EdWills

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

Curtis Unlimited went out of business a few years ago due to the death of Mr. Curtis. Mrs Curtis loaned all the molds to a fellow in the U.S. who wanted to build his own 'locost' type cars. He may have the molds for the front and rear fenders for a Series 2 see: kineticvehicles.com

Hi wdb. Caterham contracted Arch Motors to produce a couple of alternative engine brackets for the Crossflow engine cars fitted with a dry sump pump. As Caterham sponsored a racing series for 7s using the various tuned Crossflow engines, no doubt the cars required different brackets depending on whether the oil filter was attached to the pump or remote or perhaps still wet sump? When Caterham - under the original Graham Nearn/David Wakefield ownership - were using the Ford Crossflow engine in various stages of tune, and with a variety of chassis upgrades, Arch was their constructor. Caterham has been under new ownership possibly two times since, and later went to a different chassis builder (Cages), changed the chassis accordingly, and sourced a variety of different engines - Ford and non-Ford based. If you require a modified bracket for your Lotus Seven or Caterham 7 car fitted with a Crossflow or any Kent based engine, I am guessing that a call or email to Arch would be fruitful, as they would have the jigs for all the Kent based configurations of brackets If you provide your chassis/build number (CBU# or vin#) they could make a bracket to your design. Arch are against producing parts for non Lotus Seven or Caterham 7 cars according to the owner Bruce Robinson, so a line to them will advise how they confirm this. Xtra Special Sevens owner Mick was also a great fabricator, but he has since closed his shop. Mike Brotherwood may be a possibility?. Arch will sell any brackets and chassis parts direct from their factory. You do not have to go through Redline if you choose not to (again according to Bruce Robinson). Photo of bracket options attached. The first in line is no longer shown on the Caterham Cars web site. Not sure wdb if your engine bracket is #1 or #2, as in one photo your right hand side bracket looks like #2, but in another it may have a curve as in #1? All brackets manufactured by Arch Motors. #3 is a bracket is designed for dry sump, but with less of a curve. The last #4 and #5 bracket are standard for the uprated Crossflow with standard Ford pump and wet sump (R.H. and L.H.). As the pre-uprated 2737E Crossflow engine was 1/4 inch narrower than the uprated 711 M block, it used a shorter bracket on the left hand side if memory serves. I may stand corrected on this, and apologies if it is misinformation, but Arch will confirm. I do know for sure that the pre uprated block was narrower. Original left hand side engine brackets from Lotus had a tab welded on to support the car horn. Many horns fell off due to vibration (as on my car) and were accidentally run over. Cheers WF

My friend added the extra parts suppliers from @anduril3019 and @SENC to the list of parts supply businesses that I had previously listed on anglocanadianlotus7.ca. A couple of them I had not heard of before, but their parts for sale for a Seven are very interesting and worth me taking a look. Thank you both for the lists, and I'll add more if you can think of other companies who have been helpful. Cheers W.

Hi Dan. Diagrams at erareplicas.com. Choose 'Smiths fuel gauge troubleshooting'. see: smiths-intruments.co.uk. (Caerbont of Wales). This site lists all of the sender part numbers and the resistance of each. From memory, Smiths use a 3 wire set-up from the sender, but one site also mentions 2 wire units. Era replicas has wiring for the Smiths gauge and also Nisonger. Google 'Smiths fuel sending wiring', and a lot of diagrams come up. Good luck with sorting out the problem. Will

Hi. I purchased a used dry sump oil tank from BAT in the U.S. a few years ago. It was from a Crossle Formula Ford, is tall enough and rectangular in shape, and looks like the type that Lotus used in their sports racing cars. Last I heard Crossle was still manufacturing cars in Northern Ireland (Belfast area), and may have spare tanks for sale. All the fittings are BSP, and the tank will mount nicely in front of the passenger firewall ally sheet with the Crossle brackets and mounting rubbers. W.

Caterham through Arch, produced a special engine bracket that curved around the pump, and looked like half a pretzel. It is really heavy gauge tubing in order to take the weight of the engine due to the sharp curve. I have one, and I'm hoping that I don't have to use it. I didn't check the total cost of a dry sump system, but I figure 7Westfield is right on the money. W.

A dry sump set-up is quite expensive - naturally requiring a correctly shaped sump with the necessary fittings, then the tank which has to fit in the engine bay of a Seven, all the fittings and plumbing whether BSP, AN or perhaps metric? The pump - 5 port seems to be the recommended option - is not cheap. If fitting an oil cooler, a thermostat is highly recommended to allow the oil to get up to temperature, but then prevent it from becoming too cooled, and then perhaps a remote oil filter adapter (I forgot to add that this was installed by Lotus on my original car). An extra fine mesh in-line filter is also highly recommended to prevent damage to the expensive oil pump. In the 1960/early 1970s flyers originally distributed by Lotus, a dry sump system was an extra 30 U.K. Pounds for a Seven. I haven't tallied the cost in today's money, but if you check the Burton Performance site for prices, I'm guessing that it's going to be an eye opener. Dave Bean developed a very clever device to allow oil pick-up in the Ford wet sump using a swinging arm type of pick-up. Dave came up with a couple of cleverly designed gadgets suitable for a Seven to save going on a more expensive route. An added benefit of a dry sump on a Seven is a bit more ground clearance, and no oil starvation to the bearings when hard cornering. WF