pethier

Which engine is this?

I plan on taking out my heater. My first Caterham, a 1979 model, had no heater and I never missed it. I am going to guess that the outside slots in this photo are the where the hot air gets to the people's legs. Is the big round hole in the middle how the cold air gets to the heater? Where does this cold air come from? I assume that if I remove the heater I need to cover up all of the holes with aluminum.

Bingo. I changed the thermostat on my Elise. The original thermostat had a stupid seal whose only function was to become dislodged and block the thermostat open. Since changing the thermostat on an Else is a lot of work compared to most cars, I didn't want to go there twice. I did the saucepan test on the new (no stupid useless seal) thermostat before jacking up the car, removing the right-rear wheel, removing the alternator and other bits, etc.

This does not seem to be the case with my Caterham. The heater control on my car is a water valve on the heater hose. When the heat is turned off, the line is schematically "capped", not "looped", so if the heater is removed, the lines should be capped. The question for the current thread becomes: What sort of heater control does, or did, the subject car have?

I have an AGM-type battery in my Caterham. I have a 3-amp charger/maintainer which has two settings: Lead-Acid and Lithium I am assuming that the Lithium setting is the kinder/gentler setting and can't harm an AGM battery. Am I safe in assuming this?

The power port certainly came in handy while I was in Texas for the Lotus Owners Gathering last fall. You see, the battery in my iPhone SE was past its prime. I just got an iPhone 16 Pro. As many of you know, Apple retired the Lightning connector in favor of USB-C. The most-logical cables to use seem to be USB-C/USB-C. So I picked up three car-chargers with USB-C ports: one for 74PHIL, one for KMAN 2.9 and one for the motorhome. (The F-150 has a USB-C port.) Plugged one into KMAN 2.9. Tiny pilot light lit. Cable charged phone. Plugged one into 74PHIL. No light. Cable did not charge phone. Checked 5A inline fuse on the car. Blown. Opened box for third car-charger. Measured both car-chargers with ohm meter. Unit three tested open, as it should. Unit two did not. Replaced fuse and tried unit three in 74PHIL. Works fine. Unit two is going back to Best Buy. It was obviously not the best buy.

Thanks.

Yow! I bet that's a light motor, since an entire Super Blackbird only weighs about 500 pounds. What kind of turbocharger? How's the turbo lag? What kind of transmission? have you had the entire car on a scale?

I don't see an engine. Take it off. Take it ALL off!

When my pal Duane Johnson built the mid-engine Johnson-SAAB for us to autocross, i had the frame in my garage for a while. My neighbor came over to look at it. "Must be heavy, all that bar stock." "That's not bar stock. That's rectangular tubing." "Oh."

Not what I would do to mine, but it looks fabulous. Did you fit it yourself?

Wow!

I drove the Shenandoah Circuit at the LOG30 track day in 2010. My Elise was stock at that time. I had just sold my first Caterham off to Cape Cod. The Caracciola Karussell is a hoot. When I was there the concrete was nice and smooth. I hope it's holding up well.

OK, there is no Seven in it, but it is very cool. https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cly9vl9jjkvo

Not your fault. You didn't design that mess.

Color combinations make my eyes hurt.

> 4. When all snaps are in place, climb in the car and fasten the velcro around the hood stick, then reach over your shoulder and pull the loose end of each strap forward until the top is nice and taut Not happening in my car. I have to tighten the straps first to get the forward bow back to the Velcro. My entry: My left* foot goes in first, then my head and shoulders. I keep going until I can get my right foot in. I have the seat all the way back to do this. Then I put on my lap belt and slam the seat forward. It is imperative that the lap belt be very tight. Then I click in the shoulder belts and snug them up a little. On a good day, I can do this without removing the steering wheel. There are some days I think it was worth it to create my weird wheel setup. * I have an English car.

Years ago I bought an Eibach gift certificate from a guy who had got it as a prize at an autocross. It was good for a package OR for any four springs from stock. I had a Lotus Europa. Eibach had an extensive catalog of springs for sprint cars. I was able to get springs that would give me the ride-heights and rates I wanted for autocross. I didn't have to get dampers with adjustable perches. The certificate was not good for custom springs, but these sprint-car springs were not custom, but catalog items.

Exactly. One could get the car in any colour you wanted as long as it was black, white, or Ford Moonstone Blue. I think the original owner of my 1700 Super Sprint may have been a fan of the Ford Sierra Cosworth RS. I think he ordered all the options for a Prisoner Special Edition, but did not want the BRG with a yellow nose. When I got the Caterham it was all Ford Moonstone Blue. I wanted the car to be more-visible, so the nose and fenders are now Caterham Firecracker Yellow.

One out of two ain't bad. My 1979 had no mounting bracket, nor a hole where one had been. The tire rested on the carrier and the top of the wheel/tire was strapped to to the car body with a belt, as you see in my previous post. My 1991 has a bracket that that is fastened to a threaded hole in a horizontal tube in the boot. The bracket is Y-shaped with two studs which accept nuts like those used on the road wheels.

Interesting. Your carrier apparently came from the factory with with a carrier set up for a Canada/USA license plate. My 1700 Super Sprint is an English car (lived most of its life in Northwich) so the number-plate plinth is a different shape. Dunno when Caterham started having two setups for these license plates. As far as I knew, my 1979 was always a USA car, and it had the English plinth. I bought the car in Wisconsin. Here it is ready to go on the transporter to Cape Cod. There are only two holes in the plinth, and they are correct for a Canada/USA plate.

The nose is also Caterham Firecracker Yellow. What I consider the "spare wheel carrier" is easy to spot. The license plate is attached to it. All the same paint. And no, I don't really see the "blue" in Ford Moonstone Blue either. Not in this light or any other.