pethier

After watching the Drive video, I am reminded of the jolt I get at an autocross when I let the clutch out on a full-power 1-2 shift, even with my 135-HP 1700 pushrod. The 185-50-15 Yoko 052 tires really stick and the car would snap my head back if i didn't wear a kart-racing collar (I have 2 bad disks in my neck).

I had throttle-shaft leaks on the SU carbs on a 1275 Spridget. I finally got it running well but could not get it to idle below 1500 RPM.

I went a little further with the blocks. Since I didn't have a lot of time, I did just lie down on the asphalt, so I am not sure how far I really moved them. The course was very-similar to the day before. The car was better-balanced. I again got six runs with no real break between them. I wound up in the middle of the pack overall. Every run was clean and every run was faster than the one before it. I believed that FTD was 53:9xx and my best was 57:1xx. Did go to third gear more, was still pretty-clunky about it. The car was just a little loose in the fastest parts of the course. It should be just about right for the LOG autocross.

My friend has a Birkin. It came to him with a Zetec engine. Some time back he sold off the Webers and replaced them with Mikuni* injection throttle bodies "for a Japanese motorcycle" and adaptors, controlled with Megasquirt. Now he is building his Birkin into an all-electric car. He sold me all the gasoline equipment: Engine, 5-speed, fuel tank, fuel pumps, radiator, the works. Just about all of it is still in the loft over his machine shop. * Actually Suzuki Hayabusa Keihin/Denso injection.

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It's the driver. I had trouble seeing a few spots on the course and didn't have the confidence to stay on the power.

Cat is turning in much better now I moved the slider blocks about 40mm closer to the bar. I think I will try another 10mm or 20mm at tomorrow's autocross. I hope the layout is easier to follow tomorrow. I had a few DNFs. In some of those same spots on my clean runs I hesitated there and slowed out. My best (I hope clean) time was 60.xxx and I know that there were some other cars that did 57.xxx and 58.xxx. Part of if may be that there were places I should have gone to 3rd gear, but I am still not that confident in fast left-hand shifting. I used to toggle back and forth between 2nd and 3rd all the time in my Europa, but I using my right hand. I'm pretty profoundly right-handed. Every club is different and has different culture. These folks had a very-light turnout. They elected to do 6 runs in one heat for half the field and then six runs in one heat for the other half. This didn't give enough time between heats for sway-bar tinkering. The good news though, is that if I lie down on the asphalt. I can reach the single hex bolt that acts as a setscrew on each block. I had been looking forward to a practice day with my club to do this sort of thing, but I tested positive for Covid the Wednesday before the event, and missed the practice day. I wanted to be more-prepared than this for the LOG autocross next Saturday. C'est la Vie. I have to remember that this is a totally-stock 1700 Super Sprint and I can't expect miracles.

I used Kroil and an 1100-degree-F heat gun to free corroded steel slider blocks on a Caterham adjustable 1/2" sway bar. I think a heat gun and the candle-wax trick might work for your Heim-joint problem.

Find an autocross club with open practice days! For essentially autocross fees you can be driving for hours. Worst bang-for-buck with most bragging rights: SCCA National Championships. Three runs on each of two days.

I don't have to look at your page to know that you have cycle fenders. There is no way that tool is fitting with a clamshell fender.

>individual throttle bodies sourced from a Suzuki Hayabusa Would those be Mikuni?

I run a square setup, but then-again, I am an autocrosser with 135 HP. My Cat was actually pushing. I have de-frozen the slider blocks and stiffened the rear bar. Testing tomorrow at and autocross in Neosho MO. I also ran a square setup on my Europa Series 2.

Saturday 28 Sep 2024: In the morning, the panorama photograph and concour will be at Lakeside Park 305 Buena Vista Dr Marble Falls TX 78654 In the afternoon, the LOG autocross will be at the Mustang Stadium (high-school-football car park) 1538 Manzano Mile Marble Falls TX 78654 PM me for my cellphone number. My Seven is Ford Moonstone Blue with Caterham Firecracker Yellow nose and fenders. Minnesota license plate 74PHIL.

The Caterham had a serious knock at idle. I suspected that it was the exhaust header striking the bodywork, so out came the nibbler. I enlarged the exhaust port about an inch and the noise is completely gone.

Getting ready to leave for LOG. I will be on I-35 for most of the way. The exception is this weekend when I am entered in two days of autocross in Neosho, Missouri. I am booked Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights in a motel in Neosho which possesses a large parking lot. The larger lot for autocrossing is at 601 Laclede Ave, Neosho, MO 64850. I will be driving a nice white F-150 pulling a scruffy 20-foot car hauler, both with Minnesota plates. PM me for my cellphone number. I passed up the Kansas City autocross on Sunday when I saw that Ozark Mountain Region had postponed a Spring event. Saturday is Solo Event #2 Make Up and Sunday is Solo Event #7.

I didn't have to resort to the blue flame. The slider block finally came loose with liberal application of Kroil and 1100-degree-F air from a heat gun followed by a twist with a pair of vise-grips. Ran a half-inch reamer through the block. Polished all the corrosion off the sway bar with a sandpaper strip and emery cloth. Block is 20mm long. Used one block to to put saw marks 20mm apart on each bar arm on both the inside and outside to serve as guides to settings. I set the bar two notches up (40mm plus saw kerfs). Cat is much-more neutral now. Front tires are sharing with each other better with car rolling less. Plate-style LSD is preventing wheelspin. This has transformed the handling, There is much more overall grip. I can provoke both understeer and oversteer now. May try one more notch at next weekend's autocrosses. I did have to put a little more bend in the endlinks to allow one more notch. They are factory-bent to clear the DeDion tube. Took out the lateral drift on the brackets with slit PEX pieces held in place with hose clamps. Clicky noise is gone.

Saturday I ran a small-lot autocross at a dragstrip near Rock Falls Wisconsin. My Caterham was pushing a bit and I had trouble staying in the power band in second gear. Also, there is a light clicky sound when I drive over bumps on the street. The click is probably the rear sway-bar moving sideways and hitting the hose clamps that locate it in its aluminum-block brackets. First shot at quieting it is to put in a couple of cable ties between the clamps and the blocks. If that does not do it I will slit some PEX. Next, adjust the rear bar stiffer. Problem: I have removed all the fasteners and the blocks will not move. The Heim joints pulled out OK. I swung the bar down. It moves very easily. I shot the blocks with Kroil, smacked them with a wrench and stopped for lunch. At least if I need to use heat, the part is far from anything to damage.

I put a voltmeter on the ring and ran every system on the car. Gaining confidence in not seeing significant voltages, I bolted it to the firewall and drove the car to a Minnesota Triumphs meeting.

Sounds good to me.

I dunno. These Elise guys never said there was an ambient temperature that would make them change. Yeah, I'm in Minnesota, but they weren't.

Bingo.

Anyone going to LOG? The Lotus Owners Gathering will be in Bee Cave TX, near Austin, in a fortnight. The good lord willing and the creek don't rise, 74PHIL will be there. i plan on running Saturday's autocross and shooting at the track days.

Bummer. Maybe it's time to move to 15" wheels.

I didn't remember to twist the wire for this shot: The wire ends in a terminal ring seen here edge-on. The wire was rolled up and cable-tied to what appears to be the factory Caterham harness. Since the wire is black, I checked it with an ohmmeter to ground and found the resistance is 0.3 ohms. Is it safe to assume this is meant to be a ground wire for some component that's doing a reasonable job of grounding itself? Is it likely that it is supposed to be grounded by that fastener there on the bottom of the fuse block? I did not see any other obvious existing places for it to live.