scannon

Are you sure on the 225/45? I wanted a lower profile 225 but couldn't find any when I bought mine a couple weeks ago. The listing shows only 225/50-15. They do offer a 225/45-16. Skip

The 80 hours was just to modify a Miata wiring harness to elimiate excess wires and length and integrate it with the Link ECU. I didn't do much to the existing Caterham wiring except to merge the Link ECU into the Caterham harness. A lot of that time was spent disecting the Mazda harness, tracing the circuits and determining what could be removed and what needed to be saved. The really bad part about the wiring was my eyes were afflicted with mystenia gravis about half way through the wiring and I had to stop all work on the car for six months until they found a combination of drugs that allowed me to keep my eyes open and get rid of the double vision. Its really a bitch to work on two identical sets of wiring overlapping each other. One set was also rotated about 20 degrees. :crazy: The Avon 205s along with the Quaiffe LSD and 52% weight on the rear do an excellent job of putting down the power. Sure, you could spin them all the way through 1st and 2nd but I avoid that like the plague. With a little care you can get it hooked up quickly and the acceleration slams you back in the seat. The track day went well but bad gas was causing detonation so I had to dial back the timing and add fuel resulting in substantial loss of power. As a result of that I have ordered a Hydra ECU and Hydramist water/methonal injection system. Should solve the bad gas problems. I believe the 91 octane squirrel piss sold here in Colorado really isn't even 91, adding water injection will allow me to advance the timimg significantly over what it normally is and perhaps gain a few more HP. Adding a water/methonal mix will gain even more....More...MORE HP! Yea, too much is just about right. Skip

Its been a few years since I have run the RA-1s and then on a Miata but I was very impressed with the performance of the R888s on Sunday. It was a cold day and I didn't have a chance to heat cycle them before the track event but they held well and were very predictable. I really like them. Wear in about 125 track miles looks negliable but I forgot to measure them new so I don't know for sure. More recently I had the Caterham on Kumho Victoracer V700s which were nearing the end of their lifecycle and the R888s 'felt' much better. No objective data to compare as the track had been drastically changed at the last turn until repairs can be made. I started smelling burning rubber, the kind that comes from fire, not scrubbing on pavement. I was also finding little flakes of rubber on the bodywork and windscreen, not the balled up stuff you normally see, light, flakey stuff. The inside edges of the front tires were rubbing on the fender stays even though there is about 1/8" clearance at rest. I can't feel any play in the wheel bearings so I am not sure what might be moving. Tires have a shiny stripe but it didn't wear much rubber off. I will use a spacer on the next track day and see what happens. Skip

Thanks for all the compliments. I put in a lot of time on it but the building was almost as much fun as driving it. Good thing you can't see the car today. I towed it on the flat bed to Pueblo & back yesterday for a track day. It is the dirtiest it has ever been, the roads had been sprayed with mag-chloride and there was some slush, then add brake dust, rubber tire bits and some dust and she is filthy. I am about to give her her third car wash ever. Usually I just use the California duster or some final inspection and a microfiber towel but it is the wash bucket for sure this time. This winter I made a few changes, smaller headlights sitting lower down, new bullet shaped parking lights, FIA roll bar and finished up covering the car with clearbra. All of the bodywork is now covered with clearbra and the under sides of the fenders as well as the rear fender rock shield were coated with Rhino liner. I have a set of Brooklands windscreens on order but I will have to extend the mount by 104mm since they only make them for the standard width Caterhams. Four bolts and two electrical connections and I can change from Brooklands to standard windscreen. Click here for some current photos with the new mods. Skip

http://67.19.177.10/images/image005.jpg http://67.19.177.10/images/image002.jpg http://67.19.177.10/images/image003.jpg http://67.19.177.10/images/image007.jpg

Good and somewhat puzzling news. I picked up two sets of spacers today, 1/8 & 1/4". Put the adaptors, 1/8" spacers and wheels back on the car and checked the clearances. To my suprise there was more clearance at the stays than with the stock wheels and tires. I took the spacers out and tried it without them and I am back close to clearance of the stock wheels and tires. When I first put the new tires and wheels on, the tires were actually indented a bit by the rear stay. What has changed I can't figure out. I had torqued the adaptors to the hubs and the wheels to the spacers the first time which resulted in negative clearance. There is no play in the wheel bearings and I recently went over all the suspension bolts, not that they should affect the tire to stay clearance. So, if the weather holds, I am good to go for Sunday's track day on the new tires. Skip

It would require a new custom made fender stay. The Caterham stays bolt to the upper ball joint and the back side of the upright using the nut that holds the spindle to the upright. It would also require new fenders as these are bonded to the stays. Much easier to find a smaller tire. http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1658733406_Fender Stay.jpg

I've received a lot of low fives from bikers, one even from a motorcycle cop on a Harley. Almost every biker I see on the road gives my car a long look. Skip

John, I didn't measure the Kumho V700s before I removed them. I still have one stored away but it probably won't give an accurate measurement since it isn't mounted on a wheel. 1/4" would make the difference, there was less clearance than that with either the Avons or the Kumhos. My tire shop is doing some checking but he was not of the opinion that the spec sheets can be trusted. If I can find a performance tire that comes in 195/50 and 225/50 I should be OK, if not, then another set of Kumho V710s is likely the way I will go. Skip

A 205 is not always a 205 When I attempted to install the 205/50-15 R888s on the front of my SV, the sidewalls rubbed on the fender stays. Neither the 205/45-16 Avons nor the 205-50-15 Kumhos had this problem. Spacers would solve the fender stay clearance problem but would push the outer edge of the tire into the fender lip. These R888s must be way over size as the Kumho 205s are noticably wider than the 225/40-16 Toyo T1S tires I run on the Miata. I checked and the 205/50 is the smallest R888 they make in 15" The 225/50-15s fit just fine on the rear and look great. So the tires go back and I will have to find something else and will have to run on the Avons this weekend. Akkkkkk :cry:

The wheels came that color from Kosei. They are powder coated but Kosei didn't do a very good job of it. I have some powder that is a fairly close match and sometime in the future I will strip and re-coat them.

Jim, With 20 psi mounted on 7" wheels the 205/50-15s are 22 7/8" diameter and the width sidewall to sidewall is 8 3/4". The 225/50-15s are 23 5/8" and 9 1/16". Skip

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1210023806_DSC03278.JPG Picked up a set of R888s today. The 205/50-15s were $133 each and the 225/50-15s were $147 each. Prices include mount and balance, everything but the sales tax. I get to try them out at the track this Sunday:7fume: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: :hurray:

Bobster has a large selection of goggles, most of which can be ordered with Rx lenses, even in bifocal for us old farts. I tried on a pair a friend was using and they seemed comfortable but I don't know which of those on the website he has. Skip

Look at the top view, you can see the aft engine's C/L is skewed to the left and a drive shaft routes the power to the left of the pilot. The forward engine has its driveshaft on the right side of the pilot. Here is a link to the history of this airplane Bugatti Type 100

Ben at RMSC loaned an 8 x 15 CSR wheel with tire mounted to Alaskossie for a test fit. We also tried it on my SV and although it appeared to have adequate clearance of about 3/8" between the tire and rear watts link, both Ben and Nathan strongly advised against it as they said the tire will hit the watts link under hard cornering. It would require a bit of re-routing of my exhaust where it tucks under the car after the muffler or a change to side exit exhaust. The wheel/tire combination really looked good on my car and I probably would have ordered a set had they not so strongly advised against it. Since Tom decided to try it anyway, I will wait and see if he has issues with them on his narrow body Caterham. Skip

The price includes a two day course of instruction at a track. Maybe it is mandatory before you take delivery.

Wow, that brought back some memories. About 15 years ago I used to race in what was called Gravity Formula One (GF1). We all had spec cars with enclosed wheels and the same bodywork, you were only allowed to change wheels, tires and bearings. It was a laydown driving position and only your helmeted head was above the body with a roll hoop over your head. They were so low that you could feel a Botts dot on the belly pan. Race speed speeds were in the 70 - 80 mph range but with a good hill, well over 100 mph was possible. I still have the car and sometime I'd like to take it to the top of Loveland pass or the Eisenhower tunnel and have a run down. Skip

Tony, you have PM.

Roman. In spite of all the problems you will love the car even more now that you are more intimately acquainted with it. It always feels so good when you finally fix the problems and know that you were able to cope with them. If this Ken Hill is the fellow who used to work for Flyin Miata, your car is in good hands. He is a master tuner of Miata engines. Tell him hello for me. Do you have a turbo on it? I got my Caterham as a rolling chassis. Several people advised me to check every bolt. I did and found some loose ones. I also found a leak in a T connection in the brakes but just a quarter turn with the flare wrench fixed that problem. Skip

I don't know if it is common on Se7ens but the CSR comes with larger wheels and tires on the rear. I ran my Miata on 7 x 16" wheels with 205/40 on the front and 225/40 on the rear on the street & track for about 4 years before I tried a 225 on the front and found that it fit so now I run 225s all around. I never noticed any problem with them and they certainly got a lot of extra legal canyon carving on them. What problems would you expect to see with different size tires on the same size wheels? I think they will be around $160 each including mount and balance. He wasn't sure when I ordered them and I didn't think to ask when I talked to him this AM. I'll post the price when I get them. Skip

Al, I am using 7 x 15" Kosei K1-TS wheels with a 38mm offset. These are from my Miata so I use a custom made adapter that bolts to the Caterham hubs and corrects for the offset difference. Skip http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/608432176_orange on blue.jpg http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/974779133_K1_TS_orange.jpg

That's OK Jon, us old farts are used to pain. I just talked to my tire supplier and he has the 225/50-15 R-888s in house. :7fume:

I saw 25 R-888s in 205-50-15 at the tire store last week. They were part of a group buy of 75 tires by the Porsche club. I have a set of two 205-50-15s and two 225-50-15 R-888s on order, should be here any day now.

GBilawsky, Beautiful car, it should sell quickly with spring drawing nearer. What wheels are those on the car? Skip