pethier

I have a RHD car and am about to put in a Zetec sourced from a Birkin. Not thinking about a supercharger at this time but who knows? If I do go boost, I would not go turbo. I like to autocross, and turbo lag is unlikely to be a friend to me with my natural driving talent. My friend Steve sold off the Webers and put on Mikuni* ITBs with adaptors. Ran it on Megasquirt. * Actually Suzuki Hayabusa Keihin/Denso injection.

From other discussions I have read that Caterham is mounting the Duratec engine two inches aft of where they used to mount Ford engines.

After recent discussions and revelations about "eXtreme street Unlimited" (hereafter XU), I decided to enter my Caterham 1700 Super Sprint in XU at my club's first timed autocross of the season on Sunday. The chilly morning was forecasted to turn into a warm sunny day. XU ran in the first heat. The class made with three entrants; me, a Honda Beat, and a Camaro with gutted interior. First run went OK; I didn't get lost. That has been a problem for me because not since 2010 have I had a car this low. Second run was faster, but I clicked a slalom cone with the right rear. Third run was faster still, and clean. A check of live timing showed that I had a good lead on the Beat, which was in turn ahead of the Camaro. I was looking forward to turning up the wick in Heat Three, where we expected to get 3 more runs. In my club, being on this planet for 70 or more years earns you a "get out of work free" card. I was tired of sitting in the car in the sun, so while they started up Heat Two, I unfurled the awning that I had put on my trailer last September and enjoyed the shade whilst I erected the hood, unzipping the rear window. I figured I would go put the car in my grid space and maybe see if I could get any reasonable pix with my new iPhone, since I had left my real camera at home. To get to my grid slot without interfering with the operation of the 2/4 grid, I had to drive all the way around that grid. While doing so, I stepped on the clutch pedal. With no resistance whatsoever, the pedal went directly the firewall and stayed there. A friendly passer-by helped me push the car mostly out of the traffic pattern. I briefly considered starter-launching the car for my remaining runs. After all, it seemed to be a 2nd-gear course. This would only require me to make one shift whilst on the clock. Then I suddenly remembered that I am not Rick Mears. I went and got my rig and winched the car into the trailer. This was a lot of fun since the remote had packed up the previous day so I had to keep running back and forth between the button in the front of the trailer and the steering wheel on the car. First-world problems. Canterbury Park is far enough from my house that I really couldn't come back to run my Cayman. Went home and watched recorded footie (Not F1 or IndyCar yet, SO DON'T TELL ME ANYTHING). Checked the live timing. They did get 6 runs. Hurray for Minnesota Autosports Club with 162 entrants. The Beat did not improve, but the Camaro did, climbing into 2nd place. My 3 runs held up against their six and I won the class by just over 2 seconds. Trophy time. My overall standing was not that impressive. Mid-pack. We have some good drivers here, including some SCCA National Champions. Went to bed at 9:15 which is so not like me. While I was troubleshooting the car (still in my trailer) Monday morning, I decided to call my friend Brian to see how long he thought it would be before he could start on the 1700-to-Zetec swap I planned. He answered the phone, "Are your ears ringing?" Why? "I was just talking to my crew and we are ready to take your Seven. I was just about to call you." OK. It's in my trailer. I will be there shortly. I knew by that time that the problem was not up top, and that the cable did not break. The problem thus had to be in the area around the bellhousing. But I no-longer cared. Phoned my friend Steve, who is taking his Birkin electric. A year and a half ago, I paid him cash for all of the gasoline bits from the Birkin. He has been very patient with me taking up space in his loft. He has a full-coverage winch setup. Soon we will winch the Zetec engine, 5-speed gearbox, Mikuni* fuel injection, plus all associated bits and pieces, into the bed of my F-150 for a trip to Isanti. I'll be running XU in the Cayman for a while. * Actually Suzuki Hayabusa Keihin/Denso injection.

Fantastic!

If you decide to autocross, get some 15" wheels and Yokohama 052 tires. The new XU class looks like fun for these cars. Sidebar: Does your 2006 Elise have the factory LSD?

>non-starting applications How about coach batteries in an RV that does not have a gasoline or LP generator for 120V? Maybe the 12v control-and-accessories battery in an Electric Vehicle More-controversial perhaps, the battery used to run the trolling motor on a fishing boat?

Mixing Sevens with formula cars spooks me a bit.

Perhaps you could flip the sun visors UP to shade you from sun coming over the windscreen. I have been known to do that. Impossible on an Elise of course, but I only once ever drove mine without the hardtop on.

Most cars I have owned had Climate Control drove me nuts. I was always having to figure out how to lie to them to get them to do what I wanted. My Suburban was terrible that way. My Fusion was a little better. My Cayman is pretty-damned good. My newish F-150 is pretty good also. Both the Cayman and the F-150 are nice freeway cruisers. The truck tows my trailer well regardless if the Cayman or the Seven is in it. I'm still undecided whether to drive or tow the Porker to the Parade in OK, but for the LOG in Pittsburgh, it's a no-brainer: The Seven is going in the trailer.

Fortunately, I had no complications with the authorities in Minnesota. I presented the Illinois title from the seller. I asked if I could reuse the Personalized/Collector license plate from my former car. Yes. I paid my $218 to transfer the car and will never have to pay them another dime. No inspection required. Buying a Cayman from Iowa was not very-complicated either, but it was a whole-lot more-expensive, plus I will have to pay for new tabs every year, and pay for a new pair of plates and the personalization-fee every seven years.

I have been online with Brian Garfield, the admin of the facebook group https://facebook.com/groups/392020123979507/ Brian and I have a mutual friend who is a Solo national champion and a professional autocross instructor (but not a Sevens guy). I'm looking forward to being in Brian's group.

Yes, they are. At a nationals level, though, these cars are not streetable. Your 420R would do well in DM at local events. I suggest hillclimb tires or the softest race slicks if you are serious. Now that I know about the XU class, though? If I had a 420R, I'd go XU with the Yokohama 052 tires. You are not going to wear them out in street driving, and I think they are the only DOT200 tires that are going to stick well in the no-warmup environment of autocross. I just went to motorsport.reg and changed my class to XU for the two local events I had booked. My Yokos are on the stock Prisoner wheels which are only 15 x 6.5. I had 15 x 7 Pannasports on my previous Caterham. I know who has my old car now, and someone along the way kept the Panasports out of the sale, so he only has the small (13"?) Caterham wheels.

Say hello to D-Mod!

Thanks. Well, the SCCA moves in mysterious ways. captain pabst, apparently your 420R on Yokohama 052 tires will be welcome in XU! I'd suggest those tires would be the best one-tire choice for street, autocross, and track. I'm not a big-track guy, but if you want to go faster on the big tracks, Hoosier A7, but I bet you already know all that. My further comments are at https://usa7s.net/ips/topic/15429-new-solo2-classes-for-7s/#comment-148809

OK, I am really surprised by this. I am an SCCA member, but I did not notice this in FastTrack or the reports on Nationals. Apparently, you can run stuff in XU that is not even legal in DM or EM. There, kit cars have to be allowed by name unless they are clones. I am reminded of an exchange on the old Prairie Home Companion radio show: GK: I'm told you have 13 children. Is that right? RM: No, but it's so. This actually would work for me in my local club, the Minnesota Autosports Club (MAC). We are not an SCCA Region, but we use SCCA classes. Every year, we send about 30 drivers to Nationals. Some are Land O' Lakes Region members and some are members of other regions. LOL does not run autocrosses in the Twin Cities, but has a sub-club or two in distant cities. The legendary Russ Wiles was thus technically a member of LOL, but I only remember him being in the Twin Cities once. I have been running in MAC's eXhibition class (for no trophies or MOWOG-series points) mainly for the reason that both my bone-stock Cayman and my Caterham are accepted there. When I had a Miata and a Caterham, I would run ether car in DM. Cayman is of course 900cc too big for DM. I think I am going to try XU this season. This also would work for me when I go on the road and stop off at SCCA events elsewhere. The autocross for the 2025 Lotus Owners Gathering in Texas used different classes of course, but if the XU/DM split had been in-place there, I would have been a close-second instead of a distant third. Both the Superperformance and my car would have been eligible for XU, and the winning 420R would have been DM due to its non-DOT hillclimb tires.

"Eligible vehicles: All production vehicles" I think you are going to run into problems with trying to run a Caterham in XU. The EM and DM rules seem to specify that Lotus 7 clones are not production vehicles and are specified as legal in EM and DM by designation. 18.1 MODIFIED PRODUCTION-BASED CARS A. Eligibility Modified classes D (DM) and E (EM) contain production-based cars which are permitted additional modifications beyond those allowed in Prepared classes CP through FP. Models must meet the requirements of Section 13 (first paragraph), [A Caterham is not going to skate as a car that was sold for regular street use in the USA] be specifically listed in Appendix A, [It's not] meet the specifications below, [See the "clones"] or be otherwise recognized by the SEB. [Nowhere I can find] 2. Clones Clones/replicas of SCCA®-recognized production cars are permitted to compete in DM and EM provided they comply with the following requirements: a. They are substantially similar to and recognizable as the original manufactured vehicle on which they are based. b. Their specifications do not violate any rule stated herein. c. A clone shall not benefit from kit car manufacturer “running changes” unless those changes have also been submitted and approved. I suggest if you want to continue this discussion, we ask that it be moved to the autocross area of the forum. The bottom line for the author of the thread is that as far as SCCA Solo events are concerned, a 420R is a D-Mod car regardless what kind of tires it wears. It can be run in DM with trick English hillclimb tyres, but those are not legal on the street in the USA. Same goes for Hoosier A7 tires, which won't heat in most autocross situations nearly as well as hillclimb tyres. I recommend Yokohama 052 tires, which will stick when they are cold and then heat nicely. They are legal for street use (and would be legal in XU, if the car was). I have Yokohama 052 tires on my Caterham, in a modest size to fit the Prisoner wheels.

Page Xtreme Street Unlimited (XU) High Performance vehicles with minimal restrictions • Eligible vehicles: All production vehicles using an automobile-based engine with seating for 2 or more adults • Windshield wipers are not required • In addition to the allowances earlier in these rules the following aspects of the vehicle are unrestricted: – Aero components – Interior modifications – Weight

I have a Cayman for chilly days and an F-150 for actual Minnesota cold. I use the top almost all the time. My Elise had a hardtop and I only took it off twice, to work on the interior.

They do make some noise. Getting the battery out of the line of fire can't hurt.

I don't know how a Rotus is configured, but on my Caterham with the hood off, my heater is out in the open just staring at me. I figure I could remove the heater and move the battery aft into the area vacated by the heater. That would partially make up for the extra poundage of the Zetec.

Cool.

I seem to remember that PCA does not allow Sevens for big-track events because they consider them open-wheel. No matter. In your neck of the woods, I expect there are plenty of organizations that do track days. The 420R seems the sweet spot for someone who wants to road-drive and autocross a Seven. It is legal for SCCA DM class. It's not going to win Nationals, but may dominate local autocrosses. Transplanting a 2000cc Zetec into my car is what I foresee for me right now.

The most-important part of any sticker or the like is the URL: usa7s.net The "net" is important. URLs in the USA seem to be .com or .org so I think getting the .net in there would be a good idea. If a representation of a car profile is used, the bonnet angle is a trivial concern, IMHO.

OK. I own a Zetec. I don't have it here at my house. I bought all the gasoline equipment from a friend who took it all out of his Birkin and is going electric. He was kind-enough to keep all the stuff in the loft over his workshop. I am getting my waterfowl aligned to make the swap from 1700 Super Sprint to Zetec. I now have new motor-mounts from England. I have another friend who owns a British-car shop. His specialty is putting GM V6 engines in MGB cars. I expect that I will be able to move the ex-Birkin parts and my Caterham to his shop sometime in May. Thanks to this forum, I have seen the notes of someone who has made this exact swap. He stated that he needed to remove the safety shroud for the cam belt to clear the nose. I see that has been done to the Zetec in your video. He also said that the front of the cam cover also landed under the nose. To get the nose to fit, he needed to trim the lateral fin on the top front of the cam cover by about 1/4 inch. This has not been done to the Zetec in your video?

There is always Lexan.