dannykao

Hello, I am looking for an upper steering shaft for the Caterham 7. Please contact me at mvkao at yahoo dot com if you have one. Thanks! Danny Kao

Hello, I am going with a different direction on my 7 built, so I have a Zetec and 4 speed tranny for sale: Zetec has approx 85K miles. The motor ran fine when it was pulled. It has the basic engine harness on, as well as intake/injector etc. $250. I also have a 4 speed transmission and bell housing that's for a Crossflow engine. It was working fine when it was pull from the original car. $150. Also, I have a complete Zetec exhaust. Perfect condition. $350. I am in Gaithersburg, Maryland and it's local pickup only. I can not ship. Thanks, Danny Kao

Like an idiot I ordered these engine mounts from Caterham thinking they would fit a Zetec, but obviously they didn't. They are brand new in the plastic wrap, and the part numbers from caterham is 30E221A and 30E222A. $120 including shipping or trade with someone that wants to get rid of the Zetec engine mount. Or if you have a pair of Zetec engine for sale, please let me know. Thanks, Danny Kao

Oh, nothing happened to my Caterham. I bought a 7 frame from Craig back in the Summer and just putting it together as a project now the season the over. Gathering parts and pre-fitting the car right now. :leaving:

Hello, I am looking for Caterham front brake setup including rotors. Primary calipers and rotors only. If you have upgraded brakes and have the original brake calipers and rotors laying around and like to sell, please contact me. I am also looking for front spindles and hubs. Thanks! Danny mvkao at yahoo dot com

Hi Ian, Do you know if it's relatively easy to install the motor? Is there any concern of beefing up the drive shift other than just extending it? Thanks.

Hello, I am just wondering if anyone has tried to build a BMW K1200S or K12RS motor based 7s. Both are already shaft driven and with transmission built-in and they generate 130+HP or more. And it seems like RS is better for RHD and S motor can be used for LHD. A K12RS motor can be found on Ebay for less than $700. Any information would be greatly appreciated!

Here is mine - not a catching or deflecting device, but rather make the fender small enough to miss the cones. :jester: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4088/5054690795_f09f94fdc8_b.jpg

Hello, I am looking for a live axle A-frame for my Caterham project. If anyone has it for sale, please let me know. Thanks! Danny Kao mvkao at yahoo dot com

Note to self: Never cut off a 10 year old Yukon again on 270.

Hi Tom, Chip is sending the wide track kit and shocks to me next week, and I should have some 255/13 A6s for the rear to run with the 255/13 front from Michael D (who generously lend them too me). Do you want to come out and play (co-drive) at the NJMP winter event event next week? It would be great to get your opinion on the differences between the two cars. Thanks!

Thanks Tom! Now I know exactly what you are referring to and I will do that! Thanks for the tip!

Michael's wheels that he lend me are 13x8 BS4.5 front and 13x9 BS5.5 rear. His A6's are 225/45/13s. The front needs a 5mm spacer to clear the fender support, and the rear is fine except the DeDion hub rubs against the inside of the rim a little. The slicks that folks are running are 22.5x10-13 rear and 20x9.5-13 front. The track width are 9.8" rear and 9.4" front. If you go to the Hoosier's site, they can be mounted on either 8" thru 10" rims. I went ahead and got 13x10's because that's what the Cashmore is running (SCCA Solo Nats Champ), but since I can't swing th money for lighter rims, I think I will stay with 13x8s with 4 inch backspacing for the rear, and 4 or 3.5 inch backspacing for the front. It should fit OK if I go with that. BTW, Hoosier is blowing out their old tires (New but old stock) and you can get 22.5x10x13 R25As for $85 a piece with free shipping. Just go to the Hooiser site under discontinued tires and they are on sale now. Unfortunately they don't have the front size, but I bought quite a few rears to last a couple of years.

More stupid questions and observations: My "heavy duty" rims I got from Diamond Racing came in today. 13x9 and 13x10 and 4x108mm (4x4.25) with 5" backspacing. Both didn't fit well. The fronts will rub with the fender support in my stock 7, and the rear will rub against the edge of the hub mount. So they are for sale. $35 + shipping per rim and that's half price if anyone wants them. It will fit with 3/4 to 1 inch spacers, I just would rather not to mess with them. Next time I will do a better measuring. Which lead to my stupid question: Anyone ran 13 inch front and 15 inch rear? Hoosier has a 275/35/15 tire that's big enough to give me 65 mph top speed in second gear. (Didn't get a chance to verify the final drive tonight, Chip) 255F/275R sound pretty mean, just wondering if anyone has tried it. It will raise rear ride height by 1 inch. Thanks.

Hi Mazda, I probably won't need my wipers or heaters. Tell me what's fair and they are yours...

I have a DeDion rear. The A6's are the same size front and rear, and the slicks I ran was an FF autox tire setup and are staggered. Everything is stock right now and I am getting a wide track setup from Chip as well as height adjustable Bilsteins. I picked up some race springs and a adjustable rear bar. Chip is also helped me to get an intake cam, and George helped me with a skid plate for the oil pan which came in handy in the bumpy lot last Saturday. Most of the parts will be bolted on in the next few weeks. Meanwhile I am finding as many events as I can go before the snow starts. I was in Philly on Sunday to just take pictures and crew for a friend of mine. (And chitchat with Tom, nice seeing you again Tom.) I ran on Saturday with CDC (Capital Driving Club) at Harry Grove Stadium in Frederick - a very small lot but with a few straightaways. Here is a video of my run for your amusement: :jester: I was amazed how much speed I can carry in the Steady state (Probably 7-8 mph more than my Evo) and hit the rev limiter that quickly after the exit, hence the question. I did call Chip and will try to verify my final drive ratio. If it's indeed 3.9x then Chip will help me out with the swap and source a LSD. Otherwise my other option might be getting a larger set of wheels and tires and butcher the rear fenders. Oh, I did play with tire pressure and started with 18F/18R and ended up running 18F/15R. I tried to go lower but it got more slippery (Temp was in the high 40s-low 50s). And the entire run should stayed about 3500rpm in the car, at least that's why I was trying to do... :driving:

Been to my 3rd autox event in the 7 on Saturday and I am getting more confused (or cleared, not sure which is more). Thanks to Micheal D's A6, I got to run FF slicks and R-comp. I also found out my top speed in 2nd gear is 58mph with 225/45/13s and about 63mph with 22.5x10-13s. Tom told me I might have the 3.9x final drive ratio instead of 3.6x, which should give me 5 more mph in the 2nd gear. Does anyone know off hand that Caterham or anyone that carries a pumpkin with lower final drive ratio with LSD built-in? On stock (not wide track) suspension and 225/13 A6s, the car understeers quite a bit. On Formula Ford slicks with 3.5" backspacing, the car turns-in fine and steady state well; but very lose during transitions. (I was told to report back my findings by Michael D)

Sorry for asking some pestering questions, but I have another one: Has anyone tried a stagger wheel setup with 225/45/13 in the front and 255/40/13 in the rear on the A6s? I understand most folks are running 255s but wondering if anyone tried it. Thanks! Danny

Hi Gary, it was very nice meeting you on Saturday and Tom on Sunday! Since I couldn't stop it from spinning, I just let it spin all the way around. :willy_nilly: It was about as entertaining as Sunday when I completely forgot that I have to loop the course around a second time (Sunday's PhillySCCA autox had the same loop around twice before the finish), and instead I made a wrong turn into the finish and ended up drifted sideways the entire steady state by doing an accidental "Scandinavian flick". Both from bad driving but lucky amusing. :ack: I really didn't have any way of comparing the tire setup since I really have no baseline to compare with. I thought the car was too soft and had too much body roll, and under fast transitions it was a handful to control. But I am not certain it was my bad driving, or not the right tires, or the setup (most likely bad driving). I hope I can figure this out slowly but surely. I had a lot of fun though. I never thought the 7 will get this much attention and I a lot of my friends and "new friends" want to drive the car and ride along. I think out of the 10 runs I took in this car, I had 9 different passengers. Thanks again Gary. Hope to see you at Harry Grove in two weeks!

Yes, that is me... Matt at Philly asked me if I would mind if the "Beast" runs in D-Mod with me. To be quite honest I have no idea what class the Beast should be in. It's 1600+ lbs, 1.6 or 1.8 motor turbo charged. I am not good enough to race anybody in D-Mod anyway so I was glad someone is in the same class to keep me company. I ended up having to leave early and run in an earlier heat. I should be able to run the old Formula Ford tires at Boeing next weekend, and by next spring I should have the proper setup and the right wheel/tire setup. Hopefully by then I can get a little closer to the Beast. :boxing:

Hi Tom, I think you gave me too much credit. I am generally pretty slow. I ran the tires that came with the car: Avon ZV1 185/60/14s. Here is one of the review I found on the internet on the tire: "Just to give you an idea of how good the Avon ZV1 tyres are, they are fitted as standard equipment on the Caterham Seven (you know - that tiny English sports car that spanks other sports cars that cost twice as much ). I had them fitted to my Seven and I thought they were excellent. Very grippy. ..." I spun a couple of times, had some entry oversteers, and exit understeers, didn't really brake well. Plus I can't drive - so that's not a good combination. But the car did accelerate nicely in the straights. Doesn't feel underpower at all. I ordered a front wide track kit, some Diamond Racing wheels to mount a set of take off FF slicks from Jim Garry (Free). Will adjust the toe a little front and rear and try again in two weeks in Frederick, MD. Hopefully I can beat H-Stock time this time. Trying to resist spending more money that I don't have on Tillett seats and windscreen. Someone please talk me out of it. :willy_nilly:

Thanks for all the replies! Fortunately both the shifter and FF requires no lift in the turns, so I hope to be right at home. :-) I did call Chip and try to get some parts today but wasn't able to reach him. I will try again tomorrow. Jeff, thanks for your advice. I am trying to slap the old R25s on some cheap 13x6 rims and run it at the next CDC and Philly events first. I will look for Diamond racing to see if they have 13s that will work. I might be able to show up and run Frank Weichold's 85 Reynard FF at Pumpkin Carve. I just got the car last weekend and don't like the way it brakes, and I like to work on a couple of things like check the car over to make sure all the bolts are on tight. As soon as I pass my own "tech" I will be out with it. Thanks again everybody! :seeya:

Hi Tom, Ride height is adjustable, the shock is not. As far as I know it's 100% stock Caterham Roadsport. I am definitely getting ahead of myself worrying about the spring rate. Afterall I haven't even driven the thing at an autox yet. I was just wondering if there is a baseline setup for the car. It seems like the last few cars that I autocrossed (Evo, Kart, and FF) all have a specific setup formula for autox and it's pretty much well known and shared in the class. I am just trying to avoid to spend unnecessary money for useless mods. Setting up the Evo was a two year process, and it took me exactly a year to figure out how to set up my kart. I can imagine setting this thing will take quite some time as well. :banghead:

Thanks Tom; thanks John. The shifter is plenty fast, it's the Evo that is not fast enough.. I don't have the front track option nor LSD. I guess wide front track gives more bite on the turn-in? I figured the first year is just a learning process and try to get used to the car, so finding a cheap set of wheels, some springs and some cheap power become the priority for this coming year, plus learning how to drive. Doc mentioned that he might be able to help me out with wheels next season, but I am the impatient type and like to run the car at least at the last Philly Event in mid-November. (I would have run it this weekend except I have to pick up my wife at the airport, she would be pissed if I am autocrossing instead) So if I could find the right(cheap) rims set to mount on a set of R25s then it would be great. :driving: Thanks!

Hello, I am completely new to autocrossing a Seven and really have no idea how to set it up. Any suggestion is greatly appreciated and I have a few questions: I have an old set of R25A from a friend of mine. They are 20.5x7.0-13 and 22.5x7.2-13 used for a Formula Ford. Can I use those tires? Should I use 13x6 or 13x7 rims? What backspacing/offset is correct to use? Where is a good place to get the rims (new or used)? Can I get an idea on what spring rate to use for front and rear? The Caterham I have has the standard Zetec 2.0 and not modified and I like to get a little more power. Could I get some suggestions to gain some reliable power? Thanks in advance and very glad to be part of the 7 group. Danny :driving: