escondidoron

 

Seems to me like a lot of cash to save 5.5 kg.

Or just have the driver go on a diet.

Last year I had the flu and lost 12 pounds (~5 kilos). My wife commented that my weight loss was the best performance improvement that my Seven will ever get.

I'm looking for a pair of side curtains. My car is a '62 Lotus Seven S2. I think that pieces from an S2, S3 or early Caterham will fit.

I'm located in SoCal.

Regards,

The 1600 Crossflow engine was not introduced by Ford until sometime in 1967. The S2-1/2, introduced in '68 with a single downdraught Weber 2-bbl carb, was the first time the 2255E X-flow 1600cc engine was offered by Lotus in the Seven. So if the car in question is truly a '64 S2 it would have been equipped with a pre-crossflow engine, assuming that it was originally equipped with a Ford and not a BMC A-Series. IIRC, the A-series engine was available thru about the end of '63 or into early '64. So depending on the date of manufacture that may be a possibility for the car in question. The pre-Crossflow engine would have had both the intake and exhaust manifolds on the left hand side of the engine. I.e. the intake and exhaust would be on the passenger side for a pre-Crossflow engined RHD car. Further, if the original engine was a Ford, it could have been a 105E (997cc), 109E (1340cc), or a 116E (1498cc). If it was a 105E it would have most likely have had twin 1-1/4" SUs carburetors. If it was a 109E it most likely would have had a dual Weber 40mm DCOE2 side draught setup. If it was a 116E originally, it could have had either a single or dual 40mm DCOE2 setup. Originally the car would have had a rear axle from a Standard 10. The wheel bolt circle, front and rear would have been the same as on a Triumph Herald / Spitfire at 3.75" x 4. A common upgrade is to install a rear axle from a Ford Cortina as on the S3 with a 4.25" x 4 bolt circle. Another common retrofit axle comes from the Sprite/Midget with a 4.00" x 4 bolt circle.

105E engine w/ dual 1-1/4" SU carbs:

Mostly original Seven w/ Cosworth 109E and dual 40DCOE2 carbs on handmade Bosworth intake manifold:

105E and A-Seires engined cars came equipped with a 100MPH speedometer while 109E and 116E cars had 120MPH Smiths units. A '64 should have had Winguard tail lights I think. The dash panel and interior side panels should have been red textured (to look like leather) metal. The simple foam on plywood seat bases and back rest would be red vinyl with white piping. The fender welt should be white as well. On a '64 there should be a piece of red carpet covering the driveshaft tunnel between the seats bottoms. I'm not sure when cockpit heaters became available, as an option, but I think that may have been somewhere around '62. Other options around the '64 date would have included a tach (BMC A-Series and 105E engined cars), tonneau cover, side curtains, sealed beam headlights, wings or cycle fenders and wood rim steering wheel. A '64 car should have had an 8 gallon fuel tank. But no gas gauge. Close ratio transmission gears were also optional.

I would recommend that you check out the following web sites as a start to learning more about Lotus Sevens in general and the S2 in particular.

1) http://simplesevens.org

Simple Sevens is a US based site that is quite helpful and interesting. John Donohoe is the owner of the site. He is very knowledgeable regarding the Seven.

2) http://www.lotus7register.co.uk/ser2page.htm

The registry site is very helpful with lots of info regarding original equipment, pictures, and general Lotus Seven background. If you have a serial number for the car, John Watson, the Registrar, may be able to provide a build record for the car. However you will need to be able to authenticate the car for him to do so. That will require that you have both the serial number (from the car's data plate, and the chassis number. If the car is a genuine S2 it will not be too difficult to locate the chassis number. Contact John and he can point you to where to look.

3) http://www.burtonpower.com/tuning-guides/tuning-guide-pages/ford-kent-crossflow-tuning-guide.html

The Burton Power site is a very good place to start to learn about the Kent engine in both pre-Crossflow and X-flow configurations.

I hope that this helps and good luck with your search / future purchase.

One more post to illustrate the completed setup:

I can report subjectively that a significant noise level reduction has been achieved overall. And with no observable reduction in power. However I have not measured the sound level with a meter.

I put a new muffler on my 109E about 18 months ago. It's a large straight thru custom made glass pack unit.

After installation of the new muffler, with the much quieter exhaust note, I became aware just how loud the valve noise and induction roar from the open velocity stacks was. So with that in mind, as well as adding some real dirt and stone ingestion protection for the valves and piston rings, I fabricated the following air cleaner setup:

The new air cleaner required fabrication of a new bonnet as well (I didn't want to cut on the original unit):

 

I thought that 500hr recommended refresh period was unbelievable. At least for a street car.

 

I don't disagree with your assessment. And I think Busa is pretty much right on target with his comments as well.

However there is another way to look at it. 500Hrs in a street car driven at 60MPH = 30k miles. For me that's about 7 years worth of street driving.

And in track terms, assuming 2-4Hrs time per track day, that same 500Hrs works out to 125-250 events. Again, not so bad. Especially compared to a serious BDD. A good friend of mine says that he figures the one in his sports racer is only good for 30-40Hrs per refresh if run to 9k RPM. And the 2.0L Porsche flat six in his other car is good for 200Hrs. So, in his case, the Porsche engined car is cheaper to operate than the Ford based Cosworth inline 4.

Just some food for thought on a different perspective.

Went out for a dawn patrol blat this morning with some friends. About 100 miles and a stop for breakfast in the mountains in the old mining town of Julian:

A particularly nice section of the drive is along Wynola Road at about 4,000' elevation. Here is what the road looks like:

This video shows what it looks like from the passenger seat and captures a bit of the drama that is driving east into the mountains at sunrise:

RHD isn't too much of an issue.

Last blat was Sunday evening after performing routine service (oil change, grease turning, rear wheel bearings, check fluids, etc). Just 20 miles or so. 70ish temperature and no traffic. What great way to complete the daylight.

Next one this Saturday morning. A small group of us in the local mountains up to Julian for breakfast and home before lunch time.

That looks like the plate on the late Graham Nearn's Super Seven SS Twin-Cam (the grille bars look like his SS, but the headlamp brackets should be curved, and a bit lower, I think). One of 13 or 14 Twin-Cam SS's, the rarest Seven variant.

You are correct that it is Graham Nearn's SS Twin Cam. It is the former Earl's Court show car from '69. It is SS #1 of 13 total built.

It's very upscale for a Seven as far as creature comforts go:

I have an NOS two-piece set rear exit exhaust system (i.e. muffler / tail pipe combo that includes the 2-into-1 collector that mates to the header) for my pre-crossflow Cosworth engined '62 Series 2 that I would consider selling. My car has its original exhaust header installed along with a custom side exit muffler. I can work with a local fab shop to duplicate the header if you're interested. PM me if you would like some pictures.

Saw this plate last weekend in the U.K.:

Has to be one of the best, or at least most significant, ever.

My '62 Series 2:

960 Lbs

Equipment:

full tank of fuel

1340cc 109e Cosworth

twin Weber DCOE 40s

original brass radiator

roll bar

group 24 size battery

comlete gauge set

full windshield

lights

clamshells

Electric fan

"bench" seat

no heater

77%.

And I'm not 70 either!

The DeSotos gave me fits. And the Studebaker Lark as well.

Sold!

Bump.

Price reduced: $450.00 OBO.

Hi Allan;

the sender bulb is not supposed to screw into the water pump. Instead it should fit into the cylinder head on the left side at the front corner, just in front of the #1 cylinder exhaust port. See picture of my 109E (Cosworth) below:

If you zoom in closely to the front left corner of the head you can plainly see the sensor line where it goes into the head. Look just below the swirl pot to radiator tube to the right and above the home made stainless steel line that runs from the air cleaner plenum backplate to the crankcase vent port on the distributor side of the block.

While there are several modifications from original '62 spec to accommodate the air cleaner assembly that are visible in the picture, the AC water temp gauge and its fitment in the head is original as are the Cosworth intake manifolds / linkage and Webers.

Good luck.

Regards,

I use this shop for all of my gas spring/struts: Lift Supports Depot . com

Very reasonably priced and xlnt service. They're also only about 5 miles from my house, which helps a lot!

Set of 6 Revolution Wheels w/ lug nuts

4 x 3.75" bolt circle

Fits S1 and S2 Lotus Seven and Triumph axles and hubs

4 @ 13" x5"

2 @ 13" x 6"

$525.00

Im in San Diego and drive my V8 Stalker all the time. Let me know if you want to meet up some time.

 

Hi Scott;

I talked to Kurt yesterday about another outing. Let me know if you're interested.

Just joined the fun and hoping this thread isn't too old. I'm in Torrance with my Westfield seiw and looking for some local meets and hopefully someone with the knowledge to sort this car. I'm not sure the California Caterham Club would be so welcoming to an old purple Westy but I joined their group too.

Welcome aboard. I'm down in Escondido with an old S2 Seven......CCC doesn't discriminate against Westfields....Or Lotus either. In the end they're all just Sevens.

I stand by my statement. I said I "quicker, I think." Not faster.

Having been out on the road with them both, and observing both cars ability to accelerate and go around corners, I think that Midlana puts it's power to the ground in a much more usable fashion than Scott's live axle LS3 powered Stalker. Especially on the street where roads are often damp or coated with dust and other traction reducing impurities.

Both cars are very fast.

The engine is a turbo'd Honda. It weighs about 1500lbs all in. And it is blindingly quick. Quicker, I think, than his brother Scott's V8 Stalker.

This is Kurt's 2nd car from scratch. The 1st car was a tube frame carbon fibre bodied Mini silhouette car named Kimini.

Looking around at all of the front-drive vehicles for a donor, and knowing what we now know about polar moment of inertia, the car would obviously be mid-engined, right? So fast forward a few years and a whole lot of work late into the nights, you get to this, Midlana.

Kurt is a very talented fellow. He has built the car pretty much by himself after work in one stall of his at home 2-car garage (His wife's car is parked in the 2nd stall every night!). The basic concept for the build goes like this:

Two guys (both engineers) are driving cross country in an Esprit and discussing Colin Chapman and the original Lotus Seven. The conversation eventually gets around to what would the Seven be like if Chapman was starting fresh today.

HO train layout

Aurora Model Motoring (Still have it)

Control line and free-flight gas-engine model airplanes

10 cent gliders

Matchbox cars

Whistling YoYo (our next door neighbor held the patent)

firecrackers and sparklers

Heath kits

soapbox derby racer

go kart

Skyline building blocks

crystal radio

transister radio

deck of playing cards

candy red Schwinn Corvette 5-speed bicycle (it took me 2 years to save up from mowing lawns, picking berries and shoveling driveways to buy it. $83.20. I still remember how hard it was to part with the money after all of that effort!)