DavidL

I've got a friend with a 1998 Caterham Superlight with a Zetec that needs rebuilding. Does anyone have a recomendation for a machine shop in the San Francisco Bay area that is familiar with this engine? Thanks, -David

That's weird. I just got my Hagerty renewal invoice, it's for $467 (includes $70 for the Driver's Club), about the same as the last few years. My car and location seem similar to you: 1990 Caterham Super Sprint, and I'm also in the Bay Area (Menlo Park). Maybe we have wildly different coverage, but seems odd. PS, I often have my Seven at the Cars and Coffee in downtown Menlo Park first Sunday of every Month (outside of Coffee Bar).

I'll just add that I hold the gas pump nozzle upside down when I'm filling my 1990 Caterham to get a better angle... I kinda lean into it with my body weight to keep the vapor-recovery belows thing compressed to prevent auto shut-off (might just be a California thing). It holds about 10 gallons, but most of the time I misjudge and get overflow. The filler neck on my older car might be a differnt shape from the more modern Cats, however. Cheers, -David

I have almost the same car, a 1990 Carterham SuperSprint (1700, DeDion), and installed EBC greenstuff pads all around a couple of years ago. I'm not at home so I can't dig up where I got them, but I can next week. They work well for street driving. I also used them to great effect on my old TCS Europa, which used pretty similar if not identical front calipers.

If the slave cylinder is external, try adjusting the linkage?

I'll just add that checking the block and head for flattness is straightforward and important. Buy a $25 precision straight edge designed for this (for example this one on Amazon), then use feeler gauges with the bar laying across the head or block in different orientations. On my Acura Integra, the spec was anything more that 0.002 inches out of flat required machining. I've never seen a flatness spec for a X-flow or other older engine, but figure it should be similar. My Integra head was 0.007" out of flat due to an overheat, so I had it machined flat for a modest amount (I think the machine shop quote was under $100).

In 2008, A friend and I picked up my Caterham in Seattle and drove it back to the San Francisco Bay area. This pic is of him driving on I5 in Northern California, with Mount Shasta (?) in the foreground.

err, take the wallets out of your back pockets and get the Soft-Bits-For-Sevens organizer that drapes over the tunnel, that has mesh pockets for wallets, keys, phones, earplugs. They make them for Caterhams, not sure about other sevens. I wear earplugs if going on the highway.

there is also the Hartley H1 V8 made from two Hayabusa engines. Custom machined block, Hayabusa heads but first test fit was in a Caterham (This is probably the same as the blue car above with the red heads): https://www.h1v8.com/page/page/1562068.htm https://www.h1v8.com/page/page/1821906.htm and the Caterham on a chassis dyno, wait to the end to hear ~10k rpm! https://www.h1v8.com/page/page/4553428.htm Cheers..

I like "XFLOW CAT" for a Kent-powered car...

Update: The nittos are working great as a street tire. The car no longer slides with a lane change! I have not tried autocross on them, but may later this summer.

I wouldn't diss young software engineers. A friend of mine is in his 20s, started with a Cross-flow powered Locost he bought from someone, rebuilt the engine, and now has a ferrocious Duratec Caterham (250 hp?) that he works on all the time. He's even got a 2-post lift in his garage! As for electrics, noise isn't the only thing that defines a sports car. I remember talking to Ian Wright of Wrightspeed a few years ago at a car show. He's the ex-Tesla engineer/executive who was doing the rounds here in California with his fantastically fast eletric Ariel Atom, just before Tesla had broken cover. Anyway, he said he didn't miss shifting or engine noise. I'm not sure where I stand, but an Atom is certainly a 7-like open air experience. Carving through turns, wind in your face, hunting apexes, these are some of the rewards of driving a sportscar, the soundtrack isn't the whole deal.

Easy to be at zero if the car has been apart for a few years! I just got back on the road after chasing a clutch problem for a couple of years, culminating in having the engine out for a couple of months.

If it's of any help, here is a screenshot of the Redline invoice, perhaps the part numbers can be of use (the clutch was Helix): Cheers, -David

My last email exchange with Redline was in January for the purchase of a water pump. Chris was on that email thread. The clutch was purchase in August or September. -David