Klasik-69

I'm about to repaint my 04 Caterham and was wondering if anyone out there has used either the Dupont Imron paint or the marine type Awlgrip. We used to fabricate small fire trucks and quick attack rescue pumpers made of aluminum, and I would paint them with the Dupont Imron. Very expensive paint but extremely durable to weather and impact resistant. The guy who has a shop across from my car garage paints vehicles and last year painted his neighbor's boat with the Awlgrip. I was impressed with the finish and since it's a marine paint, should be great for wear and impact resistance. I'm trying to reduce the amount of little gravel chips that basically ruined my original paint finish. Well, actually the Tail of the Dragon race really did a number on the entire car, trashed the paint on the rear wings. The only pristine parts left on the car is the bonnet and rear. The car is stripped complete of hardware including engine, tranny, suspension,etc since I wanted a complete and perfect job. Let me know what you guys may have used in the past. I have to let the painter know in the next day or two.

Maybe I'm confused about the Caterham package. I was under the impression that the car came "unassembled" whereby you, as the buyer, are delivered a frame with body skin attached and a host of loose parts such as the suspension, wings, etc. Also, the engine and tranny were to be purchased separately and installed by you unless you made arrangements for the selling dealer to assemble the car on your behalf for a fee. Having said that, what does one get with the new "packages" ? It sure seems to me that the engine and transmission is a separate package. Is the rest of the car provided to you assembled ? And if you want to put it together yourself, you save the $3995 ? I also wondered if the old Caterham dealers were now out of the loop, such as Jon @ Caterham USA in Denver ? I hope not, he has been such a big help in the past with parts and very good advice. Now as to Superformance, there is no doubt that their product quality and delivery is top notch and sets the bar for many out there who choose to compete in the specialty car market. I have always admired their cars but could never afford them. I rode in my friend's AC cobra fitted with the Ford 427 side oiler engine and was impressed with not only the acceleration but the smoothness of the ride which is a lot smoother than either my Z06 or 996TT. However, 8 years ago and that car took $76,000 to build.

I agree with you that you are selling a complete package and the components you may buy on your own are not "complete" and will require additional design, shopping, trial and error, etc. However, at some point "affordabiity" needs to be addressed. We are talking here about an open top car with all the conveniences of a horse and carriage less the poop. Priced at $70K and you still have to put it together, maybe it's a little much. However, time will tell. If people have the money in hand and want to hand it over for the project, then it will regarded as a success. If not, it will just fade away as another wishful dream that vanishes. No need for further dyno tuning, you say. Mine needed to have the injectors changed from low impedance to high impedance to work properly with the Pectel T2 (supplied by Caterham) on the TWN ITB fitted to the Zetec 2.0L (supplied by Caterham), so 4 hours on the dyno later, and considerable learning on my part on re-mapping the Pectel, I had a working engine that wouldn't grenade in the engine bay. Perhaps if I just drove it around town in very low demand mode, nothing would have gone wrong for many years but this car is meant to be on the track and that is exactly where I run mine so the throttle is either all the way down or I'm on the brakes, one or the other. And it provides everything I ask of it.:cheers:

Thanks for being understanding. I get all excited about some subject and forget about the original topic, and if I remember right, we were talking about C&D's mention of our beloved 7. After seeing the escalation of the new car pricing, we can all wonder if this will force this car that was previously within the means of most of us now beyond our reach, like Porsche & Audi R10. Will those still available at reasonable prices, like the Stalkers, force their pricing back down or will it become a very low production item like The superformance cobras ($75K+) ?

My apologies for misdirecting the thread discussion. Poorly handled on my part as I should have kept to the main topic.

I just looked up a few places there. The Hampton Inn is at $93/night while the onsite villa rentals start at $183/night. Actually, the villas at the track sound pretty nice. However, as Shane said, a full day at the track may be a bit much for those who don't race (wife). I saw about a dozen or more hotels in Vineland which I presume is reasonably close to the track.

Yes, I really wanted to do this. We have an HOA meeting at our NC summer home every July 4th. Let's see............HOA meeting where everybody bitches about everything.........or a very nice three day track event with a bunch of similar lunatics driving oversized go carts. First of all, I need to get the car finished. It's in pieces spread out all over my floor. Tranny needed new seals, body needs new paint and I need to get it done. Tom, by when do I need to make a commitment on the track event ?

You're right, I agree with you. Some buy cars to show off and they usually can't drive worth a crap. Occasionally you'll see them for a track day and you can tell right away to keep a very safe distance from them. Kind of like the video posted a few posts back of the Lotus passing the Ferrari. You can tell the guy in the Ferrari doesn't know what he's doing, he misses every apex on the track. I'd rather have him in front of me than behind, or better yet back at the snack shack getting an ice cream. Funny thing happened to me at the Tail of the Dragon hillclimb race last year. We had about 82 entries and several of the Martini Rossi race teams there warming up for the Pike's Peak. We had some fabulous cars at the event but the Martini Rossi team came over to admire my Caterham, drooling over it. They spoke Italian or Spanish or whatever that I didn't so we didn't have a very comprehensive conversation but they kept repeating "bellisimo" which meant it was either beautiful or a pile of $hit. I took it as a compliment.

July ??? The last time I heard it was slated for around the 3rd week of June. Has a date been set ? For me, driving 1100 miles, I need to plan ahead.

Ok, we need to give a little respect to Vette & Porsche owners, since I fall into this category. I have them because I like fast cars & I don't give a $hit if other people are impressed or bothered with what I drive. I drive the Cat for the sheer pleasure of speed & control, & I do it almost 100% on the tracks. You guys harp about spanking Vettes, Ferrari's, etc in acceleration but aside from the drag strip when does that come into play. If you're doing it on the street from stop light to stop lights, you're taking big risks on you & the public. The 7 is like an extension of my hands & feet. If I could be a robot, the 7 would be my mechanism. The car does what I want when I want. The others don't but they provide rewards in other ways, like a/c, Bose sound system, higher top end. You don't need to trash the Vettes, Ferrari's, & Porsches to make the Cat a better car, or beat up the owner because he owns one. I see too much of that in talk circles where someone wants to elevate their standing by knocking the others down. Why ????

I agree, it's a prestige thing that satisfies as long as you have enough wallet to match the ego. I've always admired Porsches and have wanted one as long as I can remember thinking of cars. The cost was always prohibitive in my younger years. Today, they are even less affordable for the average Joe, even for the well healed Joe. I bought my 2004 996TT for a really good price, well below market value at about 25% of actual replacement cost. Today a twin turbo cab like mine lists for $178K which is beyond ridiculous and likely enters the ludicrous realm when for about $58K you can get one very nice Vette that will almost hang with the 996TT. I don't know who buys a new Porsche, never knew anyone who did, so I don't even know if they might be a drug dealer or really rich lawyer or similar. I always thought of the 7 as the average Joe's race car, a car with extreme simplicity and as few moving parts as possible and as light as it can be made safely. Now I see the $65K and up 7's and wonder if Colin Chapman's original design and intent isn't being ground down by corporate greed. Ok, a 6 speed gear box is more expensive than a 5 speed but almost double in price ? A 6 speed sequential for $13,500 ? You can buy it for a lot less than that, not to mention the engine as well. Superformance is know for being very pricey. I agree their products are first rate in quality and finish but they may share the same superiority complex the Germans are noted for with their cars where they assume you will pay more because they built them. This is not a unique car and there is competition out there that may well stifle their sales. The Brunton Stalker is just one example, and certainly one I'm looking to switch to. I do prefer the weight advantage of the Caterham however, especially when I race it.

I was thinking they were overstating the prices but when I looked again, Yep, it's quite clear and quite expensive. The 480 model at $53K plus the $23K for the 240 HP engine coupled to a 6 speed is $76K without shipping and not installed. Get fancy with a sequential tranny and fork over another $8,250 in higher cost, and again not installed. WTF ? Don't get me wrong, I love my R300 but I would have to pretty friggin drunk to pay more than $35K for the privilege of getting rained on. Great thrill but poor value. You can get two (2) brand new LS3 Stalkers for this kind of money.:deadhorse:

To tell you the truth, the Superformance web site doesn't do a very good job of explaining what you get with the purchase price either. Then they list options for the individual models which creates even more confusion when they list lower powered drivetrains as options ????? Looks more like Chinese marketing to me. Stalker does a better job of laying out what you get and how much it costs.

I think that Caterham changes the sender in their engines to accomodate their gauges. The stock Ford Focus 2.0L DOHC engines of 2003-04 uses a sender that has a different plug connection than the single spade like yours of mine, and I think the second terminal in that is the service ground that the Caterham unit fails to provide, hence the need to make your own ground. You can test your sender by reading the resistance to ground (the body of the sender) cold then compare it after immersing it in boiling water. If the resistance is the same, you have a dead sender. If your sender is good in this test, better check your connections. If the gauge pegs when you ground your unit, the gauge may be the culprit. If its of any benefit, mine takes a while to warm up to the 80 degrees centigrade, then it stays steady on or off the track, in summer or winter. Rock steady.

I sure wish you were close by so we could collaborate. I really like you're slant on making an ideal car. You're right about weight issue on aluminum frame but I love to TIG weld & made all aluminum fire truck bodies in the past so I'm comfortable with Al, like the looks of it.

I recommend checking the plug seating surface to make sure you don't have a plug/compression gauge sealing issue before assuming you have internal engine issues. Better yet, do a leak down test. If the plug threads or approach on the theads are dirty or boogered up, you'll get the type of issues you're describing. You can also pull the valve cover off & check valve train geometry for issues that may be only head related vs bottom end. I know how you feel, I've been wrestling with my newly acquired 87 Porsche 930 turbo for the last 5 months & regret the day I bought it. However, I'm getting closer to getting it to run right & will likely forget the regrets after a couple of blasts down the road. Kind of like playing golf & having a really bad day, shot after shot going wrong, then all of sudden a couple of beautiful shots & all is forgotten. Good luck. Once it's fixed, that BMW will be forgotten.

Nothing controversial about this video. This girl is phenomenal and the things she does on that pole are nothing short of the Chinese Acrobats that tour the country. This video was posted in the Porsche forum Rennlist and I apologize for not puting it in this section. Quite frankly, I didn't even know this section existed until now. I wasn't trying to offend anyone, just trying to add a little humor to this somber world.

I assume you're making the plug for the fiberglass mold. From the looks of it, I'm assuming it will tilt forward. Are you going to split it in two at mid point or are you going to tilt the entire hood/nose as one piece as did the Jag XKE ? I'm on the same wavelength as you on the need for greater size. Yes, the 7 is an ideal handling car but it's really tight and aside from racing it, I doubt I would want to spend much time in the car because it is so cramped. I know others like that and it is likely part of the car's appeal but face it, none of us are getting any smaller with age. My thought was to use aluminum for the frame vs. steel. And my idea of a good power source is the LS3 or LS7 engine coupled to a 6 speed or one of the automatic paddle shifters used in the C7 driving a Cadillac CTS independent rear end for a bullet proof yet lightweight car.

I saw this on the Rennlist forum (Porsche) and thought you would enjoy this as well. This is the one and only reason why Putin has any interest whatsoever in the Ukraine territories. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9FS1bxaGTg#t=236 After seeing this, I am thinking of moving there myself.

Wouldn't you know it, just as soon as I say you can't find one on fleabay, I did. Here is a neat one like the WWII leather ones; http://www.ebay.com/itm/WWII-Handmade-Genuine-Leather-Pilot-Aviator-Motorcycle-Helmet-Hat-Cap-XXL-size/321353067391?_trksid=p2045573.c100034.m2102&_trkparms=aid%3D555012%26algo%3DPW.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20263%26meid%3D5709756681893482471%26pid%3D100034%26prg%3D9059%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D8%26sd%3D400602761012 Price isn't bad either, now need to find some good goggles to complement. It would look a little funny here in Florida when its 85 degrees outside but ideal for you snow junkies.

Yeah, I know, I get the same from my buddies over here too. But just like with the wind, the muffler and the wife, I turn off the hearing aids when my buddies give me grief. There is an upside to everything, and being hearing impaired has it also. I tried to get one of the aviator's hats a while back just to use on the 7 and couldn't find any anywhere, including fleabay. Aside from going to an old army surplus store, I can't imagine where you could get one. Maybe from the UK, didn't try that.

Yes, $56K is a lot of money but this looks like a lot of car too. The detail looks impressive and I bet it would cost more than $56K to build it. I don't understand the power rating of 450 hp to 750 hp...........do you dial it in with various maps on the ECU as to boost limitation ? And if so, how does the transmission and rear end handle the power. When compared to a stock R500, it has a definite advantage. Cost to ship it here ? Import duties ? It may end up being more than a R500 after all. Not sure on import duties on machinery vs. auto since this is not a car you can register for legal street use. Very nice car however. If it was here already, I may be interested but hauling it to the US, not worth the trouble.

Well I think you're jumping to conclusions. Notice the 996TT is hardly new. It's a 2004 model which I picked up at a real bargain, or else, it wouldn't be in my garage. This is a poor man's Porsche. I don't have any idea who can afford to buy a new one, never have met anyone yet who did buy a new one. Even the base line Boxster is nearly Z06 price. By the way, the Caterham R300 superlight new is hardly a bargain either at around $48K with powertrain. I paid a whole lot less for my 04 Porsche, but then again I paid a whole lot less for my R300 too. I'm a bargain hunter. As to the noise, I do have one advantage. I wear double hearing aids and that allows me to just turn them off..............and it's amazing how quiet things get. The car, the muffler, the wife:jester:

These winters are pretty rough down here in Florida. A month or so ago we had temps drop down to about 52 degrees for a couple of days, and it got really yucky with a few clouds. Made me kind of depressed :smilielol5: So, don't move down here, it's really unbearable................they're even talking about some day having an income tax. The beaches aren't really all that nice and some weekends are so windy you don't want to take the 7 out for fear of a bad-hair day. We had several weekends that were so awful we could only play one round of golf. You are much better off with the more consistent weather you have up north......................-28 degrees, 42 inches of snow, 82 mph wind. And if you live in NY City, Del Wazzio is going to help you out financially by taking all your money, I mean your worries off your mind.

I think you guys have the wrong approach. This is how I solved the noise problem;:jester: