jlumba81

Planning on getting a Caterham SV but haven't ridden in one yet. How does the SV seat compare to a 2004 Subaru WRX, 2006 Mitsubishi EVO 9, 2005 & 2006 Subaru WRX STi and a 2008 Mitsubishi EVO X. I can fit in the seats listed but the EVO X is a tight fit for me. Anyone know of a car that has similar feeling seat compared to an SV? I just want a heads up before flying somewhere to ride in an SV.

This is what I got from Caterham USA when pricing out a Seven. Transmissions: Ford T-9 5-spd 36G003B: Gearbox – 5 Speed – Duratec -This is the same T-9 transmission that has been used for years aside from a few minor changes. The nose piece is different to work with the Duratec bell housing/slave cylinder installation. -Available through the Caterham Parts Department (Tony Mills: tonym@caterham.co.uk ph: 011.44.1322.625.801) and other sources. -Retail: £1,000.00 + shipping Ford T-9 5-spd, long 1st gear SOP (special order product): Gearbox – 5 Speed – Duratec - Long 1st Gear -Identical to the std. 5-spd above, but with a taller first gear ratio. -Available through the Caterham Parts Department (Tony Mills: tonym@caterham.co.uk ph: 011.44.1322.625.801) and other sources. -Retail: £1,145.00 + shipping Caterham 6-spd 70000CSR: Gearbox – 6 speed – Duratec -This transmission is similar to the 6-spd units we have been using for years. The nose piece is machined differently to fit the Duratec bell housing/clutch slave cylinder (the same as the CSR 6-spd). -Available through the Caterham Parts Department (Tony Mills: tonym@caterham.co.uk ph: 011.44.1322.625.801). -Retail: £2,450.00 + shipping Caterham 6-spd sequential 67G003B(ST/CUT): Gearbox – 6 Speed – Sequential -For use with Caterham Superlight R500. This transmission has straight cut gears which make it very loud, but incredibly strong. -Available through the Caterham Parts Department (Tony Mills: tonym@caterham.co.uk ph: 011.44.1322.625.801). -Retail: £5,124.25 + shipping

Don't really need a specialist, just a lot of patience and a good electrical multimeter tester. You can buy a decent one at radioshack. If you already have a tester you can test the ignition switch to see which wire is supposed to have power. Then you trace that wire until you find the where the break is. Then its a matter of replacing a bad connector or bad wire. I've troubleshooted worse. A jeep liberty w/ no functioning brake lights. Ended up tearing out the whole interior except for the dash. Problem was a leaking roof rack rail letting water in the cabin and corroding a connector underneth the rear seats. Car had at least 1 inch of water in it when I pulled the carpet.

Any of you guys use a different weight for winter use? Also how often do you change your oil? The manual says every 6000 miles or once a year, but that seems a bit long. I usually change the oil on my WRX at 3 months or 3000 miles which ever first and I use 5w-30 mobile 1 full synthetic.

I've been reading the Caterham owner's manual downloaded from the UK site. I'm planning on getting a SV w/ the 210hp duratec and the manual says to use 'Caterham Motorsport Oil 5w-50'. What oil types do you guys use and what engine do you have?

Trace the wires off the ignition switch. There is supposed to be a hot wire that has power at all times. Hopefully someone on the forum who owns a 7 can narrow down which wire it is. Hmmm.....I suppose you can try running a wire directly from the battery to the ignition wire, bypassing the faulty wire. Make sure the car is in neutral first cause you may start cranking it. Hope that helps.

Check the grounds. You might have to just get a multimeter and start checking the wiring starting at the battery.

You might want to check out the ignition switch to see if it has a loose wire or a short.

Thanks for posting the pics. It looks very well done. They use a lot of gravel around here and I definitly will use a clear bra when I get my seven.

Do you guys have a website? What kind of mileage does the SR27 get and what's the size of the gas tank?

Nice idea about the bedliner on the wing undersides. I was wondering about that 3M clear bra. Is the piece for the nosecone one piece or multiple pieces?

I was curious how durable rear wing protectors are. Also how well do the optional carbon ones do? Anyone use those plastic film protectors or try powdercoating them?

I left some leeway for paint and body work, but my cousin graduated from Wyotech and did some body and paint classes there. If he ends up getting it, I would be nice if we could say that we did all the work ourselves. I noticed in pics of the GTM that it has no muffler, just header, cats, h-pipe and exit pipes. Is that right? Must be really loud. What's it compare to exhaust noise from a seven?

I was wondering about under the bonnet too. Also has anyone tried powdercoating the body? I've seen where they sell curing lamps which are pretty much just high wattage IR lamps.

All the Factory Five car come w/ a tube frame chassis. I was helping my cousin price out the cost of building a GTM. The kit is $19,990, they had a winter discount on it knocking off another $2000. It uses manily C5 corvette parts and I saw a salvaged one online for $10K and you need a porsche transmission and you can get one of those for about $2k. So you can get one built for around $35-40k. If you want an LS7 you need a porsche gt3 transmission, both of which will bump up the price to $50-60k. The 33 Ford Hotrod looks nice saw an article on it in Kitcar mag. It has inboard shock/spring front suspension like the CSR or the freestyle setups for the Seven.

If that is the episode about the TopGear car of the year award they have a link to it on the front page of the CaterhamUsa website. http://www.uscaterham.com

On the other hand for those seven owners w/ the polished aluminum body panels. Has any of you put on a coat of clear after polishing? A friend (who's a certified master mechanic) recommended doing that when I mentioned buying a seven. I believe his dad owns an old jaguar w/ a polished alum finish.

Don't have a pic at the moment. I got a 2004 java black pearl. It has a nice thick coating of dirt on it now. Driving isn't so bad, I just use winter studless tires. We just got another 3in or so of snow today. The past few weeks the roads were mostly clear. New tires might be in order for next winter the current ones are 3 seasons old and I think I've driven on them in the dry too much. I did a roadtrip on them already 1400miles roundtrip averaging 80mph. I misjudged how icy it was a few days ago and spun out going 60. Ended up going sideways for a while at 40ish before ending up in the highway median(or whatever that strip of dirt between the lanes is call). Could have gotten myself out if I had a shovel ended but up getting a lil pull from my uncle's toyota tundra. Oh, btw it has minor mods K&N filter, B&B turboback exhaust, upgraded top mount intercooler, ecu tune, springs, swaybars, various bushings, skidplate and driving lights. Basic stuff.

It probably won't be until the end of summer, last week of July-August hopefully. Still need to come up w/ the funds and finish up building my garage.

If there's a problem when it reaches colorado is more easliy taken care of. Shipping to alaska is very expensive and I'd rather have it done once. It might cost $500 to ship something coast to coast, but it would be another $500 just to get it from Washington to Alaska. Anyways paint is paint, doesn't matter if its a $20k car or a $60k. Seems like more people are scared to do painting than to rebuild their engines.

WestTexasS2K, thanks for the advice. I was curious about the primer and what sequence to do the stripe. I think I'll probably end up buying paint from http://www.eastwood.com. They have a nice selection of supplies and I think I can get everything there. The rattlecan idea was just a thought. I probably won't do it on the seven but I got an old van to practice on. Paint is peeling off it anyways so it won't hurt it. I plan on practicing on a few other cars first.

Large containers from the lower 48 tend to be barged up by sea. Occasionally stuff happens depending on weather. I'm not worried about the kit being shipped from england to colorado its the colorado to alaska part. I plan on visiting colorado and getting a test drive before making the purchase. I'd like to be there in person instead of buying over the phone. If I was worried about messing up the paint then I would have bought a used seven instead. Its just paint if I mess up just redo it. I'm more worried about building the engine than painting. You can drive it w/ a crappy paint job, but not w/ a blown engine. I just wanted to know if anyone has tried painting their seven before and if they had any tips.

They price the street harness at $92 and the race at $400. Does anyone happen to know if there is a US model car that uses the Ford Sierra differential?

I'm planning on painting my seven a metallic silver w/ a black nosecone stripe. Caterham USA quotes the metallic paint at $2435 and the stripe at $153. I can get an earlex spray station 5000 for around $400 and the paint and supplies for another few hundred. All in all it should be around $800-1000, maybe cheaper depending where I get the paint and supplies from. I don't mind screwing it up, I'd rather do it myself rather than pay someone to do it for me. Also I won't have to worry about any paint scratches from the shipping.

So which type is better for spirited driving the standard 3pt or the 4pt harness? After some spirited driving in my wrx I ended up w/ cramping abs, I need better seats. Its a section of road I like driving on that is pretty empty most of the time. Going 80-100 on corners posted at 40-50 gets some sideloads going. Also what the difference in the 4pt race harness compared to the road harness?