Randy Flowers

No, I never did figure out why the coolant went down. I added some distilled water and it never went down again. We never saw any leaks. I am selling the car now though for financial reasons. About to put it onto Rocky Mountain's site. Randy

Hey yall Thanks for all the feedback on whether to wait until Spring or not. Josh at Rocky Mountain agrees with yall's assessement as he responded to the same question with: "You can do multi-prong unless it is actively on Bring a Trailer. I believe BaT wants all concurrent avenues paused while an auction is live. I don't think it is necessary to wait until spring to sell. There are active Caterham buyers year-round. The market is so tight in the US for new / young Sevens that the seasonal lull doesn't matter as much as it used to." So, I am thinking to go ahead and pursue the non-BaT options for selling, including using Josh at RM to post it on his site, and if it hasn't yet sold in a few months, put it on BaT. It is a pretty unique newer 7 in that it was built by Road and Track mag (with Josh at RM overseeing) for a series of articles and it is also a super rare Gulf Blue 7. It is in perfect condition and I added some things to it after I bought it, including a tunnel bag from SBF7s, kill switch, etc. One of those niche guys mentioned above will be interested Randy

Hey yall... Thanks for the suggestions. Been super busy with Christmas, etc and just now thinking of this again. I am working with a friend whose business happens to be buying and selling rare vintage cars and he is strongly suggesting that we wait to put it out for sale anywhere until March at least as this is the worst time of the year to sell a car like a Caterham. My friend is also high on using Bring a Trailer as the primary place to sell. When we do put it out there to sell, should I do a multi-pronged approach and put it out simultaneously on Bring a Trailer, here on this the USA7's sell page, Caterham Marketplace on Facebook and possibly Hemmings? Or should I just post it initially on something like Bring a Trailer before putting it out everywhere at once? An option is to wait until March to attempt to sell it on Bring a Trailer, but in January go ahead and put ads on Caterham Marketplace, USA7s and Hemmings. Another possible option is to work with Josh at Rocky Mountain Caterham and also advertise it on their site. Josh said if we do that, then I would pay them a $500 finder's fee if the buyer came from them. What about using that option? The main question is whether or not to wait until the Spring to put out the advertisements The other question is whether to put it onto the multiple different places mentioned above all simultaneously or just put it on one (or more) of them at a time? Thanks! Randy

That's fine, wasn't trying to do an end run, just curious how to best sell the car. Randy

Hey there... Randy Flowers here, and it is unfortunately now best for me to sell the Seven I bought back in June this year. It is a special one, built by Road and Track Magazine for a series of articles about the Caterham and then owned by Josh of Rocky Mountain Caterham before I owned it, with only 4K miles, a 2020 310R in excellent condition, with all the extras as well. It is in beautiful Gulf Blue with an orange ring around the nose and stripe, a real head turner for sure. It won a prize at both of the local car shows I took it to which was neat to experience. I loved it and it was amazing to own and drive for awhile, but due to financial issues I need to sell now. At least I can now say I owned a Seven in my lifetime now and know what it is like to own and drive one regularly. I need help figuring out how to best recoup most of my initial outlay last June. I want to sell it in the best way to do that. I know about the 'Bring a Trailer' auction, the USA7s sell site and possibly Hemmings, but where else should I advertise for the sale? Any other advice on how to best sell it? Thanks for the help!

Thanks for the link on the washer bottle location and the pic of with the scuttle removed.

Awesome on the link to the build guides and assembly instructions! Found the 2018 Caterham Sigma 310 Assembly Guide. We have since yesterday gotten in touch with Josh at Rocky Mountain Caterham (where I bought it) and he is going to help us source the missing windshield wiper assembly parts we need, and he also told us the wiper fluid bottle goes into the boot. So, making progress Randy

I have recently purchased a 2020 Caterham 310R (Sigma engine) and my mechanic friend and I need help getting the windshield wiper assembly installed (it was not installed when the kit was put together) My Seven came with a box of parts for the windshield wiper assembly, but we are missing a number of pieces and we are also missing any sort of instructions on how to install the windshield wiper assembly. How would we find some sort of windshield wiper kit assembly instructions for a Caterham 310 Sigma engine Seven? Surely there are some sort of instructions for installing things like this. We are not the first one to do this and I would prefer to lean on how others have done it. Is there any sort of list for the windshield wiper assembly that lists all the needed parts/pieces as well? We are also very unsure as to where and how to mount the windshield washer reservoir bottle in a 310. Where (and how) do we mount the windshield washer reservoir bottle properly? Also, is there a central location to look online for instructions for various mechanical tasks on a Sigma engined 310 (like installing the windshield wipers, or installing a kill switch, etc)? Thanks! Randy

I called and talked to Caterham Parts in the UK a few days ago and he said to not mix coolant types, and that it was OK to just put distilled water in it to top it back up. He also said for putting a new coolant type in, any OAT type 50/50 would be good going forward. I put in 2.5 cups of distilled water today and saw no leaks at all when running the Seven for a bit. I am taking it over to my mechanic's house tomorrow to check it out better and figure out why I lost a few cups of fluid. How about this for the new coolant to use when we do a coolant flush in a few months (Motorcraft Yellow 50/50 with POAT tech)? https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c/motorcraft/oil--chemicals---fluids/antifreeze/antifreeze---coolant---vehicle-specific/df3a6469dc0a/motorcraft-1-gallon-yellow-50-50-antifreeze-coolant/mot0/vc13dlg?pos=56

If we flush the entire system, how many liters of coolant is needed when refilling the system?

My car is a 2020 310R (Ford Sigma engine). Here is the recommended coolant (and the only coolant listed at the Caterham parts site), but it is currently out of stock... https://caterhamparts.co.uk/158-coolant The coolant is due to be flushed (car is 4 years old), so we could use a totally new coolant and not need to worry about mixing it with whatever is in there now. I would strongly prefer something that I can either order easily on Amazon or get at the local Auto parts store in Oregon. Just want to know which exact coolant that I can get in the USA easily going forward. I can get this kind of Motul 50/50 coolant, is it completely fine going forward, especially if we flush the coolant and don't mix it with whatever kind of coolant is currently in the system? https://www.amazon.com/Motul-109533-Motocool-Expert-1lt/dp/B08DTZD9LJ/ref=asc_df_B08DTZD9LJ/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=692875362841&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14298195301580668345&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033094&hvtargid=pla-2281435177618&psc=1&mcid=663da278f7a3304d9a6bd6e48026d3d1&hvocijid=14298195301580668345-B08DTZD9LJ-&hvexpln=73 Randy

Hey yall Another new issue just popped up. I noticed today that there was no coolant showing in the reservoir in the nosecone area. This is the first time I noticed the coolant being low. So, 2 questions: 1) There is no coolant leak that I am aware of. Also, the engine hasn't been getting too warm. How do I best track down why it is now low? 2) I am pretty sure the original coolant in the reservoir was blue. The owner's guide is specifically pointing to only using their recommended coolant (Motul which can only be ordered from overseas). Given that we are in the USA, what can I easily order (Amazon?) for coolant? I will need to top it up again enough to get it over to my mechanic friend's garage so he can figure out what is going on. Right now, the car is parked in its storage unit. So, I will need some sort of coolant put in for that and don't want to put in something that I shouldn't put in it. I have never personally changed/flushed (or bled) coolant before (my Miatas over the last 3 decades have never lost coolant that I can remember), so I am learning on this subject for sure. I definitely do not want to burn the new Ford Sigma engine up! Thanks! Randy

I charged the car on the Noco Genius1 to full charge and the car is functional again. The plan is to only use a jump for emergencies to get me home. Anytime the battery is low, I plan on a full trickle charge. And the Caterham kill switch arrived a few days ago, and until that is installed I am disconnecting the negative terminal on the battery when leaving it for awhile.

OK the plan is as follows: 1) In order to prevent the battery draining when parked, get this kill switch from Caterham and install: https://caterhamparts.co.uk/.../1341-battery-master... 2) In the meantime (until the kill switch is installed) just disconnect the positive cable from the battery after parking in the garage to prevent the battery draining while parked 3) Also get the following trickle battery charger for my Odyssey PC680 (AGM16L) battery. If I find the battery low despite using a kill switch, then take the battery out of the car and take it home (where I do have an electrical outlet) and recharge it up fully with this charger. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W46BX31... 4) Keep some motorcycle jumpers in the boot and if out on a blat and for some reason the battery is low, then simply jump it to get me home. Does a standard jump of this kind have the chance of hurting the AGM battery? Question: I would like to take the Caterham to a car show in the morning. My battery is still turning the engine over (i.e. not just 'click' when trying to start it) so since I don't yet have the trickle charger shown above, would it be OK to just jumper the Seven today and drive it long enough to get a good charge back into the battery so that I can drive it tomorrow to the car show. Or is it always advisable to use the trickle charger to charge the battery back up when/if it gets low in order to avoid harming the AGM battery? Thanks! Randy

I do not have access to any light. The garage will not let me run a cord out under the garage door to a small solar panel.

I also posted this question to the Caterham Technical discussion on Facebook and got a bunch of responses already, all of them saying to install a battery cut off switch. I assume I need to install a Caterham specific cutoff switch like the one you posted above, right? The Facebook discussion is saying that doing that alone will keep the battery from needing to be recharged or kept trickle charged. Do yall agree with that? Randy

Hey yall I have recently bought my first Seven (2020 310R) and I have a unique battery dilemma Due to having turned our garage into an apartment for my parents, I had to park the Seven at a very close storage facility. I only bought the car in June and have been driving it a few times per week and haven't had any issues with the battery losing charge until now. I didn't drive the car for a week+ and went out to drive it the other day and it tried to turn over but it didn't have enough juice. I knew I needed to look into a battery tender soon, but that time has come. Note that I have a brand new AGM16L battery in the car right now. However, as I said, I have a unique issue. Since I have to park the Seven in the storage facility, that means that there is NO ELECTRICAL OUTLET where the Seven is kept. Ugh, hadn't thought of that issue until now. So, my understanding when I bought the Seven was that I would need to start hooking it up to a battery tender that kept the battery fully charged when it was parked in the garage. Now that I am needing to do that and given that I have no electrical outlet in the place I actually keep the car, how in the heck am I going to keep the Seven's battery fully charged such that I don't get in it to drive and the battery is dead or near dead? I have no place to plug the battery tender/charger into! Are there any elegant and simple solutions to keep my battery fully charged given no place to plug a battery tender into where it is parked? Maybe have two batteries and keep one of them fully charged at home (where I do have an outlet) all the time, and then switch them out when the battery in the Seven currently has lost its charge? We had thought of maybe running a small solar panel under the garage door and getting power to the battery tender that way, but the storage facility doesn't allow me to do that. Related Question: If the battery is low when I try and start the car (it was turning over but not able to start), when is it OK to jump the car with normal jumper cables? I have heard that it is not ideal to normally jump the Seven's AGM16L battery when it is almost dead. Instead, you should slowly and fully recharge the battery with a battery tender/charger. Thanks! Randy

My current idea for solving this is to: 1st get the Caterham wind deflectors and modify them with heat as described in the forum link I posted above, then see how much that helps all by itself with no side curtains or half doors on. 2nd, if not acceptable enough at that point, then go ahead and get the half doors (which I already own) fitted and combine them with the modded wind deflectors and see if that is enough. 3rd, wait to order a tonneau until I have sorted out the above two steps. If all goes well and I can be fine driving up to 60mph without full side curtains, then during the dry season I will be using a tonneau to cover the car most of the time with the half top kept in the boot for emergencies. I figure when driving alone with the tonneau on as well over the passenger side, that the tonneau itself may also reduce some of the turbulence in the cockpit. Plus, looks great to drive it with the tonneau over the passenger side, how real sports cars should look If I am driving it during the rainy season and there is possible rain in the forecast, then I can leave the half doors and wind deflectors at home and just take the full side curtains. I doubt I will ever throw the full top into the boot even during the rainy season. If I get caught out in a rainstorm, then I will just throw the half top on along with the full side curtains and that will get me home fine. Regardless of how well the above works with wind turbulence, I suspect I would always need to use the full side curtains when I need to travel a long way on the freeways. Only time I can envision ever putting the full top into the boot is if taking the car on an overnight type of trip. Could be pretty bad to be caught out 100s of miles from home and a rainstorm happens when the car is just sitting outside with only the half top and full side curtains on. I plan on running all of this by the guys at Soft Bits for Sevens as well. Really hoping that the above works and I can be driving the car most of the time without needing the full side curtains and with a tonneau thrown on the passenger side while driving (and tonneau fully covering the car when left in public). Randy

Ah-ha, yeah, that is it. Thanks

Take a gander at this post about using heat to bend the Caterham wind deflectors out enough such that they do make a big difference. Deeper into this post someone shows pics and explains exactly how to do it. https://www.caterhamlotus7.club/forums/topic/217714-wind-deflectors/ Note that there is someone responding saying he was using the bent out Caterham deflectors plus half doors and he said that combo was very helpful. I already do have the half doors, would just have to get them fitted, so I could try that combo for the cost of the Caterham wind deflectors + fitting the half doors. What does the guy mean by SFBS half doors (what is SFBS?) Randy

Slower than 60mph? I would be 100% fine with basically never driving above 60mph and sticking to country roads and roads in towns only (no highways). Most of the time, I am driving about 45-55mph when out driving it.

Well, are the Caterham wind deflectors reducing the wind buffeting enough (just by themselves) to take it from intolerable to tolerable? I am fine with it being windy. I drive a Miata as my main car, and I don't think I had the top up 3 times all year last year here in Oregon, so I can handle it being somewhat windy and even rainy, just drive over 30mph However, of course, the Miata windscreen is much more aerodynamic and funnels the wind away from the cockpit. I also was looking at the Brooklands dual windscreens last weekend. I would LOVE to combine this car that already looks like a 1950s race car with a set of true vintage goggles and with the Brooklands, but back to my concern about myself or especially my occasional passenger not getting hurt by flying debris. Without having tried them, I might find it too windy with an Aeroscreen or the Brooklands as well, just in a different way. I don't want to wear a helmet while driving nor do I want to have to carry a helmet (or two) with me every time I leave the car out in public. I want to wear only serious motorcycle glasses and a doo-rag. I have a pony tail and using true goggles with a head strap wouldn't work well with that, although they would look super cool and vintage. So, dang it as that would be my go-to choice to try first otherwise. Just how windy and how unpleasant at 60mph is it using the Brooklands type windscreens? They do look like they block a decent amount of the wind coming straight at you (and hopefully some of the bugs, etc). It does rain a lot here in Oregon during half the year, but usually a very light rain when it does. Would just be way better if only considering the regular light rain to have a real windscreen in front of me and an ability to put a top up if caught out in a bad rain storm. I do want to drive it all winter long on the days that are less rainy. Randy

It appears that the Caterham wind deflectors are attached using the standard door pins, so I would still be able to switch back to the full side curtains if need be for the rainy season (yay!). I am calling Soft Bits for 7s tomorrow to ask them what they think of all this. They also have the missing half top and full top straps that we need, plus of course tonneau cover. Randy

I am leaning towards the following solution. Keep the windscreen on so that my face/eyes are fully protected (still wearing motorcycle glasses though!) Then add the standard Caterham Wind Deflector kit and use the half doors. Guessing that the combo of those two things would reduce wind buffeting by 50% at least. I would get a tonneau cover fitted that worked with the half doors on the car, and I would use the tonneau 99% of the time to cover the cockpit when leaving the car outside in public, even if leaving it outside all night on a road trip or something. I could then still use the half top only in the situation of being caught in a bad rain storm (but with the half doors rather than the side curtains). As long as the rain is the normal light rain that we get so often in Oregon, I could just drive right through it without needing the half top. Questions 1) Does the standard Caterham Wind Deflector kit actually block enough wind to be worth adding? Or would I need to fabricate custom wind deflectors? I am thinking that the wind deflectors shown in the picture below combined with using the half doors would seriously reduce wind buffeting and make it tolerable unless over 60mph. 2) Is the wind deflector in the picture below the standard Caterham wind deflector kit or is this one a bigger custom wind deflector? It is hard to tell how standard Caterham wind deflectors look on the car when looking at the wind deflector kit on the Caterham parts site, as they are not shown on the actual car. 3) I haven't yet heard anyone answer if the half doors actually do reduce wind buffeting from the sides? Do they reduce wind buffeting by 25% just by themselves vs not having them on? Randy

I have an update on the above discussion. We bent the throttle pedal about 3/4 inch to the right and that really helped with not hitting the throttle and brake simultaneously. Also, I bought these 'Sock Shoes' https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08SHWNXF4?ref_=pe_386300_442618370_TE_sc_as_ri_0 And they work great! They conform completely to your foot (so not much wider than my actual foot) and they have great feel thru the rubber. I am finally able to drive it without using my bare feet. I am even finally getting the hang of blipping the throttle on downshifts in the 7. I can easily do that in my Miata, but struggled with it in the 7 until the throttle was bent to the right and without having some sort of shoes to drive with. The sock shoes even work walking around just fine (I don't have to take another set of shoes unless going somewhere where they would look silly). It would be possible to even hike in the sock shoes, although that would surely wear them out quickly. Thanks for all the advice on shoe types. Randy