slowdude

Once they're on the way I'll take some photos and do a sticky etc. Classic car LEDs for fogs etc as it's cheaper overall and doesn't get used. I went the cheap route and got the LED board I need to mount to the caterham backing plate. Seemed like an OK amount of work to save $300 or so. I almost backed up into my daily due to these short new england winter days. Definitely need it a bit brighter at night! 😅

Setup the 3D printed mirrors and installed new spa mirrors. Setup new RAM mount on dash from Ebay so I can have GPS. Currently waiting for powerflex to get new center De dion bushings in, and the new A Frame is sitting in place. JAL LED rear light clusters ordered, along with rear LED fog and reverse lights. The rear light clusters came with an LED flasher relay, but doing some research it looks like I'll need a diode due to the draw on the dashboard turn signal indicator. I'm hoping that's an easy install as I am pretty bad with electronics. Excited to get all new (brighter) lighting in the car + making it more daily drive-able. Spring is coming up soon.

Your broker wasn't able to get a specialty insurance to cover? It doesn't have a VIN yet? Or the VIN isn't in North American systems until they give you an MSO? I bought a used car (so it had a VIN, just not in NA systems), and hagerty was able to insure. You try insuring it as a vehicle and not as a kit?

Welcome to it!! Don't worry about the overspend, it will go away the second you goose it in a corner. It's going to make noises when you drive it, they're normal. As long as engine pulls strong, bearings feel good and it stops, drive it until you've got a good idea of what you want to do. Get as many miles as possible and welcome!

Fantastic price, plus if there are any issues you know where to find him.

They might have overpaid at auction (if that's how they acquired it), and would lose their shirt going lower. It seems a rather optimistic price.

Interesting fact. Is it because it is limited to the UK you think? I'm the 9th owner of my 7, with the first owner putting 10k kms on the car, then it rotating through 7 people for the next 29km (the last 2 had the car and did maximum 1k km each). Part of it may have been the work the car needed, but some of it must have been weather. I know one previous owner was a bit heavier and had the quick release installed. Very interesting info @Vovchandr, good stuff!

33 here, turning 34. Decided to do the mid life crisis early + fortunate to have sacrificed a lot to cut down on student loan debt to be able to afford a 7. <rant> Don't listen to auto journos (have dealt with them a lot on the OEM side), they all have ego's, very, very few are genuine and reflect / understand the younger generation. Their livelihood is based on getting attention. They're all divas who treat press / fleet cars like garbage and get bent out of shape if the car doesn't have xxx options. I'm getting served with a lot of gen z car content on IG/Tik Tok. The car people are out there, they're driving instead of podcasts etc. OEMs are looking for authenticity now with their partnerships. The younger generation are much more gracious and honest about the vehicles they drive, for better and worse.</rant> Best thing we can do is drive the crap out of them, show people they're not that impractical, and be welcoming to all 7s. I constantly tell people to check out westfields/rhd ham's/ indys/gbs zero or the locust forums. Looking forward to spreading the joy of analog autos.

Gone.

They're fantastic and it pains me there's nothing in the current portfolio which scratches that itch. It's very hard to sell manual rwd coupes to the general public, especially when the pricing gap is either cheaper (brz etc) or astronomical (looking at you P cars). Maybe things will change though, and these types of cars may come back..

I'm very spoiled through a subsidized work car. It's a tough life. Might take a chance on the X2 as the next car. I can't bring myself to have an SUV though.

New winter beater. 2024 228i x drive. Paint is storm bay metallic, which is nice but not sure on the $1,200 cost. I broke it in on a drive to Florida last December. I've currently got 4600 miles on it since late November. As far as less expensive BMW's go, I'm smitten with the FWD biased car. It's one of the few non-m cars where you can feel the limits of the front wheel traction. The bias does change a bit based on the situation and I've had no problems in the snow. Overall I'm very impressed with this over the 3 series, which is fantastic, but a larger sedan.

I had an M5 for 2 months, absolutely loved it and it's the definitive super sedan for families, but the caterham scratches the itch better. I couldn't drive the M5 without putting myself in speeding ticket land. Much rather have one functional car or SUV at the opposite end of the spectrum as the 7. If you have the space and money, why not something sensible and the caterham?

Uniroyal Rain Expert tires here. They went through some gnarly standing water at 70mph in northeast winter. Absolutely will replace them when I can find a place stateside.

Hey All, Misread my instructions, got my 1995 de dion chassis center a frame bushing out of the de dion tube only to realize its too big to fit in my de dion and I need a PF8-903. So, my dumbess is your gain. $15 + shipping. Includes lube, nylon washers etc. Can add photos if needed.

You can also grab anything from a MK2 Cortina. Burton Power may have something as well. Locally, only places that may have are FF Builders (Ivey?) And Dave Bean. There was a dude hoarding MK2 Cortina parts on CL in the SF Bay area, not sure if he's still posting his parts stash.

Welcome welcome fellow DVA K series member! Do you know which tune it is / what it has? Dave can give you a pro format invoice so you know what you're working with. Whatever you do, do not get rid of the head. Dave does some magic on these heads and it's not as easy as replacing with a new head. Is it an EU2 or an EU3? A common thing he does is add the larger 170 injectors. The rover MEMS is too dumb on cold start and can't recognize the fuel going through at idle, so you'll run rich. Tap the gas after a minute or two and you'll fool the mems out of the injector dump. Emerald will fix that, Dave Sent me his map for the engine. I've gone down the rabbit hole as I just rebuild my entire engine due to the piston rings being fried and redid almost everything, including the wet sump baffle mod. Any questions feel free to ask and make sure you wring the damn thing out. I'm in awe of the torque curve from 2500 on, and it sounds incredible at high RPM. I'm by no means an expert, just a research nerd.

500 miles later (and a significant road trip for the holidays and the new motor is incredibly strong). Been doing a lot of 3k to 5k pulls. Will have to do an oil change and review the oil pressure gauge which is acting up. I did put in new LED headlights from Classic Car LEDs in the UK. Plug and play, bulbs have rectifiers on them so draw is the same. Very pleased with this $75 upgrade.

We need to waxoyl the bottom and then road time!

Yep, I need to wash when I get back on Saturday. The rainstorm I just drove 50 miles in definitely didn't help.

Weather is scarily good this winter. No salt on the roads and I did 200 miles the other day. If the weather cooperates, anyone down to do a meet up in Northern NJ / NY / CT and start the year off with some good mileage?

This. The MSO flips to a title. In certain states we ship bikes to, only dealerships can convert to a title, not a DMV. If you have an MSO, you'll be fine to get through the paperwork.

Piloti is running a sale. 60% off and they help driving the caterham for us wide feet folks. Cheapest shoe is 80$, which isn't cheap, but it's a decent shoe you can wear without race boots etc. https://piloti.com/collections/shop-all

Wierd, bumped one of my mirrors off a few weeks ago and going through the same exercise. I have copies of the cad files for the Eccles mount and access to a 3D printer via a colleague. If I can get him to do a big run, I'll let you know. Part of what I have seen on blat chat is that the windscreen mounted ones affect the door operation. I'm also going to screw around with some left over motorcycle mirrors and see if they'll fit on the door stalks too.

I think it's you. I've been following your build challenges for the past year and a half and my heart goes out to you when a new issue sets you back.