scannon

I see mention of 300hp in the catalog. Since common sense and budget are no longer considerations, I say go for the most hp you can get. How many times are you going to be able to build one of these? Do it! The correct moniker for the SV is "Fat Bastard". A name bestowed by the person who was responsible for making the S3 into the SV, Nathan Down. I prefer to think of SV standing for Super Veloce a name brazenly stolen by the Lamborghini Murciélago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce.

Mike, Which motor/trans option did you tick on that list?

Happy T-day everyone. Blat if you can. We have a beautiful clear day but the temps are in the low 20s F. Too cold to let the R compound tires out of the shop. I'm going to spend some quality time with the new Suzuki SX4 Crossover I leased a couple of days ago. Its going up on the lift for its first oil change as I believe in getting the initial load of swarf out of the oil pan early on. I've opened up new engines and seen what is lurking in there.

No dry sump on my Miata powered Caterham. Apparently the factory sump does well. It does have a number of baffles in it. The car has sustained some serious Gs on the track with no oiling problems. A dry sump would only gain about 3/4" of ground clearance as the bottom of the bellhousing is almost as low as the sump. I am very careful about speedbumps and debris on the road.

Caterham kits are pretty much cookbook builds. Everything but the engine and transmission is furnished and not much in the way of tools is required for assembly. Someone who has done it regularly can do it in 40 hours, figure about 100 hours for the rest of us. Even the engine and transmission can be sourced through Caterham USA or your local Caterham dealer. They give you a part number to take to the Ford dealer where you purchase the engine. It comes without all the parts you would have to remove and discard and the parts to replace them are included with the Caterham kit. Assembling one is fun and you will bond with your car and enjoy driving it that much more. That said, I agree with Tom, it is much more economical to find a slightly used one that has been de-bugged and perhaps already licensed in your state. Then you can get upgraditis and make it your own. Here's a link to my build of an SV with a non-standard engine and transmission. It took much longer than 100 hours as I had to fabricate mounts, intercooler plumbing and create a new wiring harness to control the engine. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/636168/1992-mazda-miata-mx-5/page-10

One of the TV news shows said that the radiation from the scanner is equal to about 3 minutes of the radiation you will get on the airplane. I can't verify that factoid but I wouldn't be surprised if it is true. Just found this from a USA Today Health site: "The Transportation Security Administration says radiation from one scan is about the same as a person would get from flying for about three minutes in an airplane at 30,000 feet, where atmospheric radiation levels are higher than on the ground. That amount is vastly lower than a single dental X-ray."

Be glad Mojito is. Driven at any more than 5 mph that jeep would take itself apart. It wouldn't put itself back together.

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/11/21/bill-cosby-on-carroll-shelby-and-purchasing-a-super-snake/

TSA's new logo.

I have a pair of 4' light fixtures earmarked to go above the saw and the press brake. There are already 14 of them in the shop. The translucent panels above the rack let in enough light that I don't need to turn on the lights until the sun goes down. I'm a retired aerospace engineer although in the late 60s I worked as a mechanic in a Chevrolet dealer and several service stations, back when you could actually get your car worked on them. That is a Miata pedal car that I painted to match my Miata. I converted it to remote control using a Honda sunroof motor to drive it.

The latest project in the shop is just about finished. I installed 24' of 10' high, 24" deep commercial shelving on the South wall of the shop. Its all up and mostly loaded with a couple of shelves for the future accumulation of stuff. The uprights are fastened to the wall near the top with 3/8" lag bolts. I think it will take about an 8.0 on the Richter scale to bring them down. This will clear up floor space in the shop as I was using the space between the bays to store stacks of tires, shelving for parts and just plain junk. It also makes the place look less like a disorganized flea market.

There was one on the Denver CL last week for $800. I checked and the listing is gone. Check with Flyin' Miata. I think they had one on their Deal of the Day awhile back. It might still be available. Give them a call at 800 359 6957. They remove quite a few of them for customers moving up to turbos or V8s. The rising rate fuel pressure regulator is a little tricky to get running right and people have difficulty getting it past emissions testing. You also need an additional fuel pump to raise the pressure as above regulator just over drives the injectors as boost rises. Check out the Supercharging section of the Miata.net forum http://forum.miata.net/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=92. There should be lots of info in the archives on the Jackson.

Gert, It looks great. I think I like it better with the frame. Can you make me a set for the Caterham?

Actually its already started on the History channel. It started at 8 PM Mountain time.

Yes, the original turn signals will mount to the new bracket. I've never liked the look of them so I bought some motorcycle turn signals that match the curvature of the headlights. Both are a little bit pointy on the back rather than rounded.

I bought a set of the lowered brackets from Caterham USA. Mine are the single support type, no bracket going forward to the suspension bolt. Held in place by the two pinch bolts. No problems with them moving down or shaking. Alaskossie has the type with the bracket going forward. I think both lower the headlight the same amount. I'm using 5 3/4" motorcycle headlights with the lowered brackets. I think it looks much better than the original 7" headlights and high brackets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=SbuDRA4zNbw

My car is the wide body SV model so I had a little more width in the engine room to work with. AFIK my Caterham is the only one with a Miata engine. There is a Westfield kit designed to accept a Miata engine without modification. It also uses many other Miata parts. Check out Flyin' Miata's website for more info: http://www.flyinmiata.com/westfield/ I had to fabricate engine and transmission mounts as well as trim quite a bit of material off the transmission case. More detailed build info is at: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/636168/1992-mazda-miata-mx-5-erie-co-us?p=10 Almost any engine can be adapted/fitted to a Se7en. There are Ford and Chevy V8s and Chevy V6s on this forum as well as a variety of four bangers and a Wankel or two.

Welcome aboard. Caterham USA will sell you the kit and they will assemble it to most any level you want. If you want a complete car they will give you a part number to take to the Ford dealer to buy the engine which they will then install. The engine and transmission have to come from a different retail source than the kit to comply with the laws that allow kit cars to come into the country without meeting current safety standards.

Mike, I had a local machine shop make them from 28mm 6061 T6 aluminum. They convert the 4 x 4.25" Caterham bolt circle to 4 x 100mm Miata bolt circle and compensate for the 28mm difference in offset. With the extra studs and nuts they weigh in at just under 2 lb each. I originally had them made to be able to use the orange Kosei K1-TS wheels and R compound tires from the Miata on the Caterham. The center hole on the Panasports is a little smaller than on the Kosei wheels so bsimon turned them down a bit to fit. The Panasports are a great change for the better. I tried to find them with the correct bolt circle and offset. The only ones I could find had to be special ordered and machined and came in at around $500 each.

Gert, Thanks for posting that graph. That is truly mind boggling.

I'll take them, PM on its way.

Nicely driven! Congratulations. Are you going to the nationals?

* The Lucas motto: "Get home before dark." * Lucas denies having invented darkness. But they still claim "sudden, unexpected darkness" * Lucas--inventor of the first intermittent wiper. * Lucas--inventor of the self-dimming headlamp. * The three-position Lucas switch--DIM, FLICKER and OFF. * The other three switch settings--SMOKE, SMOLDER and IGNITE. * Lucas dip-switch positions: LOW and BLOW * The original anti-theft devices--Lucas Electric products. * "I've had a Lucas pacemaker for years and have never experienced any prob... * If Lucas made guns, wars would not start either. * Did you hear about the Lucas powered torpedo? It sank. * It's not true that Lucas, in 1947, tried to get Parliament to repeal Ohm's Law. They withdrew their efforts when they met too much resistance. * Did you hear the one about the guy that peeked into a Land Rover and asked the owner "How can you tell one switch from another at night, since they all look the same?" "He replied, it doesn't matter which one you use, nothing happens!" * Back in the '70s Lucas decided to diversify its product line and began manufacturing vacuum cleaners. It was the only product they offered which didn't suck. * Quality Assurance phoned and advised the Lucas engineering guy that they had trouble with his design shorting out. So he made the wires longer. * Why do the English drink warm beer? Lucas made the refrigerators, too. * Alexander Graham Bell invented the Telephone. Thomas Edison invented the Light Bulb. Joseph Lucas invented the Short Circuit. * Recommended procedure before taking on a repair of Lucas equipment: check the position of the stars, kill a chicken and walk three times sunwise around your car chanting: "Oh mighty Prince of Darkness protect your unworthy servant." * Lucas systems actually uses AC current; it just has a random frequency. * How to make AIDS disappear? Give it a Lucas parts number. * Recently, Lucas won out over Bosch to supply the electrical for the new Volkswagens. So, now the cars from the Black Forest will come with electrics supplied by the Lord of Darkness -- how appropriate! * Lucas is an acronym for Loose Unsoldered Connections and Splices. * The Prince's last words to his son: "don't go riding after dark"

A different kind of Hayabusa. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/100614-science-space-asteroids-hayabusa-return-fiery/