DaveD

The guy did offer to pay for the repairs, but it was me that asked him to show me what he was trying to get me to do on the chicanes. He had driven my car once before at a school event. It was a hard lesson to learn. "These cars are too high strung for most drivers to handle unless they have had experience with something similar." This guy did not. I won't let anyone drive it now unless I have a special relationship with them (as in know where they live). It wasn't the money that hurt the most. At the time I did not know anyone else that could help and I had to scrounge up parts and fabricators on my own. The mark site for the S1s went defunct just before I bought the car and I was never able to find any other S1 owners to get help. The Superformance Dealer I got the car from wasn't any help either. He wanted me to bring to him to take care of it. 10 hours away and would have cost me more than I could afford. I was just looking for help to get some information on what or who made some of the componants on the car. Or maybe contact the factory to see if they had any parts laying around. Too bad I didn't know about this forum.

Thanks all. My S1 works better than any drug ever could to make me feel sooooo gooood. I just uploaded pics of the car from when I first got it. I will post more as I get time. I have pics from the wreck and what it currently looks like. It could have won shows when I first got it, but I have driven the heck out of it and it shows the wear now. If I could stand taking it off the road long enough I have a lot of stuff I want to take care of on it. Like: rebuild trans, LSD, add heat/fresh air vent, finish body work from accident, make my own muffler, etc. etc.

Hi, my name is Dave Davies. I grew up and still live the Baltimore, MD area. I am 53 and have lusted for a 7 since I was a teenager. My Dad and Mom were very active in sports cars in the late 50’s. They started with a MGTD bought from my grandfather (after he bought a TR2) and they quickly moved to one of the first Porsche 356s to come to the east coast. My brother and I got to ride in the 356 before it was sold due to a sister coming. I got to watch lots of Gymkhana and Rally 8M movies growing up. I remember visits to Marlboro race track as a young kid. In 68 my dad and a friend built a Meyers Manx dune buggy for autox. It had a modified Porsche engine, LSD and wide race tires. I saw it take quite a few FTDs. Fast forward a few years and I started auto crossing my 72 Honda Civic. That’s about when I found out about Lotus 7s. In 79 my wife to be and I drove all night to visit the Cat dealer in Marblehead, MA. Oh the pain of not having the funds to get one. Over the years I drooled over the information book on the Caterhams (I still have it) and I watched the price of the kits go up as my income went up. OOG! I thought I would never be able to afford one. In 2003 I first saw the S1 by Superformance at the Carlisle Kit Car show. I was more interested in the S2K at the time and did not look very close at the S1. At the 2004 Kit Car show I did look at it closely and liked what I saw. In 2005 due to the price difference with a Caterham and fact that most of the building was done on the S1, I contacted the dealer in CI, only to find out they stopped producing the car AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!! But wait he said I have a used one for sale. Within 24 hours of seeing the first pictures I had money down to buy it. Everyone that knew of the car says it was one of the best S1s out there (I think they only made 56 of them, mine is number 50). It has the Zetec 2.0, competition head ported and polished, rally cams, Quaife Clubman trans. I wish I had it when I was younger. It is hard to keep up with in an autox and on the track. My wife and I drove it a lot the first year, I auto crossed it probably a dozen times. In 2006 a driving instructor put it in the fence at the auto cross school at the Kit Car show. Showing me how (not) to take the chicane. Ripped the left front wheel off and the fence pole cut the nose cowl like a knife back to the radiator. It took me almost a year to get it on the road again. And I am still trying to sort out a fuel issue that showed up after the accident. I ran it at Summit Point twice in 2008. Had a blast but the fuel issue made me quit early both days. I haven’t been able to rely on it to go too far from home. In 2009 I spent my time on getting my Sport Pilot license and last year spent most free days flying or up at the airport. I recently had a member of this forum (Scott) leave his card on my S1 at a restaurant. I wish I had found this forum years ago. It would have made getting my car back together a lot easier and quicker. Of course I might never have learned to fly. But that’s OK cause I like driving my car more than flying the plane. This year I am committing myself to get back to using my S1. Thanks to this forum I think it will be the best year since I got my car. Looking forward to thinking, talking and doing 7 stuff with other LSiS owners and enthusiasts. I took me 4 days of reading to get through this thread. Looks like a lot of like- minded people and awesome 7s out there. I am in awe at the tallant I see from the pictures. Dave PS. I also grew up on motorcycles. Got rid of my 90 CBR1000 2 years ago. Figured it was safer to learn how to fly an airplane.

I also have an S1 which has a very good wiper set up. But I use RainX and very seldom have a need to use the wipers when caught in the rain. plus it makes it much easier to remove the bugs. If use RainX after a few applications it seems to last longer. I had a contract with a detailer for my pickup truck that included a product called Aquapel that worked just as good as RainX but it would last for the best part of a year. I never took time to research where to get it. Dave

Thanks Mike. I hope the issue does not return for you. I plan to post a number of things. I have had my car since 2005 and this is the first time I have been able to talk to a support group. I am still trying to figure out how this forum works. As I figure things out I hope to get more involved with it. Dave

Hi, I am a new member to this forum. I have a 2003 S1. I had a problem with my alternator light flickering. At first it only happened now and then. Eventually it occured more frequently. I noticed that my headlights and dash lights would vary in intesity when the light was flickering. I took it to my local alternator rebuild shop and they bench tested it and said it was working fine. So I continued to run with it. It continued to get worse and eventually is was occuring more than not. During this entire time I was looking for other causes. I finally took it back to my alternator rebuild shop and asked them to go ahead and rebuild. When I picked it up they said the rectifier was bad and they replaced that as well as the regulator and such. It has been fine ever since. My alternator is off a GEO Metro and it cost me $89 to have it rebuilt. PS. during this time I started getting a fuel delivery problem, which I have still not completely resolved. I keep wondering if the electrical issue helped cause the onset of the fuel issue. Dave