pethier

It is absolutely the wrong cap. It lacks the upper seal, so the coolant does not flow back in when cooling. Turkey-basting from the overflow to the filler every time the car is started from cold is not normal. The projection of the lower seal is too short. It is marked as a 10-pound cap, but that is only on the car it is meant to fit, not this one. I don't feel the push-back that this design of cap is supposed to have when the cap is installed. The distances are both 20mm. The projection on the cap should be more than that at the housing. Does anyone know the part numbers for the correct radiator cap for a 1700 Super Sprint?

Mine is not sucking back the coolant because is the wrong cap. The problem that causes no automatic refilling of the system is that it has no upper seal. In addition, I think the lower seal is too short. I don't feel the spring-back when I install the cap. The vertical distance on both housing and cap is 20mm. It should be more on the cap than the housing. Therefore, installing an upper seal on this cap would solve the lack of suck-back, but not solve the fact that the cap will not pressurize the system. Anybody know how to identify and purchase the correct cap for a 1700 Super Sprint?

I am trying to find the correct radiator cap for my 1700 Super Sprint. The radiator cap goes on the top of the thermostat housing. It is the highest part of the system. The overflow expansion reservoir is plastic and open to the atmosphere. It is lower than the radiator cap. In theory, coolant should suck back into the system when the car is parked and cools. This is not happening because the cap lacks the larger second seal. The second way that this is the wrong cap is that the pressure seal is too short to seal. When you put a cap on, you should feel the spring pushing back. I don't. Does anyone know what cap to ask for? If anyone has a functioning 1700 Super Sprint with an unpressurized coolant tank, please tell me numbers and brand names on the radiator cap.

My Europa had a single 45DCOE. It had an enrichment circuit but it was never connected. Really can't remember what the twin Dellorto side-drafts on on my 1979 Caterham crossflow had.

With the rim seal: The car warms up. Coolant expands and goes to the expansion tank. Park the car and as the coolant contracts atmospheric pressure pushes the coolant in the expansion tank up the little hose into the space above the inner cap seal, from where it drains into the radiator. In the morning, there is coolant right up to the level of of the little hose. Without the rim seal: The car warms up. Coolant expands and goes to the expansion tank. Park the car and as the coolant contracts atmospheric pressure does nothing, since the pressure in the expansion tank and in the space above the inner cap seal are the same. In the morning, there is no coolant visible all the way down to the thermostat and probably below. Basically, the coolant level in the expansion tank keeps rising. Coolant level in engine keeps falling. The way this car is designed, with the expansion tank lower than the pressure cap, the outer seal is required to keep the radiator from taking in air. Many caps do not have an outer seal because they are designed for cars where the expansion area is inside the pressure zone, perhaps at the top of the radiator, or in a separate expansion tank located in the pressure area. This Seven has the expansion tank located outside the pressure area and lower than the radiator cap, Either the outer seal has fallen out of the cap, or it is the wrong cap for the car.

Took off the nose. Pushed the car out of the shop into the garage. Opened the garage door. Placed a couple of fire bottles nearby. Topped up the coolant by taking it out of the overflow bottle with a turkey-baster. I think the coolant cap is missing the outer seal that allows the engine to pull the coolant back from the overflow bottle into the radiator. Started the car and warmed it all the way up. No hot wires. No apparent leaks. No smoke. Just could not make it fail. Drove it around the neighborhood with nose and engine cover off for a while. Winter is setting in, so I may not get it on the road again. On my winter list is sourcing a proper cap and the radiator hose from the thermostat to the radiator. It is not leaking, but there is some checking on the thermostat end. No point in waiting for it to fail.

Your side-draft Webers don't have an enrichment circuit? Adds fuel instead of choking air to do the same job. Still uses a "choke" knob under the dash, directly in the middle of this RHD car.

My spacer goes the other way, moving the wheel closer to the dash. The spacer is about 1-1/2 inches. This makes up most of the 2 inches that the quick-release moved the wheel aft. The other half-inch I made up by adjusting the shaft forward. I wind up with the wheel just where it started, but now it is removable. I have finished testing the prototype, 3D printed hollow. My SIL is working on the final one, solid ABS. I may shoot pix tomorrow. The prototype is a silly green color. I know how to use machine tools; I just don't have any except for a drill=press. Good thing my SIL loves to play with 3D printing.

Mine has air horns on the left (RHD car) hear the firewall. Switch is on right (door side) of the dash. Horn not working at inspection. Felt loose wire an plugged it into bottom spade. No joy. After I got the car home, was feeling around on the switch and found that there are three spades. Top has a wire. Nothing to lose, plugged wire into middle wire. Really-loud air horns. Dunno what the bottom spade is for, if anything.

One does wonder how the sender got whacked that hard. This car is new to me. Has what appears to be full records from England.

That was the last warm day for we don't know how long. I had to get some outside house stuff painted. Car is in my heated shop. Doing leaf removal now. I'll get back to the car... I suspect a wire that goes to what I think is the oil-pressure sensor, but I need time to investigate further.

There was a bit of banging and popping as the car was warming up. I was unsure about where the "choke" (yeah I know Webers use an "enrichment circuit" instead of an actual choke) should be set. The car has always, for the time I was testing it in Illinois and the couple of times I have had it in Minnesota, while fully-warmed-up, had some popping on the overrun, just like my 1600 did years ago. But two things: There did not seem to be a bang associated with the sudden onset of smoke. and There did not seem to be a loss of power associated with the sudden onset of smoke. I had keep the power on to get up the hill a bit farther to get off the road. I made no attempt to restart the car, and I won't until I get it from the trailer and into my shop.

Thanks!

Preliminary info to open thread. Minutes after posting a digression about tying down a Seven in a trailer, I set out to see how my car felt at speed with the "hood erected" and no doors. Going up a short steep hill at neighborhood speed with the engine not fully warmed, suddenly a stream of smoke about as big around as my fist issued into the slipstream from forward/under the forward air cleaner. No strong smell. Switched off, made it off the street and pulled the bonnet off. No fire, thankfully. Could not see much. Reached in my pocket for a penny. Didn't have one. Walked home and fired up my Suburban and picked up my trailer. A friendly local recognized the car as a Caterham and was a huge help in loading. Thanks, Nick! Got the rig home. Tomorrow I will get the Seven out of the trailer, through my garage and into my shop. Depending on what I find, it may go right back on the road or wait for spring.

A picture is worth a thousand words, but a picture and ten words is worth a million. I'd like to see some words to go with this picture. "Cats mating in the wild get a bit rough." I am looking a little closer now and see that the nose and fender are in the air. I assume that they are the left rear fender of the leading car and the nose of the trailing car.

I have good news: The tie-down scheme works fine. I have bad news: I had to use it. Yes, this quickly after my latest post here. I will stop highjacking this thread now and start one about the problem.

That's the one. We LOGers were at Watkins Glen for our Panoramic Photo, Laps, and Lunch during that PCA track event. After lunch I went out to take pictures of the track event. (I had been standing in my trailer at home holding my bin of narrow-tire basket-style straps wondering if it was worth taking them on the trip, as simple straps on the center of the wider tires and wider track of the Elise allowed single strap over each tire. Decided that maybe I would be called on to help someone with an early Lotus. Made the correct choice, as it turns out.) The gentleman who had driven his Lotus Seven to the LOG in Corning from Massachusetts with his young son encountered a stone embedded in an unpaved infield road. The stone rolled up out of its hole and lifted the car via the engine/gearbox assembly, breaking mounts and blowing the hood off of the car. I came upon the scene in my Elise. They limped the Seven over to Craig Straub’s trailer. Craig assessed that MAYBE they could get the car back on the road if they could get a few certain parts off the Seven and get them welded. Parts in hand, I drove the Elise back to Corning with the Seven owner's son to get the welding done for the Seven. The welder sent me to a hardware store across town to get a washer. On my way back, the Seven owner phoned to tell me that further investigation had revealed that the repair was not going to work. Called the owner's son at the welding shop and told him to settle up with the shop and expect to be picked up by a red Suburban with a white trailer. Back to the trailer area at the hotel to exchange the Elise for the rig, to the welding shop, and back to Watkins Glen. Damned thankful I'd brought those "spare-gear" straps. We found a parking spot for the Seven. The gentleman’s brother in Mass promised to scrounge a trailer and come for them after the LOG. Fast-forward ten years: I used these same straps when I drove to Illinois to donate "uncle jack" the Stag to the club that built it, and to pick up the 1700 Super Sprint. Each basket-style strap has rotating hooks. In addition to the messing around getting the baskets on correctly, fiddling with getting rotating hooks into the floppy rings E-track clips is a pain. The single-strap setups came with E-track clips on each strap end and on the pulley. This is much-easier to deal with for every trip. The tires on the 1700 Super Sprint are wide enough for the single straps, but the car width is too narrow to do this safely. As soon as I got back to Minnesota. I laid down four five-foot E-tracks inside the existing tracks. These line up too narrow for the Seven. No worries. One clip on the wide track and one clip on the narrow track puts the strap directly over the center of the tread at the top of the tire.

Are you doing OK with Elise cars, Tony?

A picture is worth a thousand words, but a picture and ten words is worth a million. I'd like to see some words to go with this picture.

I think I was there. I had to help rescue a Seven from Mass that had had an unfortunate encounter with a large rock in the infield at The Glen.

Gotta love the backup set of goggles!

Not going to do it for me. My mother was 100% Irish, and I am melanin-deprived. In summer, my face fries in the sun. Given a choice between coating my face with zinc cream or putting on the car top, I'm putting on the car top.

I found a great way to defeat the assault on my ears and face. Cover up my head. I own two helmets for autocross: An open Snell SA hemet and a full-face Snell M helmet Drove my Seven on Minnesota roads today in 50-degree-F windy weather.. No top, No doors, No windwings. Wore the full-face motorcycle helmet. Worked a treat. At speed, flipped the clear visor down. Still heard the engine sounds. Was perfectly comfortable, no face-warping buffeting. Low speeds or stopped at at a traffic light, flipped the clear visor up. Felt fine and no fogging.