/ the "AP Racing" 0.812" (13/16") bore brake master cylinder, or associated driving experience / feel to offer comparisons 0.700" to 0.812"? The line pressure comparison data etc. AP offers would indicate going up in bore size would reduce feel and the ability to modulate pedal pressure etc. Seams counter intuitive to go up in bore size. I should be able to answer this question myself but am currently trying to remedy / fix brake issues on my: 2008 Roadsport S3 Duratec (0.700" bore brake master cylinder CP5615) repair kits are unavailable so I need a new brake master cylinder, front brakes finally bit the dust as the whole travel to cut off thing, seal degradation, shimming etc. apparently does not allow the port to the hose / reservoir to open upon pedal release, the pads cannot be fully retracted nor can I bleed the front brakes, even with the pedal detached to not preload the cylinder. Rear brakes work fine and can be bleed. The brakes have never really been to my liking. Trying to decide, if I have to buy a new brake master cylinder, should I stick w/ 0.700" bore ($$) (repair kits unavailable) or go w/ the 0.812" (13/16") bore ($$$+) "AP Racing Brake Master Cylinder" (repairs kits are available). Note I have yet to remove, disassemble, and inspect the master cylinder, so do not preclude the potential for a broken internal spring or other problem. 2005 CSR 200 (0.812" 13/16" bore brake master cylinder "AP Racing" CP4627) CP4627-18RK repair kits are available. The brakes work (considerably better than my S3), but given recent experience driving a couple Caterhams with incredible brakes in the UK, and after cleaning, checking, and bleeding brakes my CSR brakes, I have decided the brake master cylinder needs to be rebuilt. I've attached the CP4627-18RK repair kit info including schematic for reference. As best I can tell the 0.700" bore brake master cylinder CP5615 internals are similar but I welcome any corrections. Note: Both cars have the uprated 4-pot Caterham / AP Racing front calipers and stock rear calipers (Sierra?). Anyone with experience or knowledge about the above who can provide any insight or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Cheers! Steve P14.038.pdf

(Attn admin: I'm not sure where this should be posted, it's an international event not National, so feel free to relocate, Thanks!) Just returned from the incredible 22nd Taffia Fish and Chip Run in Wales. I’ve been trying for several years (entries are capped at 300 cars, it was fully booked in 2 hours) and finally made the cut this year. The Caterham and Lotus Seven Club and the Taffia F&C Run organizers did an incredible job in hosting what has to be the premier Seven motoring event of the year. Starting with a BBQ on Friday evening (camping alongside your Seven for the hardiest of souls), Saturday morning breakfast (BAP), and run (some 263 cars made the start) from the Hanley Farm Shop (Chepstow) 140 miles north to Aberdyfi and Walkers Fish and Chips on the Irish Sea coast. The Sunday return to Chepstow on your own allowed for alternative routings to take in Mt. Snowdon, the Mach Loop, and the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park. It was UK touring at its finest, the beautiful countryside and greenery with never ending winding roads, lakes, rivers and seacoast, the essence of British sports car motoring, and in a proper British car, the Seven. I think several USA7s members have made previous Taffia F&C Runs, and I highly recommend it for any Seven owners must do list. I see Vovchandr has just posted a link to a Youtube video of this years run and Caterham Cars will be coming out with a 2026 Taffia Fish and Chip Run video likely similar to their excellent 2025 Youtube video. Thanks to Hannah at Williams Automobiles in Chipping Sodbury near Bristol (highly recommended), we were able to hire a 2015 360SV for the three days. The well broken in (42,000+ miles) Seven ran like a top never missing a beat. Thanks to Caterham Cars who sponsored in part this year’s run as well brought along a CSR Twenty edition and a 310 Encore edition. Finally, many thanks go to Jon Symons and the rest of the 2026 organizing committee and Derek Holliday for doing everything they could to assist us and personally making our F&C Run a success. A few take aways: The supplied mapping / routing and suggested MyRoute-app worked (short term free trial) extremely well with the proper level of map display and text, for the secondary roads of Wales; Google maps less so; and Beeline worked but is really more suited for motorcycles. But there is nothing like a hard copy “Road Book” and a suitable copilot / navigator. The organizing committee put together an incredible Road Book w/ the proper level of detail and notation to help with the many nuances of the roads / routings in Wales, something I haven’t seen in many years. A Club WhatsApp Community was set up for drivers / participants which provided a mechanism for rapid communications for everything from road conditions, detours, construction, weather, assistance needed, status, picture posting etc. which worked very well. Headsets w/ intercom are nice for pilot / co-pilot communications, but not necessary (we used a half hood and side doors / windows, and the rain / wind noise was not bad at all). Finally proper layering and wet weather gear are essential. We left 90 degs and sunny in Austin to arrive in London / Wales with 40’s-50’s maybe low 60’s and rain nearly everyday. This is one time we appreciated the endless heat emanating from the footwells in a Seven. Be on the lookout for notices about next year’s event about Mid-January 2027. Cheers! Steve and Akiko

FWIW I'll give my initial review of the Gyraline G1, the little brother to the G2 ($200 plastic unit readable to nearest 0.1 degree vs $600 aluminum unit? readable to nearest 0.01 degree), with software on your i-phone, as discussed by Austin David. Gyraline has several on-line Youtube videos which have been very helpful. The biggest thing I've found is I can measure and tweak the suspension as many times as I want very quickly w/o having to schedule / visit an alignment shop and depend on their technicians. This is very handy when rebuilding / refreshing or tweaking your suspension etc. etc. I've had the unit for several months and used it to dial in the suspension on my 2006 Lotus Exige after a complete overhaul / rebuild front and rear w/ new: Delrin bushings, tie rod ends, ball joints, Penske DA shocks, wheel bearings, powder coated a-arms, etc. i.e. 6-months plus effort. I first used the rotors as the reference for the G1 and then followed up w/ the wheels as the reference. Consistency in measurement technique provides incredible repeatability which followed by road testing and the occasional "string" check even for fairly minor adjustments gave me a lot of confidence in the G1. Of course, it helps that everything on the suspension (and tires) is new so the car has a completely different feel (far more precise and responsive). Toe (individual relative to car CL and total front and back) and camber are easily dialed in as well rapid checking for bump steer. After getting the Exige to 90% of where I want, still working on bump steer w/ limited options for adjustment on the Lotus, I moved to my 2009 Caterham S3. I upgraded to Penske DA shocks and revised spring rates, checked all suspension bushings, rod ends, ball joints etc. As a precursor to replacement of all bushings (Powerflex), rod ends, tie rod ends and ball joints (using Jack Webb's (UK) incredible Caterham suspension bits for improved camber and bump steer) I checked, adjusted / tweaked the alignment w/ the G1. Again, incredible how fast I can measure and adjust everything, and feel immediate results on the road. I'll give further update(s) as I get into the S3 suspension overhaul / rebuild but the $200 spent on the G1 has been well worth it for me. Of course, as always "your results may vary". Cheers! Steve

I’m signed up for SLC in Sept., will be trailering car (Lotus or Caterham TBD) from Austin. I’ve enjoyed several LOG events over the years. The combined Golden Gate Lotus / LOG event should be great. Heading to the UK next week for Taffia Fish & Chip Run, on my must do list for years. Now retired, I’m determined to make NJMP in October. Cheers! Steve

Pardon my being late to the table, but I'm still searching and trying to catch up on the A-frame issues as I refresh / upgrade my 2009 S3 suspension (street only). I had planned to upgrade to Powerflex bushings throughout, but reading about the A-frame issues as well studying the geometry / suspension it may not be the best idea here. I note several Caterham and Lotus Seven Club folks (courtesy of Neil - "7 wonders of the world") have gone to a spherical bearing in the A-frame de dion tube attachment point which looks like a very good improvement although it may not solve all problems for full on track cars w/ slicks etc. Does anyone have experience with this bearing kit or similar? I know some of the USA7s folks are also in the Caterham and Lotus Seven Club so thought I'd inquire. @MV8 @EdWills Thanks for the Len Terry book reference, it brought back fond memories of many hours studying the rapidly evolving Formula Fords during the 70's at SCCA events and dreaming of fabricating / trying some of the Len Terry designs. Spherical A Frame bush set - Page 9 - For Sale - Caterham and Lotus Seven Club Batch 2 - Spherical A Frame bush set - For Sale - Caterham and Lotus Seven Club Cheers! Steve Austin

Ian please PM me off list. I’m north of Lake Travis w/ S3 and CSR(similar to SV). Cheers! Steve

No luck freeing those problematic rod ends. New push / track / tie rods etc. from Caterham (on BO so 12+ months for several of them) was the solution. It appears everything was assembled dry and likely froze without any further adjustment or anti-seize. Slowly but surely I’m re doing everything on my 2005 CSR and 2009 S3. No doubt I should have bit the bullet and ordered a kit new from the factory and waited to do it right myself. “Built by others” is a mixed bag but generally produces unsatisfactory results. Many thanks for all your words of wisdom. Cheers! Steve

Got it thanks! Now I see the all the battery pictures posted. Cheers! Steve

Thanks Mike. It appears to be over the passenger footwell. I’m installing same bracket same place. Did you secure the two SS studded plates so they don’t fall away when removing side brackets /nuts / battery? How? The bracket is an engineering marvel except for when you might want remove the battery seasonally etc. cheers! Steve

Thanks!

Mike: Is this the Odyssey PC-680 battery bracket you reference? Amazon.com: Odyssey Battery HK-PC680 Hold Down Kit For Use : Automotive Looks like a proper bracket. Do you have a picture of it installed in a Caterham you can share? Cheers! Steve

What is the collective wisdom of Seven owners on freeing frozen threaded rod ends in various suspension bits? My record is very poor: 75% on rear Watts Linkage on a 2009 S3 and 50% on front inboard suspension push rods and rear track rods on a 2005 CSR. It appears literally everything was assembled dry on these two cars and no amount of Liquid Wrench / PB Blaster or concentrated heat are able to keep the rod ends from shearing off leaving a threaded portion in the fabricated tube. Heat also quickly destroys any rod end lubrication free PTFE insert or liner but I want to have complete alignment adjustment for dialing in the suspension. To date, while they are still available, replacement watts links, push rods, track rods and rod ends are less expensive than machine shop time to drill out and re-tap the fabricated tubes, if you can find a suitable machine shop. I was always amazed at what the serious dual sport / off road motorcycle folks would do, that of taking delivery of a brand-new bike from KTM and the like and proceeding to completely dissemble, inspect, and reassemble the bike using the proper lubricants, anti-seize, and torque settings. Both the S3 and CSR are quickly heading in that direction. Many thanks in advance for any words of wisdom or successful experiences you care to share. Cheers! Steve Austin

Hi Steve: Perfect timing as several of us (Lotus/Caterham Texas folks) are contemplating a trip early July to take in a number of like minded events. Several have booked to take in F1 Silverstone 7/5-7 followed by Goodwood FOS the next weekend 7/11-14, along with a number of other must do / see stops, Hethel for Group Lotus and Classic Team Lotus, and The Bird in Hand Pub / Restaurant, Dartford for Caterham Cars, Brooklands Museum, etc. etc. As for organized tours / packages, a number of years ago I took an incredible Classic Team Lotus themed group tour (all inclusive airport pickup to drop off) taking in most of the above and a number of other private car collections, restoration / race shops, and estates, not generally available or open to the public. I'll have to inquiry if they are still offered. There are many F1 oriented commercial tour package companies, not necessarily Lotus/Caterham focused, I'm sure can provide a great package although I have no specific experience with them. But with a little bit of work and input from others, you can put together your own trip. I'm sure Croc and others can offer many more recommendations and local contacts. Feel free to message or contact me off list and I'd be glad to share what I've learned and experienced. FWIW Silverstone F1 tickets are already running low or sold out for many selections. Goodwood FOS tickets went on sale to the general public a couple weeks ago and they will run low or sell out of the ideal days / packages etc. Silverstone F1 and Goodwood FOS are not to be missed on any UK trip if you have never been. Cheers! Steve Austin

Mike: Incredible experiences, write ups, scenery, cars, and pictures, Thanks for sharing! Your track day experiences are always eagerly anticipated so we can live them vicariously thru your writeups. The Goodwood Track Day sticker is a keeper! I notice NY plates on your 420 which is presumably kept / used in the UK / Europe. Can / do you legally drive it on the street? NY plates vs. UK registration? MOT? Insurance? pros and cons for your purposes? Cheers! Steve