pksurveyor

I never use the handbrake. I leave the car in gear when parked and in neutral during stop light. If I need to start the car on an incline at a stop light, a quick heel and toe will prevent the car from rolling backward.

I don't understand how the power grid system works. My side of the street has electricity but my neighbors across the street in the same subdivision are still out. We ran extension cords across the street to provide them with power and my other outside outlet is serving as charging station for their cell phones and laptops.

I have a 2008 Landcruiser. It is my work vehicle (land surveyor). Even though I don't go offroad as much as I used to, the Toyota reliability is unbelievable. I have been a Landcruise owner since 1992 and every one goes 200,000 miles without skipping a beat. I had a Hummer H2 and it was the most troublesome vehicle I have ever owned, almost in the Lotus Esprit league.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/the_short_but_eventful_life_of.html It is unreal how power the tidal surge and wind can destroy civilization.

Gasoline lines are long . A couple of hours of waiting to get gasoline at the stations that have power and fuel. The lines are just as long to receive emergency food, water, and ice from the help centers. Funny thing is that some people don't have enough sense to turn the engine off while waiting in line and the cars died before they get to the station. I have half a tank left in my Landcruiser. I may have to switch over to the Caterham to save some gas.

I am glad the new Caterham's delivery was delayed due to missing header primary pipe or it would have to weather through the hurricane. The 4th largest city in the USA has taken a big beating from hurricane Ike. Along the coast, entire city disappeared due to tidal surge and 100 mph wind. 2 million people without power in this humid weather. People has no place to return to. Death toll is unknown because there is nothing to count when the entire city was washed away. I am the lucky one who has power returned after three days. My office appears to be intact with no broken windows but no power yet so we can not go inside to check for water damage. Downtown Houston is closed due to broken glasses from the skyscrapers. Many highrise buildings have no windows at all and the amount of damage is unthinkable.

It is a good idea to carry a fire extinguisher in a 7. I am the track day organizer for the Houston Lotus Club since 2004. I always have two fire extinguishers available for the just in case. Our last event in May was the first time we had to put them to use in four years. A Lotus Esprit had a small oil leak onto the exhaust manifold and a fire broke out. The BC extinguisher did its job and after a little clean up, the car was back on the track in the next session.

The currency exchange rate is now a little better than a few months ago but shipping cost is going up like a rocket. I am using Performance Friction brake pads instead of try to acquire the Caterham OEM parts. They used the same pads as Triumph Spitfire.

Caterham shipped two exhaust header pipes for the number 4 cylinder and none for the number 3 cylinder for the four into one exhaust system. The completion date is now unknown. This is the problem with buying from an oversea manufacturer. Unlike a WCM or other US manufacturer, part availability is a big issue.

Owning a 7 is like a disease. Once you have it, you can not walk away from it. If you are deeply infected, you will want to have more than one 7.

I can not upload a picture but I can change the avatar. Here is the picture of the car in progresshttp://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1369016548_Paul & Kit Kwan Caterham SV 2009 013-compress.jpg

We plan to have a "his" and "her" Caterham in the family. Of couse, the wife gets the new one. I am having problem attaching pictures. Is there a special procedure I need to know?:banghead:

work in progess as of 8/22/2008. Engine installed.

Adidas makes a driving shoe similar to the Puma Speedcat. I like them better because they are a little wider. Ross has a big shoe clearance sale last week, there were a few leftover Piloti for $ 19.99.

I have no problem allowing other people driving my Caterham. It is an easy car to drive with direct steering, smooth engaging clutch, and of course, handling that blows people's mine. I estimated that at least two dozen or more people have driven the car besides my wife and myself. On the other hand, my Esprit V-8 is a different story. Its power and twin disks clutch can get strangers not familiar with high performance driving in trouble in no time. I think that may be half a dozen people or so have driven the Esprit besides ourselves.

The mirror for seven works good for my Caterham because it offers a very wide angle of view. The only catch is that it is hard to adjust if you have two drivers of different height.

My Zetec also has a vent tube point to the ground.

To buy a new Caterham, you will need to add a minimum of 7 to 8 months to your schedule for the car to arrive from England. In the current economic condition, there is virtually no new Caterham in stock at the US dealers. Caterham is a small manufacturer and things move at a slow pace across the pond.

did you receive my check? Paul Kwan pksurveyor

SDCA7: I noticed the petty strut on your Caterham. Do you leave it on all the time? Does it get in your way or the passenger's way during street driving?

The September editon of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car just arrived in today's mail. The cover page car is an almost identical Ferrari Testarossa.

My Zetec does not have a PCV system. The rubber hose on the valve cover goes to nowhere. It is pointed to the ground before I put a plastic bottle at the end.

Check sent via US mail yesterday.

My SV with the 147 hp Zetec emmits blue smoke under the hood on very late braking full throttle hard right hand turn. I added a catch bottle at the end of the rubber hose connecting to the crankcase. I also added a hold down spring on the dip stake to keep it from coming up and venting engine oil when pushing hard. Does your blue smoke come out of the tail pipe or under the hood? My engine will misfire when the ECU gets hot.

It has the black pack but no carbon. The wife does not like the look of CF. It will also have the third brake light on top of the spare tire.