scannon

I recently ponied up for a Radtec radiator from England. I had the Caterham race radiator but it was leaky and wasn't up to the job of cooling 300 hp, particularly with half of the core covered with an intercooler. The Radtec has lived up to the hype, cooling the engine on the track on hot days. The hottest I've seen so far is 105C where the Caterham radiator would get past 120C on the gauge. It is an expensive piece at about $850 by the time shipping and duty were included but it doesn't leak and keeps the engine cool.

Just received this from Tom: Good to talk with you this morning. I was out of cell phone coverage for at least 4 days.. That is some remote landscape -- hard to believe it unless you see it yourself. I arrived home about 30 minutes ago, after an all-day drive from Beaver Creek, Yukon (8 am to 9:30 pm -- that's a lot of time in a Tillett). Better roads than yesterday, which were the most unpredictable and evil paved roads I have ever driven on, from Haines Jct. to Beaver Creek, approx. 250 miles. No more mishaps, after the unfortunate incident in Whitehorse, YT yesterday morning. Looks like I'll have some things to keep me busy with the Seven ESL over the winter. More tomorrow. Tom --------------- 13.5 hours in a Tillett seat!!! That has got to earn Tom the Iron Butt award for Se7endom. Glad to hear he made it home safe and sound. I'm sure we'll be hearing some first hand accounts very soon.

jlumba81: It's the one on the orange car above. It is a straight thru glass pack with a built in heat shield. The end caps are rounded to comply with European safety standards. Caterham USA had that one polished for the new owner, they come in unpolished stainless steel. Header was polished as well. The system is designed to sit quite a bit higher than previous ones, the bottom of the muffler is flush with the plane of the floor pan (non-lowered floor). It looked like it would be quite difficult for the passenger to get over when entering and exiting the car. It looked to be 7 - 8" in diameter. The engine in that car is a 2.0 Duratec with cams and roller throttle bodies. Ben said it was making 220 HP. It is being built for a magazine article for a European magazine (the author of the article is here in the US) and has already been sold to be delivered after the test. It started out as a 170 HP engine but the purchaser sprung for the HP upgrade and a few other upgrades.

Got a call from Tom this AM, he is in Beaver Creek, Yukon Territory, the last town before he crosses the border into Alaska. He is planning on making it home to Anchorage this evening or tomorrow morning. He has been out of cell phone coverage for the last four days and still is, he called from a pay phone today. He mentioned seeing a sign a few days ago announcing that he was leaving 911 coverage. The trip has been going well except for an incident in Whitehorse yesterday. He was stopped in traffic with nowhere to move to when a 3/4 ton Ford pickup backed out of a parking place and into the ESL. It was a crowned road and the Ford's rear bumper hit the ESL in the bonnet and scuttle. Both pieces will have to be replaced and he doesn't know if there is damage to the structure under the sheet metal. The windshield stanchion was also damaged. He laid on the horn as soon as he saw the backup lights on the truck light up but the driver didn't hear him. The driver admitted to being deaf in his left ear and was very apologetic and concerned. He took Tom to his insurance agent and helped with the paperwork with the police. He reports good road conditions most of the way but the last stretch has been in bad condition, often forcing him to drive on the wrong side of the road and dodging around the worst parts. Sort of like an hours long autocross. No close calls with wildlife on the road but did have a black bear cross a path just in front of him when he was walking back after a soak in a hot springs. He was a bit concerned because a black bear had killed two people at this same resort last year. He has only had to use his spare fuel tank once so far but expects to use it again today. 91 octane has only been available about 1/3 of the time but the car seems to do OK on 87 octane. The scenery has been spectacular and the leaves are already in color and new snow is on the mountains. He sounded upbeat and in good spirit even considering the damage to his car yesterday.

http://marcbrecy.perso.neuf.fr/Oshkosh.html

Roughly what time of the day will you be getting here? I'm guessing it will be early to mid morning. I'm free all day but have tickets to a live blues show in the evening. I'll PM you some simple directions to my house.

If only I had the money... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230514659074

http://www.wdtn.com/dpp/news/video%3A-i-675-crash-caught-on-tape

Did you get a new block or did you have the 'holy' one patched and welded?

Box, I was under my car this AM and find that I have misspoke in my first reply to this thread. My differential mounts to the "A" and "C" holes. The "D" holes are unused. Assuming that your differential mounts the same (both cars are Caterham SVs, mine is an '04 model) then the missing halves of the "D" holes are inconsequential unless there is cracking around where they broke and the lubricant is leaking out. Can you post a picture or two of the damage?

I think there is a good chance that the diff internals will be undamaged and can be transferred over to the new case. Make sure whoever does that task really knows what he is doing. There aren't many mechanics around anymore who are skilled in differential set up. Its as much an art as a science.

Tom has the trip figured at about 4,800 miles. By now he should be home or close to it. He plans to write up the trip for a Low Flying magazine article. Without knowing his tour route through Oregon and Washington state, this link should give you an idea of the magnitude of this journey. http://www.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Greeley&1s=CO&1y=US&1l=40.423302&1g=-104.708603&1v=CITY&2c=Anchorage&2s=AK&2y=US&2l=61.218102&2g=-149.900299&2v=CITY#b/maps/m:map:3:40.810331:-112.382811::::::1:1:::::::::/l:::Greeley:CO::US:40.423302:-104.708603:city::1:::/l::SR-57+S:::::33.975269:-117.843673:latlng::2:::/l::US-101+N:::::36.658634:-121.62152:latlng::2:::/l:::Anchorage:AK::US:61.218102:-149.900299:city::1:::/io:1:::::f:no:en_US:M::/bl:/e Per Mapquest: Total Travel Estimate: 81 hours 44 minutes / 4673.84 miles Fuel Cost: $571.24 at 25 MPG. I'm sure the Mapquest estimate is for regular fuel. I have to wonder if 91 octane is available all along the route. The car has an 8 gallon tank and he has a four gallon reserve tank in the boot but he has to unpack the boot and pour the reserve into the main tank. Zoom in on the portion through Canada and Alaska and you will see vast areas with no towns or roads other than the road he is on. Tom has driven the route several times in the past so he knows what to expect.

Box, The 10" through bolt goes through the "A" hole (no pun intended) and the two short ones go into the "D" holes which are internally threaded. If the bottom of the "D" holes are broken off then the counter-torque of the halfshafts is causing the diff to rotate around the long bolt in the "A" hole forcing the nose of the pinion shaft to go up until it or something else hits something to stop it. You are going to need a new diff case or a really good welder if you can find the missing pieces. Is there any damage to the frame bosses where the "D" bolts hold the diff to the frame. Check the prop shaft carefully for dents and dings, it may have been what was hitting and causing the thumping noises. Any dings in the propshaft are cause to replace the shaft as well. The shims are there to center the diff in the frame. Those three bolts are on my torque checklist I use before every track event or any time I think things need checking. I have found them slightly loose several times.

Danny, Congrats on the final registration. Now the fun REALLY begins.

See for yourself. http://www.flixxy.com/hubble-ultra-deep-field-3d.htm I recently retired from Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado. During my 14 years there I worked on several of the instrument packages currently on Hubble. I believe that most, if not all the instruments currently on Hubble were made by Ball. Ball Aerospace is also the company that designed, engineered and built the package that compensated for the aberrations in the original Hubble mirror. OK, I'm through bragging about my former company. It was the best company I worked for during my career.

I talked to Tom this evening, he is in Washington state but I cannot remember the city. One more day to go on the tour before he sets off solo for Alaska. The car is running fine now that the wheel bearing issue has been fixed. Apparently there was a batch of bad wheel bearings and he has replaced both of them. He had good things to say about Rob Dietch and his willingness to go out of his way to get Tom's car repaired and on it's way again. He did have another problem, he got severely dehydrated from the California heat and passed out twice. EMTs were called and took him to an emergency room where they gave him 3 bags of IV fluids and released him after 5 hours. He felt unwell for half of the next day but said he perked up in the afternoon. He had a lot of good things to say about the roads they have been driving, very twisty with minimal traffic, smooth pavement and almost no law enforcement.

bsimon on this list has one in Colorado and I've heard of several others in the country.

STINGER STINGR7 BB7 ROTOBEE ROTRBEE ROTORYB RTRBEE I can go on all night.

I sent the link to a friend who is very knowledgeable on Lotus 7s. His comment: Scary. I don’t see that it has anything to do with a S1 car. Kinda reinforces my statement about the only original thing on the car is the VIN plate. He sent me this picture of a Lotus S1 for comparison. Glad I don't have to polish all the bare ali.

There's a first for me, I've never seen a Se7en with an automatic transmission.

There's a woman who doesn't like G forces.

Definitely a money pit, but what a great car if done right. However about the only original item on the car is the Lotus VIN plate.

The latest issue has an article on the new Birkin S3 IRS and an another one on the Southwest Sevenfest. Lots of Se7en content for a change. The Sevenfest article mentions that WCM has halted production of the Ultralite. First I can recall hearing about this. Its a shame to lose another quality builder of our favorite adrenaline machines. There is another article on the new Zagato designed Perana Z-One built by Superformance. Beautiful car with Chevy LSx power. http://www.peranausa.com/

I'll take a couple as well, up to $10 each. Do we get a choice of colors and brands of Se7en?