Bartman

Hey CarlB glad you liked it, I really thought that the job was well done. i have to say Dan was so good. Not just skilled but truly wanting to do the best job possible and was extremely thoughtful and kept me informed as to his ideas and allowed me to add my 2c. I am looking forward to getting this 7 on the track soon. bart

Hi, I pay for sea shipping containers often, the cost has increased dramatically, as an example a container from Hong Kong to NYC in 2019 was 3.5-4K, it went up to over 20K late pandemic and is currently 11K or thereabouts. I don't ship from Europe (or at least what was previously Europe) but I understand this type of dramatic increase in cost is worldwide. Having said that you don't need a 40' container, a 20' would suffice or as mentioned co-shipping. It is possible to ship LCL (less than container load), but this has some attendant issues in my experience and does complicate customs clearance etc. as the container you have your goods in may get held up by others in the same container who don't do the paperwork properly.

Hi John, The Caterham Superlight style that I had ordered was $1600 plus shipping and duty so I guessed it would come in at +/-$2200 all in. Dan's was a little more, he also made me a rear bumper (another really great piece of fabrication). In total the cage plus rear bumper was $2800 so maybe $2600 had I just gotten the cage. At + $400 its reasonable bump in cost, but I now have it (bird in the hand and all that), it feels substantial, fits me personally and I got to work with a USA based engineer, which was a very good experience. Best,

After a long wait of 7 months for Caterham to ship a cage to me for my track oriented 7, I decided to wait no more and cancel the order. Thanks to a fellow poster I had previously been put in touch with Dan Liperini or Racelabz, Dan and I had talked when I first was looking at options and for ease I had decided to go down the prebuilt Caterham route for my cage, this turned out, in our current world order, to have been a mistake. The interminable wait prompted me to make contact with Dan again and thank goodness I did. I trailered the 7 to him just a few weeks ago and after taking measurements of me in the car and some discussion on what I was looking for Dan built the cage. While cage designs are to some extent a personal choice and combination or being fit for purpose and aesthetics I am delighted with the look and the strength of what I have now. With no fuss, really great attention to the details and with a huge amount of experience from his own racing career Dan conceived and built me the cage pictured below I went back to haul the car back home over the weekend and I just wanted to let the community at large know that if you're in the market for a cage and the geography makes sense Dan's work is incredibly well executed and for me at least he exemplifies a business that understands the importance of great design, good work and strong ethics. I am still waiting on a wiring loom to arrive from the UK that has stalled this project for months, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, I just hope it is not a train coming the other way. I still harbor hope that I can get this done for the 7 Event at NJMP........ Bart

This is the part from Caterham I am referring to.

I have the following parts that are not needed for my re-build. I decided to use JWM spherical bearings and got a new quicker rack from Caterham. 1. New Two Top wishbone Rod Ends for De Dion S3 $25 the pair 2. New Two Track rod ends for De Dion. $25 the pair 3. Used Steering rack, S3 Imperial, standard width, good condition & standard ratio. Open to any offers. I'll post some photos of all if needed. Best, Bart.

There is a de minimis threshold I believe of $800, for items below this value there should be no duty.

T9 is now sold.

Try Meteor Motorsports in the UK, if they have them and even with shipping its a wash compared to buying from a US based supplier. I was trying to get a set of ZZS and everyone was out of stock here in the US and will be for quite a while. Demon tweaks were also quoting 7 days lead time on Avon's when I checked a couple of weeks ago.

Update All parts are sold and on their way to a new home except the T9. Bart.

Hi. Ok no problems I’ll get it packed up over the weekend and then contact you for shipping details etc. cheers jon.

Hi, The cost came in at $32.00 to ship UPS ground. LMK if you want it. Jon

Hi. I am out of thee country this week. As soon as I am back next Monday I’ll get you a cost. best jon.

Update Items lined out are now sold... 1. Two BRG Clamshells with the trim strip 2. Two Rear fenders in BRG with Stainless protection 3. 1 Heated windshield glass and frame with mirror 4. Two headlights, Chrome and filament type not LED 5. Complete roof assembly, vinyl and roof supports in really great condition maybe unused. 6. Two side screens that mount to the windshield 7. Two doors left and right, good clear windows and in great shape 8. Nosecone GRP in BRG no grill good condition no dings. 9. Vinyl transmission tunnel cover 10. Four Bilstein shocks adjustable and good condition (15K miles) Not pictured. 11. Front brake calipers, standard Caterham. Not pictured. 12 Ford T9 5 speed box, good condition, no known faults, 15K miles. 13 Roll Bar, this is not the light weight standard Caterham one.

After modifying my car from a road version to a track focused car I now have a bunch of parts that I will not need. All parts are in good shape and available to ship anywhere in the USA. All are for sale for a reasonable offer. All parts came off an Imperial S3 non SV 2005 that had 15K on the odometer when disassembled . Parts are as follows:- 1. Two BRG Clamshells with the trim strip 2. Two Rear fenders in BRG with Stainless protection 3. 1 Heated windshield glass and frame with mirror 4. Two headlights, Chrome and filament type not LED 5. Complete roof assembly, vinyl and roof supports in really great condition maybe unused. 6. Two side screens that mount to the windshield 7. Two doors left and right, good clear windows and in great shape 8. Nosecone GRP in BRG no grill good condition no dings. 9. Vinyl transmission tunnel cover 10. Four Bilstein shocks adjustable and good condition (15K miles) Not pictured. 11. Front brake calipers, standard Caterham. Not pictured. 12 Ford T9 5 speed box, good condition, no known faults, 15K miles. 13 Roll Bar, this is not the light weight standard Caterham one. I will charge shipping at cost on top of any agreed cost. Lastly, I will have a Stainless steel fuel tank with internal pump and sender for sale soon, just need to get the fuel cell made then it will be available too. Hope this collection of parts can help someone make progress on their own build. Best, Bart

Hi. Fun project. I just pulled this exact engine from a 2005. It had 15k on it with no known problems. I have the whole drivetrain, harness, ecu etc I was going to keep the lot for some yet to be identified project but if you need to do a swap out PM me… good luck Bart

Yeah, I know its not as simple as it sounds or maybe should be. I did 200+ laps around the autobahn country club track in a paddle shift formula car last year and it sold me on the concept there and then.

Hi, I chose the MBE9A9 specifically because it can handle closed loop clutch-less up and down shifts with the Sadev box, using the hall effect sensor on the Sadev it can time the engine cut dynamically in line with actual barrel position not just a pre-set cut/retard and restore on/off type arrangement, it will also blip the throttle via a pneumatic valve and piston at the correct moment when the change can be made without knocking off the sharp bits in the gearbox for the downshift, making heal and toe downshifts redundant (phew as I am crap at that). There are alternatives for sure, Geartronix makes a piggy back unit that uses this same technique. I decided to pay up for the MBE as it seemed a better solution to have all the control for engine and gearbox in one dedicated box and I needed a new ECU anyway. There are other features of the MBE9A9 that I am likely to use at some later stage (Launch control and traction control) so I've future proofed the loom for that too. I think there are many alternatives out there at differing price points but this unit appeared to have all I wanted/needed, MBE's are used by Caterham although locked by the factory I Believe. It is a little more complex as its made in the UK and relatively unknown in the USA, but the (paid) support when mapping etc is known to be good with SBD remoting in to the session as needed and apparently that works well. Hope this helps, once I get to the stage of the mapping etc I will for sure post up the experience.

You find a really good partner to work with. I have been re-building my S3 for a while now and for many reasons too longwinded to go into I had to have a custom loom (harness) made to plug into my MBE9A9 ECU and run my new Raceline Zetec and Sadev with paddle-shift set up. I was having a little difficulty finding anyone who really knows the SBD products here on the east coast, so, I ended up working with Andy Jupp at Partridge Green Motorsports in the UK. Not only was he a simply nice guy to work with, he went above and beyond to help, figuring with me all I needed. His experience with not only SBD's product but with Sadev and paddle shift setups in general (having literally written the book on it as an article in Lowflying) and done a number of them for the 620R meant he was able to design a loom, complete with all the correct sensors and fittings. Its now being made and I am eagerly waiting for it to arrive as its the last major component before I can actually get this car on the road. For anyone considering paddle-shift or a change to an MBE9A9 I totally recommend at least talking to Andy first, he even makes a patch cable to plug existing Caterham MBE looms for the older MBE unit directly into a new 9A9. Bart.Zetec_Sadev_Harness_V3.pdfZetec_Sadev_Harness_V3.pdf

I have been re-building my S3 for a while now and for many reasons too longwinded to go into I had to have a custom loom (harness) made to plug into my MBE9A9 ECU and run my new Raceline Zetec and Sadev with paddle-shift set up. I was having a little difficulty finding anyone who really knows the SBD products here on the east coast, so, I ended up working with Andy Jupp at Partridge Green Motorsports in the UK. Not only was he a simply nice guy to work with, he went above and beyond to help, figuring with me all I needed. His experience with not only SBD's product but with Sadev and paddle shift setups in general (having literally written the book on it as an article in Lowflying) and done a number of them for the 620R meant he was able to design a loom, complete with all the correct sensors and fittings. Its now being made and I am eagerly waiting for it to arrive as its the last major component before I can actually get this car on the road. For anyone considering paddle-shift or a change to an MBE9A9 I totally recommend at least talking to Andy first, he even makes a patch cable to plug existing Caterham MBE looms for the older MBE unit directly into a new 9A9. Bart.Zetec_Sadev_Harness_V3.pdfZetec_Sadev_Harness_V3.pdf

Just emailed you on these.

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I am sold on the insulation/reflective materials and have ordered from Pegasus a few different ones to test out for usability and adhesion. Still on the fence about the header wrapping. Thanks @Carlb for the comment on the Cam cover, it came from Raceline and I think it looks the business

I was hoping there may be some advice on thermal shielding from those in the know. Before I took my car off the road for the re-build I did have a chance to drive it some and I noted the almost insane amount of heat radiating off the transmission tunnel attempting to turn my calf to medium rare. So, before I install the new and much more powerful engine (even more heat) I am thinking about some sort of thermal insulation in there, the tunnel is not closed so there is airflow there but it is still ridiculously hot. I was looking at the pictures of the latest build on the build thread and noticed that Caterham now come with some thermal insulation in the tunnel So I have two questions :- 1. Any recommendations for the self adhesive foil type insulation that I could apply to the bulkhead and tunnel walls (brand & effectiveness) ? 2. What about wrapping the headers? I know the heat has to go somewhere so has anyone come up with other ideas to keep the tunnel cool whilst not retaining all that heat under the hood. As usual thanks in advance for any thoughts. Bart.

Hey Pokey, I don't have one for sale but did buy one from Caterham via Rick at time machines. He was incredibly helpful and had it put in a container already scheduled to leave Caterham with a car in it so no real shipping cost other than the duty. I've not received it yet thanks to container shipping delays but hope it arrives this month sometime. Just FYI if you decide to buy new. Bart.

Hi John, I ordered using my USA credit card and billing address but had it delivered to my brothers UK address. Jack emailed me back and said all good to ship to my UK address so I guess he's not too worried. He did say he was waiting on some parts to arrive so I will not get the delivery for a couple of weeks, that seems pretty typical these days. I was stuck a bit this week, my MBE9A9 needed a loom (Raceline did the dyno using an omex ECU) and no one I talked to here in the USA had enough knowledge to build a loom for the MBE unit, I am also adding paddle-shift so it seems a bit more complicated with connections to the gearbox etc. After talking to Steve at SBD he put me in touch with Partridge Green Motorsports and he (Andy) was amazingly helpful, in the end they (PGM) are going to build a custom harness for me based on my application, all I have to do is specify the required connections, components to be controlled and length of each run and he will build to suit and make the pin out connections to the MBE unit - Phew I was a little concerned I had a $2000 paperweight. I will still have some work to do with SBD to fine tune the base map but that should present no issues. Bart.