Croc

Finally was at the garage this week to deal with some automotive things Here is my Caterham Odyssey PC680 installation with the Odyssey bracket.

Totally non-seven related but I just ordered a set of those 5.75" for my Range Rover CSK rebuild where it has the rare dual 4 headlight (7" and 5.75") grille. Morimoto was an excellent find!

@nc7s4 Bad news I know, but should we move your suspension discussion to your suspension thread to avoid messing with Rashid's rebuild topic?

Westfield newly listed this morning https://www.facebook.com/share/dVAbRLFtdcxjUxLD/

Week Beginning October 27, 2024 USA7s Classified Ads of Cars for Sale USA7s classified pages - USA7s club members have the benefit of selling their cars by listing them for free on USA7s forum. https://usa7s.net/ips/forum/26-cars-for-sale/ New Ads Found This Week Caterham - back again in record time on Bringatrailer https://bringatrailer.com/listing/caterham-seven-360-2/ Caterham Kit https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/listing/2024-caterham-chaffee-ny-2829914 Replica https://www.facebook.com/share/qoDv1HEuoTtYskYD/ Replica (RM 8?) https://www.facebook.com/share/7MDnbGkeqpbuVzBr/ Caterham https://www.facebook.com/share/vXYkJwLnVKR1Shkm/ Repeat Ads From Prior Week Caterham https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/listing/1999-caterham-super-7-va-beach-va-2829129 Caterham autosport https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/listing/1998-caterham-super-7-huntington-station-ny-2820602 Stalker https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/listing/2017-lotus-super-seven-sarasota-fl-2792670 Replica https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/listing/1967-lotus-commerce-twp-mi-2821494 and here https://www.ebay.com/itm/146108140705?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=JM7ao4EGQdm&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=Rug4ktEYR-G&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY Sabre Seven https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/listing/1985-lotus-7-franklin-me-2818827 Caterham https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/ctd/d/san-jose-2023-caterham-seven-620r-lotus/7793441634.html and here https://www.facebook.com/share/rx8S84AwLsDGpide/ Birkin https://www.facebook.com/share/mD7c9m4kELfnxfpA/ Mitsuoka Zero https://www.facebook.com/share/5kHTA5j2Lcq6fgzJ/ Locost Project https://www.facebook.com/share/LEA7vV83QYwozwGh/ Dutton 7 https://www.facebook.com/share/pwAAaHQAnzg7PkEv/ Locost Project https://www.facebook.com/share/WjZGXtFsq8gCW8wP/ Lotus 7 S2 https://www.facebook.com/share/8TveQzbMcMfcTFod/ and here https://www.facebook.com/share/yLQzY3ASDPRi3viq/ Lotus 7 S2 https://www.facebook.com/share/aeTP6dzeq5n1FjxP/ Superformance S1 https://www.facebook.com/share/2H1N31xu7zPzTSML/ Replica https://www.facebook.com/share/yJsnPgMXNZJiP2To/ Locost Project https://www.facebook.com/share/nDd3jqJ8Wk86QxK8/ Replica https://www.facebook.com/share/RxyERXtiibWhoZoP/ Replica https://www.facebook.com/share/mw319Ed3Tit5nnfk/ Replica https://www.facebook.com/share/Q6x8gLNAovmFLbtj/ Replica https://www.facebook.com/share/uRhj7y4yjepA1vsf/ Lotus 7 S4 https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/968198324859905/ Westfield https://www.facebook.com/share/8ABBXZddeGPyfi2D/ Replica Project https://www.facebook.com/share/Sfcwfwudber6XH8i/ Locost https://www.facebook.com/share/7vnA434Jk4CkfvvQ/ Lotus 7 S2 https://www.facebook.com/share/5Kfmagy89XiFwJtc/ Replica https://www.facebook.com/share/igYKQXhpF82F5F46/ Locost https://www.facebook.com/share/U4jwKC516uXbnsg9/ Caterham https://www.facebook.com/share/HwLxvGDNakQLxHAN/ Lotus 7 S2 https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/listing/1962-lotus-bedford-hills-ny-2799374 and here Canada Caterham https://www.autotrader.ca/a/caterham/super 7/powell river/british columbia/19_12974637_/ and here https://vancouver.craigslist.org/van/cto/d/powell-river-1987-caterham-super-seven/7786077807.html and here https://www.facebook.com/share/iNkFpFPJ93eRtFoV/ Fejer https://www.autotrader.ca/a/lotus/seven/lower five islands/nova scotia/19_12900501_/ and here https://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars/truro/1985-fejer-lotus-super-seven/1701350048 MNR 7 https://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/hamilton/2021-lotus-7-kit-car-custom-built/m9460223 and here https://www.autotrader.ca/a/lotus/unspecified/hamilton/ontario/5_63845091_20220608161858701/ Caterham https://7cars.ca/cars-for-sale/caterham-s3-360.htm Westfield https://www.facebook.com/share/Cwng7E3c7apZjpfZ/ RM 8 Project https://www.facebook.com/share/9gQ8tLfpLehMxZY3/ Dutton 7 https://www.facebook.com/share/um4B3bhdGzDN4Wf4/ Locost https://www.facebook.com/share/fhjG8Tn5QrDzA2RW/ Locost Project https://www.facebook.com/share/giuh2xne7KCScBF1/ Westfield https://www.facebook.com/share/tRGHX7L1uHsXJsfJ/ Replica https://www.facebook.com/share/83wVhbFzSU5kpDzz/ Locost https://www.facebook.com/share/hP4728L41gTVaw22/

Most Caterhams have to take it easy filling up. I can make that happen on my Duratec car by being a klutz. You have two options: 1) You already have a neck vent so just plug this extra neck outlet at source. If you discover that your existing neck vent is not sufficient to stop a tank vacuum then you can always unplug it and repurpose as a vent. 2) I was concerned that my tank needed more venting to prevent the vacuum effect in the tank (mine was the original Caterham tank). So I connected a very long looping of hose (same diameter as neck outlet) and then zip tied it up high near the neck so it would partly drain back. Any overflow in that neck outlet would then just sit in the loops and slowly evaporate. If you still get leaks this way then that is something new to investigate on what is going on with the tank.

Loynings has closed sadly. Arnie retired.

This is a Zetec car - early 2000s - I think? In the early days of the Zetec, Caterham repurposed the filler neck from a Rover K series which in some iterations of that engine used a low pressure fuel return line. Somehow this extra neck connection was plumbed into the outlet from the tank with a one way valve. I would have to look up the old K series build manuals in the Library to remember how it all plumbed together. The Zetec does not. As the Duratec came into the UK market they modified the neck to remove it from memory. My solution on my old maroon Zetec, which was one of the first USA press cars, was to extend the hose with a bunch of loops (so it never dripped) and just leave it open as a overflow vent. I never had a charcoal tank vent - that neck outlet was blocked off. Charcoal tanks came later around late 2002 onwards. It should only overflow when tank is full or going hard left?

The story was here:

I met Skip in person only once when I went out to Colorado to do a shake down drive in April 2011. Skip said he would show me a canyon drive in the front range that was really fun in a seven. He put out the message to his friends in the local Lotus Club to turn up for a cars and coffee then migrate to his home workshop and then go for a drive. I only have one photo of Skip from that day - holding court in his workshop, on his stool, nebulizer on the floor, sadly back to the camera. Side note - far right gentleman in gray t-shirt and jeans is Tom Carlin of Birkin America Well the drive, turned into something far more exciting than I ever expected. He and a few others took off at warp speed. I tried to keep up but triple digits, unknown road, brand new seven, plus some random guy as passenger, turned me cautious and I chickened out and ended up running in tandem with Tom Carlin who was similarly cautious. Still it was one hell of a club drive and Skip made quite the impression on me and we kept in touch over the years but sadly never having to opportunity to meet up again in person. My experience sums him up well. He was a brilliant engineer. Generous with his hospitality. Keen enthusiasm for all things automotive. He knew how to drive - sometimes well - sometimes for shit as the photo below shows. He lived life at full throttle - literally. Skip's Caterham that he engineered with a bespoke turbo Miata drivetrain lives on. @ottocycle is the current custodian and he is a handy driver in his own right, driving it as Skip would expect. Vale Skip.

What ECU are you running John? Curious if Hasselgren gave you OBDII?

@44 AND COUNTING I am making happy noises at the list of most of your cars (I will ignore the Beetles - my first and second rollover was in a Beetle). I have been close to buying a Citroen SM and more than one Maserati a few times as I had serious lust issues and rationalized that they must be cheaper in the long term than women, but managed to back away from the wallet and hold off my "motibation" (a very appropriate word!). I also managed to chuckle at the money pits reference as I think I share that problem with some of my cars. As for starting a new 123 distributor post, you do not have to - your 2023 one is still live - post on the back of that one and continue the story as the background is already posted there.

Welcome to USA7s! That is quite a find - a WCM Ultralite in Bahrain. How did you come across the car? This story is going to be very interesting. At least the Ultralite was in a location with low humidity so hopefully no serious rust issues from storage. But still you have to assume that you will have many perished rubber suspension bushings and rubber hoses in addition to the need to do all the usual servicing items - engine oil, coolant, gearbox oil, diff oil, lube joints, physical inspection for chassis/suspension cracks/wear. Knowing the back story of why it was stored will help here. To start your journey, here is the link to the Maintenance and Upgrade manual kindly written by @Bruce K as a very knowledgeable former owner of an Ultralite and experienced historic racer. https://usa7s.net/ips/files/category/32-build-user-guides/ Three other prominent Ultralite owners here which should chime in are: @nc7s4 and @charles5448 who both recently acquired UIltralites and are going through a similar learning curve to what you are about to embark on. and @RGTorque who is a long time owner of a beautifully prepared Ultralite and knows these cars very well.

Yes thats what I have installed in my car. Apologies I do not have any photos of my car handy to show you as I am in Florida this week. I could take photos this weekend once I get back to the garage.

This might be why you spun? Eau Rouge/Raidillon is a left, right, left.

Oh that car. Its in my weekly listing.

Too many other variables go into the thinking. I have not see your individual WCM but on the two I have seen I would point to: 1) WCM has wider track 2) WCM has wider tires (more unsprung weight too) 3) Use of anti roll bar or not. 4) Progressive springs vs non-progressive 5) Overall weight of a WCM is higher than a Caterham - not much but it all adds up. Honda over Duratec/Sigma is a good chunk of that Small variations can have big consequences.

I cannot access that ad - I was rejected from joining that FB group. Obviously felt threatened.

Brand new Caterham? Comes with a Banner battery as standard. Horrible things. Makes sense it has failed but I would follow the checks suggested by John above. Plenty of options out there. Vlad mentioned Antigravity. I know two others on USA7s using the same. A lot of us use Odyssey batteries. I prefer the PC680 for packaging reasons on the firewall plus they make a nice battery bracket to go with it. But there are also a bunch of other models in their range - some even lighter than what I use. Rideon lawnmower batteries are another option.

This exercise now makes a lot of sense to me. I was confused earlier. I suspect your car handles very well. If you are following guidance by Loren on set up then you are on a home run. He knows these cars and is a very handy driver on the track. As you say, making changes to the handling requires some driver evolution. A track day is not the greatest of ways to assess handling as you cannot always repeat lap after lap due to other cars plus you often need more seat time each session to assess. When I sort my race cars after restoration/recommissioning it can take quite a few days of private track time to dial out the foibles, recognizing you only make one change at a time and then assess after each change. One last thing - just because a car feels right in its handling does not mean that it is the fastest that way. That is where lap data by sector becomes critical as set up may work well on certain sections of a circuit but not others. In the end it is a mass of compromises. You just need to get a good baselined set up that works in most places then drive around the issue where it does not. That becomes driver skill portion missing from your equations above.

A couple of observations: 1) I am not comparing your spring specs to a Caterham. They are not comparable. 2) Roll is not a monster that needs to be slayed. When well controlled it is very useful in assisting weight transfer around the wheels while minimizing grip breakaway - particularly on a light car like a WCM. Running without an anti roll bar is not always bad - I do the same on my track car - but you are right the springs have to be calibrated to avoid excessive roll. 3) Looking at your photos, I could possibly argue the front on view has some dive to it but photos can be deceptive and that is a downhill corner entry which accentuates the angles. The math you are doing is good to check seat of pants feel. The rear view looks normal to me - no evidence of excessive roll. 4) The revised rear spring to 225 feels more what I would expect given the front at 500/550. Is there a caster limit on the front? What amount of caster are you using?

Can we go back to basics for the moment? Some of your numbers are surprising me. I'm not sure what your objective is with this exercise, but I assume this is for a pure track only set up? No road? Slick tires? Assuming I am right, then just ignoring the calculations and applying real world experience, that is a hugely stiff spring for a small light car. Thinking of my various race cars, thats the type of lb/in I see on a V8 race car with a great iron lump hanging out the front. Now I know lb/in in a spring is a function of diameter/length but what dimensions are your current springs? 1.875 inches inner diameter x 10 inches long? Am I reading that right? How are the shocks mounted - parallel to the outside of the spring? Not trying to criticize but trying to understand the context for your outcome.

Week Beginning October 20, 2024 USA7s Classified Ads of Cars for Sale USA7s classified pages - USA7s club members have the benefit of selling their cars by listing them for free on USA7s forum. https://usa7s.net/ips/forum/26-cars-for-sale/ New Ads Found This Week Caterham https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1996-caterham-7-4/ Lotus 7 S2 https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1965-lotus-seven-8/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_2648441 Caterham https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/listing/1999-caterham-super-7-va-beach-va-2829129 Replica https://www.facebook.com/share/WDYV28sPPU3ePpLT/ Replica https://www.facebook.com/share/4Rqhyh128448cmBX/ and here https://www.facebook.com/share/SLr6ryYRietvx4aF/ Caterham https://www.facebook.com/share/TvAbebNhaWrszwmt/ and here https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/ctd/d/san-jose-2023-caterham-seven-620r-lotus/7793441634.html Fejer 7 https://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/cto/d/el-verano-lotus/7791130171.html Repeat Ads From Prior Week Birkin https://www.facebook.com/share/hWGLh2EajSZ7AfsC/ Mitsuoka Zero https://www.facebook.com/share/MVgGe2ChB7jp7oxp/ Locost Project https://www.facebook.com/share/adLDwvHM4jBVZsDC/ Locost Project https://www.facebook.com/share/N4Bxy95Wbu4dssRA/ Lotus 7 S2 https://www.facebook.com/share/gsRGtFcdNGZvb4hA/ and here https://www.facebook.com/share/6S9zpBJddpHq1fLf/ Locost https://www.facebook.com/share/5tYQ315YgbTeNDxo/ Lotus 7 S2 (Bessie) https://www.facebook.com/share/Nnsev7hNHWUZZ3U9/ Superformance S1 https://www.facebook.com/share/8EE68Ren9Pvwbuuy/ Replica https://www.facebook.com/share/TJFYqm9f83KPxJTx/ Replica https://www.facebook.com/share/hsZ5WKmcpVtVSSDg/ Locost Project https://www.facebook.com/share/GfL5nKXuDLde6Qd9/ Replica https://www.facebook.com/share/ty4poyHBesZJsBan/ Lotus 7 S4 https://www.facebook.com/share/sRwe2e3ZNAhP57xF/ Replica https://www.facebook.com/share/ce5UwziVa3v29HDh/ Birkin https://www.facebook.com/share/2x2vnYJarteRQJsT/ Locost https://www.facebook.com/share/JmtGew9Qo765soGj/ Lotus 7/Replica Project https://www.facebook.com/share/2PSrdhxQmyLubHMZ/ Lotus 7 S2 https://www.facebook.com/share/XqBS7ercC972Mx4L/ Replica https://www.facebook.com/share/8LSqQyQvMBJaCZ7o/ Locost https://www.facebook.com/share/7xSxL7itJaeMiQPF/ Westfield https://www.facebook.com/share/jVd6cL5KCwKYeitY/ Caterham https://www.facebook.com/share/aBAamUUL3a5ke6P8/ Caterham Kit https://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/cto/d/el-verano-lotus-caterham-super/7791624989.html Caterham https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/listing/1998-caterham-super-7-huntington-station-ny-2820602 Stalker https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/listing/2017-lotus-super-seven-sarasota-fl-2792670 Replica https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/listing/1967-lotus-commerce-twp-mi-2821494 and here https://www.ebay.com/itm/146108140705?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=JM7ao4EGQdm&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=Rug4ktEYR-G&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY Sabre Seven https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/listing/1985-lotus-7-franklin-me-2818827 Lotus 7 S2 https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/listing/1962-lotus-bedford-hills-ny-2799374 and here https://www.facebook.com/share/XATXw3vL9umsUVHh/ Canada Caterham https://vancouver.craigslist.org/van/cto/d/powell-river-1987-caterham-super-seven/7786077807.html and here https://www.facebook.com/share/vuojTpWCQeWup187/ and here https://www.autotrader.ca/a/caterham/super 7/powell river/british columbia/19_12974637_/ Dutton https://www.facebook.com/share/4vcd8GLoigEv8JSd/ Westfield https://www.facebook.com/share/RkxE6PfDfLud75eV/ Locost https://www.facebook.com/share/MY2pULBy1jcPnNXs/ Locost Project https://www.facebook.com/share/WjqJ6W31ue6LMunv/ Fejer 7 https://www.facebook.com/share/3PCLHvwFLPYExwZt/ MNR https://www.facebook.com/share/qeZiHyPhpwFt5dHs/ and here https://www.autotrader.ca/a/lotus/unspecified/hamilton/ontario/5_63845091_20220608161858701/ and here https://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/hamilton/2021-lotus-7-kit-car-custom-built/m9460223 Locost https://www.facebook.com/share/PjqyAsw6haJHgLta/ RM 8 Project https://www.facebook.com/share/4WCR6cCH9ChARaqz/ Westfield https://www.facebook.com/share/hEG45VS8EnntueLR/ Replica https://www.facebook.com/share/iyWHYQWF2yqQeHwm/ Fejer https://www.autotrader.ca/a/lotus/seven/lower five islands/nova scotia/19_12900501_/ and here https://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars/truro/1985-fejer-lotus-super-seven/1701350048 Replica https://www.kijiji.ca/v-voiture-collection/ville-de-montreal/lotus-seven-replique/1699965738

One of the best Caterham race drivers on the East Coast is Todd. Calling @d15b7 to give his perspectives.

Lotus 7 S2 https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1965-lotus-seven-8/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_2648441