theDreamer

Half hood is on my list, (see parts for sale/wanted).

Hood sticks are on the car now. Still looking for a half roof that will fit my older S3 with the vertical roll bar.

Back and forth I went looking through the Assembly Guides and checking on-line photos, diagrams and videos. Meanwhile the wife kept playing around. The longer the hood sat in the sun the easier things got. In one build thread the guy mentioned that unzipping the rear window made it all work. Before I got outside with this info the wife came into the computer room and told me she had it on and all buttoned up. She said the trick was UNZIPPING the rear window. So, we fitted the spare tire back in place, (removed it to clean and reposition the cover) put the doors on and then spent ½ hour testing different methods of ingress and egress. The wife uses a butt first, legs in after approach with the reverse to exit. I tried a couple of different techniques and haven’t settled on the best one for me yet. However, happy with ourselves we took a little 50+ mile drive to fill up with gas then took the shorter 40 mile route back home. It was actually quite comfy in there with the hood up. It was about 10 degrees C (50F) outside but very windy. I had on a light sweater and the wife had on her heavier sweater and rabbit fur hat. Now we have rabbit fur all over the interior and the underside of the hood. Well, that’s her job to clean and also remove all the bugs off the windshield. A couple of new problems “popped” up. We both got out at different times and without realizing it we hit and unfastened the first popper behind the doors. Both times I drove off and once up to speed that side of the hood would start to sail off. This is not something that can be popped back on while moving. I will bring up other issues in new threads. But for now I think the hood and hood stick issues are sorted. Although as I type this I realize I still have to screw the strap ends to the back of the boot. Ah, it’s getting late, I’ll wait until tomorrow.

I had a list of items I wanted to get done on the car and true to “Life with a Seven”; every one of them is giving me fits. I won’t bother you with all of them but I will talk about the biggest problem right now. Those damn hood sticks, the straps and getting the hood on. You can see in the photos of my sticks that the holes are on the wrong side. Using a small diameter bit I drilled through the internal fastener and out the other side of the tubes. Then I drilled a clearance sized hole from that other side. I wasn’t sure that the threads of the internal fixed fastener were undamaged so I decided to purchase longer 10-32 cap screws and nyloc nuts. I get the drilling done on one side and the power goes out. This is around 10:30 am last Sunday. First Hydro posted that it would be fixed by 1:00 pm which became 2:00 pm. When they posted again it was going to be 3:00 pm the wife and I went into town to pick up supplies and grab a bite. She had been shining up the bright work, cleaning/polishing the paint (the rear panel of the car behind the spare is nasty) and was going to detail the interior. We got back at 4:30 just as the power came back on. From then until 8:00 ish we fought with the hood (roof). Turns out after looking at a half dozen videos and pages of photos I learned that older S3’s like mine have the hood stick mounting tabs welded flush with the outside skin. New Caterhams have that same tab welded on the inside of the frame tubes. Hence, my brand new hood sticks are for a newer Caterham S3 and not the older style like mine. Too late now as I have already drilled and test mounted them. Next was attaching the straps. No instructions anywhere to be found. Lots of videos on how you can put up the roof in about three to five minutes. None on how to affix those straps. I was horrified when I read in a build blog that I had to drill and use self-tapping screws to anchor the straps. Then what do you know, I found two holes in the boot of our car that would have been used for that very purpose. OK, what size screws should I use in these used holes? And, how do we attach the straps to the secondary tube. The wife figured it required a larger loop at the adjuster. It took two attempts on which way was up. We tried a test fit and that’s what killed it for us. We fought for over an hour, tried everything we could think of but there was just no way we could get the main tube to line up with the Velcro section in the roof. We can get it to within about a ½ inch but that’s it. The roof at this point is under so much tension and the main tube where it bends is pushing out the plastic side windows yet the area around the door is slack. It’s as if that main tube is too tall for my hood. Or, my hood isn’t tall enough for these sticks. I’m quickly learning I have no tolerance for things like this anymore. After fifty years the wife is very patient with me. But, only to a point. Once I start to stutter its downhill from there. The car sat for a few days as I had to take the wife first for a scope on Monday. Then another angiogram on Wednesday. Thursday she had cataract measurements and today she had to see our cardiologist. All things seem good with her so we went back at the hood after lunch today. Nope, still won’t fit. I’ve parked the car out in the sun hoping that the vinyl will heat up and we can stretch it that little bit more that we need to get all the fasteners done up. Well that worked and we got the main hoop into the Velcro but… The secondly tube will not move back into position. I’ve come to the conclusion that these sticks are to clear a taller roll bar and therefore the hood needs to be taller as well. My car had hood sticks for a long time as the paint is worn off around the mounting holes. Where they went, why they were not with the car now is a mystery. Also, this roof looks new and had the zip out rear window. Did Caterhams in the early 90’s have that feature? Anyway I included a photo of the wife working on the exhaust cover. It is covered in marks, tar and/or dried on rubber marbles.

Back in the day when the “cold air” heater was introduced it was thought to have several bonus features. By keeping the heater cable pushed in (in the "Off" position) then hot coolant would by-pass the heater core. This meant that whatever the outside air temp was would be what flowed into the car and thus help keep the leg area cooler. Also, with a flow of air coming up from under the dash it would help to lessen the draft of turbulent air rushing in from behind to fill the void in the cockpit. From your experience, is this how it works with the heater fan on full and the cable in the “Off” position? Or, is the reality that it just kicks up the dust from the foot wells into your eyes?

Addendum to my previous post: I forgot to mention that with my size, arthritis and shoulder problems I have found it difficult to snap/unsnap the doors. Also, I have to remember to do this before doing up the four point harness. Best way for me is to use my right hand (car is LHD) across my midsection to do up the lower snap. Then turning my upper torso left while lifting my left arm and shoulder use the right hand for the upper rear snap. I’ve seen skinny young fellas use their left hand and bend their left arm in some unnatural positions to accomplish the same task. Positioning the rear view mirrors is a two person job. In fact, there are a lot of things you’d never think about until you have a seven that now requires you to. Those who have owned sevens for some time have found these to become second nature to them. But, for new owners we have to go through this learning curve. Like riding motorcycles you have to remember to cancel the turn signals. My wife had a 1986 Ducati 650 Indiana and it had the loudest turn signal beep I’ve ever heard. You never forgot to cancel those signals. But in the seven I can’t hear that click, click sound. Plus, in day light I can’t see the lights on the fenders, (front wings) when they’re flashing. I’m sure I’ll remember more things as time passes.

By correct I assume you mean a yellow and green version. If you have a Sprint then Redline has this on offer. Would be good for 1600 or 1700 I'd think. https://redlinecomponents.co.uk/product/nosecone-badge-caterham-super-7-sprint/ On the other hand keep your eyes on all the usual places, eBay, Facebook Market Place etc.

Answering your original questions: I had driven or ridden in many Lotus and Caterham sevens over the decades. The turning point for me was back to back drives in first a Caterham 1700 Super Sprint and then a 15 minute romp in a HPC back in 1994. A couple of days later I drove a Lotus Seven Series 2 ½ for about a half hour on some gorgeous country roads. Before that weekend I had made my mind up I was buying the Lotus. But after the HPC I just knew the Lotus wasn’t for me. It had all the drawbacks of an old world seven with none of the pleasures that came with the newer, more powerful Caterhams. I turned 70 in January of this year; the wife will be 68 come this June. I’m short and overweight, 5’ 4” and about 185lbs. I plan on driving my “new to me” seven that I just got home a week ago as long as I am physically able to or they yank my license. (Whichever comes first.) I’m finding getting in and out a real problem, even more so for my wife. We’ve adopted a rather frowned upon strategy. We will wipe the soles of our shoes with a heavy towel and then place that towel on the seat. We then stand on the seat and bending at the knees we lower ourselves down and in with the aid of our arms. Getting out is a little trickier. We sort of work our way up the seat back by again bending our knees and bringing our feet up the floor and then straightening our legs out to push ourselves up the seat backs. It takes several goes to where we can stand up on the seat to exit. We have yet to get the roof, (hood) on. I’m not looking forward to attempting ingress or egress with it up. Mind you I was still riding my sport bikes (MV Agusta F3 675 and Ducati SS FE 900) up to a couple of years ago. And in the past I had a Lotus Europa TCS and raced motorcycles and F2000 open wheeled formula cars. I did weight training and rode trials bikes to keep in shape. So it’s upsetting to find out my body is letting me down now. But old age will happen to everyone. I just took too much out of mine when I was younger. My car has a very heavy cable clutch to the point that I had to move the seat fully forward so I would gain more leverage for my left leg. During the 2+ hour drive home I got used to it. I’ve only stalled the car once so far. I say, get the car now because you will be able to drive and enjoy it. Who knows what will happen in twenty years’ time. Cleaner burning synthetic fuels may save ICE vehicles and our overburdened electrical grid. Even if you can’t drive it in your latter years and are forced to sell it you will have had the enjoyment of it up to that point. So many things I regret not doing when I could have because of my thought process at the time.

Insurance update. The wife called our insurance company to add the Caterham and low and behold after 2 ½ hours and talking to three different people it seems that, QUOTE: “We do not insure that type of vehicle”. Furthermore, they all claimed that there was no record of my wife getting a quote for a Caterham. She asked to speak to a manager but was repeatedly declined. The best they would do was to ask a manager to look into the recording and we’d have to call back in 3 to 4 days. Plus, still no joy with lowering her rates on her Daily Driver. I went ahead and insured the Caterham with Hagerty. Well, three days later a manager called us. Turns out that the person who had given the quote had asked the wife; have Caterhams been distributed in Canada? The wife says she asked, do you mean are they available for sale? Then said yes. What they actually meant was, were Caterhams imported and sold as new vehicles in Canada? We never did get an answer as to why that wasn’t explained or why a 30+ year old used Caterham imported into Canada from the US wasn’t insurable as a special interest vehicle? So while the wife had this person on the phone she pressed for answers about her insurance. This person talked so much bull I couldn’t keep up. It seems that the wife had had a decreasing deductible on her last three vehicles and that transferred over to her new Crosstreck. However, it appears that the rates for that had gone up plus it was to reset each time she bought a new car. Bottom line is, the only way she can get a lower rate is to write a new policy and according to this person the lowest deductible she can get is $750 and not the decreasing type. After much discussion she did get my name taken off the policy as I now own a vehicle that is insured. That saved her a whopping $120! In the mean time she had been phoning around to every insurance company we could think of. The best deals of course came with us transferring out house insurance too. BUT! So far none will take our house as it has forced air OIL heat. Some won’t even look at us because our house has actual wood burning fireplaces. WTF??? This world is going to heck in a hand basket!

Thanks Croc, I have placed an order with Rich at Kampena Motors who has both the sticks and two straps in stock. I’m just waiting for an invoice and instructions for payment from him.

The continuing saga of the tires. Three of the four missing tires showed up last Thursday. Number four (Well actually #3 of 4) was to be delivered by 1:30 pm Saturday. It was delivered just before 2:00 pm today Monday April 1st. So load up all five tires and head on down the road. When we get to the shop the car is sitting outside and the pan is off it. It seems that what was left of gasket was not salvageable. It’s actually a sandwich with a gasket above and below a metal baffle plate. Ones on order but who knows wen it’ll get here. Other fixes included the electrical brake light switch and surprise, replacing the flasher relay seems to have fixed the turn signals issue. The hard starting and ruff running may be linked to all the gunk in the carbs. When they tried to start the car after it sat all night gasoline literally ran out of the two velocity stacks nearest the firewall. The mechanic pulled the tops off and cleaned out “stuff”. I noticed that the cold start levers were present but not hooked up. I was afraid that my car had those incomplete carbs where none of the holes are drilled and each has a blanking plate installed. But all that is needed is to connect the two levers together, add a cable to activate the “Cold Start Circuit” and Bob’s Your Uncle!

OK, this item just showed up on the UK Facebook group Caterham cars and parts for sale. Discuss.

The mechanic and I talked about the brake light problem. He told me he converts most cars with a pressure switch to a simple electrical switch. He can do it so no one can see it and he’s never had a customer come back. So I’m going that route. I was thinking the dash switch as well. I’m hoping to get an update Monday afternoon. I also thought electric fuel pump as my Ducati is like that. Although it’s more of a whirring sound. So, I turned on the ignition without starting the car expecting to hear it make a few clicks. However, there was no sound until I fired it up. Replacing the fuel pump was on my list before the auction closed. After I blew my budget buying the car I’m now looking at what has to be done versus what I can do later. Hopefully things like the fuel pump fall into that second category. (Too many things already in the first.) If the clutch is operating as it should and I cannot get any more mechanical advantage to ease the pressure required then upgrading to a hydraulic system will jump up the list. I’ll try and master the Weber starting technique. Over the winter I’ll pull the carbs to see if these have all the bits for the starter circuit. (Even though many people say it’s not needed.) It may be a simple case of adding the lever and connecting a cable to operate.

I was hoping one of the shops that frequent USA7’s would come back with an answer. Same goes for why I’ve posted on sites like Lotus 7 & Caterham Club Canada’s Facebook Page. Terry admins that page and owns 7Cars, (7cars.ca). If anyone had something I’d have thought they’d have made contact with me by now. I have filled out those auto-generated forms on sites like, Redline and Kampena Motors as well. So far I have two offers from the UK if I come and pick ‘em up. I posted on the UK sites because I now owners from North America often check them out.

Car failed safety for a couple of minor items, brake lights not working and turn signals intermittent. The mechanic also found a host of niggly problems. The oil pan is leaking from the gasket, two leaks in the rad (more serious) and the car needs a new cam belt. Plus, I gave him a list of things he still has to address like, temp gauge doesn’t seem to work, there is a clicking sound we could hear when the car was just idling and the clutch pedal is ridiculously hard to operate. These are all the type of things I expected from a car that has sat more than it has been driven. But I did ask the seller about things I should be made away of. I mean it took 7 weeks to get the car so if I had a heads up I could of had parts and a game plan. Now this means the car won’t be ready until sometime next week. Yet another frustrating item, the tires the wife ordered hadn’t shown up on time. Then we learned they only shipped four instead of the five that she ordered and paid for. Two hours of waiting on the phone, sending emails and leaving voice messages got us a, “we’re sorry, we didn’t notice that you had ordered five until after the four had been sent. We will be shipping you the fifth tire shortly.” So get this, the first four are coming from Quebec but the fifth tire is here in Ontario. Guess what? Yep, the lone tire showed up on Thursday. The other four were to arrive on Good Friday. Surprise! They didn’t. The wife got notification that they would be delivered today, Saturday before noon. Well, we had to go out. When we get back there were three, YES, only three tires waiting for us. More text messages and we’re told the fourth was on another truck and would be here shortly. Well, I’m typing this at 10:45pm and no tire! How frickin’ hard is it to read and fill and ship an order for a company that is a 100% on-line business? FRAKIN' 'ELL!!!!

Well, the car is here and I hope to bring it home this coming week. Caterham seem to be out of stock. Although they tell me that sometimes if you ask they suddenly have what you’re looking for. Also, I haven't heard back from Redline yet so I'm bumping this just in case someone has unearthed some old hood sticks. Might be from a race car, a wreck or just something that they picked up just in case.

Oh I get to play this now too. Well, the wife took the photo as I was to busy going through the boxes and stuff. This was her way of saying; We are finally seeing the sunshine breaking through the clouds.

Well, it’s almost over. The car was picked up in Utah last Monday 18th. It cleared customs and entered Canada Thursday 21st but then, didn’t reach the shop that is doing the safety inspection until this morning Tuesday 26th. Seven weeks since I won the auction.(And no, the symbolic nature of these synchronistic events, that being waiting seven weeks to get my Super Seven in my seventieth year is not lost on me.) I’m hoping they can get everything done by Thursday so I can get the ownership and plates switched before the long weekend. If not then I have another week to wait. So far the car is better than expected in terms of condition, bonus extras and work performed by the seller after the sale at no charge. The transport company on the other hand, not so much. I already knew that engines with Webbers don’t like to start in the cold. My new car is no exception. Here are a few photos from today’s delivery and a couple of very short videos. It makes me laugh when guys show “cold start” videos and it fires right up. Ah NOPE! It don’t happen like that. Even letting it warm up a bit it still doesn’t want to run. https://youtu.be/4h3pjEwmDKk https://youtu.be/n1X559_VvOc

Wayne, your car is older than mine and also has a vertical roll bar. I bet the dimensions from the roll bar to the leading edge of the windshield will be greater than that of Mudder's half roof. If it fit his it would fit mine.

Here's a photo of short K&N's in a Birkin. (I didn't realize the engine bay was that much wider than an S2/S3) Also a nifty custom built air box with clear plexy that looks like it'll fit under a Lotus/Caterham bonnet.

Martin has been helping me as well. Although, he can’t do anything at this time because all his files are in boxes for the big move. I think he has a great job and he seems to really enjoy it. As to your #47 having plaque #14 it may be a simple case of each Prisoner car got a plaque but in no particular order. Case in point, I have a Ducat 900 SS Final Edition, #084. However, I learned that when the bikes were being built the plaques were mounted to the top triple clamp and then set aside until needed. It wasn’t unheard of to have a high number plaque put on a bike built weeks before a clamp with a much lower number was used. Meaning, there was no correlation between VIN number and plaque number.

My car has a similar wire mesh set up. It appears in the photos to have something behind the mesh. Perhaps some filter foam or just a wad of panty hose material. I won’t know until I get to see the car, (hopefully later today or Monday). However, if nothing is there I’ll figure out some way to affix foam inside or at the very least over the mouths on the outside. MoBoost, I can see how those big foam pods would interfere with taking the bonnet off and on. With the stock K&N chrome ones you have to physically remove the first one if you have clam shell front fenders. Stevensonjr, you might think about getting some air filter foam and cutting a wedge to fit inside the scoop. Glue or use double sided tape to affix it to the inside of the scoop so that it’ll squish up against the inlets when the bonnet is in place.

I have seen, sat in or driven a variety of Lotus and Caterham sevens over the decades. To be honest, I do not think that there was ever any two with the same pedal spacing. I will agree, seeing your CSR’s stock pedal locations make absolutely zero sense. Best pedal spacing I have personal knowledge of was in a Caterham that had been upgraded by James Whiting. The spacing was just right for me, (first photo). I suspect it didn’t come from the factory like that. Looking at photos of my own car it appears that I’ll have to do some shimming and tweaking to get the spacing right (second photo). I won’t know for sure until it arrives sometime in the next three to five days.

barbox, I would have preferred to buy a seven privately. However, going through an established company like BaT takes a lot of the worry out of it. You know they have vetted the seller and done some leg work to verify what is being presented for sale is as advertised. Still, it is not a perfect system as seen over the last year with auctions being pulled and cars being resold. Having said that, buying sight unseen off the internet in my mind has to be the one way of purchasing most fraught with dangers and undesirable types. It’s more likely to end in tears for the buyer. If someone is honest and truly wants to sell an item then they should be willing to answer any and all questions. They should bend over backwards to help potential buyers make a decision. If they are not quick to reply, do not return phone calls, send you photos that are out of focus or not of what you specifically asked about then run, RUN AWAY! The best thing is to find someone who lives near the item who has some knowledge about the subject and is willing to go an act as your eyes. Best thing for this is a cell phone camera and a good long distance phone plan! I can call anywhere in North America and send/receive up to 120GB’s of data at no charge. If it’s in southern Ontario I’d gladly go look it over for you.

Oh great, more BS to deal with. I have a quote from Hagerty and it’s about what I was paying for my BRZ. The Subaru is gone now so the wife called to have it removed from the policy. I asked to her to inquire as to how much to put the Caterham on. Well, first thing was she went from paying just over $1000 per year for her 2024 Crosstrek to over $1800 per year. Why? It seems that she has not been off work long enough to be able to claim “Retired Discount” which she was getting with me. Plus, we lost the “two car discount”, the “two line discount” and I now have to be listed as a second driver on her car. (Like I wasn’t allowed to drive her vehicle or she mine before? And what about her getting my retired discount, WTF??) She argued like a lawyer but got nowhere. So she dropped that and went on to add the Caterham as a sunny day, low yearly mileage, fun machine. We will have to get it appraised but for the sake of this quote we went with $60,000. The agent comes back with $1700 per year, both vehicles. WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE PEOPLE? We will pay less for two vehicles than for just one! Now I have to find a reasonably priced appraiser who knows Caterhams. Plus, my car is still in Utah! ACK!