So, tell us a little about yourselves

[MHKflyer52]

Very cool and I bet your 7 gets up and goes like the wind.

[JohnK]

Very nice job, Chuck! Engine bay looks especially clean. How difficult was it to figure out the Wankel re tuning it?

[rx7locost]

Thanks again Martin and John.

 

How difficult was it to figure out the Wankel re tuning it?

 

Compared to what? This is the first engine I have ever tuned from scratch so I have no point of reference. I figured that with a homebuilt exhaust header and exhaust, no catalytic converter, a home built intake manifold with a Ford Taurus throttle body and a car less than 1/2 the weight of the donor, there was little use in keeping the factory ECM. Actually, there is a lot of support of the Megasquirt and rotary engine over on RX7CLUB.COM. The rotary engine is well supported within the MS firmware and no real "workarounds" were necessary to get it firing. I have to admit, tuning is still a work in progress. I've driven it over 3k miles so it isn't that far out of tune, I think.

[O Racer]

I am a new member to USA7's but an old(er) Lotus owner. My story...

 

I first had an experience with a Lotus 7 in the mid 60's, a friend bought one in New Jersey and asked me to come along on the ride back to Long Island. If you have never been in the area, riding a L7 through the NY Metropolitan area is an experience to be remembered...the pot holes were big enough to swallow a 7, the trucks all looked like modern day monster trucks and the drivers, well they are crazy! That Seven was a bare aluminum chassis with yellow wings and nose. I took a picture of that car and pinned it to every garage wall I had saying one day I will get one.

 

I went on to racing my own Bugeye Sprite in the Northeast in the late 60's then flat towed it cross country (behind a VW transporter) to the SF Bay area and continued racing it until 1976. Moved to Hawaii in 1977 and temporarily gave up cars for sailboats but that only lasted about 10 years or so and I started getting back in racing with rented cars, bought a Morgan street car but that wasn't enough. Then I was finally able to realize my dream and bought a Caterhan kit from Seven's and Elans, built it and first drove it in 1991. That car... aluminum skin with yellow wings and nose, had to be like my friends. It is pretty stock for the period with 1700 cross flow engine, 5 speed Sierra Box and De Dion rear. Drove it in Hawaii if you can call that driving then shipped it back to SF area so I could have fun after a work trip in SF.

 

Bought a vintage OSCA in 1994 and raced Monterey Historics, shipped it to Italy and ran the Mille Miglia Historica four times and the Targa Florio once, all dream like experiences and raced Monterey more, now we are both retired

 

Bought an Elise in late 2004, I had seen a yellow one in Europe and hoped one day they would be federalized, bought one of the early ones and I still love it.

 

Moved back to Northern CA in 2008 and I can now really enjoy my cars as we live in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range and good roads start right outside my door.

 

Raced a Spec Miata for three years and gave it up when I spent more time doing body work than I needed to do on mechanicals. Great learning experience.

 

Went to a track day with my Seven last month with the Shelby Club at Laguna and had a blast, not sure they liked me much though as I was faster than the new BOSS'

 

Anyway, the Seven is the last car I sell or maybe my wife sells after I am gone, it is the one that gives me the most pleasure. Looking forward to being part of this forum site as I plan to make my Seven more track day and less street so I have much to learn.

 

John Grosseto

Sonora, CA

[GBOLT]

Welcome John. Sounds like you have a few stories to share someday.

[micheal23]

I am gel an architect for almost 2 years. I have a strong interest about cars and i love to travel a lot. I don't have wife yet but i have a loving and caring girlfriend who's been with me a year now.

 

LOL i think thats all

Cheers!

[Gherkin]

OK, my story starts as many do here...

 

I have wanted a Seven since I was 15 and the time came to start seriously looking at owning one a few months ago. I'm a dedicated (certifiable to some) car guy and I like real driver's cars and something out of the norm. The two toys currently in my garage include a '62 Jeep CJ-6 rock crawler (the frame and most of the body are from '62, everything else is replaced/upgraded) and a '59 FIAT 600 Abarth clone. I love working on them as much as driving them. I also have the privilege of working in the Automotive Aftermarket.

 

So now for my newest addition; in my searches I of course came across Texas Motor Works and Dick Brink. The rolling chassis on his site were in my price range and I didn't mind doing the work to build a car. After we spoke a few times Dick mentioned a car he had that was, at one time, way out of my range; lots of carbon, LSD, close ratio, Duratec, and... wait for it, Supercharged. There is a long story to it but I was able to fit the final price into my budget. The car needs an engine, I have one, and some frame work, I have a race car builder/fabricator near by with a surface table to make sure the frame is flat and square. So I took the plunge and got a lot more car than I was originally looking for and I will still have less time into it than a roller.

 

Attached are a couple of shots of the car ready to load on the trailer. The car was picked up today, I should have it on Tuesday (no sleep for me for the next few days, Santa's on the way!). The car had Brooklands screens but I have opted for a full windscreen (strapped to the roll bar for transport) so I can use a bikini top on hot summer days. Dick kept the wheels he had on the car so the Gold ones are just for transport, I have new ones on the way.

 

The journey begins...

 

All the best,

Chris

[Kitcat]

BEAUTIFUL car! The off-beat green and CF work perfectly! Much discussion hereabouts on merits of SC engines so will be interesting to get your impressions on that upgrade. I immediately replaced the seats in my Birkin for thinner Caterham seats that, by shrinking seat size, added room for me. Also had many issues w/TMW build "quality" so double ck everything you are able to. Welcome to this forum, you are clearly a good match for your remakable car.

[slngsht]

Beautiful car Chris!

[Gherkin]

Thanks guys.

 

The car is Lotus "Isotope Green", the pickle like appearance spawned my screen name. My wife's first reaction was "Wow, I hope they come in other colors!" but once I explained what the car was all about and that it will have the performance to pull off the color she warmed to it.

 

My last big project car was an '02 Subaru WRX so I have done the turbo thing, I'm looking forward to working with an SC to see the differences.

 

At 6'2 230lbs I may be at the limit of the room the stock seats will give me. After a few months I will have a better idea if I need more room/support/comfort and want to change the seat(s).

 

I will be pulling the engine and trans as well as removing the damaged rear body panel, boot liner, interior side panels, fenders, etc to allow as much access as possible to inspect the frame. I will have touched, and inspected, just about every part of the car by the time it's back on the road.

 

Chris

Edited April 12, 2013 by Gherkin

[Kitcat]

Check axle boot attachments (mine came off right away), oil pan installation (mine was intalled w/washers that compressed the seal and allowed oil out), rubber boot around gear shift into transmission (mine was missing allowing fliuid to spill out), all electrical relays and connections (many of mine were bad). IF you plan to track it, ask Dick about the necessary "trap door" mod to the Raceline oil pan. Without that mod, you will have oil starvation and blow up your engine, as I did. Check brake lines to be sure they are securely attached to callipers.

 

When I added a Caterham Tilet seat (just like the one for sale on this Forum for abt 1/2 price), I gained abt 3" of room between me and the wheel. I am only 5'9" and it was the best thing I did to enhance comfort, useability.

Edited April 12, 2013 by Kitcat

[Gherkin]

Thanks for the list of points to check Kitcat. I was promised that the oil pan was the latest unit for the Duratec with the starvation issues resolved. The pan has a small crack that I will have welded so the installation will be done by me and I will watch for proper seal compression. I'll look at the shifter boot/seal while I have the trans out.

[Suicide Jockey]

Hi everyone,

Registered today spontaniously after reading a bit on this forum. My name is Frank, I am 52 years of age. I live in a smaller city in Germany and I have been fascinated by all kinds of cars for all my life. After doing a lot of tuning on air cooled VW bugs (up to 2,400cc / 190hp) I bought a Seven clone (British T&J Hornet) which currently is the only registered car of that make over here in Germany.

Two years ago I stumbled over a 1964 Lotus Seven S2 and, to make a long story short, it is now undergoing a restoration that will hopefully be finished later this year.

 

Cheers

Frank

[xcarguy]

Frank,

 

Welcome to the forum. I'm a 51 year old guy who lives in a small town in south Arkansas. Most folks around her don't even know what a 7 is; never mind having never seen one.

Edited May 8, 2013 by xcarguy

[Suicide Jockey]

Thanks for the Welcome.

Well, you guys in the US also have a lot of nice cars. (Especially I like the good old 60s Muscle Cars ;-) ) Most notably you seem to have a bunch of more opportunities to modify your rides without getting in conflict with law. In Germany this is somewhat more complicated (understatement of the year ! It is in fact a pain i. ... ... )

 

I have been living in St.Paul, Mn by the end of the 1970s for half a year and still remember this as a wonderful time. (Got some relatives still living there ...)

 

The Lotus I got two years ago is a 1964 Series 2 that was once owned by Mario Theissen (Motorsports Manager of BMW Germany and former Formula 1 Boss).

The T&J Hornet is a low-cost clone with a steel ladder frame and a wooden boody, covered with Aluminum sheet metal, heavy (1450 pounds), but very interesting concept and construction.

 

Cheers

Frank

[TurboWood]

Hi Gents,

I registered a few months ago, but figured it was time to post here. Before I go too far about myself I must say that I've already noticed a really big difference in maturity/friendliness on this board compared to others I've frequented in the past. It's so relieving to have helpful and nice people to chat with. Hopefully I get to meet some of you.

 

As for me, I'm 31 and have been a car guy from day one. I raced r/c cars and worked at a hobby shop for much of my high school and through college. I spent all four years of college participating in FSAE and went on to be a development engineer in the automotive field where I've been heavily focused on turbochargers.

 

Once in the professional world I met a bunch of car nuts and we started Black Iron Racing which was/is a very low cost race team focused on the 24hrs of LeMons. We've raced a handful of times (and even won a few) over the years. If I could play like that all the time it would be a dream come true.

 

Most of my personal car effort has been spent on a '94 Toyota Supra Turbo. It really has been a fun car to play with, but I could never get the feeling of my buddies turbo Miata out of my head. There was something about not having 1000lbs that made it just fun. The Supra is a great car for doing 140mph, but that makes having fun far too infrequent. I've flirted with the idea of a kit car many times, but the stars seemed to align recently when Caterham released the 40th Anniversary pack. So, I now have a CSR Roadsport kit that should arrive in September. I probably won't get to start working on it until the new year, but I'm preparing as much as possible. The engine and transmission selection is still open....turbo miata, Honda K20, ecotec, duratec, ecoboost....so many options. My brain is programmed for 300hp minimum. We'll see if I meet that.

 

Daniel

[7 plus 2]

Hi y'all

I’m a retired “jack of all trades” and I recently joined this forum, which I think is great. Since I live in Canada, I’ve been looking only in the “Canada” forum, till tonight when I thought I’d go “walk aboot.”

I have had Sybil (SB1415) my 1962 Lotus 7 since 1977. I bought it in Glasgow, Scotland, drove in around Scotland, England and Ireland then shipped it back to Toronto. It's been off the road being "restored" since 1986. In between building homes and working and having so called pros doing work on it (most of which I've had to re-do) it's taken till now that I'm retired to get it to the point where, if I really try, I may have it on the road by next spring. That's the plan anyway.

Hope I can get some tech advice along the way.

If you want to see all my posts and pictures go to: http://usa7s.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=36

And I’m about (aboot, Canadian eh?) 13 down from the top under thread "New member" and have 8 of the posts above it.

B C-ing U

[bigdog]

Just joined a few days ago. I'm an American living in Molschbach, Germany. I've lived here for three years now. Have two more to go before returning home (Walla Walla Wa.) I'm retired US Air Force. So I'm a stay at home husband. The Wife works for the Govmint.

 

I joined to do a little research on buying a 7. I currently own a BMW Zed-4 that is for sale to fund a 7.

The only drawback is that I can't bring back anything (non US spec) that is newer than 1990-91 model year. Fortunately. The prices for a 7 in Britain seem quite a bit better than in the states. And there's a lot of them as well. In Germany how ever. They are a little spendy.

[Taber10]

I'm not an expert here, but the subject has come up before......

As you state, you can't import a "modern" car into the US, if it doesn't meet EPA, DOT, etc. etc. requirements, which a "Seven" doesn't. BUT could an individual import say, a similar set of "auto parts" such as the sets that Westfield, Caterham, MKS, etc. import? In the case of the Caterham, the body, chassis, wiring, etc. are all in one "box" at the time of importation. You could source your motor in the States--I doubt the Duratec from Ford UK is much cheaper than from Ford in the States. Even if you bought a complete car in the UK, and disassembled it, sold the motor, etc. etc. there seems that there would be an avenue to import.

Just a thought--good luck!

Taber

USAF 1974-2004 (UK 1978-1981, Germany 1986-1990)

[bigdog]

I'm not an expert here, but the subject has come up before......

As you state, you can't import a "modern" car into the US, if it doesn't meet EPA, DOT, etc. etc. requirements, which a "Seven" doesn't. BUT could an individual import say, a similar set of "auto parts" such as the sets that Westfield, Caterham, MKS, etc. import? In the case of the Caterham, the body, chassis, wiring, etc. are all in one "box" at the time of importation. You could source your motor in the States--I doubt the Duratec from Ford UK is much cheaper than from Ford in the States. Even if you bought a complete car in the UK, and disassembled it, sold the motor, etc. etc. there seems that there would be an avenue to import.

Just a thought--good luck!

Taber

USAF 1974-2004 (UK 1978-1981, Germany 1986-1990)

 

The big issue is the paperwork. US customs will first look at the car documents. If it's less than 25 years old. You will have to produce all the required certification documents. If you can't. The last time I checked. You would need to post a bond for 2-3 times the value of the imported car. then you would be given a certain time to bring the car into compliance with the regulations for the model year on the cars papers. If you do not meet that deadline or fail to export the car from whence it came or register the car as a race car. You then would lose your bond. Thus losing 2-3 times the cost of the car. OUCH! Of course if you put the car into boxes in pieces. You still lose out. As you won't have any papers that a state DMV will recognize.

 

The answer for the cars from USCaterham is on their web site.

 

In order to comply with US federal regulations, all Caterham products are imported as “kits.” The registration process varies state-to-state, and even county-to-county, but typically involves:

 

• Having the vehicle inspected by a state authority to insure road worthiness and to verify the part numbers on the engine and chassis to insure that they are not from a stolen vehicle, sometimes called a “VIN” (vehicle identification number) inspection.
  
• Paperwork from the VIN inspection, bill of sale and MSO (manufacture statement of origin, supplied by Caterham) are turned into the local officials for inspection.
  
• After the paper work comes back from the officials, the vehicle needs to be taken back to a state official to have a state assigned VIN attached.
  
• The owner takes the paperwork to the DMV to complete the title and registration process as with a conventional car registration process.
  

*Please note that some states and or counties require an emissions system inspection prior to registration.

We highly recommend contacting your local DMV or state authorities to confirm the registration and emissions requirements in your area prior to purchasing a Caterham. Please let us know if you have any questions regarding this process or if there is anything we can do to help verify the process in your area.

 

 

You can buy a 7 from overseas and ship it back as a running auto if it is 25 yrs old or older with no restrictions. I can pick up a 7 of the correct age in the UK for about 10-15k USD. Even with shipping it still ends up being cheaper than the majority (but not always) of 7's for sale in the USA. Here is a link to piston heads that shows the cars for sale that I can bring back in 2015 when we PSC back to Washington state. There are other sites that sell UK 7's as well.

 

 

[url=http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds?Category=used-cars&M=19&M=675&M=62&ShowSoldCars=True&YearTo=1990][/url]http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds?Category=used-cars&M=19&M=675&M=62&ShowSoldCars=True&YearTo=1990

Edited August 28, 2013 by bigdog