I thought I'd start a blog detailing the rebuild of my racer...

First, an introduction:

I'm an avid track day / time trials racer and car tinkerer / builder (who moonlights as an engineer during the week) from the US (Michigan) who recently acquired my Seven.  I'm rebuilding it as a tribute to its previous owner Bruce, who, sadly, succumbed to cancer three years ago. Bruce was very good friends with many of the guys I track with now, so the right thing to do was make it a car that they will be able to remember Bruce by and that he would be proud of if he were still here with us.

The car originally started as a 1997 DeDion S3 race spec build, with an EU2 race spec (solid lifters, dry sump, Stack gauges, etc.) 1.4 K-Series minimite.  It was well driven by Bruce and was in need of a freshening, so I stripped it back to a bare chassis with skins and have spent 7 months so far building it up.

This is what I started with:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/bruces7_1_zps4ead4b09.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/IMG_2272_zpsb88a5b14.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/IMG_2274_zpsd8726c21.jpg

Some of the finer details of the build include a full SLR Cage (man was that expensive to ship from the UK!), Caterham Cars Aeroscreen with SPA mirrors, wide track front end, Nitron single adjustables from MOG / Westermann, lowered seats left and right, Tillett low back seats, full 6 pt Schroth harness sets, Stack 8100 gauges with sequential shift light, 13" bias ply slicks (8X20" front, 9X22" rear) on magnesium Monocoque three piece wheels, CSR front wings, wide rear wings, uprated front and rear brakes, FIA FT3 fuel cell, limited slip diff, 5 speed close ratio straight cut box, and soon, an all singing, all dancing 1.8L K lump spec'd by Dave Andrews (DVA Power, of course)!  Here are some build pictures:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/IMG_0386_zps569d61f5.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/IMG_0389_zps7fafb538.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/IMG_1134_zpsfd101cf1.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/image1_zps9d9755db.jpeg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/image3_zps6653b351.jpeg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/image2_zps6bbc3f00.jpeg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/image4_zps5ce78614.jpeg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/IMG_0639_zps6508d41c.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/Caterham4_zpsd6d0fc60.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/Caterham3_zps0aeef9ed.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/Monocoquewheels_zps350b1df3.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/Seven3_zps193e5885.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/image8_zpsa28e520c.jpeg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/Seven7_zpsea89b984.jpg

Dave is helping me build it up, basically from scratch, from across the pond.  The engine is built on a new (sourced from Dave) block, VHPD crank, uprated rods, forged pistons, full ported (by Dave) VVC head running BP285H cams and verniers, Jenvey direct to head ITBs, Scouse airbox and trumpets, Emerald M3D, integrating an EU3 MAP sensor for the higher altitude tracks around here, uprated gold Caterham cars dry sump system, etc, etc.  Hopefully it will make 205 to 210BHP when it's all said and done.  Some pictures of the engine build, the last one being from a few weeks ago, are below:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/IMG_0391_zpsc1546388.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/image6_zpsbbcca727.jpeg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/IMG_2270_zpseb237d76.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/IMG_2271_zps5d0ef7f0.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/IMG_0850_zps1fddf35a.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/Aric_Streeter/IMG_20611_zps7eb39271.jpg

I'm continuing to slog away on the details of the build, including dereeing cams and completing the ignition system wiring over the next month or so, and will post pictures of any substantial progress as it happens!

Cheers,

Aric