Sabbot

For current new cost in UK see; http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/Motorsport/Caterham_7_Parts/Bodywork_Exterior/Caterham_Aeroscreen_Assembly_On_Stanchion/1990/0/117741 They quote in all sorts of currencies and costs for shipping small stuff is not to bad but don't know about bulk items, also it has taken up to 3 months for a parcel from the UK to arrive in NJ.

Croc Yes I hav to admit to more than 1/2 of the car on the grass after the blind crest right handed (can't remember the corner number). Turned in too late, missed the apex and ran out of road on the other side but I rather fortuitously left must of the rocks off the track afterwards.... Cheers

Thanks to all for making Monday a fantastic day out, the drivers and spectators were a great group. A special shout out to Mike (croc) for encouraging participation, for lending a space in his garage overnight. Thanks to Jack (jvbtte) for organizing and sharing a room and helping out throughout the day and also to the classroom instructor for predicting the exact nature and location of my minor grassy excursion 30 minutes before it happened and for providing the correct instructions for a somewhat graceful re entry onto the black stuff. My first visit to a track in nearly a decade (and it showed), but I had an absolute blast. First time ever on properly banked corner, what a hoot…. but despite lots of laps of getting a little faster each time I still didn't have the courage to push to the limits. Running out of puff at the end of the straight suggested a need for a bit more grunt from the motor but hunting down nearly new technology (Corvettes, Miata’s, Honda's etc.) with an engine designed in the 50s and built in the 80s was extremely gratifying. If I manage to figure out the technology there should be a couple of pictures posted of the car collection at Lightning on Monday. Cheers Stewart file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Colleen/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.png

So I finally got around to looking at how long it will take to get to NJMP on Monday and decided I don't want to get up at 04:30. There seem to be a number of hotels around but does anybody know if there is any secure overnight parking for a seven on or off an open trailer at the park or any of the nearby hotels? Thanks Stewart

Does anybody know if there are specific requirements for helmet specifications for this event? I just checked both my helmets and neither are Snell marked. My sparco open face is UK RAC MSA (FIA spec) badged but it does not appear to have any Snell markings Both helmets are pristine so I hate to go and buy another but figure I might have to depending on the regs. Thanks Stewart

just started raining in Warren, right on schedule with rain radar, should be over in about 30-40 minutes.

Weather in Warren township (1/2 way between croc and milford) is dry at the moment. Wunderground rain radar highligts a band of rain that is just about past Milford at the moment tracking west north west . Croc and I would probably run through the rain band (about 10 miles wide) to get to Milford Not much precipitation coming along behind but that could build. I'm happy get slightly damp en-route if others think the rest of the day will be dry

Many thanks guys - I'll check out the sites Stewart

I was wondering if anybody could point me in the direction of information on solo events that are easily day drivable from zip code 07059 (central / North NJ). I would love to participate with my S3 but family / work commitments mean that I would probably have to throw the car on a trailer the day of the event and be home in the evening - hence the 120ish mile (couple of hour drive) radius. Thanks, Stewart

Last weekend I registered in the intermediate group and put the brookland screens on ... so if it rains I'll get wet, just waiting on confirmation of the place from Ian. Also may bring along a friend who will run the car as a novice (he still has to make his mind up) then I'll register him.

This will be the first run post a full starting / ingnition circuit re-wire over the winter so fingers crossed that everything is OK. Also after nearly 5 months on axle stands I finally got around to finding out what was causing the rear end "clunk" at the end of last summer - tracked it down to a loose bolt at the back of the A frame. So short of washing the dust off tomorrow morning I think it's are set for a blat. Stewart

Robert I tried emailing from the britspeed site without success, I realize it is past the 18th but if there is room for a small caterham classic and driver I'll aim to finish the winter TLC before the 1st and drive out. Cheers Stewart

just a heads up I'm in the pocess of ordering top and bottom radiator hoses from Caterham USA (Jon indicated that he has them in stock). My car is ~13 years old and I doubt that they have been replaced. I just noticed that the bottom hose had started to crack around the water pump mount. I figured a little bit of preventative maintenance was better than being stranded.

Sounds like a plan - Maost of the casr I had when I was younger were held together with bondo so "gluing" a light in place semi-permanently with silicone seems like reasonable (and simple) option.

That has been my experience as well, but for some reason the sealed beam units on my caterham get cipped into the rim (which screws onto the back with one screw) rather than mounting into the back of the lamp housing with screwed and sprung mount as they do on triumphs and elans etc.

Has anyody any experience of replacing the standard 7" sealed beam units with a Hella H4 units. I just purchased a set of H4sthinking they would be a direct swap but found out that the rim of the Hella unit is about 3/6" thinner than the sealed beam unit. The consequence of which is that the linear ("W' shaped) springs that are used to retain the sealed beam units are too small to hold the hella unit securely. I'm guessing there is an easy fix for this in the form of a new set of retaining springs but I don't see them listed anywhere. Any ideas (short of refitting the original sealed beam candles) would be appreciated. Thanks Stewart

Thanks to everybody for their comments. The link to the manual from Bruce was very useful and the links to the gearsets were food for thought. The weather in NJ is warming up so the chances of the box coming out are getting slim. I'll probably end up living with the gearchange through the summer and keep an eye out for a merkur / sierra box to rebuild with a set of 5 decent ratios Regards, Stewart

One of my still to do winter projets is to try and work out a way of making the gearchange on the caterham less stiff across the gate. It is OK backwards and forwards (1th-2th and 3th-4th) but it spring that centralizes the change is overly strong when crossing up or down the gears 2nd to 3rd or 4th to 5th. I assume if I take the box out and take it appart I'll be able to modify the spring/s but wondered if anybody else in the forum has any bright ideas. If I do end up taking the box out I might think about a set of different ratios (1st and 2nd are too far apart) so any advice on a good gear set to mate to a stock supersprint crossflow would be appreciated. Thanks, Stewart

When I registered my 1965 lotus / caterham in NJ last year I genuinely didn't have a title as it came from CT and the CT DMV allegedly don't give titles out to old cars. I took along VIN rubbing, pictures and all the forms to register it as a normal car to the Somerville DMV and they promptly told me that if I didn’t have a title then it needed an appropriate bill of sale. It took me a while to get a the bill of sale that complied with the state requirements for warranties, notarizing etc, but when I took it back and paid the tax on the car and was instructed to get it inspected within two weeks. As blubarisax stated Mike (croc) is the NJ title guru. The caveat here is that I may have been incredibly lucky and that none of this will repeat but if you have formal bits of paper highlighting it is a "old lotus" you have reasonable chance. p.s. I gave hagerty full disclosure of all of my cars heritage and they were fine for agreed value insurance for 3000 miles per annum. p.p.s Good luck – it would be nice to have another seven in NJ that doesn’t have 200bhp+ as I might just about keep up on the odd track day.

Thanks Mike, The rear width of our cars is pretty much the same, the narrow front track on mine brings the front down to 58". Sounds like If I get the trailer made with a 72" wide deck then most everything (svelte or portly) will fit. All the talk about rollbars made me check mine (it is an FIA bar that sits 45" high of the floor but that is relative given that the car is on 13" rims- the absolute height is 17" above the highest point on the rear chassis). On checking the rear hoop I have to say I was less than impressed with the front mounting of the "FIA" bar - a single bolt securing a C washer that is welded half way around the roll hoop, the only real purpose of which is to lock the hoop down into the sleeve in the chassis. If the car was ever upside down and still going forward at any speed there would seem to be a decent chance of the either the C mount weld or the single bolt failing and the hoop being pulled out of the sleeve backwards. Am I being paranoid here? Also does anybody have any experience of fitting the side impact / rear wheel intrusion bars, I very rarely have the full screen on and was considering fitting them, if only for the psychological advantage of having a little bit more metal between myself and the scenery. Stewart

It's a long way off but count me in - one of the New Year resolutions that I would like to try and keep is to take the 7 out a bit more often in 2011. p.s. I'm thinking about having an aluminum trailer made (for the inevitable track day break down) can someone send me the track and wheelbase for an SV - if i'm having a trailer made it might as well fit more portly version as well as the classic. Stewart

Likewise welcome to the US and the site. You picked a great time of year to move over - just in time for some snow (I did the same about 7 years ago). Mike (croc) helped me register a Caterham that I found in Connecticut. I looked into all the options of building various kits, buying in the UK and shipping but at the end of the day the right car came up and it was just easier to buy locally. Out of curiosity I recently looked at the car in Texas a) because it was relatively inexpensive (assuming everything was straight) b) could be built into interesting competition spec and assuming it could come with a bill of sale and / or title stating it is a 67ish lotus it should be relatively simple to register it in NJ. Don’t know what size you are but believe it or not at 5’10” and 160 lbs I find the standard Caterham snug in comparison to a couple of outwardly smaller, but assymetrical, Sylva Strikers that I had in the UK. Mike’s SV in a nice car and offers way more wiggle room than mine. Oddly enough I’ve just found out that another ex-pat (friend of an ex-neighbor in London) is intending to import a few Caterham’s for racing next year. When I find out exactly what he is up to I can put you in touch. Cheers Stewart

Count me in. I'll be the one shivering in a blue seven without a screen.....hardy passengers are welcome. Cheers Stewart

Just a quick note of thanks to Atwell, David, Alan, Sandy for organizing, working out the route, providing food etc. A great day out, perfect weather, great roads, not too much traffic, interesting mix of cars, a really nice bunch of folks and and even the 160 miles there and back on I287, I87 were good fun - if only for the bemused looks of SUV drivers trying to work out of somebody really was driving a go-cart on the interstate. After a few months of ownership I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that you don't so much drive a seven as wear it .....and the outfit comes complete with a fairly large grin. Excellent fun. Stewart p.s. Thanks Mike (Croc) for advice on registering the 7 in NJ and not sliding into the Catskill undergrowth while I was following your tire tracks at reasonable speed.

I have taken a few pictures of the clam shell stays for my Caterham that are currently off the car but I can't seem to work out how to attach to this message, send me pm and I'll attach to a regular email. I currently have cycle wings fitted but might revert to the clam shells at some point. If useful I could also measure and send a schematic with rough (+/- 1/4") dimensions. Stewart file:///D:/temp/clam%20stay%201.jpgfile:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Colleen/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.png