Croc

Hi Charlie, Welcome to USA7s! The answer is you will fit something as I am chunkier than you and I fit my Caterham SV sized CSR. The key variables will be more about: 1) shoe size - anything above size 10 makes a Caterham S3 pedal box too small 2) type of seat - the road style seats are more spacious than a fiberglass or carbon shell type. I would offer my car but I am traveling constantly from now until the end of the year. I suspect you will find the SV size more comfortable. A Caterham SV is comparably sized to a Birkin XS or Stalker. The Caterham S3 will be comparably sized to a regular Birkin or Westfield. I think you need to meet Tom who is 30 miles away on the south side of Philly - he has both a Caterham S3 with regular leather touring seats and a Caterham SV with a carbon Tillett seat. You can try both pedal boxes and decide what works - bring your driving shoes. Tom @yellowss7 can we impose on you please? cheers mike

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Follow Taber's advice and get a local paint shop to match it. Its a proprietary Caterham color and they varied the shades over the years and will not give out a paint code. If you buy the touch up paint Caterham sells, it is missing the curing agent, assuming you got the right match. I'd make your own gasket for the fuel pump. The Caterham one was from a Rover originally and not very good. Some rubber cut appropriately using the original as a tmeplate plus some blue hylomar and you will be good. Great find! Congratulations!

That Radium site is a dangerous spot for my wallet. They even make a fuel regulator look good!

I think you got a great find. Excellent well preserved condition. Great color and details. Having the documentation with it is amazing - I have never seen an S3 owners manual before. Linking some of @jbcollier 's photos from the link to save the lazy ones clicking through

Looks like you need to upgrade your phone too. Those are some low resolution photos. Every aspiring social effluencer needs to have a top of the range phone for candid selfies, unveiling Caterhams, and those special boudoir moments.... ...or have you just got all excited and cannot hold the phone still for a microsecond to take a photo? Love the color. I shall name it "Violet Beauregarde" You are going to 3M film the paint to protect it and keep it looking that good?

He has experience....

Hmmm....looks at his garage contents.... I can believe it!

Congratulations on the new kit! I like the look - simple and classic with a bright color. Keep doing what you are doing on this build thread. Post some photos, give us an update. Ask questions on things that baffle you. All of us have been baffled by something on a se7en before. Good time to be building - you will be done ready for spring!

Love the black and white result. Very nice detailing touches done to lift up the standard Caterham

I have seen that car before in the for sale ads. Says it was listed for sale a year ago in TX. May be an old ad still lurking?

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Alas, no. Tom had missed out on his hairdresser giving a bit of a blow and style. I forgot to moisturize. And you were not there as @FasterThanVov had locked you up appropriately.

Lets reset some of this discussion as both SK400 (Seb) and KnifeySpoony are right but seemingly conflicting which gets confusing. The video is from Academy Cars at Knockhill Circuit. Academy Caterhams have 125hp Sigma and are considered an "R" setup (think 150R versus say a 150S). It is a blend of road and track suspension. So yes they are softly sprung and move around a lot but they run on a control tire (Avon CR322 from memory - much less grip than an Avon ZZS let alone a ZZR) and have single suspension option for all weather conditions, which in the UK can be all 4 seasons in a few hours. So the suspension softness is by design. Meteor Motorsport is not just sprint and hillclimb. Yes thats what you read about on Blatchat but Simon does a lot of work with circuit racers - Caterham and other forms of motorsport, such as British Touring Car Championship. A lot of this discussion above is relying on anecdotal from an expert being consulted plus seat of the pants from a good driver - good stuff. But it needs context. The right way to set up a car for track is to calculate what you need. That gets you ballpark which you then tune through testing to get it to the fine point what feels right. This is an awfully complex topic and there are individuals on this forum with a lot of knowledge in this area and some with not so much. Starting at the lowest common denominator (apologies for the experts reading), have a read of these 3 links: How To Pick The Right Spring Rate - Rated A For Fun (motortrend.com) 2017-Motorsports-Catalog.indd (qa1.net) Spring Rate Calculator - Ridetech There are some superb books available on this topic if you are interested or have trouble sleeping. I have some titles lurking in my library at home or the garage - need to find where they are. This does not touch on dampers which are a whole other world of complexity. Keeping this really simple to level the discussion, lets talk to some rules of thumb: 1) The less mechanical grip a tire has the softer the spring you want. Why? A more accentuated weight transfer of a vehicle will maximize the grip available via the contact patch. So a slick-shod car can get away with a much firmer suspension as the forces acting on the car are higher thanks to higher mechanical grip and/or possibly the weight of the car itself. 2) The springs are integral on how you set up the suspension - toe, camber and caster - as these will impact the contact patch. So for example, I have an 1985 Holden Commodore World Touring Car Championship race car. It weight 2700lb and runs 800lb front springs and 300lb rear. Why are the front springs so hard on a relatively light car? Because it is a production car not designed to race it will resolutely plow understeer under standard settings. But if I dial in -2.5deg camber and max out the caster it will turn in like a champ and rotate through the corner off the front wheels. This compares to my BMW E9 CSL race car which is the same overall weight but runs 350lb front springs. Whats my point? A spring rate is single part of the overall puzzle to make the car handle. It is not a given that a 250lb front spring Caterham will push on the front end. I am sure Meteor has run the numbers to confirm plus has other customers where they have data to prove it works. Seb is planning to run slicks so mechanical grip is high and he has (for the moment) 250hp to play with plus he is the fourth best driver on USA7s. However, the catch with that firm set up is the moment grip gets compromised (e.g. it rains and the track is wet or it is spring and it is a cold morning) then that set up is too hard. You want to soften for the wet conditions as the accentuated weight transfer from a softer suspension maximizes the grip available through the contact patch. What a race team would do is change the springs to something softer for the conditions. Seb will not have that easy option and will have to slow down (or just spray off into the scenery again...). This is why I believe a Caterham used for track days should just stick with a slightly softer suspension as a compromise. There are no trophies and no prizes for the winners. Nothing wrong with a softer set up on track - I run it on my silver CSR with slicks. Yes she rolls but the sacrifice is only maybe a second a lap and I gain the ability to use the car through all 3 seasons without any faffing to change set up. CatKong (if it ever gets finished) will run 300lb front springs and 225lb rear. Yes I did the calcs myself as I did not believe they could be that high when told initially. I reached out to a Caterham UK race team manager with a fleet of race and track Caterhams to ask what the consensus is with his various cars. Will add to this thread once I hear back.

Week Beginning November 20, 2022 Wishing all USA7s folk and their families the best for their Thanksgiving next week! USA7s Classified Cars for Sale Cars For Sale - USA7s NEW Caterham Caterham Super Seven 310S for sale on BaT Auctions - ending November 22 (Lot #91,439) | Bring a Trailer Caterham Caterham Seven 280R for sale on BaT Auctions - ending November 23 (Lot #91,610) | Bring a Trailer Caterham Marketplace - 1984 Lotus (Caterham) Super Seven Super Seven | Facebook Exocet Marketplace - 2014 Mazda Miata (exocet) | Facebook REPEATS Caterham 1994 Caterham Super 7 HPC for Sale | Hagerty Marketplace Caterham 2013 Caterham Super 7 40th Anniversary #2632165 | Hemmings Caterham 1980 Caterham Super 7 #2610285 | Hemmings and here Marketplace - 1980 Caterham Super 7 | Facebook Westfield 1991 Westfield SE #2610959 | Hemmings and here 1991 WESTFIELD SPORT SE SPORT ROADSTER - (COLLECTOR SERIES) | eBay Westfield 1983 Lotus Westfield Price Reduced! #2485207 | Hemmings Stalker 1962 Lotus Brunton Stalker #2631787 | Hemmings and here 1962 Lotus Seven Brunton Stalker for Sale in Palmetto, FL | RacingJunk and here 1962 Lotus Seven Brunton Stalker | eBay Lotus 7 S4 1971 Lotus Seven for Sale in LAKE LEELANAU, | RacingJunk Stalker Lotus 7 Clone for Sale in LAKE WALES, FL | RacingJunk and here Marketplace - 1959 Lotus Elise Coupe 2D | Facebook Caterham 2010 Caterham Superlight R400 Roadster #2629718 | Hemmings and here 2010 Caterham Super Seven R400 Superlight for Sale | Hagerty Marketplace Locost Project LocostUSA.com • View topic - For Sale - Unfinished V8 Locost Project Locost Project LocostUSA.com • View topic - Partially completed +442 Locost for sale Caterham AVAILABLE (rockymountaincaterham.com) Caterham Caterham Inventory — Beachman Racing WCM Ultralite Marketplace - WCM ultralight s2k, caterham 7, Honda f20 motor | Facebook Caterham Marketplace - Caterham Super seven | Facebook Replica Project Marketplace - 1970 Caterham Caterham | Facebook Caterham Marketplace - 2001 Lotus Super 7 | Facebook Replica Marketplace - 1901 Lotus Super seven replica | Facebook Replica Project Marketplace - 1967 Lotus 7 rolling chassis | Facebook Replica Marketplace - 1957 Lotus Elise | Facebook Lotus 7 S2 Marketplace - 1962 Lotus Super 7 S2 | Facebook Lotus 7 S2 Marketplace - 1967 Lotus Super 7 | Facebook and here 1967 Lotus Super 7 - cars & trucks - by dealer - vehicle automotive... (craigslist.org) Birkin Marketplace - 1994 Birkin (Lotus) Seven | Facebook CANADA Replica Lotus super seven Caterham 7 replica | Classic Cars | Hamilton | Kijiji Deman SR7 Deman sr7 ( lotus 7 Caterham seven kit car ) | Cars & Trucks | Hamilton | Kijiji Lotus 7 S4 Lotus Super Seven, vraie Lotus, 1973, Big valve engine, UNIQUE | Classic Cars | Gatineau | Kijiji ADDITIONAL ITEMS FOUND Locost Chassis LETHAL LOCOST CHASSIS FRAME LOTUS SUPER 7 REPLICA SEVEN | eBay

Ginetta were supporting my UK Caterham for trackdays for up until last year after they bought Bookatrack. So I got to try a few of their cars out on track. Also a group of us went to Spa-Francochamps a few years back where 1 person rented a G40. Write up on the event here (takes a while for the photos to load fully):

No nothing different. These inspectors have no idea what a Caterham is. Probably don't even understand it is potentially going to be a "vehickle" when you finally put it all the kit together. CSR should be a roller kit. All the extra bits should be in the one crate I would think?

Don't do it. Chassis is very twitchy/snappy at the limit. Engine is underpowered for application. Miata is a better proposition and even looks similar.

Yes these are common exams. Been through more than a few myself. Colonoscopies are cheaper and done by professionals. The pain point is it delays delivery by about a week and you pay for the privilege of some officer to rip apart your crate unless they are using the container scanner. These exams usually go after the one-time importer (e.g. you) or as @Bartman notes where someone has screwed up paperwork in your shared container. The only wrinkle I expect is they see all the parts bags and ask for them to be separately identified at which point you explain it is part of a whole kit and to refer them to the inventory as part of the customs documentation. You'll be fine. I am sure its because your reputation preceded you....

Lots of people have bought overseas and brought back to the USA. Its more complex because you have to handle things remotely and cannot be hands on but it can be done. Some sellers will not deal with international buyers - get used to it. There are so many scams in the UK that sellers are skeptical of anything out of the ordinary. I have not imported a se7en but have done it with plenty of other cars. Assuming you are doing the over 25yo route which is easy. You want a good import broker identified in advance before you start shopping. That way, as you seal a deal, they can arrange for the local car pick up, transport to port and then onto shipping method of choice (ro-ro or container). The only catch with buying a car remotely is assessing condition remotely. Sometimes it is worth flying in, sometimes not. It can be overcome - not a major problem. Conversion of a se7en from RHD to LHD can be done - a number of people have done it. . Off the top of my head the task list: - strip it back - may need to lengthen footwell on (current) passenger side - some were shorter than driver side depending on year - flip pedal box - replumb brakes on the firewall shelf to other side - flip steering rack - flip steering column. Will require all the bracing/collar - may need to reposition engine mounts column or dry sump tank / catch tank / battery for steering column clearance. - needs a new dash blank for LHD (that can be pricey) but can re use dials and switches - mild electrical work to length gauge feed wires, etc. ECU may be underneath roof of passenger footwell or on firewall shelf behind engine - need to reposition Some of these tasks can be eliminated if you buy the right car, i.e. no need to lengthen passenger footwell, no obstructions inside engine bay, no ECU reposition needed. Having your own shop with skills/tools on tap makes it much easier. But you can live with a RHD car on USA roads. I don't find it an issue. I have driven all combinations - RHD in USA and Europe. LHD in UK. LHD on left side of road (US Virgin Islands - who thought that was a good idea?). All are manageable with some concentration initially and then its no fuss. You are in a state that does not create issues with RHD or over 25yo imports provided your import paperwork is correct. You will need originals of the UK title/registration paperwork - making sure you have these documents in hand before car leaves country is critical. Have a chat with your DMV in advance to know what documentation they want so you can make it happen during purchase process. Doing it afterwards can be impossible as I discovered.

Caterham at Bringatrailer Caterham Seven 280R for sale on BaT Auctions - ending November 23 (Lot #91,610) | Bring a Trailer

Caterham at Bringatrailer Caterham Super Seven 310S for sale on BaT Auctions - ending November 22 (Lot #91,439) | Bring a Trailer

Do you have an import agent or broker sorting out clearance? It does not happen automatically. The customs folks do not just call you to say it is cleared. It is all done electronically and you are not on the online portal to know this. The priority is always with the import agents as they know the customs guys and have the process down pat. They have the phone numbers. Who are you going to call? Storage charges can sometimes start even before customs clearance. You get a day or two grace then the charges can start - it will depend on when they get to your container. Once they have your container and its accessible for pick up then the timer starts ticking on storage charges even if it is not yet cleared by customs. This is why you want an agent to expedite customs clearance. Whoever, the agent is should have a recommendation for transport as well. If you want to trailer the crate then start thinking how you get box onto trailer. You may not have access to a forklift or need to bribe a guy with a forklift to do it. Those guys are not just hanging around for you either. You need to scramble on this now since it will take time to put in place and storage charges are really expensive.