theDreamer

Yes, I admit it’s my own dang fault for not being prepared. Also, yes to the one thing you don’t have being what you need. We have owned many British sports cars like my Europa and the wife’s Austin Healey Sprite so I knew better than to venture out without the basics. Funny, I never left the driveway on a motorcycle that wasn’t packed with tools and MacGyver-esque materials for any type of misadventure. In my motorcycle roll I found zip ties, safety wire, electrical wire, electrical tape, aluminum foil tape, racer tape even two sided tape. There was an array of nuts, bolts, washers, grommets and even some fabric plumbing washers. Not to mention shop cloths, hand wipes, folded paper towel and vinegar packets. Before our next outing there will be a roadside fix-it kit.

We had our first breakdown yesterday, Sunday 11th. We left our house well before 7a.m. hoping to get to the Brits on the Lake car show in Port Perry by 9:00a.m. I was exiting the super slab (highway 401) and when I went to down shift to slow down for the off ramp, NO CLUTCH! The pedal was just swinging in the breeze. First thing I thought of was the dreaded “broken clutch cable”. But when I pulled onto the highway after getting fuel I ran it through the gears with no problem. I hadn’t touched the clutch until I went to pull off. What had happened while blasting along the motorway? I drove the car around the off ramp and up to the stop and was able to pull it out of gear but no amount of blipping the throttle would get me into a lower gear so I coasted around and up to the entrance of the first service station. The car was off the road but was blocking part of the entrance so the wife and I pushed it up to a safe place. First thing was to figure out which end had let go and if it was fixable. To pull the pedal box cover off you need a Philips head screwdriver. We had nothing. The wife walked to four different stores and nobody had anything. Of course being Sunday the car dealers and other shops were all closed. I went back into the gas station we were stranded at as Linda called a good friend to ask if he could come rescue us. There in the store I found a screwdriver worth about a dollar with multiple tips for the small sum of $15:00. Fine I paid it and went back to the car. Took the cover off but everything was as it should be. So, the problem had to be at the other end. Now, the only things I’ve seen or read show or talked about the cable connecting to the adjustment mechanism on the lower side of the bell housing. Well I crawled around and I couldn’t see the cable anywhere. Meanwhile the wife was tracing the cable’s route around the front of the engine and then back ending on the upper right side of bell housing. We removed the rubber boot to find the ball end of the cable intact but not connected to anything. Strange, no adjustment mechanism, no fasteners, just the standard light bulb shaped socket in the clutch arm that allows the ball to pass through and then the wire to slide up into position. BUT what holds it there? Did something fall out, break or otherwise change? I don’t know but I’m searching for the answers. In the meantime our friend had agreed that if we could not get it fixed that he’d hook up his trailer and come get us. The wife suggested we reconnect the ball end with the clutch arm and then use a small machine screw and a couple of nuts to fill the larger opening that allowed the ball to pass through. I said a couple of zip ties would do the trick. No sooner had I utter the words then she was off to the gas station’s office to see what she could find. Minutes later she returned with two zip ties and she proceeded to complete the fix. I got in and the clutch seemed to work. I fired up the car, selected 1st and eased out the clutch and the car moved forward. I tried reverse with the same result. Happy our little bandage fix worked we called our friend to tell him what we had done. He was happy and since his shop is near the event venue he said he’d drop by to see us. If the fix failed he’d be ready to come get us. Well it held together all the way to the event and back home. We’ll see what we can do about a more permanent remedy this week. Question is, how does one adjust the clutch cable on a C20xe Caterham? I’m thinking of moving the pedals to the closer position for my short legs and it along with brake and throttle will require adjustments. In the section of the Owner’s Manual under Ford Engine & Transmission it shows the adjustment mechanism, a threaded portion with a large nut to make the adjustment and a smaller one to lock it into position. But what keeps the cable ball end locked into the clutch arm, tension? First photo shows the car with the bonnet off as the wife tried to find a screwdriver. Second shows the pedal box. The third shows the clutch arm sans cable. We were in a hurry so forgot to take an after shot of the fix but… I took one out in the garage this morning. The next is Figure 4.3.11 out of my owner’s manual Ford Engine & Transmission section. The same figure 4.3.11 is listed in the section for the Vauxhall Engine & Transmission section. The last photo is the car at the very poorly attend car show. The weather fit the British theme as it changed every half hour to 45 minutes.

Oh, they are there. You can see them better in the auction photos form 2019. Here are two snips, one from the old and one from this auction.

Just listed: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1997-caterham-seven-super-sprint/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_2648441

I learned a long time ago that if a person makes a suggestion they’d better be ready to volunteer to carry it through. If a person makes an observation of something that they feel needs to be addressed or fixed then they had better be ready with a solution. AND… They must not take it personally if their suggestion is not the one chosen. Yours Respectfully theDreamer Past president of a profession race series, past executive member/vice president of a national club for a famous marque. One time “Clerk of the Course” for an FIM sanctioned international race.

Music credits?

Interesting happenstance, I was going through the three Assembly Guide binders that came with my car and I found this technical piece penned by Jez Coates. Among other questions it seems the original owner of my car had a similar issue with what was described as steering slip. Jez' first comment was to check that the grub screw in the steering clamp was tight. (see attached image)

Folio

Here's a photo of what CarlB was talking about.

Not so much glamour shots but my attempt at interesting, artsy and humorous photos. These were taken yesterday at a cruise night about an hour from our home. The first shows the size of our HPC relative to the area designated for parking the latest Land Barges. The second is proof that something is watching us. The third shows that purple knows no age.

Sorry John my bad, I have now corrected my post. I was just surprised because I thought I had read that these only came in RHD. I learn something new every day on here. Again, I’m sorry for any problems my post may have caused.

This is the first LHD CSR with the rounded tube interior that I think I’ve seen. I thought I read that they only made this style CSR in RHD. I have seen LHD CSR’s with the more familiar, standard style flat dash interior. like the one from Toronto that was sold on BaT. Both styles use the same type suspensions, in-board up front and full IRS in the back.

If you are hitting both the throttle and the clutch pedal when you apply the brakes than you’re doing it wrong. Your pedal problem is more about technique than shoe style. Do you blip the throttle on down shifts? I wager you do not. The technique used by most is to use the left side of the ball of the foot, (large hard area below the big toe) to apply pressure to the brake pedal and then rotate the ankle so the right side, (area below the last two toes) contacts the throttle pedal with a quick motion to “blip” the throttle as you shift down a gear. What you want to do when applying just a little brake to scrub off speed is to do the same without the “blip”. If you are needing to make a panic stop that’s when you may want to use the center of your foot but, as stated already, clutch in first. In the last 40+ years I’ve driven dozens of Sevens and the pedals were all different. I’ve included two photos of pedal placement. The first is of a 1992 Zeta (Zetec) powered Caterham with a hydraulic clutch. Pedals are oriented to the right with a nice gap left of the clutch to sneak one’s foot past to rest. The second is my HPC with cable clutch. Greater space between throttle and brake which means I have to point my left foot down to get under the clutch to rest it. I’ll bet if everyone here posted a photo of their cars pedals you would see very few if any that were exactly the same. I will again mention that a trip to a large shoe shop, sports or outlet store will yield you results. I have a short, wide foot. I often have to get shoes a half size larger because of this. The Deck shoes I mentioned fit very snug with enough give that I did not have to go up in size. I have several pairs of leather dress shoes and one pair of faux leather that work well also. My wife packed up all my racing gear two decades ago and can’t find that box now that I want those shoes. As for leaving the car unattended, mine came with two sets of tonneau covers. One set of factory black covers which fit over the headrests and a set of custom made grey vinyl that require the headrests be removed. This past weekend we, for the first time, tucked the grey set behind the seats for our trip up to Mosport. We used them while we walked about at the Field of Dreams Car Show held during the VARAC Vintage Grand Prix at Mosport, (OK, it’s really called Canadian Tire Motorsports Park). I didn’t get a photo of them both on but have included one shot with the passenger side in place and the doors still on. Everything fit nicely into the foot wells and boot including the steering wheel. I wear glasses almost all the time now and have clip on sun glasses that fit over my regular glasses. With the doors on, a cap and my glasses I have yet to have any problem. My car does have one thing your car does not, full fenders. After every trip the wife goes around with tweezers and picks out all the little stones and stuff that gets lodged between the fenders and the body. Also, stuff that gets under the windshield seal and into that hard to get at little area at the base of the stanchions and the windshield frame.

Are you thinking about the Donkervoot? You need to contact the seller via the “Contact Seller” button. You should ask him what company was used to bring it into Canada and what was required. Also, how long he is willing to hold the car should you be the winning bidder. Organising transport isn’t an easy or fast process. You should contact Transport companies that specialize in antique, classic and collectable cars. Make sure they will cross the border. Some will not and therefore use one company to pick the car up and cross the border. Then another company will pick it up on the US side to deliver it to you. They may even move it from one transport trailer to another several times. Ensure the company has a good broker to make sure all the paperwork is done correctly well ahead of time. And there is a lot of paperwork. Or, get yourself a broker. You can do it yourself but if you are required to attend at the border crossing then you’re screwed. I used TFX here in Toronto to pick up my car in Utah and bring it across the border. They can hold cars in their warehouse if need be. The broker they use is very good. Now that I’ve done it I could probably do the next one myself but for a few hundred bucks why would I? I have no knowledge of the Donkervoot other than it was up for sale for a long time on some Canadian sites. The seller was wanting all his money out of it. I suspect his reserve will be near to what he paid for it.

Randy, the driver who delivered my car was a big lad who had to remove his shoes to drive it. He said it was not pleasant as my car requires a lot of effort to depress the clutch pedal. I suggest while you wait for those fancy shoes to arrive go to your local shoe shop or outlet store and get a pair of plain old canvas deck shoes. When I was with the Bridgestone Race School F2000 series we let the drivers use these with their Nomex socks in the rain so as not to damage their high priced racing shoes. I can tell you from firsthand experience they do they trick.

I’d love to have them for my car but the wife says NO! The shoulder straps in “our” car have had the Caterham panels removed. But, we have them and she is clear that these can be sewn back on. She also points out that our faded belts are the originals that came with this car and have the red cam lock hubs. I tried to point out how much better your brand spanking new ones would look especially the black hubs with the Caterham 7 logos. NOPE, she won’t budge. As I have a long wish list and who knows what maintenance issues we may encounter I’ve decided to let her win this battle. Sorry

Randy, to quote Jeremy (Stang70Fastback on here) Hooray! ONE OF US! ONE OF US!

Well, as you can see my US car has the more bullet shaped lens with the chrome ring. When we had our Europa it was always fun going around at car shows picking out what parts came from which cars. Like the Europa’s front bumper is an Anglia’s front bumper turned upside down. And the rear bumper is actually a Ford Cortina’s front bumper. The rear taillight lenses look the same as V12 Jag but the Europa’s has a white segment for the backup lights that the Jag’s don’t. Colin was known for being a parts bin specialist. Why design and contract out manufacturing for stuff that others have already put the time and money into? Smart lad that Colin. Nearn learned his lessons well.

So lots of good advice here even if some of it seems contradictory. Let me tell a little story. A long-time friend and I used to road ride motorcycles. We both built and enjoyed riding our Yamaha RD 350 café racers. I was racing vintage GP bikes and then moved into Amateur Production Classes. After several years my friend decides to get into racing too. He bought a used TZ250 GP bike and did a super ground up rebuild. It was better and faster than when it was new. He did the race school and loved it. He went to open practice days and couldn’t get enough. Then came his first race weekend and his first heat race. He pulled into pit lane after the first lap. I ran over to him expecting he’d fouled a plug or worse. Instead I found him sitting on the bike shaking. When he finally was able to talk he said he couldn’t do it. Building the bike and running around the track at speed was fun. Racing, dicing inches apart from the next guy was something he was not prepared for. It scared him sh*tless! Nobody knows how they will react to a given situation until they find themselves in that situation. All I can add is; ‘Tis better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. (Alfred Lord Tennyson) In my case, I’m 70 and have had my first Caterham Seven all of three weeks now. I’ve had sports cars like a Lotus Europa Twin Cam Special so I’m used to very small cars. I’ve been riding motorcycles for over 50 years so I’m used to being vulnerable in traffic. I’ve raced karts, cars (both tin tops and open wheeled formula cars) and motorcycles both on and off road. I had driven lots of sevens over the years but never owned one until now. It’s not what I remember it being or what I was expecting. But now old, over weight, out of shape and in general poor health I’m glad I went for it. I’ll keep this car as long as I can. As to size, I’m sure you have seen comparisons before but here’s my car beside a Land Rover 4x4. Photo was taken this past Saturday at a British car show. And yes, that is the actual size. The photo has not not been photo shopped or altered in any way. Oh, did I mention that a guy in a Jeep Cherokee ran a red light and literally drove over the front of my Europa? I didn’t see him until a split second before because I couldn’t see over the front fender of the Chevelle station wagon that was beside me.

Video URL has too many h's... This works:

Jeremy, I meant to add this after your 2nd blog post. I love all the extra bits you've added. Especially how you etched the Caterham logo into the steering wheel. I think you should see about removing the emblem on the shifter knob and replacing it with a similar black back ground etched HPC Logo to match the wheel. Your car is all black and red and the burst of colour sort of distracts from the rest of the interior. (Oh, by the way if you do this and the old shifter emblem comes out in one piece I’d be willing to take it off your hands.)

WOW, Is this the car? If so very interesting... https://gglotus.org/blog/2010/09/20/super-907/

Good onya, and ta for the update.

Yep thanks, we figured this out when Mudder put his new one up for sale because it was too short.

My wife is 5’6” and she has always maintained that the Europa was the most comfortable car she has ever been in and I agree 100%. She was most happy for this while she was pregnant with our first daughter. So much so that when she found out she was pregnant with our second she had me look for and buy a Europa seat for her to relax in at home. I lucked out and found a pair from a wreck. We’ve used them ever since for watching TV and Gaming. As far as the Seven goes, not so much. I keep my wallet in my right rear pocket and all my I.D. and cards in my left rear pocket. These happen to hit the seat's sides and so all my weight rest on those two areas. I'm looking for a small pillow to place on the seat cushion to raise me up just enough to take the pressure off my cheeks. I’m getting used to the left knee bent and foot up so as not to ride the clutch pedal. I’ve done one 2 ½ hour stint and three 1 hour or less drives without getting out of the car. Still lots to learn and tweaking to be done. Note the difference in the two photos. Arrow indicate pressure points.