slowdude

90ish or so before the engine came out and the extended overseas work trip. 6 months later and ~150 miles on the new engine and looking forward to quadrupling that next year. I drive a lot, for context I put 1500 miles on the GS this year, 350 or so were offroad. Maybe 25,000 miles a year on the daily.

No worries. Will holler when I'm starting to regularly take it in to work in spring.

I'd be interested but I'm maybe 4 hours north of you in NNJ and winterized. Only problem is I am a regular S3, may not swap?

Ahh I saw you on 17 this spring and tried to flag you down. I work in Bergen.

2900USD + shipping. I mean it isn't that bad for a 3 season car..

At roughly 25k over his BaT auction. Healthy margin.

Absolutely, need some time at palmer or Thompson together! Price was not too bad. Machine shop which did majority of work listed above was 1100, labor plus installation of radiator + timing + reassembly was another 1800 and has a warranty on labor and parts. Not cheap by any means, but better to spend the money to do it right, vs kicking it down the road as the past 6 (out of 9) owners have done!

Car is finally back together and I have about 100 miles on the new Engine. I didn't realize how poorly it was performing before. K series is straight linear power from 2k. I had the following done: Piston rings (omega) Mahle Crank Bearings New Valves Valve stems cut to spec Valves lapped Lifters replaced Water pump / tensioner / pulleys / timing belt Piper vernier for the cams Radtec heavy duty radiator installed Have 100 miles on it in 2 days of good weather. 60 was a round trip to work, alternating between 3k and 4.5k every 5 or so with occasional slow pulls up to 5k. As I start to get more mileage in, I'll get a bit more bold as the engine is incredible. Next up at some point this winter (after getting a good amount of mileage in on the engine), install the new de dion + powerflex bushings and install my emerald ECU. Next spring will be considering what to do with the lifters. It's back and even better than before, what a car.

I've seen a few on Instagram, they slide back on hatchback door pistons, then slide forward when you sit in them. Very clever and prevents the wierd shrimp move I do when the soft top is on.

No worries. I'm on the UES 1x a week to visit family, weather (and patience) permitting, I could maybe bring it in. I work maybe 30 minutes from the city in northern NJ, which is a bit closer. We can figure something out. It's an imperial S3 RHD 1.8 L series with the T9 box. I need to put the new A Arm and bushings on in the back. A bit tired but slowly getting there. I have the wide track front suspension, and I think it's a road sport based on the ARB's. I need to go through the caterham paperwork to find out what it exactly is. I second everyone's thoughts on the wider track front - gives you a bit more stability. I've got a heater / full weather kit and drove until it snowed last year. Work sent me oversea's for a good chunk of the year so I wasn't able to get as much driving this year. Regarding parking in NYC, we have a spot in our building, I think it's 860$ a month. It went up drastically since covid... combined with the road quality and traffic, you'll most likely be miserable getting to the driving roads to enjoy the car. For the monthly price of parking (especially if you rent in the city), you may be better off street parking the daily (if applicable) and storing at Haggerty or Motorcar Manor in NNJ. I was quoted at 550$ a month including tender etc. The peace of mind of having the car on a tender where you're not going to get rats / other parking garage junk in it is worth it. Especially if it's a new, 60k 7. Reading between the lines on your weather gear questions. Don't try to rationalize the car as being weather practical. It's like driving an antique. Give a lot of braking distance in wet and the wipers are more of a suggestion. I keep a good sailing jacket in the car for bad weather. If you go into a car this extreme with some justification of practicality, you'll be disappointed. It's the perfect foil to whatever appliance I daily.

Hey Rachit, I'm in northern Morris county. I'm similar to you, 5'7" with a 32 inch inseam (wierd proportions when you think about it). 😀 I'm still in the process of my unexpected engine build BUT hoping to be done soon. Engine was rebuilt and sent back to shop on Monday. Hopefully I'm back together soon and you can come by for a drive.

My car is still being worked on at machine shop, but I'll bring tools, and some spare dust seals and bearing grease for people to use. I have some brake fluid as well, and a Flux welder.

NJMP always has a wierd weather bubble around it too.

Echoing croc, looking at sport bike i4's, they have peaky powerbands and lower torque to HP ratio. You'd get your 16k rpm, but there might be other engines which can provide that RPM sound. Regarding the weight of the car.. I've always thought a motorcycle I6 would be great. Benelli sei / Honda cbx / bmw k1600. They're all used for pushing 5-700 pound bikes, they have significant power and displacement etc.

Welcome, if it's a BDA, sheesh. I'm jealous. Since you're a machinist, nothing here will be hard to work on. I'm an excel loser and I still have figured out how to do some work on the car. They're a blast and welcome!

Camshaft seals came in this evening.. going to machine shop tomorrow. Hopefully they were also able to get the piston rings in, then it's just assemble and easy for green run. Worst case I'll have tools and extra jack.

I'm dumb and wrote in the 2022 thread. Engine is still in pieces and I'm harassing the shop on a daily basis to make progress. Hoping to at least drive down and run support for ya'll, not sure if I should be breaking a new head in on the track.

Engine is still out.... hoping to keep progress going. May not be a good way to break in new valves on the track so I may drive down for the day and run support for people etc.

I see 8-10% of every step class as women. On the motorcycle side, it's significantly less. Can't say if this area is a higher or lower percentage than the national average though.

Agree with you on some points, especially the risk of a starting your own company and having a safety net come from a world of privilege. You're spot on with some people being in corporate dealerships that aren't wired to work in those sorts of systems. I think the greater situation is that there are too many people in the world and society/powers that be are forcing people into boxes they're not made for (and never will be). Why do you mention troubleshooting and repair as non-capitalistic? I see the current replace mentality due to a few things. I'd just like to understand your thought process, not poking you, it's an interesting thought. I have a a few thoughts from what I've seen working in industry. 1. Customers do not want to spend more money than they feel they need to. 2. Vehicles (especially modern cars), are designed more to be replaced at the dealership, with large parts being reconditioned on the OEM side of things. So the new transmission I just had put in a 10 year old BMW, was actually a reconditioned transmission. Dealerships run lean because they're designed to pump throughput. 3. Dealerships, while charging a lot for the customer pay, trickle very little down to the actual service tech, which is why they go elsewhere. 4. Techs are paid hourly, but the dealer job is paid by the task. if another dealership is offering a few dollars more an hour, and the foreman at the shop is a PITA, you'll lose talent. The system isn't made for them.

I was on the fence with Greg, problem is he is 6 hours from me. I can't pop into the shop and check on the work. The shop I found in greater NYC area is predominantly a Lotus Elise shop, but knows the K series. It's been really touch and go but it seems more of an oldschool shop where I needed to check in and prod. The prodding is starting to work, engine should hopefully be back together this week. (Hopefully).

Step program is a good program but a lot of the guys go back to dealerships where service writers/advisors need training. The motorcycle market is even harder. We are paying $2,500 a head for a tech to go to a dealership after the STEP classes. Very hard to find talent out there. Combine it with a dealer network that can't get out of its own way (realistic estimates, charging full pop on parts instead of working with the customer to build a dealership base), and you get a lot of turnover.

We struggle to find qualified students to go through OEM training, where we literally pay for everything except room and board. You can come out and write your ticket at a dealership. I fear (and I am still young, in my early 30s), that many younger than I are too fixated on the "get rich quick hustle grindset" mentality I see permeating social media, precluding a long setup for a successful well earning career. Back to caterhams though, it's been a bit of a nightmare to find a good caterham shop in the metro NYC area. Valves should be in today, then bringing to the shop this afternoon, hopefully the head will get back together this week, then tested out the week after for the 10/15 date.

I regged on property I have in another state as I am RHD. You have the MSO from Birkin as it was never titled correct? It shouldn't be too bad. Really depends on which DMV you go to. I'd imagine emissions and inspection would be harder..

@TobyinNJI'm up by Morristown. There's an orange 360 in bergen County I've been trying to find. If my engine ever gets put back together, I've got some good roads in the Butler area we can get together for, if you're not too far away.