pethier

In my shop/garage complex there are; 1700 Super Sprint Porsche Cayman Ford F-150 SuperCrew. Two are strict 2-seaters. One can seat 6. 5 of them will have enormous legroom.

No. I don't know anything about the origin of this Birkin or its engine.

I don't think his interest is going to wane. He is a serious individual.

I assume ITB means Individual Throttle Bodies. I believe that is the Mikuni* setup. I think there is an adaptor for each cylinder and each adaptor in turn carries a Mikuni* throttle body. Have I mentioned that I do not yet have any of this hardware at my home shop? It is all still in his shop's loft over his machine shop. He has a full-coverage hoist, so when the time comes, we can place each component in my pickup truck. * Actually Suzuki Hayabusa Keihin/Denso injection.

That looks like the fuel-injection intake. The Mikuni* setup looks like it occupies similar space as the Weber carbs, so I don't think I have anything that looks like this. * Actually Suzuki Hayabusa Keihin/Denso injection. BTW, I have all my hardware now, including stuff that neither Steve nor the original Birkin owner ever used. I have, and don't need, this injection system, or one like it, from a Ford Contour, the donor car for the Zetec that is going in my Seven.

My friend sold off the Webers. I of course have Webers on the 1700, but I would rather have injection. There are dyno-tuners in the Twin Cities who know MegaSquirt.

I have a 1991 Caterham 1700 Super Sprint and am wondering how difficult it is to install a 2-litre Zetec engine in place of the original 1700 Super Sprint engine. I friend of mine has a Birkin which came to him with a Zetec. He converted it from the side-draft Webers to Mikuni* injection with adaptors. He is now converting the Birkin to all-electric. He has sold me his entire collection of gasoline equipment: Zetec engine, 5-speed transmission, fuel tank, fuel pump, fuel-injection management hardware using MegaSquirt, radiator, the whole ball of wax. * Actually Suzuki Hayabusa Keihin/Denso injection.

No, I was actually doing a "There, I FIxed It." I pulled it out of the dash and had a look. Turns out the plastic case is cracked most way around where the gauge fits into the dash. The DPO probably tightened the heck out of the remaining nut to keep the gauge in the dash. I put piece of Gorilla Tape around the guage and onto (OK, a little past) the rim. Gauge still fits through the hole, but snuggly. Concerned that it was not snuggly enough, that's when I went underdash to stack some sealant tape on the sides of the gauge to keep it in the dash. My fenders project is THIS close to done and I want to go autocrossing in this car.

I have the seats out of my Caterham. I decided to have a look at the fuel gauge that is missing one of its hold-down nuts. Before sticking my head under the dash with my feet in the air, I made sure I had a phone in case I could not get back out. Didn't need the phone. I was able to get myself out because I had something solid to pull on: The angled cross-brace on my Caterham roll bar.

When I get the car back together, I will put on the top and scope out locations on the roll bar.

Getting closer to a complete car. The RR fender from the factory has all the mounting holes in different places. Since the aluminum is messed up anyway, I will drill new holes in the body and use the factory holes in the fender. Such fun.

I plan to tape them. Running a new wire instead of using the one already in the harness? Pass. I'm going to try to have this car autocrossing this weekend. Unless of course, the 90+ degrees makes me chicken out and take the Cayman...

It hasta be Shasta.

I ordered a set. At these prices, it's worth checking out. It will supposedly be delivered to an Amazon locker this evening. Interesting idea for the rear lights. For the turn signal atop the front fender, there IS no out of the wet area.

Are there any reliable, easily-obtained waterproof connectors for single wires? My Caterham has no connectors for the lights on the fenders, it's all hardwired. I know how to patch wires, but I'd like to go with single-wire connectors just for the ease of working if I decide to mess with fenders again.

Here are the pictures. https://www.flickr.com/photos/pethier/albums/72177720318497133/ Once you have installed the conversions. removing the nose is simplicity itself. Remove engine hood in the usual manner. You will have to pull up a bit harder on the front hood springs than you are used to, since you have relocated the upper hook. I have found this is easier on my back if I put my other hand over the upper control arm and the sway bar. Stand in front of the car and push in the upper buttons. The nose will pop out on each side. Spread the nose until the button-halves clear the balls. Lift the rear of the nose until the nose slides up over the headlight/fender brackets. Let the nose rest there. Push in the lower buttons. The front of the nose will fall into your hands. Guide the nose forward away from the car. To refit: Reverse the procedure. Align the lower fasteners first. Since the fiberglass and the chassis tabs are rather thicker than the sheetmetal these things are designed for, the balls protrude farther. You will get used to guiding the balls into the holes in the button halves. Press up the outside rim of each lower button housing with your index and ring fingers. Your tallman finger will feel the button pop down to match the housing. Spread the top of the nose as you tilt it down into place. You may have to move to one side of the car and use one hand to pull rearward on the mouth as your other hand guides the button over the ball. Press in the housing until the button pops out. Move to the other side of the car and repeat. You will soon learn to do this without having to look under the car. No more searching for a Dzus tool, dime, or penny. No more scratches on your clamshell fenders.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BY5MBRHS?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1 This is the item I used to replace all four of the Dzus fasteners on my Caterham. It required a bit of thought and fettling, but it is completely worth it. I can remove the nose quickly with no tools. Replacing it take a bit longer, but still less trouble than dealing with the Dzus bits. It is more-difficult if you have clamshell fenders attached, but I was successful. I recommend removing the fenders so that you can drill out the old pop rivets. I will have a link to pictures soon.

Yeah. When I installed the rear mud flaps on my Ford F-150, I noticed that WeatherTech gave me aluminum washers. They made sure the word "aluminum" is in the instructions. It also looks like the steel bolts have some sort of coating.

Yokohama 052. Prisoner wheels are 6.5 x 15. At least mine are.

The button-halves are out of the nose just now because the nose was being painted. I will look around for photos I have and take more. So many irons in the fire just now.

I have completed a conversion from Dzus to push-button-release in all four locations. Pix and text will appear in its own thread when i get caught-up around here. It took a bit of fettling, but I can now remove and refit the nose without tools.

Thanks.

This car was ordered as a Complete Kit from the Caterham factory in 1991 by a person in England. I assume that it was assembled by owner. The car was imported about a year and a half ago along with three other Caterham cars by a person in central Illinois. I got the impression that the American did not make changes to it. The car seems to have lived in Northwich (not Norwich, near where Lotus cars are still made).