Croc

Is your 620S a de Dion rear end car or one of the less common watts linkage cars? Caterham have used both types of rear end on the 620.

I guarantee Epstein would think of that statement in a way you were not intending!

Good - thats what I wanted to see. Rear end should be shimmed to get to correct rear toe under load. So your measurements will include that.

Do you have any shim on the rear currently? Or is that the unshimmed measure?

After some FAFOing in the garage, I can see no reason why a 15x8 wheel would not work. I think even a 15x9 might work too. Its all about the offset of the wheel you are using. Caterham do not offer a 15x8 other than in CSR wheel and the offset is wrong for a de Dion car. But use a spacer and the CSR wheel would fit. A custom wheel with the correct offset would fit. Still does not change your preference to use 13 inch wheels if you can make the rubber tread pattern work.

A target fund is ok but a lazy approach and most people do not understand how they work once you reach 50 - not all target date funds are the same. The best investment you can make for yourself is learning how to manage your money. Get a subscription to Kiplinger and read it. They keep it simple. They take a broad brush to personal financial life so make you think managing taxes, investment allocation, maximizing employer matches, government benefits, health insurance, estate planning, life/disability insurance, etc. If you want to read further and invest like Warren Buffet (or Charlie Munger, who I think was the better investor) then read The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham. Its older than me but the principles still work today - the Dividend Dogs investment strategy is just a subset variation of Graham's thinking on value investing style. You can pay a lot of money to professional financial advisors and the results can be disappointing. Senior management at my company get a paid financial planner service to assist them investing their personal brokerage/401K/NQ plan/etc. I took the service to evaluate it and I found it a waste as they were partly trying to sell me into their products which come with expensive costs. You would do better by using a magazine like Kiplinger to educate yourself and laser focus on minimizing costs and taxes. Most people go super aggressive on investing to try to "win" big and they fail because the ups and downs over 10 years cancel themselves out. The sensible goal is to aim for a consistent 7% annual average over 10 years. If you do that you double your money every 10 years. Consistency of return over long term means more than big return/down years due to the way compound interest works. You do not have to take massive risk positions to achieve that modest goal. Everyone tells me they are great at investing but when I look at their records you always see they forgot their down loss years or were paying short term cap gains tax from not taking a long term approach to investing. Anyway back to Epstein.

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I would offer as a first suggestion, that as a person overseeing a very large investment portfolio in my day job, if you are scared then its time to leave the market. Investing should be something you set and monitor but not let it ruin your sleep. That tells me you have too much investment risk that you are uncomfortable with. The second suggestion is to look at diversifying. Exclude the real estate, to have an equity portfolio that is 50% Berkshire and 50% Vanguard Tech fund is asking for a black eye when the market inevitably turns down. Take your gains and put a majority in things that allow you to rest easier. Look at dividend investing - cash from Dividend Arisocrats, Dividend Dogs, BDCs, energy MLPs, Infrastructure funds, etc. Plenty of good value-style investments where you can generate solid 10% returns and be protected from market crash downside as cash returns support a stock valuation. Infrastructure funds are also good to investigate - they never cut tolls in a recession. If you do not like value investing them pick a growth theme - oil is undervalued so go into quality energy stocks as they pay dividends and are undervalued in a time when electricity generation demand is starting to spike for the next 10+ years. Anything connected to expending the electrical grid and power output is doing well - the grid has to double over the next 15 years. While I like Berkshire, I would not have 50% of an investment portfolio in it. Its underperforming as it has $350B in short term Treasuries right now earning sub 3% in yield. The day to buy Berkshire is the day of the crash when it stock price has been beaten down but before the Fed cuts interest rates in response to a crash (falling interest rates increases Treasuries/bond values). Also you mentioned the long term decline of the USD - I agree - the policy is to disconnect the USD as the reserve currency to fix the trade deficit and current account deficit issues. While I think the policy is stupid - ultimately it means higher interest rates for us, you can get emerging market bond funds (currency unhedged) paying 8% before currency fall tailwind and their credit quality is the same or only 1 credit rating notch lower than US Treasuries. Most important thing is to live life without feeling like you are going to get slammed when an investment market turns down.

No idea. But you will not find a 15x8 sold by Caterham for a de Dion chassis. You will find a 13x8 for a de Dion chassis. I always understood it to be clearance issues somehow. But I have never checked myself. I do know it came up in a conversation with Bruce B two weeks ago when I saw a 420R with the widest set of 15 inch rear wheels I ever seen on a de Dion car. He said it was clearance issues? Maybe up the top of the wheel somewhere? Admittedly he was trying to sell me on his sexy adapter spaces dooby whackers but I am immune to such temptations. However, given a de Dion chassis car accidentally fell into my garage in the last 48 hours, I plan to see what happens when I put a 7 inch CSR front tire on the rear of a 620S and measure clearance when on a lift. I'm also planning to try a CSR sized Pirelli P-Zero slick on a 13x8 de Dion Caterham wheel. Will report back eventually.

Calvin Coolidge was President whose policies led to the Depression. He left office just before the crash. Hoover inherited the mess and sadly his policies were not up to the task of recovering the economy - I think they prolonged the recession and turned it into a depression. I would argue we are in the third Coolidge administration (since Coolidge got 1.5 terms in office - he followed Harding who died in office) Otherwise I think you are right - long after we are gone, today will be assessed as the party before the massive crash and recession.

13x6 and 13x8 are the only sizes Caterham are going to offer in the Apollos. With the horsepower you have you really need a staggered set up. Anything north of 200hp benefits from the staggered wheel set up. Not sure if you can put bigger than 13x6 on the front. I think a 13x7 will fit front depending on the tire but I suspect then you would need watch out for certain tires where sidewall rubs stay. As a result 13x6 is safest given limitations on rubber choice. Similar on back. Max is likely 13x8 as you would find the sidewall rubs the inner paint of the rear wheel well. Even on a 13x8 you have to pick your rubber. Youu are fine on Toyo R888R (and formerly Avons). However, thinking of some other cars at NJMP, the sidewall has taken paint off on the inner wheel well with some of the Michelin F3 slicks they are using. About to do a test of my CSR 13 inch Pirelli P-Zeros on a De Dion rear wheel and car to see if they work for clearances. Now, one thing to keep in mind is that I find (along with a few other handy drivers in the UK I track with) that Caterhams work better in the wet on a 15 inch wheels than a 13 inch wheel even with equivalent tire spec. The opposite is true in the dry. The logic for this is in the wet, the 15 inch wheel set up has more unsprung weight which in a light vehicle helps you cut through surface water to the road/track surface and give better drip. In the dry, the unsprung weight is better being minimized by use of the lighter 13 inch wheel set up to get better grip/performance. In an ideal world you would have a set of 13s for dry and 15s for wet but thats not practical for road purposes or your wallet (wife, garage space, etc). For 15s, the 15x6.5 is the max on the rear of a deDion car - clearance issues otherwise. Thats why people drop to 13s to get to the 13x8 wider rear OR use the Beachman spacer solution to allow the CSR wider rear (CSR offsets are different). When I was there 2 weeks back, Bruce had a 420R in his shop with the latest BMW-copied-look CSR wheel fitted - the wider rear looks right - fills out the rear wings nicely. He was talking RE71RS tires which are good all round performers in larger rim sizes - that might be his wet race control tire for his Caterham series? If you do not like the BMW Sport CSR copy wheel then look for a set of CSR Orcus wheels or go custom. Back to your original question. If you drop to 13 inch wheels AND want an aggressive tread pattern for your sunny patch of earth where it always pisses down, then one idea - Go for a square set up allround of Toyo RA1 205/60/13 Decent all weather performance. The RA1 is far better in the wet than the R888. Some thinking is needed on whether these will rub on the front stays (bending is your friend here). In theory a 205 tire will fit a 6x13 wheel. It will not fit a 8x13 though. I have not checked if rolling diameter is close to your existing set up. Option 2 - Maybe a square set up of 6x14 that you could put the Yoko A052 185/55/14. Despite what the tread pattern looks like my experience is the wet weather performance on track was better than the R888 (but not as good as the RA1). Mind you most things are better in the wet than the R888, even my SUV.

I thought you wanted to stay on 15s just in tires with better tread. 13s with better tread. Thats the objective. Got it now - just call me slow on the uptake.

What about buying the adapter that Beachman Racing sells to allow 15" CSR rears (8.5") on the back of a de Dion Caterham?

That’s good news on the warranty repair for the ECU. separately - what brackets are you using for the Longacre mirror to hold it into the rollcage please ?

Caterham on Bringatrailer https://bringatrailer.com/listing/caterham-seven-2/

Maybe this is your issue when you are driving? There was a 1976 song about it. Our cars contribute to the physical effects. Don and the Four Chops

I do find the Tillet seats allow a build of up gasses because of tight ass checks so when I get out of the car I produce quite a few personal backfires. No bladder issues personally as I have been pissing all over people who got in my way at the warehouse today. I think your likely issue is you are getting older like the rest of us and are more sensitive to vibrations. Man is not a camel!

I would zip tie the immobilizer to the steering column next to the sensor and leave it there permanently. Your symptoms do make me pause to consider whether the immobilizer has unlocked the car to start - there is a delayed reaction as if it does not sense the key fob? One question - can you hear the fuel pump priming on start up but before you crank starter? It should be loud enough for you to hear. i would check the battery terminals and cables like MV8 suggests. I think your 620 should have a Odyssey PC680 (or similar) gel matter battery on the passenger side floor? Check it is at full charge. A failing version of this battery can produce some goofiness in the immobilizer.

Yes that would be the best approach. Good stuff. Best spot to buy is SBD Motorsport. They are sole suppliers for MBE ECUs. If you buy from anywhere else you then they have bought from SBD and are reselling. Thats what I thought but I suddenly wondered if you got a pre-factory-fix kit.

@CarYenta I'm late to this thread but...I see a brand new 620R. Who is your dealer? Beachman Racing? Bruce has a engine dongle cable - I saw it on his bench two weekends ago when I was in the workshop with Bruce assessing the state of my green boat anchor. If you ask nicely you may be able to borrow it. However, I am wondering if your kit suffers from the traditional issues with as delivered 620 kits - overcooling, map issues, need to replace TPS, etc.? I thought Caterham fixed it in the recent kits? https://www.pgmsussex.com/upgrade-kits Bruce would be the person to have a quick call with to confirm if you have the 620 known faults. He is very familiar with PGM and Andy Jupp. Andy is a top guy - I would recommend him. If you bought through Rocky Mountain then Josh also knows the drill with the 620. Even Christopher John Caterham in FL (or is it GA?) knows about it as I just came across one of that dealer's cars with the fixes.

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Gentlemen, Let’s not go off the rails here. This thread is focused on the impact of tariffs on our favorite hobby, which is what we are on this site for, our cars. We do not need a rant on the governing individuals or parties to achieve that discussion. There are plenty of other places on the interweb to have that partisan point of view instead of here. Thank you mike

Not sure who called you a fool - cannot see that post to quote in my signature? Can you point me to it please? Putting that aside, let's keep name calling related to politics out of USA7s please. This tariff policy is just ridiculous right now but there is no point arguing with me since I am always right.

That tire is suitable for your Chevy Caprice as it has a whitewall option.

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