Mudder

Thanks to everybody. I have a new set of rubber mounts on order. Will report back.

What a great forum! You guys are fantastic. I love it when people stay on topic and don't hijack topics. Thanks to all of you!

Again, Thanks to everybody for chiming in. I will report back!

The steering column on my LHD S3, 1700 Xflow runs in between No3 and No4 exhaust pipe. The clearance to either one of them is minimal. Minimal as in .5mm (.020 in) territory. I tried rotating the steering rack in it's mounts, but despite changing the location/angle of the column ever so slightly, I don't seem to be finding the sweet spot in between both stacks. At around 1500 RPM and then again at around 5000RPM the column reaches some sort of resonance and starts creating this awful sound while hitting the exhaust. Does anybody have a fix for that? Others must have a similar problem. I am thinking about having a slightly smaller diameter steering column machined from Titanium rod or getting my exhaust modified.

A BIG THANK YOU TO "IamScotticus" His Cooling System analysis and recommendations are spot on. I followed his advice in every detail and can report that the sealed system works perfectly. After 5 road tests totaling nearly 800 miles of occasionally very spirited driving, and everything from stop and go traffic in cities to climbing 11500ft passes in the Rockies, my new sealed system has not lost a drop of coolant. The temp. gauge stayed right around 80C the entire time. The warmup is nice and expeditious and everything works as advertised. The system utilizes an Elise expansion tank, mounted on top of the cruciform behind the radiator and a "submarine" which tees into the bottom radiator line. My 1700 Xflow S3 has a heater. No issues, whatsoever. GREAT JOB, SIR!!

Thanks again for chiming in !! I actually would adapt, simply to get rid of this massive chunk of metal. There is very little room to adjust. Maybe 3/4 of an inch in total. Replacing the belt requires to take the water pump pulley off and find a very close fitting belt. Otherwise the Alternator either hits the engine or the Steering column. The steering column is a topic for a separate post, I guess.

Bingo! That's the regulator! Nobody seems to be selling them, though. I shot IAT a mail and will report back. Thank you! No1 exhaust is running about 2 inches away from the regulator. I wonder whether it was fried, quite literally.

Is there some kind of data tag on your alternator? Thanks for the advice!

I hope I can find a repairs hop in the CO wilderness. Good advice! Thank you!! My alternator is also a huge chunk of metal which has very little up and down space to adjust the belt. I still would love to know what the original (Lucas??) unit on my S3 was. Cheers

The alternator on my 1700 xflow is developing a strange fault. It charges for a while, then starts dropping the charge voltage very slowly to about 5 Volts and ramps it up to about 13.5Volts. I monitored this behavior for about 6 hours today an am quite sure that the unit is dying a slow death. An annoying side effect is also that the oil pressure starts getting less and less, because there is improper voltage going to the gauge. The alternator which is fitted utilizes only 3 wires (one of them is tied back) It's mounted with 2 bolts on the bottom and 1 bolt up top. I am quite sure it is some aftermarket unit, but I also have no idea what the proper Alternator part number and manufacturer for my Kent Crossflow would be. Any help is highly appreciated. I attached a picture of tag I found on the alternator.

Growing up in Germany in the 60s and 70s, Jean Paul Belmondo was our Hero. This movie, "Cop or Hood" started my Seven desires.

jbcollier I see similarities between the combustion chamber of a Ducati and a Twinc. I wonder how the combustion chamber of a Kent cross-flow (heron type) affects CHTs. MV8 Thanks for the enlightenment (I love it)!! I am not sure how much deeper we should go on this topic. I want to keep it beneficial and entertaining for the other posters, too. I have a tendency to geek out on topics like that and this might not be other folks' taste. Yes I was referring to the Tony Weale book and the "UL" designation makes perfect sense now. I try to stay away from E-free gas and can second the reduced range comment. Also, Thanks for shining the light on the 3k compromise. If I understand it correctly, by stopping the advance at 3000RPM you are effectively retarding the ignition at higher RPMs. I guess I need to find a good dyno outfit in the Colorado Springs/Denver area. Cheers

MV8 >>> spot on! JohnCH >>> Thanks for sharing your data!! I will try to find a dyno rather sooner than later. jbcollier >>> Agreed! Another benefit to your method would be more room for adjustment. If you put the dizzy to TDC (as the instructions recommend) you loose 8-10 deg. up front. I would like to understand the "advance science" a little better. Here are some more thoughts (please correct me if I am wrong or give more data) 1. peak pressure pulse is optimum at around 12 to 15 degrees ATDC. That's fixed. 2. what's the elapsed time for initial spark to peak combustion pressure? This most probably changes with compression ratio and octane rating. However, whatever time that is (I guess thousands of a second) it will provide significantly different degrees at different RPMs (linear change) 3. why do most curves stop at 3000 RPM? Could that be related to the availability of weights and springs in the pre-electronic ignition era. 4. does electronic ignition with the proper coil require even more advance (Caterham electronic ignition/Aldon 14*) Cheers

jbcollier, Thanks for chiming in. I used a timing light to verify my initial settings and it was spot on. I completely understand your reasoning, but that would mean that the 123 app adds my 37* on top of the static timing of 10*. The switch "include static advance" in the app settings was somewhat unclear to me. Why would I want to leave that out?? What am I missing here? The app documentation of 123 is somewhat confusing to me. I went mainly by 123ignitionUSA instructions. I had No.1 on TDC measured with a dial indicator while the head was off. Installed the distributor and got the "green light". When I loaded the above mentioned curve I had 10* BTDC at around 950RPM. I am looking forward to your ignition setup.

Dear USA7s members, I recently installed a 123 Ignition on my Kent Xflow. The installation was very straight forward. My engine is a stock 1700 Super Sprint. Pete Christensen (Total Performance Engines) flowed the head but other than that the engine is as it got delivered in 1999 (6500 miles). Compressions are strong and it's running smoothly. Kent 234 cam. My DCOE 40s are brand new and set up properly. My starting point was the Caterham data for the engine, which calls for 10* BTDC advance below 1000RPM. I degreed the crank and am sure about TDC, which is about 2 degrees off from the case mark. I am NOT using Vacuum. I programmed my ignition for a linear advance curve which rises from 10* BTDC to 37* BTDC at 3000RPM until it reaches the REV limiter at 6000RPM. What threw me off a little is, that there is note 2 in Tony Weale's book about Caterham electronic ignition timing at 14 BTDC. I am interested in any kind of ignition data you guys might have in your archives for the 1700 Super Sprint. Also, what are other 123 Ignition users programing into their units and what is their reasoning behind it. Cheers

SOLD!

Thanks for your interest. If you know of anybody else who might be interested, please let me know. Cheers

Send me a picture (side view) of your car and the following measurements. Distance from forward edge of windscreen to top center of rollbar and height of rollbar. Thanks!

The half hood is still for sale. $300 + shipping in the US.

Dear USA7 members, I ordered a half hood (30V107A) from Caterham and asked them whether it would fit my 1999 S3. Well, long story short, it arrived and does not fit. The shipping costs were somewhat excessive (nearly $300 for Half top and tonneau) and I am not going to send it back. The top is about 5 inches too short for my car. My car measures 37 ¾ in. from the front of the windscreen to the center of the roll bar but the half hood Caterham supplied measures only 32 ¾ in. I am sure it has to do with the newer street roll bar design which angles slightly forward. On my car the roll bar is straight up and requires more fabric. Anyway, my loss is your gain. The top was 302.97 pounds sterling (excl. VAT and Caterham's outrageous shipping costs) which equals about $380. I'd sell it for $380 + shipping in the US. Cheers PS: I saw theDreamer post, but doubt that it will fit his/her car unless the above mentioned measurements check.

It's an Imperial frame (AM99), at least from what I could research. Arch Manufacturing >>> AM 99; cant really decipher the chassis number underneath. There are long diagonal support tubes in the engine bay and I couldn't find a single tube in the back which transitions from a square profile to a round one.

GL 4 it is. Just checked!

Thanks for the heads up!

Thank you very much for all this information!! I am learning!

Thanks for the link!! The inserts of my trunnions are completely removable, but have a setscrew which arrests the inner metal sleeve. I have the L/H front suspension apart and will attach pictures as soon as I am back at my shop. The picture out of Tony Weale's Seven book perfectly resembles my front suspension