San Augustine

When I bought my Caterham Seven last November I found this thread to be very useful. Especially, the info concerning the brakes, coolant, and fluid systems. @NSXguy had a lot of good information on going through a new old car.

Congratulations! You got a bargain. Make sure you go through the carbs and replace the gaskets, especially the soft mounts. Don’t want to have a carb fire destroying your new ride. Definitely replace the wagon wheels and get a set of 13 or 14 inch Minilite or KN Minator wheels. Period correct and most importantly will reduce the unsprung weight which of course is all about adding lightness!

My car is a 1972 RHD crossflow. I had a similar problem but both my cables were black! I solved it by hooking up the battery and then using a multimeter to confirm the positive and negative wires on the turn signal lights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ-HIafxafA

The Tony Weale book on the Lotus Seven has a chapter on the S4 with a lot information on the wiring and other mechanical components. It is out of print but copies can be found on Amazon and EBay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/233981728724 Here is an article written by him on S4 restoration. https://lowflying.lotus7.club/2006/2006_04_07_7story25.pdf SJ sports cars has a very good selection of S4 parts. https://www.sjsportscars.com If you have a Twin Cam Holbay engine (which was the top of line S4 offering in 1971) or even if it is a Holbay crossflow I would check with Ken Gray at Dave Bean Engineering. He would be a good source for info and parts. https://www.davebean.com More info www.lotus7register.co.uk/lss17.htm Love to see some pics of your car. My S4 is a long way from being on the road. So much that I bought a Caterham to drive while I restore it!

https://gazcoilovers.com/caterham-gaz-dampers-326-c.asp I bought a complete set front and rear for my 88 S3. Even with the tariff and shipping it wasn’t excessive. Enjoying the car too much at the moment to take it off the road to install them along with the bushings I got from Sevens and Elans.

Bookmarking this site as well. @JohnCh Thanks for the info.

Looking for o rings for Weber DCOE 40s for my Crossflow. The o ring has an od of 52mm and a id of 45 mm. Tried WebCon and Pierce Manifolds but their Weber mounts have much larger O rings. Next stop McMaster Carr but I thought I would try you guys.

That seems like a good explanation @MV8. Obviously the five hole gasket is not just meant for five hole bottoms - they fit four as well with a trim of the superfluous hole. BTW Pierce manifolds sells those bottom draining covers but the gasket that comes with them is the perimeter outline gasket. Anyway, this evening I discovered that the T fitting for my fuel inlet banjo bolt has a small crack and so I be will calling Pierce Manifolds for a replacement T and will ask about the mystery gasket.

My Redline 40 DCOE gasket kit came with two different gaskets for the bottom cover. One was a regular outline of the rim and the other was solid except for hole in the middle. Does it matter which one I use? Can I mix them up on twin carbs if I need a replacement?

Good to know about detecting head gasket leaks. I have already sourced a radiator cap, thermostat, and water pump.

As you know I bought the car on BAT last week. I knew that I would need to check over the car before doing any driving, one of which was the cooling system. As to your question- the fan wires were plugged into the housing. But what got my attention was that the cap on the catch can was askew and the can was empty and dirty. The hose itself was dry and needed replacement. When I removed the radiator cap no coolant was visible. I then removed the housing to inspect the thermostat and found it cruddy but functional in the boiling water test. The coolant under the housing was clear and tested to be almost 100% h2O. So after these findings I knew that at a minimum I was replacing the coolant, the old thermostat, and radiator cap. And after reading this topic I thought that maybe it would be prudent to upgrade the cooling system.

Sorry, I am an idiot. Got my hoses mixed up. Didn’t realize the hose you marked went to the h2O pump.

Is it possible to have an interruption if I go off the heater inlet when the water valve is shut off since there is no continuous flow?

Right, but you see I am a rather visual learner, that is why I need pictures.

Probably used the wrong terms here, the car has an overflow tank and I want to convert it to an expansion tank.