escondidoron

+1 to that. I was fortunate to be able to inspect it up close and personal at the FoS this past summer: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8024/7547738212_4f323ca6f9_b.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7114/7547736616_de66911987_b.jpg Can't say for sure. But I did get to see it in action: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7128/7548355358_040b2a3d43_b.jpg I also got to meet Neil Wakeling, the owner. He was very friendly and provided a healthy bit of background on the restoration. I found this very enlightening since the chassis number of my Seven is SB1351, only four units hence from this car.

:iagree: Very cool. It looks like a motorcycle jack. Is that what it is? I'll bet it's ideal for getting under the nose of a Seven and easily picking up the front chassis cross members. I always have to roll my car up on a 2x4 to get the car high enough to get my old cast iron Heine Werner floor jack under the chassis. And it looks to be made from aluminum so it's fairly lightweight too. Very nice.

Even in it's late World Championship form, as driven by Rindt, with wings & things and in it's Gold Leaf livery, it's still beautiful: http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1012/4724276488_d0d4af2c84_b.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8429/7548356960_4d06ab4805_b.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7270/7548410518_ba6851a92b_b.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8152/7548440630_89726e8fb3_b.jpg

Well, maybe not for driver safety, but the cars, drivers and racing action were all awesome. When I dream about F1 cars the Type 49 is what comes to mind. http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1161/4723313551_735fc6b5fe_b.jpg http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1404/4723284919_1f9a186bf5_b.jpg http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1431/4723412023_d37c323da3_b.jpg

:iagree: Heartless bastard. I like that. Locally we've been cheering the capture of these individuals. Especially since the Ford GT was stolen only about 2 miles from our home!

I've had the opportunity to see a W125 in action the last couple of times I've been to Goodwood. Here are a couple of pics of the car the Mercedes Museum brought out for a drive up the hill from this year's FoS: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8428/7547750748_ac7fb25465_b.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8002/7547751594_91aae33543_b.jpg Then a few days later I had the opportunity to visit the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart and got another chance to see the W125 Rekordwagen: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7137/7535832906_78128ec528_b.jpg Very impressive machines indeed!

Here's a pic of it that I took as it started up the hill on Friday: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7123/7485837708_b2b69f07c2_b.jpg The car is a very nicely restored BMC A-Series powered 1961 example of an S2 Seven.

No. It's an Eaton.

I can assure you that an A-series 1275 / Datsun 5-speed combination can deliver adequate power for a Seven if tuned properly: http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4054/4207506042_2467a2b616_b.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7018/6698312017_53b86110d3_b.jpg

Definitely stay the course with the Webers. I have a '62 Lotus with the original Cosworth 109e (1340 cc). It's got the dual Webers. And it runs great.

First things first. The original post says the temp gauge is reading hot. It doesn't say that coolant is boiling over or that there is loss of coolant. Also, 2 blocks distance is not sufficient time to overheat if the water is circulating unless the car has sat at idle for quite a few minutes time prior to driving. So…. A) Determine if the sytem is overheating or is the gauge faulty. 1) Is there any loss of coolant when the temp is high? Are either or both of the radiator hoses hot when the temp gauge says high temp? If the hoses are not hot there is likely no coolant flow. 2) Check for coolant flow by removing the thermostat, and running the engine with the radiator cap removed. If there is flow the pump is likely good. 3) With the radiator cap removed examine the coolant. Are there bubbles in the coolant. If so it would indicate that there is a blown head gasket. 4) Remove the temp sender and place it in boiling (or as close to boiling as possible) water while powered up and connected to the car. Does the gauge read correctly? If you have already done these basic checks then disregard.

What a coincidence to see this thread. I visited Redline Components today. One of the questions I asked Mick was, what are the most unusual places that you have shipped parts for Sevens to. Trinidad was 2nd place he mentioned, right after Moscow!

I'd recommend a couple of places to start (I mean besides here): 1) Randy Chase down at The Adrenaline Gallery in San Diego is the official California dealer for Caterham. 2) Besides this site you might also want to check in with the California Caterham Club forum. It's a pretty active little group with participation in both NorCal and SoCal.

Good eye. Yeah it's a Mallock.

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6114/6339134728_8837d32bb2_b.jpg

Glad you like the pics. I took all of these shots. The Rotus Seven was not designed around a Wankel engine. It was designed around a 4-cyl Toyota. The Rotus name was coined, I believe, by the financier of the project, Chris Custer. Custer owned a Toyota dealership in Maryland. The name originated from the perceived Japanese inability to pronounce the letter "L", instead pronouncing it as an "R". Hence a Lotus Seven clone powered by a Toyota engine became a Rotus. BTW, the Wankel (rotary) engine did not originate in Japan. It was originally designed by a German named Felix Wankel. Wankel reveived his 1st patent on the concept in the late '20s. The first running prototype didn't get going until the late '50s. The first viable rotary powered car was the NSU RO 80 from 1967: http://www.cartype.com/pics/7000/small/nsu_ro80_3_67.jpg

Thanks. Here's a few more shots of your favorite: http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1029/4723223397_1a063cda49_b.jpg http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1436/4723180337_aa0e313853_b.jpg The gentleman in the gray tweed sport coat discussing camera operations and standing behind the right rear tire is Lotus designer Martin Waide. The gentleman in the brown jacket talking with him is Rotus designer Lee Kaiser: http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1074/4724277932_6f4566d2af_b.jpg

Front to rear: 1) The 1st Type 49 (Winner at Zaandvoort under Clark - the first time out with the Cosworth DFV V8 in '67 2) 2.5L Type 32B '65 Tasman Championship winner under Clark 3) 1.5L Type 25 World Championship winner in '63 for Clark 4) 1.1L (only 100bHp!) Lotus 23 driven by Clark in '62 to lead the 1st lap at the 'Ring by 30 seconds in it's innaugural outing only to fall out with a cracked exhaust header: http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1351/4723964906_e681b49992_b.jpg Clark's '65 Indy 500 winning Type 38: http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4103/5173624872_0445758413_b.jpg

I am an engineer.

What do engineers use for birth control? Personality.

I don't know about the height of the feet, but it seems that there is at least a bit more structure out front on the present crop of F1 cars than there was a few years back: http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1001/4723359499_2b96d2f8d8_b.jpg I always thought that the livery shown here was pretty appropriate for the car, even if it was the name of a brewery.

The ranking came in as follows, slowest to quickest: '62 Falcon Futura 170 6-cyl 4-speed '67 MGB-GT '65 Chevelle SS w/ a 350 4-speed '80 Corolla wagon 4-speed - tie '84 Dodge Caravan 2.2L 5-speed - tie '70 Porsche 914 (1.7L) Note that the Corolla wagon and the Caravan were pretty much a dead heat. But the Caravan was actually more entertaining to drive than the Corolla (i.e. the Corolla was just boring while the Caravan required attention from the driver, not to mention a lot more body roll). In fact, from a fun to drive perspective, the Corolla came in last place. But from a practical automotive appliance point of view it was near the top and 2nd only to the Caravan because of it's greater utility.

About 25 years back one of the routes to/from my place of employment allowed for a very nice scenic and often times spirited drive of approximately 25 miles. http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=North+County+Fair+Shopping+Center,+Escondido,+CA&daddr=33.0423238,-117.1458689+to:32.97911,-117.20679+to:32.92433,-117.20942+to:Vista+Sorrento+Pkwy&hl=en&sll=32.9855,-117.12932&sspn=0.260335,0.463486&geocode=FeWe-AEdUbcF-SH88D8kbAPMuw%3BFZMv-AEd9H4E-SmJk31Nd_bbgDGWkKJZVCEDpQ%3BFaY49wEd-pAD-Smjxih3QwjcgDH6NJWKJwFCWg%3BFapi9gEdtIYD-Slpdft9ugfcgDHF53CAeWSe3Q%3BFTwT9gEdbFID-Q&mra=dvme&mrsp=2&sz=11&via=1,2,3&t=m&z=11 At the time I owned the following cars: '62 Falcon Futura 170 6-cyl 4-speed '67 MGB-GT '65 Chevelle SS w/ a 350 4-speed '80 Corolla wagon 4-speed '70 Porsche 914 (1.7L) '84 Dodge Caravan 2.2L 5-speed All of the cars were in good condition and set up for enthusiatic driving (i.e the V8 cars weren't drag strip cars, had decent tires, brakes & shocks). At some point I decided to determine which one was the fastest, i.e. best handling. I typically went in to the office early in the morning, arriving by about 6:00 am, so traffic wasn't an issue on the drive. Over the course of a summer I recorded times for each on multiple occasions (about 5 time each as I recall) and made an average. I didn't keep the hand made spread sheet but I do remember the relative results. Anyone care to guess which was the quickest?

Well there is a car that is readily available, in production now and that seems to meet all of the above stated criteria, save one, the tube-frame part. The car is a 2006 or earlier Miata (Now ducking for cover)

I bought mine off ebay UK. Got it for a reasonable price but it took some patience.