The Regular Summary of Classified Ads of Se7ens Found For Sale

[theDreamer]

I must advise that for every problem you find there are three more that you do not know about. The seller maybe a great guy or, a great salesman! I’ve met both types and it has taken me years to develop my senses to the point I can now pick the salesmen out after a few words.

Do not let your desire for this car override your gut feelings. If he drives it hard with a potential buyer then you can believe he drives it hard ALL THE TIME! No warm up etc. will have taken its toll and the next owner may be on the hook for some major repairs. If the general appearance is poor, (flaking rust, poor wiring, unkept engine bay, cheap tires) then routine maintenance will be just as poor. It doesn’t take a lot of time or work to keep the engine bay clean. Same for most anything on the car. The guy couldn't be bothered to do a proper detail and vacuuming for the photos. That tells me he really dose not care. There are cars on this site that are run hard in competition and I would pay more for one of them because the owners take pride in their rides. They also spend hours in prep for a few minutes of competition.

I’ve been criticized on this and other forums for being too critical of cars for sale and their owners. I do not mean to upset people. My goal is to educate those who have no knowledge of the item they are looking to buy. I am also trying to get sellers to be more open and up front about what they are selling. It is a win, win as the seller usually gets a better price and the buyer knows more about his purchase.

Nothing upsets me more than a scammer who takes advantage of others.

Only you know what your limits are. Just make sure you keep back enough funds to pay for a worst case scenario like, replacing the clutch, release bearing and milling the fly wheel when the seller tells you that little squeak is nothing to worry about.

Edited Saturday at 07:51 PM by theDreamer

[pethier]

27 minutes ago, theDreamer said:

when the seller tells you that little squeak is nothing to worry about.

Yeah.  Make him prove it.

 

When I bought my late wife a TR4 in San Antonio, I was out on the highway with the seller.  I expressed that I was concerned about the mechanical scraping sound.  

 

"That's not a mechanical noise.  It's an aerodynamic noise."

 

He reached his two hands over the windshield and started moving them around.  The noise changed.  I put my hands up there also and here we were zipping up the highway looking like two guys trying to play a theremin.

 

The TR4 does not use all snaps ("poppers") to secure the roadster top when it is on.  There is a snap on each corner.  The section between these two snaps has a down-facing groove meant to capture a strip of metal sewn inside the front of the top.  Tension set by straps on the top frame keep the top fastened to the windshield.  Turns out this groove, when not at work locating a top, has musical ambitions at speed.

 

The TR4A discontinued the roadster top in favor of a convertible top with a more-conventional method of connection to the windshield.  They continued with this convertible top all the way through the TR6.

[Yavuz]

Thanks, guys! I appreciate the advice. The car did seem to be pretty sound mechanically, but yeah I certainly don't want to pay absolute top dollar for it as I know there is likely several thousand dollars that need to go into it. Aside from the fact that the car likely got regularly ragged on before coming up to temperature, the only real mechanical question mark was that the limited slip diff was making clunky noises throughout the drive, but it sounds like that isn't necessarily unusual behavior in a 7. The clutch pedal felt a little funny too, but I recall I thought the same in the last 7 that I drove too. 

 

Massachusetts is a nightmare in terms of registering a kit car, so the fact that this one is already here and titled/registered/inspected definitely adds value for me. If this were not the case (or if I was brave enough to go the Montana route), I would have bought a much better one by now. 

[Austin David]

HAHAHA I can't use a GoPro on my roll bar, the audio is dominated by the clunking.  That LSD is about 6" away from your ear and very firmly attached to a drum.  It's supposed to be loud. "clutch funny" doesn't sound right, but the hydraulics is simple.  

 

FWIW "needs several thousand dollars" is probably always true.  Welcome to the show.  My boy-math would include something about the utility of having one to play with while you keep looking, and the fact that if you were able to buy it, you can also sell it.  It's not an "investment" but it's probably a pretty solid rental.  Tires, "maintenance" etc are all true no matter what you get.  The fact that it needs different tires would also be true if it had 10-year-old ZZRs.

[TSnuggs42069]

18 hours ago, Croc said:

Keep in mind that there is always another suitable car that comes along within the next 2 months.  Shipping a car is only a couple of thousand dollars - that frames your bidding strategy.   Good luck with the auction!

 

This is great advice.

[pethier]

5 hours ago, Yavuz said:

Massachusetts is a nightmare in terms of registering a kit car, so the fact that this one is already here and titled/registered/inspected definitely adds value for me. If this were not the case (or if I was brave enough to go the Montana route), I would have bought a much better one by now. 

Interesting.  I have a car that was certainly licenced in Massachusetts as a 1963 Lotus.  Still has a Massachusetts inspection sticker on the windscreen.  The word Lotus appears on this sticker.

 

It's just possible that the car is a Birkin, possibly made in 2003.

[Croc]

9 hours ago, Yavuz said:

.... the only real mechanical question mark was that the limited slip diff was making clunky noises throughout the drive...

 

Sierra diffs (open or LSD) are fairly bullet proof - I've never broken one yet.  What you were likely experiencing was excessive backlash or some looseness in how the tailshaft connects everything together.  It may be within tolerances but still feels odd compared to a modern car.  Easy enough to drop in a Tracsport LSD if its broken.

 

The current Caterham model diff with a BMW M2 (or M1 ) housing and (I think) Titan internals are dogs.  I fixed a 2021 car recently that had one wheel drive after 6000 miles and one fairly sensible owner.  

 

9 hours ago, Yavuz said:

The clutch pedal felt a little funny too, but I recall I thought the same in the last 7 that I drove too. 

 

It should be a hydraulic clutch set up.  They always felt a little dead and lacking feel in the Zetec.

 

Was the take up point (i.e. where the clutch starts to bite) in the right spot though?

 

 

9 hours ago, Yavuz said:

Massachusetts is a nightmare in terms of registering a kit car, so the fact that this one is already here and titled/registered/inspected definitely adds value for me. 

 

Oh I get this - it makes it worth a premium just to save the hassle.  CA emission certified classic cars get a mega premium for this reason.  If this does not work then wait until a better titled one comes along - one that followed the year being replicated format.  Not as common as more recently titled cars but definitely turn up frequently.  I usually flag them when I see them.  

 

 

9 hours ago, Yavuz said:

.... the fact that the car likely got regularly ragged on before coming up to temperature....

 

Lets put this in perspective - its not as much an issue as you think.  This engine came from a Ford Focus.  Its designed for drivers like my sister who regularly kills her cars because she is so tough on them.  Driving is the 6th most important thing in her life when she is driving behind the wheel.  She rags it from start.  Forgets to change oil.  The Focus was a wonderfully tough little car.  As long as the oil changes were done right then should be no issues.  If it does break then buy a spare from Ebay and drop it in.  

 

In over 100,000 miles on track in a seven I have yet to break an engine - Duratec, Zetec, Cortina, Crossflow, A Series.   Gearboxes - T9, Cat 6spd, Miata - are more fragile as the installation adaption was usually flawed by alignment issues or mismatch of hp to design tolerances or crap production quality (Cat 6spd).

 

Now if we are talking about Holden or BMW engines, yeah I break those....

  

 

 

[Austin David]

19 hours ago, Croc said:

The current Caterham model diff with a BMW M2 (or M1 ) housing and (I think) Titan internals are dogs.  I fixed a 2021 car recently that had one wheel drive after 6000 miles and one fairly sensible owner.  

 

 

I'm at 17k and "fairly sensible", my 2021 diff (M1 housing + titan guts) seems fine if noisy.  I have read that the expected life is a lot lower, but here we are.  I'm not looking forward to fishing it back out when it's time to replace the internals tho

[Croc]

4 hours ago, Austin David said:

 

I'm at 17k and "fairly sensible", my 2021 diff (M1 housing + titan guts) seems fine if noisy.  I have read that the expected life is a lot lower, but here we are.  I'm not looking forward to fishing it back out when it's time to replace the internals tho

 

Average life consensus seems to be 10-12K mileage.  If you break it then Josh at Rocky Mountain has a solution - same casing, Drexler LSD internals plus a choice of different final drive ratios.  Plug and play replacement.

[jhenson29]

6 hours ago, Croc said:

 

Average life consensus seems to be 10-12K mileage.  If you break it then Josh at Rocky Mountain has a solution - same casing, Drexler LSD internals plus a choice of different final drive ratios.  Plug and play replacement.

Would it make sense to just do this upfront on a new build then? What’s the expected life on the changed components?

[JohnCh]

1 minute ago, jhenson29 said:

Would it make sense to just do this upfront on a new build then?

I strongly considered doing this with my car, but ultimately decided I didn't want to have the opportunity for finger pointing by Caterham if the remaining innards of the diff had any issues. When it comes time to replace mine, I am sure I will rue that earlier decision.  

[jhenson29]

Just now, JohnCh said:

I strongly considered doing this with my car, but ultimately decided I didn't want to have the opportunity for finger pointing by Caterham if the remaining innards of the diff had any issues. When it comes time to replace mine, I am sure I will rue that earlier decision.  

 
Im halfway through reading your 520 build thread. The diff is where you drew the line on modifications? 😲 🤣

 

I have a history of putting a decent number of miles on my cars relatively quickly and 10-12k does not sound like a lot of time to me. I’d rather fix a known issue up front if possible. 

[JohnCh]

6 minutes ago, jhenson29 said:

Im halfway through reading your 520 build thread.

 

My condolences. It doesn't get any better the further you get into it. 

 

6 minutes ago, jhenson29 said:

The diff is where you drew the line on modifications? 😲 🤣

 

I also drew the line on replacing the ECU with an Emerald for similar reasons. Wiring issues are common enough on new builds that I was concerned I'd be chasing an issue I thought I caused, which was really a fault of the factory harness. As much as I dislike the MBE, I don't regret that decision, but like I said, I have a feeling I will eventually regret leaving the LSD untouched.

[CBuff]

My 2023 420r with 3.91 rear end and 5 speed (11k miles ). The lsd has started to make a lot of noise. Slow full lock turns sound like it’s coming apart.  Pre load is still at 38lbs and the wheel turn in the same direction when raised. 
 

the sound makes me think I am living on borrowed time. And I can’t stand the clanking grinding noise anyway. 
 

spoke with Steve perks at Tracsport. He is sourcing me a new 3.64 diff from caterham and dropping in a Tracsport lsd and sending me the entire unit. We will see if I have the skills to replace the unit.  Money sent late last week. Will see when it arrives. 

[Austin David]

Start or continue a build thread please!  I plan to drive mine until I can prove it's open.  Its been clunky from day 1

[Yavuz]

On 7/3/2026 at 6:39 PM, Yavuz said:

 

I think the current bid of $30k is probably pretty close to what the car should be valued at. Given that it's already titled, registered, and inspected in MA and that it's 30 minutes from my house... I will continue bidding and I'd be willing to overpay by several thousand dollars for the convenience alone. With that said - if someone wants to REALLY overpay - I'll bow out and keep looking. 

 

Well... As much as I liked the car, $43k plus fees seems crazy high for this particular one given some of the other recent Caterham sales on BaT. The hunt continues. 

[Vovchandr]

6 minutes ago, Yavuz said:

 

Well... As much as I liked the car, $43k plus fees seems crazy high for this particular one given some of the other recent Caterham sales on BaT. The hunt continues. 

 

Big wow from me. Congrats to seller and buyer. I need to update my agreed values...

[TSnuggs42069]

1 hour ago, Yavuz said:

 

Well... As much as I liked the car, $43k plus fees seems crazy high for this particular one given some of the other recent Caterham sales on BaT. The hunt continues. 

Yeah I would have thought $30k would be enough.  Be patient and you will get your car.