xflow7

Amusing to see Sochi on there. Has there been a competitive event there yet? I can't claim to have driven any at speed aside from Mid-Ohio with the school there. But I've spectated at at least 6: Mid-Ohio Lime Rock Watkins Glen Indianapolis Circuit Gilles Villeneuve Mosport

Woah, a link to the *other* forum I frequent a lot! That's kind of surreal. I hadn't seen that post over there, though. Very cool. I hadn't really appreciated how long Avus is.

It's always a bit hard to judge powertrain package pricing without seeing what is actually counted in there. Typically, the Cat engine packages include all the various ancillaries required for installation which are largely bespoke, low-volume parts. And, as has been pointed out, comparing the cost of a heavily-worked Duratec with bespoke ancillaries to the cost of a volume production engine of the same HP isn't really fair. But even accounting for that, the prices seem steep - particularly in comparison to the introductory pricing that is listed for $8,975 -> $17,500 for 180HP Duratec + T-9. [url=http://us.caterhamcars.com//sites/default/files/content/us/documents/seven_engine_trans_options_form.pdf][/url]http://us.caterhamcars.com//sites/default/files/content/us/documents/seven_engine_trans_options_form.pdf Having a promo discount is fine and dandy, but jacking the price 95% requires some 'splainin'. Would love for someone in the know to chime in on whether there was some special circumstance with those intro packages. I'm in total agreement that Caterham has lost its position as everyman's super-car. No way I could have afforded one when I got mine at equivalent prices to today. And, as much as I love my car, at those prices I'm not sure I'd buy a new one today even with my more favorable financial situation. Looks like the 280R (which is rather close specification-wise to my 1700 xflow Classic) is $37k+$7750+$3k=~$48k if you opt for self-assembly. In 2001, I was all-in on my car for ~$26k. So, said another way, a car like mine has gone from Prelude-money to Z4-money. Dave

Mazda, glad you persevered and got the treatment your son needed. To be clear, I don't at all think that a parent acting in the best interest of their child should give up their right to seek treatment when and where they want. My understanding is that BCH was doubtful of the initial diagnosis and became concerned that the parents were endangering the child by manipulating her other health care providers and subjecting her to unnecessary treatment. In that sense, it goes beyond just a disagreement about diagnosis or treatment options and crosses into an accusation of abuse. Sorry, I was just using the phrase "unhealthy home situation" generically for cases in which children are endangered by their parents, not as a specific accusation of these parents. Anyway, it is obviously a very serious charge and, to act on it should require a commensurate level evidence. But that's where it gets sticky for us, in the general public or the media, to conclude much. Between HIPAA and the closed nature of DCF hearings, the majority of the information will never be made available to us. So my point is not that I necessarily side with BCH or the court. Rather I just would not assume that the decision to place her in permanent custody was taken lightly, or that what is available in the public domain is any kind of representation of the information on which the judge reached his decision. Dave

I'm not up on all of the ins and outs, but the case is clearly tragic. However, states are in a tough position. They are frequently beat up for not doing enough when kids are harmed in unhealthy home situations, yet are often accused of over-reach when they intervene. My fiancee works as a Guardian ad Litem here in Vermont (also known as a Court Appointed Special Advocate) so she is involved in DCF and family court issues here. What I know is that taking kids away is not something that is ever done lightly. The guiding principle is essentially always to return the child to their biological parents if it is in *any* way possible. None of us really know the details of this case (and we likely never will as family court proceedings are closed and sealed), but to be sure the judge has better information at his disposal than anyone in the public or the media. Having said all that, it would seem to me appropriate that a court simultaneously order some kind of outside medical evaluation of the girl's case to either bolster, or not, BCH's diagnosis. Dave

If you recheck the compression and it turns out to be okay, don't rule out an ignition problem. As they say, 90% of carburetor problems are electrical. I suffered from various driveability problems with my crossflow for a year or two (missing as the revs climbed, overheating, etc.). I rebuilt the carbs, checked valve clearances, ignition timing, replaced plugs, leads, and coil with little improvement. Then I decided to replace the distributor and rotor, even though a visual inspection didn't reveal anything amiss. Once I did that, it runs like new again. Big Smiles. Dave

I'm with Steve. If the coil's overheating that kind of sounds like a problem with the coil excitation circuit. I've no particular experience with failures of the Pertronix or Aldon ignitors, but if there's a transistor or something in there that's failed on, that could easily overheat the coil and/or cause weak/no spark. However, in your OP you said: What did you mean by that? Do you have an MSD ignition or something? Edit: I wonder if another possibility is that you have a coil that is intended to be used with a ballast resistor, but none is fitted. Dave

Haha! Reminds me of photos I saw of a guy lowering a canoe he built in his 2nd or 3rd floor apartment out the window. Looks like a nice build, but cupholders...?!

One of the first things I learned was to carry an old dishrag in the car with me specifically to wipe down the inside of the windshield and/or side curtains. Actually, once I used a relatively new dishrag that I'd borrowed from my girlfriend. I still hear about that 5 years later.

Man. I'd read about this earlier but hadn't seen a picture yet. Horrifying stuff. Glad no one was hurt.

I'll second Ian. Passport moved my car from Michigan to New York and I was very happy with them. The driver was very patient and good-natured in the face of some navigational miscues regarding bridge clearances on the way to our agreed drop-off location.

Well, in fairness, this forum was founded explicitly on the notion that it was a forum for discussion of Lotus Seven Inspired Sportscars (LSIS), whatever they may be. So in the context of that, any reference to "7" here can be viewed as shorthand for LSIS. We all have opinions about the weighting of price, performance, heritage, aesthetics, quality, etc. in the value equation. But that needn't prevent mutual enjoyment of the cars along with reasoned and civil discussion about them and their merits. Dave

A picture would probably help. But for what it's worth, most (all?) of the xflow distributors supplied by Caterham with their kits/cars came from Aldon and were based on Lucas (or sometimes Bosch) distributors. The number scribed on the housing is an Aldon number that signifies it's for a xflow, has side-exit cap, no vacuum advance, and is nominally curved for unleaded fuel (though consensus on BlatChat is that it is a lousy curve): [url=http://www.aldonauto.co.uk/shop/product.asp?strParents=117&CAT_ID=41&P_ID=101][/url]http://www.aldonauto.co.uk/shop/product.asp?strParents=117&CAT_ID=41&P_ID=101 But, from what I know (and on my car) the rotor itself is the standard part for the donor distributor (in my case a Lucas 45D, rotor P/N DRB104, IIRC). Though, as you say, perhaps someone has modified the guts in yours if your rotor looks different. Hope that helps. Dave

I absolutely take your point, and you could very well be right. I just think that it's overly simplistic to say that a lower-powered niche car couldn't be successful here. By that logic, the Miata should have flopped among enthusiasts but that wasn't the case. For all the hairdresser jokes, that car, particularly in its early incarnations proved to be a winner among a certain segment of the enthusiast crowd. Having said that, to be successful, the price of a 160-type offering *would* have to be substantially less than the Duratec-powered variants, and this may or may not be feasible. Dave

I'm with Lucky. In the time that I've been aware of the existence of Sevens (~25 years) I have seen a grand total of 2 out and about that were not associated with some kind of car event or show where you would expect them to come out of the woodwork. On the topic of the US distributor/dealer network, it sounds like there's no ill-will on the part of Caterham USA and that Superformance is energized about the possibilities. Given that, I think it can only be positive and I think we need to be patient to see how things evolve, particularly as it sounds like this has come together very recently. Having said that, what I *do* hope for is that this leads to a more cohesive marketing/sales/support strategy in the USA. I got interested in Sevens in about 1986-87 at the ripe old age of 13. At that time, it was the place in Georgia (MotoAmerica?) that was importer and Sevens/Elans seemed to be kind of the dealer of record. What I remember about that period is that it seemed like once a year or so there was an article in one of the big car mags about a Caterham. I learned about them from a kit-car comparo in C/D. Then within less than a year there was a road test of a 40th anniversary model in R/T and then one of the two had another article within another couple of years. At that time, the celebrity connection was Steven Tyler and Joe Perry from Aerosmith who both had them. In the intervening 20 years, by comparison, I think I've only seen mention of a Caterham in any of those publications a couple of times. It seems like somewhere along the line, getting column inches in front of car nuts became less of a priority. I also have always been surprised that I've never seen a Caterham booth near one of the big car shows. At Detroit, in the basement of the main show hall, there's usually a set of displays by kitcar manufacturers, aftermarket companies, etc. It always stunned me that MotoAmerica and latterly Caterham USA were never there in the ~6-7 years that I went to that show annually. Nor did I see them at NY when I went there. Having a display at B/J sounds like a step in the right direction and I hope that it leads to more active participation at those kinds of forums to get the cars in front of peoples' eyes. I'll be interested to see what happens with Dyson and the SP/300R. Having this weired disjointed strategy where the track cars and road cars are entirely separate seems like a mistake, especially when you consider that many owners do a substantial amount of track-driving with the Seven. Finally, I disagree with the idea that an entry-level Seven wouldn't be successful and shouldn't be a focus here. This is only anecdotal, but my own story is that I lusted after one from childhood and I managed to just scrape together enough money in my late 20's to afford a Classic Supersprint, a comparatively low-end model. At that time, it cost me right around $25k all-in for kit, engine, and tranny. Honestly, if that model hadn't been available, I don't know that I'd have ended up getting one at all. I think the new 160 is a great product, and to me it would be a very wise investment for Superformance to partner with Caterham or some 3rd party to try to find a suitable alternative to the Suzuki lump that would be easy to source/fit/register for the US market. I don't necessarily think it would be easy, and maybe nothing out there is suitable, but I do wonder if something like the 1.0 Ecoboost, the Honda Fit motor now legal in FF, the 1.0 from the little Smart cars or similar could be make to work. Anyway, I didn't mean to ramble on so long. :deadhorse: Suffice to say that I am cautiously optimistic about this arrangement. Dave

Hi Tony, I think the picture for (a) is incomplete. There should be a pair of the cupped washers and the rubber bushing for each stud. The correct installation of these is to have the nut tightening up against the pair of cupped washers capturing the rubber bushing, but you don't tighten them down until they're metal-to-metal for the reason you state. You're supposed to tighten them down to where there's ~1/16" gap between the cupped washers. This allows the compliance. If yours are missing the rubber hourglass bushings, you'll want to address that. The alternative solution which appears to be shown in (b) are called Thackery washers. They're basically small, thick springs. Here's a better picture: http://jhps.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=jhps&Product_Code=93558 Same idea, you tighten them down part way so that they compress the gasket and form a seal, but retain some give. As far as I know, either type of gasket can be used with either type of retaining washer. As for preference, I don't really know. My car has the cupped washers/rubber bushings and started life with the gaskets like in (b). Then when I stripped and rebuilt the carbs, I decided to replace the gaskets and what I found easily was the type in (a), so I used that. Both seem to have worked fine. My impression is that the critical thing is that the retaining hardware is in good condition and properly tightened. Dave

The spacers you see are the sealing part of the soft mount system for the carburetors. As you surmised, the purpose of the soft mount arrangement is to provide a degree of vibration isolation to avoid frothing the fuel in the bowls. So, there is generally some type of compliant washer used to attach to the studs along with a compliant seal between carb body and manifold. There are a variety of types out there, but they seem to fall into one of two categories. a) A stamping with molded elastomeric sealing rings like this: http://www.piercemanifolds.com/product_p/99005.146.htm b) Spacers with discrete elastomeric o-rings either side (which is what it sounds like you have: http://www.opelgtsource.com/store/9000/9065.html As far as I know, there's nothing magical about the o-rings used in style (b) other than they must obviously tolerate heat and fuel. As for Q2, I have the same arrangement on my Supersprint. While I've always been a bit leery of it (for the reasons you describe) it's yet to cause me any real grief. But I check it periodically. There are some other linkage solutions out there, but one must be careful that they clear the hood. RD Enterprises has a low profile linkage that looks promising (click on Carburetor->Linkage over on the left): http://www.rdent.com/ Dave

A lot of the negative reaction about the powertrain seems to be based on the sound clips the manufacturers have been releasing. For the life of me, I can't understand why they keep putting those clips out. The engines running around in the cars aren't going to sound remotely like they do in some crap recording from a dyno cell. This is alleged to be the 2014 Ferrari motor installed in a LaFerrari test mule: Of course no one knows for sure, but I'm inclined to believe it probably is.

Yeesus, that's scary. So lucky. I'm amazed the car doesn't appear to have submarined under the pickup more, although it must have to a degree as I'm almost sure that would have been what rolled the truck. That is my absolute biggest fear when it comes to potential accidents with other vehicles. Anyway, very relieved that everyone was okay. While there have certainly been some tragic 7 accidents, I'm always amazed that people often walk away from even the pretty serious ones. On the topic of harnesses, another alternative may be to use a 6-point formula car belt in which the straps go back under your thighs and can be attached to the same mounting points as the lap belts. This assumes that your seat is such that it will not interfere with that routing. Probably workable with a foam molded seat or a thin bench seat, but probably not with a normal racing seat. Dave

Oh, I know. My beef was just with the headline itself.

Oh dear $deity. The headline of the article lucky_dawg linked: And here was I thinking that *I* had a Caterham for, lo, these past 11 years. That is some kind of wicked fraud I fell for. I feel bad for all of you chumps, too.

Back when I was actively involved on BlatChat (some years ago now), there was at least one woman who owned one and was involved in the club. I don't remember her name now, but as I recall, she lived on Corsica or something like that. Dave

Woah, Coast Fab., there's a blast from the past. I remember ordering all of the AN hardware for our FSAE cars from them way back in 95 and 96. They were great - glad to see they're still going. Now someone just needs to recommend contacting Dillsburg Aero for some chromoly tubing.

I can't speak for Colorado, specifically, but I've had my Seven in three states that require front tags - OH, NY, and VT - for a combined total of about 8 years. In all that time, I've never mounted the front tag and I've never been stopped for it. Having said that, I've never been pulled over in those states in the Seven for other reasons either. I always expected that if I were to get pinched for speeding or something they would give me a hard time about the tag, so I do always keep it in the car with me just in case. I did get stopped in NH once in the Seven for speeding. During the stop the officer went around to the front of the car and looked down at the nose. I figured that, although he was a NH cop, he was going to harass me about missing my front VT tag, so I preempted him and said that I had the front tag with me if he wanted to see it. He replied, "Oh. No, I was just looking at the badge to see what this is." He let me off with a warning. :jester:

Seems plausible, depending on how the coolant passages in the head are arranged. Anyway, on a semi-related note and maybe more on topic, I think I've heard of cases of air pockets being trapped in the head after a coolant fill causing hotspots. When I refill my coolant, I open the plug in the intake manifold until I see coolant coming out just to make sure there isn't a bubble stuck in there somewhere. Dave