mrmustang

Car still not on jack stands/ramps, hoping to get that done today so I can get a look under the car. Pectel is a T2, with 24K miles on the car, at least 8,000 with the Zetec engine installed, I have to believe the ECU is tuned well, so I'm going to hold off trying to find a XP laptop and cable to communicate with it. Ordered a new MSD coil pack and wire set Have not decided on plugs yet, once it's on stands, I will to identify, then replace with new Have a note on the windscreen to check fuel injectors to see if they are high or low impedance (research shows Pectel uses high impedance), may want to replace, still doing research. Fuel filter is a must to replace once I find and identify. Also need to check all fuel lines and fittings, I do not smell gas, but they are 23 years old... Need to pull the air filter (on stands) and check to see if anything is loose on the induction system. Once the car is running with new parts, will check for vacuum leak(s). Anything else come to mind? Thanks in advance Bill

Looking at the pleating, it certainly appears to be a K&N filter, have you thought to send pictures of the filter (pull it out of the car, lay it out flat and take shots showing the dimensions and the general overall filter itself) to K&N's tech support division? tech@knfilters.com Bill

Well, the good news is, the in tank pump does work and cycles to build pressure before the starter is engaged. Car has been moved in to the larger garage, now resides next to my tool box and work bench. Still unheated, but the closer I am to my tools, the more likely I am to motivate myself. Bill

Uncertain of the model of Pectel right now, as I have not delved in to the files to review everything. Apparently, with motivation from your post above, it did get me off my behind and out to the cold garage this AM where I stuck a camera under the dash and took some raw shots. The two from the drivers (RH) side answered some of my questions as to fuse/relay location. Now I just need a day of 50 degree temps and I'll be able to further motivate myself into getting the car up on stands so I can get underneath to review everything else. Appreciate the assistance Bill

Disclaimer: sorry if I ramble, it's been a long day and I'm winding down for the evening. Now let's start at the beginning. Car is a 2003 SV, originally built for the overseas market with a 1.8L Rover engine in 2004 the owner, after a lengthy honeymoon in Australia, was offered a job in the US, and promptly pulled the Rover engine and shipped the car over as a roller. 2004 ZX3 headed engine with stage 1 cam and aluminum flywheel sourced by Caterham USA (Denver ?) rated per them at 202hp with 4 roller barrel and Percel ECU. Owner then self installed. 2016 car is sold to 2nd owner Last month sold to me and shipped to my home last Saturday, parked in front yard, and not touched till yesterday when the new driveway was cured enough to allow the car to be placed in a garage. Took me almost 15 minutes to get the car started and running well enough to warm it up, as it was outside, and slightly windy, I was not concerned that I did not hear the fuel pump kick in when I turned the ignition on. Now that it's in the garage, I'm starting to make my list of items to address,thankfully, per the seller, the oil/air filter, plugs and wires have already been done, which leaves me with fuel filter, and what I thought was a bad coil pack due to the rough running and slight hesitation/backfire, since it was sufficiently warmed up, and only driven 250-300 feet, I thought nothing of it. Was in the garage (30 degrees) for a few minutes and running things through my head, turn the key, and did not hear the relay click, nor the fuel pump cycle. Now I'm wondering if either or both are bad, and exactly what I have on my hands. Is it possible to start the car with just suction on a fuel injected engine, I'm thinking not, but every other Caterham or Birkin I have owned, I've always been able to hear the fuel pump when I turn the key and power up the circuits. So, now we are at the point where I really need assistance Fuel filter location? Fuel relay location? Electric fuel pump location (in tank perhaps)? Car was built by the assembly manual for the Rover engine, then the new Zetec engine I'm hoping was also installed per the additional Zetec assembly manual I have in the 8" thick file. Can anyone guide me as to where to start? Where to look? Thanks in advance, Bill

I'll second Intercity, but also add Horseless Carriage, and Reliable Auto Transport (orange trucks) as well. All three are business owned, with employees who take their job seriously, and are not brokers in disguise. Do not use Uship, unless you want emails and phone calls for months after your car has already been shipped and arrived at your location. Spammers and scammers galore with that site. Bill

I know Josh, but do not believe he has any of the old sales files from the original distributor. Unless I stumble across someone who has the same after build engine stamp, with their records, I'll not know what has been modified from the stock Zetec long block. Bill PS: Yes, we should get together soon.

You'll want to wait 60-90 days before you PPF the freshly painted nose cone. Put it in a spare bedroom, if it gets below 55 degrees, the paint will actually stop the cure process, then restart at 60 degrees. In addition, even though a new paint is considered cured, it will still outgas for the first 30-60 days. Where in the upstate are you located, I'm just off Pelham and Hudson Bill

Greenville, SC here with a SV without lowered floors if you want to take a drive up to check how you fit. I can tell you from experience though, that at 6' tall, 34" inseam, and 10.5EEE feet, a standard chassis S3 (with or without a lowered floor) was on the tight side for me, and I had to wear racing shoes to drive comfortably. In the SV, I have my street sneakers on, and there are no issues with footbox room. Bill

As I've told buyers of my past Cobra replicas, even 200hp is enough to kill you in one of these. Like a 7, no anti lock brakes, no modern suspension, no traction control, no air conditioning. I also tell them to repeat the following in their heads as they are walking up to the car "As soon as I get near the car, it will try to kill me", over and over and over again until it sinks in. Sadly, I've seen what happens when they do not. Bill

Tom, Thanks, if I have to get into the ECU/tuning, or find myself stumped, you'll be the first I'll contact. The rest is all the same to me, either vintage iron, to SWMBO 06 Miata GT 6spd with a 2008 2.5L Duratec under the hood. Sincerely, Bill PS: You find yourself in or around the Greenville, SC area, let me know, we are always up for some company.

Thanks, I should (maybe) have a compression tester in my toolbox and yes, that was on my list along with filters (fuel/air) and new plugs and wires. A quick squirt to all moving parts to lubricate them. No smell of coolant, but testing will be added to my list of things to do, in other circles, I call that "baselining" where I bring all maintenance to current so I do not have to worry about when it was last done. Taking the fuel tank to true empty and sucking 20+ years of crap into the filter is never a good thing, hoping it did not make it past the filter. Fuel gauges underhood make me nervous, but I may have one off a past race car I can make work to test the pressure. Airflow meter just ordered, might get it on the 17th, thanks for the link, sure beats the old one I have for tuning downdrafts on my old TR6. Filter was sticky as heck today, as I was dressed a bit to clean for dealing with that, I left it in place for another day, but I get where you are coming from. The rest, yes, the ECU and tuning is the last thing I was planning to touch. I'll get to everything once it's safely in one of the garage spaces next Sunday or Monday. Anything else you can think of, I'm all ears, the last similar setup I had was under an Emerald Controller, and I didn't need to do a thing with it while I owned the car. Bill

So, no dry sump, looks like you are correct ITB's (have not pulled air filter yet to really confirm) Where we get into questioning things is between the next two pictures Clearly a ZX3 head However, this one makes me question the internals While this appears to show the ITB's we would expect when someone labels the induction "4 roller barrels" At least we have a non cat, really nice header and exhaust The above was the only time I had today to get under the bonnet. Other notes, no dropped floors (I didn't think so when I purchased it), Caterham-zetec ribbed/reinforced pan. Bill

Suggestions? Keep and force it to work properly Go back to a stock Zetec induction and ECU? Replace with ? Right now, with a short run, from reprime of the system to a ride 3 houses up and back after idle warm up, and a few pops and a lot of hesitation. I have not otherwise touched the car yet I'm all ears

Anyone know if the Caterhamusa.com is still around? Trying to get additional information of the 202 hp Zetec with 4-50mm throttle body injection manifold and Pectel engine management system. I'm seeing mention in my plethora of printed email (info@caterhamusa.com) correspondences to Engine ($10,000), dry sump ($1,170), and exhaust ($2,100) all dated April 9th, 2004. Thanks again in advance Bill

Thanks, that is what I was looking for. Interesting it's the June 2001 issue, wonder if the picture was just used as a template since this car was not ordered till 2002 and delivered 2003. Bill

No, no, no, no, no A cobra, real or replica, should only have a V8 installed Bill S.

Insurance (Monday) title and plates (Tuesday/Wednesday), then a quick going through the basics (fluids, electronics, filters, tire age and pressures) on Wednesday or Thursday (still sitting on the front lawn) and a drive after that. Temperatures never bother me, -6 is the coldest new years day ride with the top down, so yeah, I'm one of those guys. Should be able to drive on the new driveway next Sunday or Monday, which means getting it truly under cover (no pun intended) and close to my tool boxes. Bill S.

Thanks, I did just a few minutes ago (I'm a member there on and off for years), as their archives are extensive, but I'm not sure what year or issue the car was featured on the cover. Trying to narrow it down before I go through month by month and year by year myself. Bill S.

OK, it's not 100% Croc's fault, but his constant taunting by posting cars for sale, week in, and week out finally wore me down. After a few years of no "7", I've finally brought another one into the fold, a world traveling, RHD 2003 SV. Spec'd and built by it's original owner in the UK, originally a Rover powered car, now a 202hp Ztec (working on digging up specs, but have plenty of emails with caterhamusa) 5spd, the car has seen travels in several continents, the UK, Australia (his honeymoon), apparently Italy, Scotland, St Mortiz, just to name a few, before a change in career paths brought him and the car to the USA in 2004/2005 time period. In 2016 the car changed hands, the car was actually posted here for sale as "2003 Caterham Super Seven SV 200 bhp specification engine purchased from Caterham USA, 2004. 4 throttle bodies 5 Speed, LSD, Heater, heated screen, Tonneau, Top, Sun Top, 21,000 miles', with the 2nd owner(a gracious man I might add) adding an additional 3,830 miles since that time while it resided in Kentucky.The 2nd owner actually made a post inquiring on potentially selling it, and I reached out at the time (7 months ago or so) to see if I could guide him through the process. Not looking for a car at the time, but apparently and subliminally selling it to myself in that process. I've only had time to drive the car off the carrier yesterday and park in on my lawn (new concrete driveway poured this past Friday, two weeks ahead of schedule), after adding 5 gallons of fuel to get it to fire of course. Went through some of the 8" thick files this AM, sure to stumble across additional information. I've got a busy week ahead, and the weather here is not likely to get warmer than 39 degrees, so the car will probably sit covered till I can get it in the garage next Sunday. Going to be a fun project to sort out and drive, looking forward to it. Bill PS: Anyone know where I can get a copy of the publication shown in picture number 4?

Usually overlooked, I'll throw the hat of the Subaru Legacys in to the fray, having been known to go 200,000-300,000 miles with just regular maintenance. We are planning to test that theory with a 2023 Legacy Touring XT, as SWMBO has told me this will be her last car. Our family history with Subaru shows a major change from the original tin can of the 80's (our 87 GL sedan for example) to our latest XT Touring sedan, factory Turbo charged and quite nimble, to be a modern day luxury car. Sadly an automatic, but paddle shifters make up for this on occasion. As the old saying goes "try one, you'll like it". Bill S.

The description on the Beachman site states 2016+

Having been actively involved in kit car circles since the 80's I can tell you that back then, states titled cars as whatever the MSO stated, or in the case of Caterham offerings, if a state had the VIN format for a Caterham already in the system, instead of reinventing the wheel, the DMV/MVS clerk used whatever was already listed in regards to make a model. It was the mindset of "why rock the boat and create more paperwork" Some states are still like this. While others won't accept the factory VIN, and will force the owner to a state issued VIN tag pop riveted to the car, usually near the factory Caterham chassis tag. As for how it is titled, for the state, again, they simply do not care, for your insurance company, as long as you have provided the details of the car to them, regardless of how it is titled, they really do not care. To them, it's just another 2dr convertible, it's really your ownership and driving history that will affect rates, same goes for where it is primarily stored, as your zip code, and where that falls in the crime database is more than 50% of the deciding factor in your cars rate for your stated value. Hope you find this helpful. Sincerely, Bill S.

Thats right Croc, keep posting them, keep trying to draw me back in to ownership, persistence might pay off. If it does, I'm telling my wife it's all your fault Thanks for all that you do Bill S.

This is excellent advice, in all the years I've bought and sold specialty cars as a hobbyist, I've never let anyone else drive my cars. If that was a deal breaker, so be it. If they insisted on driving, then they brought me cash in a suitcase, and signed a liability waiver, maybe.. Most people got it, a few with their noses bent out of shape walked away. The bottom line, it's your car, your choice. Best of luck with the sale. Bill S.