EdWills

The Ford rocker assembly and the Triumph rack assembly are now sold. Thank you to those who replied. The rear radius arms and a few camshaft sprocket lock tabs are still available. W.

Hi All. Many thanks for the responses. Rocker arm and Triumph steering rack SOLD Rocker Assembly and Triumph Spitfire/Herald rack tube and Rack SOLD.

Hi. Is there anyone in the general vicinity of Calgary, Alberta, Canada who is building or repairing a Seven or Locost lookalike who requires some 18 gauge 3/4 inch, 5/8 inch and 1/2 inch round and 3/4 inch square mild steel tubing pieces for extra triangulation on their chassis? Some pieces are already mitred for triangulation and were made to fit an original Lotus chassis (dimensions same as those shown in various web diagrams of the Seven chassis). I also have 2 steering rack strengthening plates used to bridge the original Lotus Seven rack brackets, one with a cutout for the bottom radiator tube (originally from Arch, U.K.) I have already donated some longer mild steel tubing to a local high school welding shop as these are hard (expensive) to ship anywhere. (In exchange, the shop teacher will complete some Tig welding for me - win, win!). I have some small spacer tubes that Lotus/Arch/Caterham weld in the square tubes of the chassis for engine support brackets, wishbone attachment, and various other suspension locations (originally from Arch or Xtra Special Sevens). A piece of 16 gauge 1-1/2 inches by 3/4 inches by 3 feet long will make a good rear chassis seat belt anchor (welded between the upper rear damper towers behind the seat back), or as Arch did on a racing chassis - for the bottom dashboard support tube across the chassis. These are free for anyone who is able to collect them. She who must be obeyed - and especially me - are clearing out aIl of the bits and pieces I/we no longer need, so hard-to-find parts will be sold, others will go into recycling, or to the scrap yard. I note that the Locost USA site seems to have disappeared from the web maybe permanently, so anyone who was on this forum in my area may have transferred to USA7s hopefully? Cheers W.

Hi Pethier. I went across the pond to visit family in the mid 1990s and my brother-in-law and I took a trip from S.W. England to Caterham in Crayford, close to Dartford. I needed some parts, and my brother-in-law had business in the area. Graham Nearn gave us a great tour of the factory (which was so very different from the cramped quarters in Caterham, Surrey), and the staff were very friendly and helpful locating the parts I needed. The parts manager gave me the parts book and some other brochures detailing the new cars. My family and I used to live in Bexleyheath, about a 20 minute drive away from Caterham’s new digs, but it took me a few minutes to get my bearings and it was hard to recognize the Crayford area from when I lived nearby in the 1960s. The parts book does not have a publication date inside, but there is mention of the upcoming 1992 racing season for the 2 racing categories for Caterham cars. The parts book is in good nick and hardly used as many of the parts pictured inside do not apply to my Lotus Seven unfortunately. Just an fyi. When the original Redline took over the parts distribution for the Lotus Seven and early versions of the Caterham models, Mick at Redline did not use the original part numbers to identify the various parts. He just needed a good explanation and possibly a photo to identify what you required. Previously, Alex Davids at Caterham knew all the parts and part numbers off by heart. John Donohoe of Simple Sevens sold me a front licence plate bracket originally from Caterham, that was painted in the graphite colour and still had the paper tag with the Lotus part number on it. This parts book uses Caterham’s part numbers for the newer cars, and some of the original Lotus parts identification numbers along with line drawings. Cheers. Will

Should read: This type may not provide a sufficient amount of oil for bronze valve guides. EW

For sale: A good condition complete Ford rocker assembly for engines from Ford Anglia up to pre-uprated Crossflow 2737E. There is no discernible wear on the rocker arms on the shaft providing a snug fit on the shaft. The contact pads on the rocker arms show minimal wear and although I no longer have the original speedo from my car to prove it, The engine died at 12,370 miles, and the engine was taken apart with parts sold on. I recently found this assembly in the bottom of one of my spare parts boxes. It has the adjusters with the locking nut on the adjuster as used on the early Kent series of engines. The slotted heads on the adjusting screws are in very good condition and the heads are not damaged as sometimes found when the wrong screwdriver has been used on them. Asking $140.00 Canadian (exchange rate says approximately 1/3rd less in U.S. Dollars) plus postage. Due to a clear-out at my local Ford dealer a couple of years ago, a pal who worked there found some original new boxed spare parts for the Kent Series of engines which I purchased. These are camshaft sprocket lock tabs, and camshaft thrust plate lock tabs. Engine tuners suggest that these should be replaced every time the engine has to have the old ones removed. Pegasus shows these out of stock, but lists them at $12.99 U.S. and $8.49 U.S. Asking $13.50 Canadian for the sprocket lock tab and $9.50 Canadian for the camshaft thrust plate lock tab or $20.00 Canadian for one of each type. Postage extra. A pair of adjustable rear radius arms with threaded end to take a ball joint, and a larger sleeve to take a bigger 'Metalastic' bush. These were manufactured by a local Calgary company that was trying to break in to the Seven lookalike market, but eventually closed up shop. They are manufactured from 4130 steel, tig welded and painted with primer. A pair of Metalastic bushes will be supplied to fit, but rod ends are not supplied. $100.00 Canadian the pair plus postage. A Spitfire/Herald rack tube and geared rack for a left hand drive Lotus Seven or Seven lookalike. The bearing at the end of the rack tube is brand new, and the geared rack is straight with no damage. $40.00 Canadian plus postage.

Just a P.S. You may not have to remove the head to install seals if you have access to a compressor and an adapter to fit the spark plug hole. Using air pressure to hold the valves in place in each cylinder, after removing the valve cover and unbolting the rocker arm assembly, a special valve compressor tool can be used to remove the collets, remove the springs and cap, and install stem seals of whichever type you choose. Then reverse the procedure. Some tuning shops will have the necessary equipment to do this, and it does save the time and energy (and maybe cost?) required to remove the cylinder head from the engine. Note: Mark the spark plug wires so that they go back in the correct order (if not already identified). EW

Hi Tony. The head would probably only have bronze guides if Caterham or the previous owner had them installed perhaps along with unleaded (hardened) exhaust valve seats. Also, some tuners do not use valve seals when they install double valve springs as there is no room for the original Ford produced 'umbrella' type inside the smaller inner spring. They sometimes use the very slim type with the retaining spring on the cast-in guides, but if there is no groove allowed for them in the top of the guide, these can come loose and will move up and down with the valve. The Kent VS7 is a double spring assembly for road/rally use recommended by Kent with the 224, 234, 244 or A3 camshaft , and is considered extra strong as compared to the original single Ford valve spring. A check on the Kent Cams site will show the poundage as 53 Newton/millimetres or 302.5 pounds/inch pressure when fully compressed by the cam lift. It has a 34 mm installed height (1-5/16 inches approximately.) Note: V57 ( Vee fifty-seven) does not show on the site. Burton FP704A is not shown on their site when I just checked, but FP705A (rubber seal) is suitable for duplex valve springs and has the spring around the top to fit a groove in the top of the pressed-in guide. 705A is for guides FP380 (cast iron guides that require machining of the head to fit) or FP381 (Bronze guides same requirements as FP380). Both guides show the machined groove in the top to allow the use of seals with the spring around the neck. Another valve stem seal is shown as FP720, a race valve stem oil seal and is described as 'metal cased'. A very good explanation of valve stem seals can be found at: http://www.felpro.com/technical/tecblogs/valve-stem-seals.html. Hope this helps. EW

Not sure if this applies in your case, but Burton Performance in the U.K. advised me that if bronze valve guides are installed, oil seals should not be fitted to the valves. When the guides are part of the original head i.e. same cast iron material drilled for clearance in the Ford factory, the seals should be fitted. The original Ford seals are not a clip fit on to the top of the guide and so move up and down with the valve allowing sufficient oil in to the guide to provide lubrication. The Ford seals that I have from my original engine have a very small semicircle missing at the bottom of the seal to presumably allow just a small amount of oil in to the guide. You can get seals that have small springs around their bases and these clip on to guides with a groove in them, but the springs have been known to break and end up inside the engine. This type is not supposed to be used with bronze guides as none or little oil will pass through them. EW

Hi MV8. Piper in the U.K. were originally a camshaft and engine tuning firm finally based in Kent, England. They produced motorbike frames and tuning parts for many of the British manufactured engines. They went on to produce copies of GT racing cars and the like. They still have a website showing some of their cars, but the one you photographed is not shown on their web site. Also, not certain that this is the manufacturer of the car you have photographed, but the popular U.K. Ford engine may be a clue? Their site is at http://www.piperracingcars.co.uk. Wikipedia also provides a short history of Piper as a car builder. The car you show could also be a one-off, but it looks to have been nicely constructed. Cheers EW.

The flash covered the date of this booklet as 1973 onwards. EW.

This magazine contained many stories regarding the Lotus Seven race cars and other photos of Sevens. It is still available from the club, and you don't (or at least didn't) have to join to get it. Most of the articles on the Seven are by John Watson of the Lotus Seven Register. It's a good mag. to have in your collection.

Hi Scott and contributors to this topic. I have been using the warm weather to paint some parts on my car and let them dry before the cold weather sets in. I really didn't have time to photo inside the covers and load them on to my computer, and the photos are not the best. It's just a list of books (my 'library' has some that you have shown), that I accumulated new and second hand to help me with my rebuild after I left it too long to remember all the details of my car, and wouldn't you know - way back when, I didn't take any photos of the original car when I disassembled it (bone headed or what?). I truly hope that any members on this forum in Florida make it out safely. EW.

Book by Graham Arnold, Sales Director at Lotus. Many black and white photos of various Sevens, plus some colour pics. Graham Arnold includes interviews from Seven owners about their cars. A Haynes publication.

Some road tests are repeats from this same series of booklets on the Seven and the Caterham. There is a 2 part story from Cars and Car Conversions, whereby the staff at the magazine built a kit of a Series 3 in July 1969

A bound soft cover book containing many of the Lotus Seven road tests from various U.K. magazines, plus DSK Seven. The author also published a book on the Lotus Racing cars in the same cover colours, both being sold on the 'bay', but I have not seen these for some time. The copies are quite crude, and some of the black and white photos have not reproduced very well. A few of the road tests are not contained in the Portfolio booklets.

Contains photos and stories on Lotus Sevens, plus lookalikes from Donkervoort and others, including a diesel Seven copy.

Companion book to Lotus Seven by Jeremy Coulter with the extra information on the Caterham built cars.

Contains a chapter on the Lotus Seven, plus colour photos of a Seven SS Twin Cam.

Contains black and white photos of Lotus Sevens, plus colour photos of the 7 1/2 copy featured in Dennis Ortenburger's book on the Lotus Seven.

Parts manual for the early Caterham built cars

Hi. A couple of Lotus Seven items, one from Mick Beveridge of Xtra Special Sevens a few years ago (clock) and one from the 'bay'. Some time ago, I missed out on a large neon sign copied from the original yellow and green Lotus badge after a Lotus dealer went out of business (went in a tip!).

Hello JB. Great advice from you and the other correspondents - thank you all. JB, I seem to have almost the same specification as you. As I noted above, my original cylinder head was converted (by Holbay) for unleaded gas, with a practically brand new 1100 c.c. head used for the conversion. This was suggested by David Vizard in one of his books as there is more metal in the 1100 head that can safely be removed for porting without danger of grinding into the water jacket(s). Holbay did a great job. At the time, a number of conversions by other companies were being carried out and these were well documented in the U.K. car magazines of the time (Cars and Car Conversions for instance), detailing the conversions by such U.K. firms as Vulcan Engineering, Oselli, and Burton. I have read, and I trust that the writers are correct in their assessments of Canadian fuel, that running a compression ratio of about 10:1 would be fine for the road. Caterham 7 (Club) owners in the U.K. have also agreed with this suggestion. Their octane ratings are of course different to North America. U.K. 98 octane may be close to our 94 in Canada? I found a site on- line that compares the different methods of rating gasoline, so again, I trust that it is correct? My question should have been more specific just dealing with the impacts of ethanol in the car considering that Lotus used rubber components available at the time for fuel filler hose at the rear of the car, a long black plastic tube from the Serck steel tank to the AC fuel pump, then more rubber tubing to the carb. The various carb options fitted would all have rubber (or synthetic rubber?) 'O' rings, seals etc., and the fuel pump has a rubber diaphragm inside. I now have an alloy tank from the U.K. and I have read that aluminum alloy can be attacked by ethanol. Oh well! A fuel filter is a very good idea in any Seven. I purchased a unit that can be taken apart and cleaned from Mocal/Think Automotive in the U.K. I definitely agree with you that draining the fuel system for winter is a very good idea. I do this every fall with our Craftsman (Honda) gas mower, and there has been no trouble with the tank and carb empty of fuel. Oil change before first use in the spring. So, thanks again, and happy motoring in the Edmonton area until the weather puts a stop to it. Will P.S. JB have you found the need to have your diff rebuilt, and can you recommend a company that is good at rebuilding Ford Escort diffs in Edmonton please? Cheers, Will

Here in Canada, the government regulated in 2022 that all gasoline had to contain some mix of ethanol. Most gas stations here seem to have a 10% blend of ethanol added to the fuel. Some time ago, U.S. and U.K. auto magazines gave warnings regarding the effect of ethanol on rubber seals and components used in older (vintage?) cars. Some owners advised of black goo in their fuel tanks after ethanol contamination, carb filters/fuel filters becoming blocked with a similar build up, with others advising to drain the fuel tank and fuel lines before storing the car for the winter when ethanol has been part of the fuel mix.. I tried a search of this forum for this topic, but nothing popped up. There are a number of other vintage car sites that mentioned the problem, but the responses from the car owners are mixed and no one had a firm suggestion of what to do.. The main worry for many of them concerned valve seat recession without the lead (and consequent premature valve wear), not the possible rotting of all the rubber seals. Some advised to use Avgas as it has a good lead content (and may not contain ethanol?), and another advised that he found a supplier of race car fuel sans ethanol. Is it necessary to change all of the rubber seals in a Weber carb for example, along with the large rubber hose connected to the fuel tank, and the seals in the original AC fuel pump? What do you owners of older Lotus Sevens and perhaps Caterham 7 cars from the 1970s use for your fuel supply? Also, with unleaded gas in Canada only going up to 94 octane, and then only at a few locations possibly, how does the compression ratio in your engine cope with the lower octane fuel if you are running a c.r. of over 10:1 ? My uprated Crossflow cylinder head was fitted with hardened seats on the exhausts, upgraded steel valves and silicon bronze guides when unleaded fuel started to be introduced. I also inherited a large quantity of fuel additive with lead content if it is necessary. The rubber deterioration problem troubles me, as in the process of a rebuild, there is no point assembling everything only to find that the original parts are going to suffer damage. Advice please. Will

According to Bruce Robinson of Arch Motors, Arch did not commence building chassis frames for the Lotus Seven until January 1968. Even then, they were panelled by another company (J.W. Eve and company). Arch only started panelling their chassis when Caterham took over from Lotus circa 1973. If any genuine Lotus Seven chassis is questioned with a build date prior to January 1968, it should have been assembled by fusion welding at Universal Radiator (from Northampton in the U.K., with Unirad placing their chassis build number on the brake bracket as BXXXX or BLXXXX for left hand drive cars). Arch of course, used the Chapman approved method of gas flux braze or bronze welding technique, and any replacement chassis produced after Lotus sold the rights to the 7, would most likely be braze welded. Arch produced many suspension parts for Lotus (including the Seven) long before January 1968, including chassis for such cars as the Lotus 23 and for other companies (e.g. Lola). Arch chassis should have the frame number stamped with ‘AM’ followed by numbers. They later identified their replacement completed, panelled chassis as ‘CBU’ units. I have one as ‘CBUXXX’ but this was only noted on the plastic cover of the alloy protective sheets when it was delivered. When Lotus took delivery of chassis from Universal and later Arch, as shown in photographs of the time (and pointed out by another forum member in the U.K.), they would be stored at Lotus, stacked outside in all weather conditions in random order as they came off the lorry (truck). The fitter charged with identifying the chassis with the Lotus plate to be attached, would normally use a scriber to place the Lotus car identification number on the plate. My original 1969 registered car built in October 1968 with a Unirad chassis, had the Lotus ‘vin’ number scribed on the plate. The plate that was pop riveted by the fitter would have no bearing on the chassis build number. My vin number and Unirad build number are 19 numbers apart. I have records of another car where they are 34 numbers apart. The first delivered, would be the last off the pile of chassis to be identified probably. Dave Bean among many others (ebay) sold duplicate genuine looking Lotus vin plates and Simple Sevens documented 3 ‘genuine’ Lotus Seven Series 2 cars all with the exact same plate letter/numbers, one in Europe, one in the U.S, and another possibly in the U.K. John Watson of the Lotus Seven Registry compiled as many details of the cars as he could after being presented with the Lotus Factory records by one of the original builders of the cars. He doesn’t have every one, but still tries to gather all the info he can. Likewise John Donohoe at Simple Sevens. Its fascinating trying to determine the true identity of some cars that have been reconstructed using one, two or possibly three cars with bits and pieces from each. As a club racing car, a number must have been scrapped due to excessive race damage. Cheers, Will