Croc

Found this morning while "shopping"...ok...I was really daydreaming :blush: No affiliation or connection with me - just reposting here for the benefit of forum users. 2012 Birkin with 465 miles on the clock. I guess the owner is not on here? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2012-Birkin-S3-re-engineered-1967-Lotus-Super-7-/181081095973?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item2a29463f25

I went to the Newark (UK not NJ) kit car show 2 years back and had a great time - there is a photo thread on here somewhere that I posted. I dont think there is any equivalent form of show in the US. So much variety of kit cars, parts and pieces and of course completed cars to check out and get great ideas from. I definitely would recommend people try for a show like this if their travel plans coincide. I wont make this one given my March track weekend at Spa will have used up all my money.

Not sure where you are in NJ but Hopewell is only an hour away from me. I know Steelwings and Ed Sanson - Ed is a really nice guy. I could meet you there Saturday to jointly check the car over (assuming it is at their main street shop and not the back up site shown in the photos). I have seen the car before when it was a rental with Entropy but I did not inspect it closely. 1. What should I look for and ask about when looking at the car? My list of items: - definitely pull off the nose cone for any inspection - rust of any kind in the usual spots - sound/feel of engine - chassis/steering/suspension cracks or alignment issues - steering feel - Clutch or gearbox feel (if t-9 5spd I am looking at 2-3 area) - Dingo has kindly provided a really useful insight - need to run that to ground - general condition of hoses/fuel tank - oil, fuel, diff, brake leaks 2. Is an old racecar a series of problems held together with hidden cracks and I should walk away? Not necessarily. I have rented Caterham race cars from Bookatrack and they are some of the best mechanically maintained and reliable sevens I have ever seen (not necessarily the best show cars though!). From what I recall this is not a show car to look at. Inspection will show if it was well maintained mechanically by Entropy. 3. Ballpark ideas on the cost of streeting it, if I do all the work. What would it need beyond headlights, turn signals and actuator, -are those rear lamps "factory" marker lamps, seats (perhaps the most costly item?) windscreen, wipers system (a big deal?) (has anyone registered a car with brooklands in NJ?), safety harnesses. Ooooh.....the pain of a NJ seven registration. Assuming this is not going to be a faked 1965 Lotus registration then you need to expect worst case that NJ MVC will apply the full DOT/CAFE rules and regs. The legally correct NJ registration process for a kit car is to treat it as a reconstruct/salvage as its engine did not come factory standard from a Caterham. If so then the process is: 1) go to MVC and apply for title pay tax and registration 2) MVC takes new registration and plates and sends them to specialty inspection 3) You take the car (on a trailer) to specialty inspection and they check the compliance with NJ inspection regs and NJ emissions. This means: A 2000 year chassis car with a post 1996 engine requires full OBDII with no faults showing in order to be emissions tested. This car does not have that as I recall it having an after market ECU (happy to be corrected on this). In theory the NJ DOE law allows for waivers to be tail pipe tested, in practice you have no hope - wait for Blubarisax to chime in on this one. You can cost out the various modifications by going to Caterham UK and looking at their parts inventory pages with prices marked. To street ready from the perspective of a NJ Specialty Inpsection you need: lights front indicators rear brake lights and rear indicators reversing light high mount brake light shielding over the entire exposed exhaust length to protect kiddies, kittens, etc a steering wheel 12 inches or greater in diameter - non-removable. DOT marked 3 point belts or race harnesses. wipers no rule on windscreen from memory but an inspector could be a pain and insist on it. There is a car in NJ with Brooklands but it never went through specialty inspection. I was forced to install honeycomb panels around the fuel tank on my previous seven gear stick has to have marked H pattern gears (cheap - buy a sticker) I was also noise tested even though there is no law on this. Inspectors like to make up rules. Assuming you pass this then you get your plates and registration and then you need to go and get tested for emissions again before you get your emissions test pass sticker (at least I had to!). Now this is the legally correct way for a post 1996 engined seven to be registered in NJ. Someone will come on line to dispute me but I have the legal bills, written attorney opinions and MVC/DOE/inspection correspondence to prove it and I am the only one to have ever had a post 2000 seven NJ emissions tested. However....you may be lucky at the MVC upfront when you apply for a brand new title to argue that the car fits precisely within the legal definition of an "historic" or "collector" car category for registration. No title does give you a clean sheet of paper to work with I suppose. However this is your choice to make this case. If you fail at this then you now proudly own a car on which you paid sales tax that you will never be able to legally drive in NJ. There was a forum member who ended up in this exact situation (lives within 100 yards of where this car is for sale rather coincidentally). So in reality as a NJ resident I look at this as a pure track car. If you want a road car then you really need to look at a pre-1995 chassis with a pre-OBD engine. Then you can sail through the process in a straightforward manner like other NJ owners. 4. Is it worth it (vs. other 7s) as a street conversion? I know, it's sort of like asking, "what is the best car?" -But I already know the answer to that one. :-) As a track day car I think it is great value. To get it as a road car in NJ - I would walk away and look for a pre-1996 cross flow. I will PM my cell phone so you can call me if you want me to join you on an inspection. Cheers mike By the way - where do you run? There are a group of seveners who run track days at NJMP regularly. If you want to see a broader cross section of cars in order to learn more about them then we can arrange sometime fairly easily as we are all over north/south NJ or PA (Philly area).

I want to say that I am supportive of what Greg and Bill are trying to do in the North East and I hope is it very successful to give additional track time options to us. I will be looking forward to see dates released soon so I can plan my year out. :cooldude: Now I hope this means that Bill will be taking his lovely anniversary crossflow Caterham out on track to resume its former racing career in the hands of its previous owner?

Of course....a failed ex-HR flunkey and those of us in corporate life know how bad they are! I have never seen a good HR person in any of my corporations yet! Hi Tom :seeya::rofl: LOL - I am more of a southerner than you are! I was born south of the equator! You would be more than welcome. So far it has mostly been guys turning up mainly because none of us have any enlightened chicks as partners, except for Jeff whose better half Mary is turning out to be faster on track than most of us. If your better half wants to come along then I think we could easily make some arrangements Just to convince you further here is the photo thread from 2012 http://usa7s.com/vb/showthread.php?t=7738

Seller dropped his price to $15500 which I bet could be beaten a little lower in negotiations.

Yes - I am trying for an alternative option to get more exclusivity to the sevens group.

The Caterham carbon is notorious for white spotting. I have seen too many examples of it. I went the opposite direction to Tom after my early experiments revealed clear coating would add 100-150 pounds to the weight in all those extra coats. So I went with the 3m paint protection film over all the carbon by getting a professional to do it. It has worked pretty well. It does not show up on the front wings unless you really look for it and they were a tricky shape with all the compound curves. It is easier to see on the rear wings if you catch it in the right sunlight or fluorescent light. No problems so far.

As a CSR Superlight owner I can say they are great cars on the track. The only thing I am not liking is the undertray aero fairing that does get me very light/airborne over a hump on my local track. Superlight was just a track focused CSR package. You still had the option for one of 2 dash layouts - swoopy with integrated chassis tubes or the traditional flat dash panel layout. Do you know which option you ordered? If you got the removable wheel option then you probably have flat dash and it should be relatively easy to install the Sadev. If you got the swoopy dash with the Rover steering column then be prepared for some chassis cutting for the Sadev. As for the paddles on this swoopy dash steering column then that will be an interesting installation process....I am not sure it is possible given the design.

I think you are going to be a first to attempt a sequential in a CSR. All previous CSRs were specified with the Caterham 6 speed to the best of my knowledge. First thing - you have to first clarify which CSR chassis you are trying to work with - swoopy dash version or the standard looking dash version. If swoopy dash then yes there is modification to the chassis needed. From my explorations during a weak moment of mine in the specification of my CSR, I discovered this. As I understood it the gear stick comes up through a fairly narrow "box"/square so you have limited fore and aft movement for a gear stick - not enough for a sequential but just enough for a Caterham 6 speed box. The problem exists not just for the Sadev but also the Quaife sequential. It is still very tight even with the Caterham 6 speed H box. For example, in first gear on my car the gear stick is just touching the chassis cross bar on the dash. I am not aware of any other tunnel top issue other than the the gear stick issue. I am not sure the same issue exists on the regular dash CSR as that area is very much different in how the chassis cross bars are laid out. They are more like an SV and so may accommodate a sequential more readily. It will be a case of test fit and see!

That sounds much better. Stop winding me up....:dupe: I am a little delicate this week. I even managed to roll my golf cart yesterday when I cornered it just a leetle too fast.... I have faith that even with more monster power under your right foot I can use my awesome rear end to give me an advantage in corners to beat you. Plus my Caterham is the only one to get airborne on the back straight thanks to the superior aerodynamic shape of its driver....oh wait...:ack:

Are you nucking futs? Forgive my reaction but I am not sure this is a good idea... You have a precision machined engine component that you are going to just modify by laying into it with a grinder? How will you know you have taken enough off by just looking at it? Or do you have to put it all back together to turn over by hand to make sure it is not rubbing? I think you want a pro to do this for you using the clearance specs of the cam that SBD should have given you.

9500rpm?!!!! This is the kit that gets you to about 310hp. Who is going to machine your head for the extra cam lobe clearance? Alas, I am not doing anything like that - just trying to drive faster - although there is one aerodynamic and styling enhancement underway that I will have for this driving season, it does not add horsepower. Consider it the automotive equivalent of "Just For Men." :jester: More horsepower will come with my next seven which is many many years away given I want to restore my old race cars first and bring them to the US to drive properly since I have held them 20 years in storage.:nopity: Anyway, the fastest drivers are not at my NJMP track, they are in the Dominican Republic. I have the emotional scars of having been a passenger from Santo Domingo to La Romana in some Hyundai minivan on the redline in 5th gear at 110mph with a bad wheel vibration. Tom texted me the Spanish to slow down and the driver offerred me a beer in response and then had one himself. :svengo:

It says they are sold in 10.5l lots so 5 times 10.5 gets you pretty close to 55 litres allowing for a fuel pick up unit displacement within the tank. One thing I am not sure of...is your fuel pump like the in-unit Caterham ones or was it relocated when you went to fuel cell? I bet it is outside now but no harm in asking. This would be a factor in considering how many of these pellet tthingys you need.

I have heard the wiffle ball treatment but I have also heard that the ethanol content in todays gas dissolves them over time. Not sure I would want the risk of wiffle ball plastic running through my engine? Either way it is not something I ever ran to ground. This is what I used to use in Australia on my race cars after the foam decided to break up: http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/fuel-tank-baffles/demon-tweeks-easy-pour-fuel-tank-baffle I could not readily find a US supplier but I bet there is one with a bit of searching.

There is something about a BDA in a seven that looks just so right! Make sure you stay warm in your garage.

Bit late in responding! I dont mind if you do not agree. I was not quite sure what to call it and I was trying to be considerate and polite to the owner. Anyway it is an interesting vehicle to my mind. How does it compare to your seven?

G'day Ade It is always good when a Brit turns up as there is now someone else other than me who knows what rugby and cricket are! Your car looks lovely - way too clean so I can assume you are a polisher? Welcome aboard!

I am sure the Suzuki has bags of handling ability to justify sports tires on Bonaire? Will they help you dodge goats better? :jester:

Some caution is advised with BJ given some of their practices. However, the live telecast I watched showed the bidding on a screen display from start to finish. Even showed the top two bidders on camera. My jaw was hitting the floor at $600,000 onwards. Fairly quick increments at $100,000 a pop and it did not take long to get the price over the million mark. If you watched the replay on Sunday then they shortened the bidding radically.

And the problem is? I would love to have that problem!

For the second link in the post above what looks to be a nice Lotus Elan, I strongly recommend thoroughly checking out the dealer offering it for sale by googling its name and complaints. They have a certain reputation around this region... Now as to the breadvan...yum!

Do you trailer her too? :jester:

Pathetic drivers....cannot even park between the lines! :jester:

LOL...and here I am going through a set of Avon CR500s in 2400 miles! :rofl: I never knew slicks could be harder wearing!