jordway

Appropriately died right beside a cemetery. Glad you weren't left stranded.

Another helpful trick is to ask it to give you links to the source information it used for a particular conclusion, especially for anything that seems suspicious. You are then back to doing the digging yourself, but at least you've vastly narrowed it down. In my experience, the out-of-whack answers are usually due to asking it a vague question. For example, I was once asking for it to calculate mass balances for a particular process. There are two ways of doing that particular process, and I didn't specifically tell it which way I was talking it about. So, it gave me the average of the two, which makes no sense in the real world. Once I was more specific, it nailed it.

Yes, agreed, @speedwagon. AI is TOTALLY a garbage in-garbage out thing. The main issue is indeed understanding how to ask your question correctly. It takes some practice. I find that many academics are very resistant to using it because it's too easy and doesn't require the important grunt work of the past. But, you know, I no longer go to the basement of the medical school library and dig out hard copy journals and photocopy the papers I need to read. Why would I do that? Same thing here.

Just had to share this story. Some of you may remember my posts a few years ago about a starting problem. I went way down a rabbit hole of thinking it was a immobilizer problem, but turned out it was just dirty electrical connectors (no big surprise there, but I was pretty green at the time). I’m embarrassed to say that my laziness caused me to just hand it over to my mechanic to clean all the electrical connections. I totally underestimated the time and effort needed to do that job, and ended up with a bill just north of $1k! That solved the issue for about 3 years. But, after my first drive of this season, the issue returned. I certainly didn’t want to pay $1k again to do something I can do myself, even if it is a long and tedious job. I use the deep thinking version of ChatGPT for my work. Just to see what it would say and to perhaps focus in on the most likely connectors to be the problem, I fed it as much detail about the car and the starting problem that I could think of. I asked for potential causes/solutions. I did not tell it that I suspected a dirty electrical connecter. It gave me a few possible causes, but ranked a dirty connector as the most likely problem. It suggested that the connector for the crankshaft position sensor was the most likely problem. But, it pointed out that every owner-built Caterham is a bit different, so it’s hard to really know (I am the second owner, not the builder). It asked if I had photos of my engine that I could upload. I have a set of 9 photos that cover every part of the engine. I gave it those photos. It churned for about 15 seconds (a long time for AI). It came back and said, “The photos helped a lot! Your car has a MSD ignition system with a remote-mounted coil. It’s much more likely to be the connector for the coil. And here is one of your photos with the exact connector that you need to clean circled” (attached). When I got home, I first tried starting the car a few times. No start. I then cleaned only that one connector it pointed out. I’ll be damned if it didn’t start immediately on the first crank. That’s pretty cool. I’m sure that I will need to clean other connectors, too. But, ChatGPT went further to identify all the components and their wirings paths, label my photos for all parts, connectors and ground points, and give me the order that I should check and clean them. Awesome.

As an example, this is the supercharger in my SV...

My wife would also offer support. She has told me that the only acceptable reason for selling my Seven would be to buy another Seven. She doesn't drive it, but loves going on road trips in it.

Yeah, probably not a big deal either way. Both of your cars are beautiful!

Totally agree about a full face helmet at highway speeds. Aside from protection, it also helps a lot with the wind buffeting. Much easier on the ears. With a full face helmet, I find I can go several hours at highway speeds and not be exhausted. Without the helmet, I feel like I've been in a boxing match (and lost). Regarding the lowered floors... My SV has standard floors. I'm 6'2" with a 32" inseam. Standard cloth Caterham seats. I sit with the set pulled forward a couple of inches. When I bought the car (4 years ago), I planned to install lowered floors. But, I can pass a broomstick test, and I really like the better view of the front wings that you get from being seated a bit higher. I've driven SVs with both floor types. I'm probably the minority, but I really prefer the standard floor, even in an SV.

@Reiver, I recently put on R888Rs. I've been happy with them. Mostly back road driving, but I've autocrossed with them a couple of times. No complaints. Admittedly, I'm a novice who probably wouldn't have noticed any differences that weren't dramatic. Although I wouldn't recommend it, I've driven them on the interstate in the rain once (by necessity). They handled fine in the rain, but I was being super careful.

Sounds like @vovchandr has this figured out. @thedreamer educated me a while back regarding the different varieties of these very similar caps. I have the plastic variety that I'm not using, just in case @werthie or anyone else needs one of those instead. No charge. They are the ones that came on the stock 2002 Roadsport 16" wheels. They look identical to the photo werthie posted, but I now realize the different varieties are really hard to distinguish in photos. If you also need the 3-hole securing bolt, I have those also.

What are the correct torques for the engine mounts? I've seen 41 Nm for the hex bolt to the rubbers and 20 Nm for the 13mm bolts to the chassis. Does that sound right?

Yesterday, I had my first drive since changing from 16" rims with 45 Firehawk tires to 13" Apollos with 60 R888Rs. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but WOW what a difference!!! No more spine compressions on bumps. Handling is excellent. I expected improvement, but I was surprised by how much. Why the heck didn't I do this three years ago?!

That is just heartbreaking. Glad you're both okay. Good luck with the repairs. It doesn't look like you have any wheel damage. But, if you do, I will have one of the same 16" Roadsport style wheels I could send you. They are in good condition, I'm just switching to 13" Apollos in a week or so. If you'd like it, it's yours for the cost of shipping.

Thanks, @Slonie. I got feedback from Josh at Rocky Mountain Caterham, and he recommended exactly your set up. So, that's what I'm planning to do. You're probably right about the ride height. But, I got under it and measured a couple nights ago. I'm at 3" front with 1" additional rake in the back. Thankfully I've never bottomed out, but that's getting really close!

@Vovchandr, here is the sound... I don't recall about the pully, but I'll check.

Oops... Sorry. The Zetec SVT is 170hp (not 185). So, 200hp is probably about right.

I haven't dyno'ed it, but the PO/builder said 200hp at the rear wheels. It's a Zetec SVT (185hp), so with the SC (and based on feel), I suspect that is a conservative number.

Yep. An SC setup fits into my Zetec SV.

I've read (and appreciate!) the wealth of information on wheels/tires in this forum. At the risk of beating a dead horse, I decided to check and see if anyone has any feedback on my specific plans. I have a 2002 Roadsport SV with the 16" wheels that came on this model. The Firestone Firehawk Indo 500 205/45R16 tires were brand new in spring 2022 when I started driving the car (I'm 2nd owner), and I've put only ~4K miles on them. My intention was to wait until I needed to replace the tires that came on the car, then change to 13" wheels. However, given the deteriorating condition of St. Louis streets, I've decided I need to make the change now. I'm a twisty backroads driver but I still have to drive on city streets for a bit in order to get out to the good county roads. I'm sure both the car and my back will appreciate the change. My wife is not happy because she likes the look of the 16" rims. But, I've assured her that she will be a fan of 13" as soon as she experiences the ride improvement! I'm switching to 13" Apollos (6" front and rear). I'm leaning toward Toyo RA1 rather than R888R. I've seen that a couple of folks have made comments that the RA1s are a bit better on wet roads than the R888Rs. That, and possibly a bit longer tread life, are the main reasons for choosing the RA1s. Do any RA1 users have any additional feedback on these tires that's not already been mentioned? Anyone have any reasons they would definitely opt for something other than RA1s for street driving? Finally, if anyone has advice on adjusting ride height to accommodate this change, that would be greatly appreciated.

a My second attempt at 3D printing a model Seven... Improvement over the first attempt, but my finishing, painting and gluing jobs are horrible. The key is to print the parts individually and then assemble. Someone with steadier hands and more patience than me can find the files here. It's actually a model of the Prisoner car. I'm sure my colors are considered blasphemy! https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6597452 I scaled it up to 150%. I'd recommend scaling it up even more. There is no file for the roll bar. But, if you scale this one down to 30%, it works: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5199444

Ha! Believe it or not, I had to talk my wife down from the edge on that one. She wanted it real bad.

I tried to 3D print a model Seven. I broke the roll bar and the headlights while pulling away the supports. The 3D printer belongs to my 10 year old daughter. She can probably teach me how to use it..

Not a problem at all. No fees involved. What color(s) would you like? Each will be one solid color, but the two can be different colors, if you like. DM me your address, and I'll get it out to you. I printed this larger one over the weekend. Using it as a coaster for my desk.

Not as cool as a steel one, but if you don't mind plastic, I'd be happy to print a couple and mail them to you.

If you have access to a 3D printer, the .stl file can be found here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:885858