rzempel

So, just curious...do you have a brick and mortar establishment, or just a mail drop box at the UPS store in Whittier?

You might contact the new Cat dealer in San Diego and see if he can help...http://www.theadrenalinegallery.com Randall

Work? What is this "work" you speak of? I'm retired. And glad to have ceded the race to the rats. Randall

I replaced my rotors with the Golf discs, and found I had to machine out the inside diameter a bit. I don't know if that's the case on the 97/98...mine's an '01. Randall

I was just ready to jump at this when I read, "The next owner will need to complete the restoration." I think I have to pass. :-)

$239 seems a bit much. for about $15 I fabricated a cylindrical tank and mounted it vertically forward of the fuel tank along the centerline. Fuel level stays the same as in the main tank, but can't expose the pickup until the main tank is virtually empty. No extra pumps, no complication, very inexpensive, and totally effective. Randall

My not-to-be-trusted-too-far memory says 6 volts rather than nine.

It's the picture in Caterham's press release. Strange choice.

Hmmm. I have bolts in those holes. DPOs do weird things.

On mine (2001) the outer, forward roll-bar mounting bolts are hex heads. The pointed ends of the hood bar sit nicely in those and are held there by the tension of the hood. I don't know if that's the way it's supposed to be, but it works for me. Randall

This line from that SA Appeals decision pretty well sums it up, "There is a small group of people who are passionate about old and inconvenient cars and who are prepared to buy a replica of a car designed in 1968 in which the designer himself had lost interest in 1970." It's pretty clear that we are each passionate about the particular Se7en we chose. Whichever one that happens to be. Joshesh, find one (any one) that fits your personal likes and dislikes, and welcome to the "small group of people who are passionate about old and inconvenient cars."

Actually, Terry, I think Birkin has as much, or more, claim to being "the real thing" than Caterham. Caterham didn't get official approval from Lotus for the Series 3 until after Birkin won the lawsuit. Apparently Cateham only had the rights to build the Series 4 until then, and Birkin had factory support to start production. :-)

+1 Randall

While your head is probably spinning from all these options, let me add more fuel on the fire. You could also build a "Locost." With that, you'd have intimate familiarity with the car and it would be exactly to your specifications. Longer, wider, powerplant, suspension...it's all whatever you want.

As Aaron says, registration in California has become vastly easier. Herb has a point about getting to know your car by building it completely, as you intend to do. I, on the other hand, bought a running car and have re-built just about everything, thus becoming just as intimately familiar with it. :-) Whichever way you go, you can't go wrong with a Se7en.

The fact the ad says it has a Painless wiring kit suggests to me that it's 2001/2002 as well--better designed seats but still old-style Birkin wiring.

My car, too, has not been driven much. After the tour, I think I only drove to the dyno day and following Blat. After that, I tore out the leak-prone cooling system and repaired it properly with a cooling rail, alloy tubing, silicone hoses, and t-clamps. I also discovered the reason the fan switch was leaking--a previous owner had installed the switch by drilling a hole in the radiator and twisting in the switch; no bung, no real threads, no clamping surface. Amazing that it lasted as long as it did. A couple of weeks ago, I set out on a nice Saturday to test the new system...only to find out my alternator had died. Fortunately I have a good alternator/starter rebuild shop nearby, so it was an afternoon repair. On Sunday, I headed to the mountains for a test. The coolant stayed a constant 180 on the way up, and going down with very little engine load I had a steady 160 in the frigid mountain air. I'm much happier with that state of affairs, and feeling more prepared for another assault on Beartooth Pass. :-)

That's my interpretation, too. Too bad.

They finally responded to my email inquiry. Here's the answer: "Hello Im sorry, We do not allow tube chassis vehicles at Time Attack. Time Attack Event is very intense, and it is far more dangerous compare to regular track day. We can offer you another track event that you can run. There are variety of cars and safer compare to Time Attack Event. If you havent already, check out "Extremespeedtrackevents.com". Thank you"

I emailed, but no response in more than a week.

Aha! That makes sense. I've forwarded the for sale thread to a couple off=list people I know who are hoping to get a Seven.

Curious...what's "better" about Jeff's car than yours? Randall

Here are the pics of my old setup. The thermo housing is a generic thing which, when mounted, aimed the outlet up at about a 45 degree angle with plenty of clearance between block and firewall. From there, the upper radiator hose had a 90 bend, a filler cap fitting, then a hose to the radiator. That part all worked fine (as long as I remembered to torque the lower bolt down...which I neglected before the Black Hills tour and ultimately had a small leak there). I used the two holes in the housing for my cockpit gauge sender and ECU temp sender. They could just as easily be plugged--or the big one used for a heater line, which I don't have. These parts are now excess to my needs, so if you're interested in using them yourself PM me. Randall

FWIW, my car w/Zetec had a generic chrome hot-rod thermostat housing/elbow. It worked fine, but I'm finishing up the conversion to Raceline--I had other problems with my cooling system and decided to upgrade everything at once. I can post a pic of the old elbow if you need it to know what I'm referring to. Randall

Angling it down might also increase the perceived sound as it reflects more from the hard road surface. Dunno for sure, but maybe. :shrug: