DIARY PART TWO. 

It's been two weeks now that the 7 has been home. I have only really be out a couple of times. Today was the longest. A one hour blat ended up being nearly three hours. All on roads I know well. The motorway journey from Crawley had left me a little under whelmed to be honest. I know motorways are not the natural habitat of the 7 but even so I was left feeling disappointed in the performance. It didn't seem to have the snap in acceleration I had expected. I was wondering if 140 bhp really was right or had I got it wrong. Today was the opportunity to really find out. It could all have been an expensive mistake. 

It wasn't. It's perfect. The engine redlines at over 7000rpm and I haven't got anywhere over 6000rpm yet. The limiting factor isn't the car or the engine, it's  the roads. So bumpy are they round here, anything more than 7/10ths acceleration has the car all over the place. And that is quite fast enough thank you. It sounds amazing. It had me grinning like an idiot all morning. In fact, even now, 10 hours later I am still grinning! I haven't got anywhere near the performance envelope of this car on a road. I doubt if I took it on a track I even would then. It suits me just fine. Fast enough to be be a riot but slow enough to be sensible. 

I have a few tidying jobs to do. Some carpet to stick down. I have sorted a trickle charger already. And I am scanning the forum for ideas. I have wanted a 7 seven since I was a teenager. Nearly 40 years later and I finally have one. It's not the fastest by any means. It's not got all the latest bits. In Caterham circles it probably won't get a second glance. But it's mine. It's all I have ever wanted. I have my wife to thank for telling me you only live once, so get one. She even quite likes it too. I feel rather lucky. 

I just need to get out, meet up with like minded souls and enjoy. Blat anyone? 

Mossy,

Enjoyed your blogs enormously - keep them coming. Nice photos.

Very similar story to mine - now had my 125 Roadsport for about 2 months - bought second hand from PT Sportscars - black 2010 with 5000 miles. Was going to drive the car up from Windsor but they discovered a fault with the car just before I went down to collect - so they delivered. Originally visited the (Lotus?) showroom in the mid 1970's - taken me a while to get around to actually buying one! My wife thought I was having a mid life crisis - however - she is now starting to enjoy the car as well - although she has not actually driven it yet.

First couple of times I drove the car it was more like a speedboat - just so much rain and standing water. Managed a couple of decent drives since, including going to the Handling Day at Throckmorton - really good day - the first time my 19 year old had driven the 7 - he had a fantastic time. 

I'm in South Yorkshire - just off the A1 between Leeds and Doncaster - so might be a bit far to meet up for a blat - but if you ever want to have a chat give me a shout - I will e-mail my mobile.

In the meantime - go and find some nice quiet roads and enjoy yourself.

And so I finally managed to work out how to upload another picture. This one is of the car when I picked it up. Is it just me or do the rear wheels look a bit lost in the arches? Would spacers help? Should I upgrade to 8 inches at the back? Or should I leave well alone? I am reminded of KISS. ( keep it simple stupid)

A week or so later and I have done some tinkering. I am by no means an engineer or mechanically minded. I wouldn't dream of changing an engine for example or playing with the electrics. ( you pay people to do that stuff don't you?) I could probably stretch to changing the brake pads or discs but I really don't want to. My tinkering therefore has been somewhat limited. 

I have put some badges on. Step fathers day presents. Proper ones mind you. From Caterham. All period like. Self adhesive they are. I managed that and they are straight! I also managed to find some adhesive backed Carbon effect material that is identical to the stuff used for the stripes on the car. A fair bit of mucking about later, ( I even made a template.. get me!) and both lower front A frames are all nicely protected from stone chips. Look cool too. 

I have some plans in hand. I am thinking of getting the minillites powder coated either dark grey or black. I had wondered about the rear wheels looking lost in the arches but the more I read, the better smaller wheels seem to be, so I will keep the 14s I have. ( dont want to loose too much ride height by dropping to 13s as loads of speed bumps these days)  I may upgrade the brakes to some nice looking cross drilled ones and some performance pads. Wheels first I think. 

I have a few bits on order from soft bits, and that's about it. Mind you, I haven't yet polished it. Hmmmmmmm. 

Mossy 7 I have enjoyed reading your posts , some very similar experiences looking back on it

I first went for a 125 and then upgraded to a 140 Supersport as soon as the kit became available.

I have now moved on to a heavily modifed R400d which is awesome power and I know what you mean about motorways however the R400 eats them up ( not that I go on them too often )

No matter what model or spec - the best thing is the ADVENTURE as every time you go out its FUN and you have all the different conditions to conisder and either run away from clouds or chase the sun !

My only regret is that I just dont get enough time to drive it !

I hope to soon get some coaching in terms of how to learn to take it to its limits !

Andy

The order from Soft bits for Sevens arrived the other day. Few little presents for the car so to speak. Steering wheel and tunnel bag and one for the hood. Have to say I am dead impressed. The quality of the workmanship and the materials is amazing. 

I'm liking the idea of an aero screen but SWMBO is going to hate it so its a no no. Thinking that sans side screens and some wind deflectors may be an idea as a bit of a compromise. I see some modification of the deflectors is recommended so will have to try that. And I will need mirrors on the windscreen mount. Searching blat chat has given me some ideas for those. 

Oh and just to add some thing to the mix, Caterham have just launched the 310.152BHP? Sounds nice. Wonder if the upgrade at 1500 quid will go on my engine? Hang on.. Upgradeitus already? Oh dear. Think that will have to wait a fair while, only had the car a month! Although Premier Power do an F155 upgrade.. Wonder if its cheaper??    

So... I am nearly there with the upgrades. 

After many questions on Blatchat and probably becoming a bit boring with regard to wheels and tyres, (sorry everyone) and talking to various experts, I've finally made a decision and committed myself. A new set of 13 inch Apollo alloys and 185/55/13 Avon ZZS tyres has been ordered from Caterham. To calm my concerns about ride height and on the advice of Simon at Meteor Motorsport, I've also ordered an adjustable ride height kit. A set of Mintex M1144 pads has also been ordered from Meteor. Once this arrives, (some on back order apparently) I am off to Nick Potter at Market Harborough to have it all fitted and the suspension set up properly. 

Ive got some wind deflectors on order from Caterham as a compromise on the Aero screen and I'm playing with some new stripes for the car. 

I looked into the F155 and F175 upgrades from Premier power and they look great but the budget means that's just a distant thought.

So, as I said, nearly all done. The planned upgrade from 125 Roadsport to 140 Supersport is nearly complete.and I'm still within budget of buying it all as new. 

I will post some before and after pictures in due course.  

Well, as I started this blog, it's, only right I should finish it as the planned upgrades are now all complete. The idea all along was to save some money and buy at the cheap end and upgrade to exactly the spec I wanted. It meant that if I found out a 7 didn't fit in with family life I hadn't spent loads finding out and I could sell with little loss. Of course, that wasn't the case and so the upgrade path commenced. I wanted to update and modernise the car and tweek the spec. 

I spent literally hundreds of hours searching images of 7s on the Internet for ideas and inspiration: what wheels did I want? What tyres? Even what profile looked best? Stripes or not? Carbon, backpack or even stay chrome? The wife called it car porn, every time she saw me on the iPad, she knew I was looking at Caterhams. It became a family joke, but finally I decided. Ultimately as was my plan I saved money not buying as it a factory new build and actually enjoyed the choosing and planning. And for some reason now, I feel such an attachment to the car that it means I am never changing her. She is all mine, and I understand a little more how satisfying building it yourself must be.

I found some nice ten spoke 15 inch wheels on blat chat courtesy of a nice gent called Graham. I just didn't like the look of the 13s I had so they had to go. A company near me refurbished them and a new powder coat was applied. New Toyo T1 R tyres followed. I didn't ever find some wind deflectors so that's for the future. I booked the car into Bookatrack for the work: new black pack windscreen, heat shield and sills to modernise the look. I kept the chrome headlights as my wife just loves he reflections in them when driving and I have to agree it is kind of cool. A couple of minor warranty repairs, and a service too. There's a story to the service by the way: I had always been a little underwhelmed with the performance to be honest. It just didnt have the urgency I was expecting of a seven. There was no snap to the acceleration and you really had to wring its neck to make any progress. The journey home after the work and service however was a surprise as the car felt completely different. There was power everywhere and it was much much quicker. Methinks that it had perhaps been running on three cylinders since I had it and now I have the company of four. It's the cheapest 35 BHP upgrade you can get! 

Anyway, two pictures to show the work. One  as a 125 BHP Roadsport when I bought it, the second as completed; 140BHP, 15 inch alloys, modern look, a little suspension work and some Mintex pads complete the transformation. Some Armorfend to the side skins and new cycle wings as well. Hope you like it. For me, she is perfect.

Excellent, it's great to know that people across the country are spending too much time looking at Caterham images, collecting bits and spending too long in the garage........ Sometimes just going to check it isn't a dream and confirming I have a Caterham. I even have a table made from wheels and car seats made into chairs to sit and have a cuppa when not doing my jobs at the weekend. Lovely

Men in sheds (garages) a British tradition.