Croc

Yes but does Grace look good in a red dress? anyway...back to the point in question - which Zetec are we talking about here? the regular version or the SVT motor? If it is the SVT then there was a very interesting post by Athens who upgraded his SVT engine to the Kent cam (amongst other things). It was not as trouble free as I would expect for a simple cam upgrade http://www.usa7s.com/vb/showthread.php?t=1577&highlight=kent

Brilliant - had me totally fooled! I would love to see this posted on LotusTalk - the screams of anguish would be priceless.

Yes but was your son happy with what you did to his car?

Whatever it is - I like the look of it. I spent some time browsinig the Denis Ortenburger book and unfortunately did not get a clear match. It sort of matches the Donkervoort S7 or Glauner Rush in elements of styling but the distinctive dash shape did not match either of those.

I just want to echo everyone else with thanks to Bruce for putting this all together. I had a great time! For those that did not make it some photo links to enjoy: We started at Milford NJ, a sleepy little town on the Delaware river: http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/Milford%20NJ%20run/?action=view&current=DSC05608.jpg And proceeded to drive what I though Bruce described as "Tail of the Gecko" I could have misheard.....but it was fun! Some pics from the drive: http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/Milford%20NJ%20run/?action=view&current=DSC05611.jpg During the drive we passed Bikie diner heaven on Rt 32 - there had to be at least 100 bikes at this diner - even a dealer would not have a forecourt so crowded. Plenty of waves from those guys - they get our "habit"! http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/Milford%20NJ%20run/?action=view&current=DSC05610.jpg This is Steve (and Boxologist) smiling just before my car decided to give him his cardio workout for the day - yes the brake lights decided to go to lunch early on the drive...oops! Sorry Steve. http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/Milford%20NJ%20run/?action=view&current=DSC05609.jpg Steve then caused alarm at the front by disappearing from the rear vision mirror. Was it mechanical problems? Was it electrical? Had his passenger puked? Noooo.....he saw a port-a-potty! Pit stop: http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/Milford%20NJ%20run/?action=view&current=DSC05613.jpg http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/Milford%20NJ%20run/?action=view&current=DSC05614.jpg http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/Milford%20NJ%20run/?action=view&current=DSC05615.jpg Post drive we ended up at Bruce's house to redecorate the driveway before then adjourning to the Ship Inn for some lunch, tall stories and lots of laughter: http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/Milford%20NJ%20run/?action=view&current=DSC05617.jpg http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/Milford%20NJ%20run/?action=view&current=DSC05620.jpg Due to the threat of impending rain Jack and I did decide to use our hoods as a preventative measure - good idea since it bucketed down while we were in the Ship Inn having lunch Following lunch we had a peek at Bruce's exquisite taste in motor vehicles - original Mini Cooper, Austin Heally in stunning Pacific Blue ("No its not an Aston Healy Jen":D), a gorgeous cream Jaguar E-type V12 convertible, and a concours condition red Jaguar E-type coupe. At this point its time to leave and its still raining. Bruce was concerned about Steve's ability to swim while driving and had a brilliant solution: http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/mjohnson555/seats/Milford%20NJ%20run/?action=view&current=DSC05623.jpg Other suitable captions are welcome for this pic I decided to drive home (with hood up) by way of a lengthy detour. I retraced Rt 32 and 611 north to I-78 and headed west to bond with my inner red neck at Cabela's at Hamburg PA. Wrong move. The rain was torrential and I was leaking everywhere. I know I did not have the James Bond's Lotus Esprit submarine car but geez the water coming in from the top of the pedal box was like a rushing tap! I also discovered that while it is more fun to have 2 people in the car heavy breathing really only 1 person is needed to fog up the windows so you cannot see where you are going. Good news is the windscreen wipers worked well on the outside but the running water on the inside of the screen (yes hood was installed correctly - the rain was that bad!) meant that the wipers were about as useful as boobs on a bull. Still the car handled beautifully in the paddling pool that was I-78 - plenty of traction - better than I expected. At Cabela's I had fun viewing the stuffed wildlife, checking out the fish tank and BBQ section, viewing the guns, and generally pretending to be a red neck Q:"So you say you can fit gun racks to any car? I have a Caterham will that work? A: "Wha type of hoity toity pick up is thart? Is it a furriner vehickle?" For the drive back to NYC I took the hood off to drive au naturel. Well that lasted 20 mins before I ran into the back of the rain front that I passed through on the way to Cabela's. Hood back up, I then experienced the joy a submariner has on discovering his submarine has an open porthole! Has anyone installed a bilge pump in a Se7en? I actually wrung a boatload of water out of the carpets last night! If anyone is interested I can email around the "rally book" of the driving route that we took. Should we use our rain day on June 20 to do another drive - I had a lot of fun!!!

Unfortunately renting track cars is an expensive proposition at the best of times. With the economy the way it is, it is not surprising the business struggled. I guess I now have to go back here to rent a Seven for the track. http://www.autegmotorsport.com/track_car_rental Seriously though, race car rental works in a place like this - a ton of people making the pilgrimage to race track Mecca means plenty of customers. Its hard to think of a race circuit in North America with the same star quality and drawing power to make this business work.

and that is a problem? sounds pretty good fun to me

Roll call 1 - Bruce and wife 2 - Jack and Jen 3 - Alan & Kathy (At Carlisle they said they would come - not sure if they have seen this post? I do not have their contact details). 4 - Steve and Box 5 - Me and Kyle And Al doing a chilli cook-off!

You raise an interesting point. How many people drive their Se7ens on the road with arm restraints? I have always thought of them for circuit racing not road use. Admittedly when I used to race "Elvis" my old Series II I never used arm restraints but I did have an FIA rollbar. I guess I was young and stupid

Sorry to hear that your Seven is still misbehaving. I would offer you my spare seat but Kyle has reserved it since his Birkin is unfortunately also off the road. Two of the other cars are already paired up - Jack/Jen and Alan/Kathy. The only car that comes to mind with a free seat is Bruce's (or possibly Steve's?). Give Bruce a call on his cell (on this post) as I dont believe he is checking email or this site regularly now that he is back in the country this week. It would be great to have you along. Edited - Problem solved for Box by Steve.

So a 4 cylinder engine becomes an 8 cylinder in this approach? Unless they dropped something (e,g, some cylinders) the packaging for one of these engines is larger and heavier than the original otto cycle design?

Weather looks encouraging for Saturday - sunny 74 degrees. Hopefully the rain from Thurs/Fri will have cleared away.

I have the mirrorforsevens product as well and like it. I am still getting used to it but I have removed the passenger side mirror as I found I just do not need it. I still feel I need the driver side mirror as I cannot quite see everything I want to. I am yet to remove the center mirror as I continue to tweak positioning to avoid the roll bar which sits right in the middle of my line of sight with the mirrorforsevens.

Now that you mention it - I think you are right. No problem though - you take the first car and I will take the second and we are both happy!

I think the black XI is the same as the one on the Manik Tech site under preowned link - more photos to lust over... http://www.manikllc.com/ click preowned once at site off to buy a powerball ticket....

Oh that is soooo tempting The curves on that body just make want to caress it. Gorgeous design - even after all these years - it has aged beautifully.

Now that I have finished fixing things after my close encounter with the smelly kind, my oil pressure sensor has decided to imitate a rev gauge so I guess it is on its way out to lunch. The engine is fine - I took the oil pressure sender out and checked manually plus no leaks or lost oil so I think I am good there. Anyone had good success with a mechanical oil pressure unit and gauge that they would recommend? Also while I am at it, what other gauges do people swear by? I would like to improve the instrumentation - oil temperature and volt meter are ones I am thinking of adding.

Posted with no affiliation or interest - usual disclaimers MidAtlantic Caterham has a 2005 SV for sale in addition to a new SV in the box and the original orange SV which has been sort of on sale for years. http://www.midatlanticcaterham.com/inventor.htm

KIAS is a term used in flying and stands for Knots Indicated Air Speed. In this case it is an old sticker from a fighter aircraft warning not to pull the ejection handle above 300 knots (otherwise you will be ripped into pieces). It looks like it was mounted on a car though..... Putting this aside, Skip has given me the mental image of doing a air bombing run over 300 Kias (the cars).

Hi Jen, I have a Soft Bits for Sevens tunnel bag and love it. I also have their wind deflector which has built in storage. Happy to show you and Jack when I see you on June 13 for the Milford Sevens run. cheers mike

This was at Mt Panorama in Bathurst, Australia and is a scary crazy circuit at the best of times. To go from 15th to 1st by 2/3rds of the way around the first lap (about 3 miles) is just insane. Having raced touring cars (sort of like nascar) there myself I just know this guy has to have the largest shiniest brass set around. I want to find out who this star is

Thank you all for the many suggestions - I found them very useful. I ended up removing the radiator just to get better access. Then it was a power steam spray all over radiator and the front of the car, etc just to be sure that nothing was left. Then it was a spray down with a mix of 1 quart 3 percent hydrogen peroxide, 1/4 cup baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and 1 teaspoon liquid soap or dish detergent, folllowed by another thorough steam spray rinse. I got this tip from the Orkin man I know. At this point things were smelling better so I used the Nilium and hot water to finish the job. That is good stuff - surprised by how well it worked. But I could still smell skunk....so after a hunt I discovered it was coming from the horn. The little devil got inside there too!! So I chucked the old horn and bought a new one at Napa and have that installed now. The nose cone was fixed by a body work shop that specializes in Lotus and that is due back to me this weekend. I picked up a new Seven grille and the fixings from Caterham South UK when I was in London for a business trip on Wed and brought back hand luggage (that got some strange looks in Heathrow going through security). Reassembly this weekend (or next week) and I am back on the road springtime fresh! Oh and I am installing one of those animal whistle doo dads inside the nose cone to warn the critters I am coming ....next time.

um....unfortunately he is no longer alive but got diced and sliced when I hit him dead center this afternoon at 75mph on the Palisades parkway. He popped out from under the SUV I was following and that streak of white fur made me freeze in horror so no avoidance taken. I will need to buy a new 7 grille to replace the one he is now wearing.... Also need to do some fiberglassing where the grille ripped out... At least I know the last thing that went through his mind when he saw my Seven bearing down on him.............. his a***! I removed the nosecone and pressure washed everything, poured tomato juice over everything and I am letting the car marinate while I have a stiff drink and consider next steps. Any ideas?

Thanks Al! I saw it and have been studying it this morning against my map. Bruce - Add 1 tentative in for another local I know who is waiting for a part to get mobile again. He can join us on the bike if the Seven is not mobile by then.

Al's ideas are always promising - so a mapped out route is an excellent idea. Of course I am sure he (hopefully) plans to join us in his new car 2 hours sounds about right. The catch is that it will be a late lunch back at the Ship Inn.... I think I can survive the starvation! Only real problem I see is keeping a group together on backroads so that the tail enders do not get lost. You may know your way around but I guarantee I do not . Al - you should have my email from when I sent the data sheet to your work address. If not I can send another.