redursidae

That’s good to know. A lot of people like them for Autocross around here as well. I see them in 15” and 14” on Tirerack. You say there is a 13” as well?

I drove a Miata with them but only on the road. The sidewalls felt stiff too. How do they feel in a Seven?

I’ve been watching these as well and was planning on running them late 2026 or early 2027. No reviews that I’ve seen, but worth the gamble for me. I dislike the R888Rs enough that I’ll try just about anything. Edit: I love the Nankang CRS V2 on my Miata. They’re fast, grippy and communicative. But I would fear their sidewalls are too stiff for a Caterham in the street? I don’t remember how the R888Rs felt in the Miata compared to the CRS

That's the closest guess so far. The driver side doesn't have this piece missing from the hardware. I'll refit the borrowed 13s sometime to check, but it sure was tight around there with those. As far as I can tell this car was built with these 15" wheels and the PO didn't mention having 13s fitted before. Haha yep too accurate. I haven't really driven it in a couple of weeks and the engine noise alone threw me off a bit at first.

Gotta say the color is up my alley. Would be bitting on it if I was still in the market.

Got around to fixing the torn CV boot. I wasn’t sure how complex it may be, and was glad it was easier than expected. I failed to take pictures of the process, but generally was: Remove caliper Remove axle nut Remove brake disk Remove DeDion ear Slide ear and bearings off the axle Slide axle off differential Remove clamps on outer boot and slide the boot back Remove the cup off the CV axle to expose the tripod Remove retaining clip Use 3 jaw puller to remove tripod from the shaft Replace the boot and use new clamps Dressed and greased the splines of the shaft and tripod Reinstalled the tripod on the shaft by lightly tapping with a hammer and an impact socket that fit over the snout/shaft/splines Install new retaining clip Generous application of grease on the needle bearings and cup Reinsert the cup and install the boot over it Crimp the new clamps Chase the threads on the DeDion tube, DeDion ear, caliper, and bolts Clean old sealant on DeDion tube Apply new sealant around tube Install axle Install DeDion ear and bearings (re-greased the bearings too) Install brake disk Install caliper Install axle nut Axle nut torqued to 200 ft-lbs, and everything else to 35 ft-lbs Bonus step: Wonder why this nut and washer are missing a piece. After making sure that there isn’t anything actively contacting the nut and washer or the new boot, I put the car on the ground and went for a cruise. All went well with no new noises, only the usual ones. Next up will be the engine mounts, the oil pressure gauge (that I still haven’t ordered), and having a side exit exhaust made so I can fit 13s. But I really need to work on the Miata's motor first, and itching badly to drive the Cat in the mountains, so maybe no further work this weekend.

Ha. I've tried, but it only has two velcro straps to tighten it, and they're maxed. I need to have someone sew some anchors I could attach to the rollbar until I get hands on a Soft Bits for Sevens top. Thanks for the info on those gauges. I like them a lot and I bet the quality is top notch too. I'll give it some thought, but the LED illumination may be the deal breaker for me at this time, because although the brightness could be tamed it would still be brighter and different color than the stock gauges (the pro version does have switchable LEDs which is nice). I guess if I were replacing them all at once that would be fine, but I'm not in a place to do that at this time. My temperature gauge does read low, so maybe some future man math may happen .

@Slonie I'm curious about the digital Stack gauge setup you mentioned. Could you share a link? I don't love the idea of having oil running into the cabin either, is just that the digital solutions don't seem to match the interior well. I'm probably overthinking this whole thing... I saw that Racetech gauge and it is neat, just the green letters stick out. Mocal sells a similar product with the same font and no branding which I like, although having two oil lines into the cabin makes me feel less comfortable still.

It seems I’m another victim of the stock oil pressure sender failures that are common with these. I’ve been reading about the mechanical gauges and will order one soon. I wonder how much of the sub 1 bar oil pressure reading was the sender dying or the battery voltage dropping. After Autocross I noticed a decent amount of grease in the right rear wheel which is coming from a torn axle boot. The axle feels good, so now waiting on a boot kit to arrive to have that fixed. For now I taped a bag around the slit after injecting grease into it. Definitely not a solution but it gave me the chance to go for another drive. Another development and impulse purchase are these Tillets off the forum The CFO wasn’t pleased but she understands the affliction. The stock rails in my Cat had M6x1 rivnuts where it bolts to the seat, but the Tillets use M8x1.25 bolts, so I had to drill the rivnuts out. My friend had leftover nylon washers from his Tillet install and I borrowed some. ~6lbs lighter per seat, and got me lower in the car. I’m pleased with that! I won’t be able to do the passenger seat until new belts get ordered (passenger has a 3-point belt), and that may be a while. I haven’t driven the car with the new seat yet, but intend to go for a lunch scoot sometime soon to try it.

I ordered one in May. We shall see!

The engine in that S1 must be a hoot.

I'm interested in the seats. Sending you a PM

A few pictures from the last Autocross! This week I’m going to try and coax the rear section of the exhaust to move away from the rear tire and test fit the Apollos again. I would really like to experience the difference.

Thank you, Austin. That’s good info! Unfortunately the bead roller was not the right size and didn’t work. In the end I did not put a bead on the pipe and only used a fuel safe rubber cap and a clamp per the picture. Anyways, here is the link: https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productdetails.asp?RecID=31584

@Austin David Regarding 5w50, is not so much difficulty finding it, as it is how long it may take to warmup in the colder months here. I’ll order some to try it out anyways, and could go back to 5w30 or 5w40 in the winter. I also wasn’t sure if the 5w50 would make the VVT unhappy, but I have been told it would be fine. @Austin David Any chance you could measure the clearance of your pan to the ground? You also have a Duratec which I have to imagine has a different height. Having rocks, branches and potholes on the road is common here. Bridge junctions in New Mexico are also horrible, and I already scrape on those if I’m not careful. Josh Robbins said I could raise the front further, so maybe I’m overthinking how the geometry may get affected by that. It’ll probably be better anyways because of the drastic unsprung mass difference. And since I do have an affliction, a dry sump is possibly happening at some point in the future. Yes to all of those adjustments, and good point about the rake. The ride height dropped an inch in the front going to 13s. The rear dropped about 1/4 to 1/2 inch. I took measurements after your comment and it will need readjustment for the 13s, as it had too much rake. I didn’t jot down the numbers, but it was around an inch higher rake than the 15s. I’ll take close measurements once I’m able to get my own set, since these are only for test fitting and I don’t want to mess with the current setup.

If Road America’s carousel is the bar, then I’ll be fine. I don’t plan on taking the Cat to a big track like that. One of the local Caterham peers lent me his spare set of Apollos to test fit and measure clearances. It’s scary. 2.5” of ground clearance at the lowest point of the oil pan with Apollos and well worn Avon ZZRs. I may still get a set, but it may only be a track setup as it will certainly hit things around here. As far as fitment, the rear section of the exhaust is in the way. I’ve been wanting a side exit anyways, so this is a good excuse: I also re-weighted the car on this setup since I had added the lights and passenger seat. This is with 1/4 tank of fuel and 13s. The front 185/55/13 Avon ZZRs on Apollos are 22.6lbs, and the rear 215/55/13 are 27.6lbs. The 15” Caterham wheels with Toyo R888R 195/50/15 weigh 31.2lbs each. Huge difference, but is it worth risking an oil pan for it…

No oil cooler on mine. Alright, same setup as this one. I’ll think about it. What’s considered a long right in this context? It should be fine in my local track and at Grand Junction, as those are like a big autocross. My concern is Pueblo Motorsports Park and La Junta. Those have longer corners.

Yes I did mean Celsius. Roughly 96-98 Fahrenheit at the track yesterday. Good to have confirmation on this, thanks. I'll run a 5w-40 first, and then a 50 if the pressure still drops too low. Were your Zetecs dry-sump or wet-sump? Man that's kind of a bummer, as I was planning to do a couple of trackdays this year with the local group of Caterhams. Well, only one of the near tracks has long corners, while the others are more like a big autocross with straights. Think it'll be fine for the latter? At any rate, my Miata will continue to be the dedicated trackcar, and the Cat is more of the 4-wheel motorcycle for me. The thermostat is either 90 or 95C, but I don't know for certain. I think the thermostat is working because on the street and for those first 4 sessions it stayed right at 90C, which is near the thermostat temperature. The fan is on a thermoswitch that runs at 90C, and shuts off at 84C. Those may not be the exact numbers but is close. I saw it printed on the switch when I did the radiator but failed to take a photo. But the fan does work, and it starts near the 80C mark on the gauge (which is why I know it reads low), and it was running the whole time at autocross. One thought I had was that there is no baffling between the radiator and the bodywork, so a lot of the air is going around it, and the fan may not be doing much. The new radiator also pushed the fan away compared to the original, which I have to imagine also reduces the efficiency of pulling air through it without baffling. But yes, I'll investigate further, and use the OBD scanner next time to check the real readings too.

No oil temp gauge at the moment, but I have the parts to install a switch and make the coolant temp gauge read oil temp too. Just haven’t gotten to that yet. I have AMSOIL 5w-30 in it now, since that’s the weight the manual called for. I see Caterham recommends a 5w-50 for their Motorsports engines, even the 485, and that’s why I’m leaning towards trying that. Yes it is odd. It even happens after a spirited drive in the mountains, although not as low as I saw this weekend. Sure seems temp related, but I suppose it could also be the sender or gauge reading low somehow. It wasn’t worth the gamble to me this weekend though

Yesterday was the autocross, and the new alignment (and more confidence) did wonders to the handling. The car was happy to oversteer at will, and was heaps of fun! The engine is so fun to rev out. Unfortunately I had a couple of issues in the hot day. The weather was 36C and after 4 runs the engine was on its way to over-heating territory. I shut it off with the gauge indicating 100C, but it reads about 7C low, so it was really about 107C. The most concerning part was the oil pressure dropping near 0.6 or 0.7bar at idle unless I held the throttle open a bit. However, I called it quits once I saw it struggle to build over 2.5bar at 3k RPM. All returned to normal after the engine cooled down again in the afternoon, but only did 3 more runs before oil pressure started to dip at idle again. At any rate, it was an awesome day. Fun time with friends, and feeling great about the car overall. I could do more changes to the alignment but I'm happy enough at this stage. I imagine 13" wheels will change it a little too, so maybe I'll wait until then. I'm going to look into using a heavier weight oil to see if it helps the hot pressures. It seems the stock Focus SVT has an oil cooler, so I wonder if the oil tends to get toasty on these with 5w-30?

Sun hoodies are awesome.

The Spectra L066 did the trick! No more smell and no more fuel seepage. I’ve run out of time to work on the car and adjust the caster before Autocross but that’s ok. Don’t know about 150, but luckily my cutoff is much higher! Fun fact, my SVT and my friend’s 485 are the same weight. We don’t know the reason as we expected the iron block to be heavier. Maybe the diff+trans?

Returning from Cars and Coffee on a stormy afternoon.

Thank you for all this information Croc. It's very helpful and gives lots of food for thought. I'm going to increase the caster angle by a couple of shims (it's at the minimum now) before the next autocross and see how that feels before I change much more. I'm enjoying the current settings on the road, and have been experimenting with the balance. Having a passenger really changes things for obvious weight distribution reasons, but riding solo the rotation is there. I'm about to hit 1k miles since purchase, mostly backroad miles and many smiles. I'm still dealing with a strong fuel smell out of the tank when it's over half, and seeing wet spots around the fuel level sender. The culprit appears to be the fuel level sender gasket, so I ordered the Spectra L066 part I found here on the forum and will see if that works. The EVAP delete and simplified vent are working great however. I'll make a post on the General forum later for any Zetec owners that may experience something similar.

I would appreciate more information on what was required for the swap as I intend to do the same eventually.