Stridey

To add to the Blatchat database.... So, yesterday was the 7s first long(ish) trip to Brands Hatch. When I first got the 7 I needed to diagnose an alternator fault so in my wisdom fitted a digital voltmeter on the passenger side knee panel. This is visible from driving position. i monitored it and seemed fine, but figure dropped and dropped, then all of a sudden it would go up again. It never dropped too low, and would creep up. on return journey it hovered around 12v but never shot up to above 13.8. In the Dartford tunnel I could see the alternator red light gauntlet glowing, imperceptible in daylight. Today I checked everything.... earths, alternator plug and belt. Lastly I double checked the battery terminals and found the Earth side slightly loose. Cases I think by me not tightening it fully against the earth strap and the extra ring earth that go to the cigarette lighter and voltmeter. I nipped it up fully. And more. so.... started car and immediately saw the voltmeter was at 14.2v. On a drive it showed me battery was charging and as electrics kicked in, fan, lights, indicators I saw the figure drop by .1 each time So, all seems good so far... i think the digital voltmeter is a good addition for fault finding.

I have a Raceco. Advantages are that it’s easy to repack, ie the ends are both removable. The titanium is nice and tough (exhaust has scraped humps a few times. the central tube is not central to the outer casing, which makes using blanket style repacking a bit of a faff as you can’t just wrap it round and round. The previous owner fitted my one, not cheap then. But a nice thing to have.

Cheers for the tips. I’ll try to resurrect the battery using another one. I’ve also ordered a new battery from Tanya, not a 680 but their ‘alterntive’, a BMW bike battery. Same size and a review by an 1.8 Exige owner swung it (and keen price). if it’s not up to the job I have other uses for it and replace the 680 like for like. im just wondering what killed it. It may have been a night out not in Garage that tipped it over, but hey ho, not the end of the world. i do have a lithium ion battery booster anyway, so fingers crossed it will get me out of trouble. Lastly I have a voltmeter display on passenger kneepanel so I can check alternator kicking in. fingers crossed.

i have managed to goose an Odyssey Extreme PC680 Battery by leaving it for a week without being on the trickle charger and something draining it. (Probably immobiliser) Trickle charge won’t revive it. I picked up a PVR 25 I had and swapped it over, started car fine. Trickle charged it overnight, everything good. ...however, I can’t remember when I got the PVR25 or why I swapped it for the Odyssey. It may have been with the car from when I bought it 3 years ago and replaced when going through alternator problems... So how can I reassure myself as to condition of the PVR, I have a multimeter. It reads 12.8 at rest...? Or do I bite the bullet and spend £100 on a new Odyssey from Tayna? Bearing in mind winter is coming... Or any similar sized alternatives to consider?

My car, a 95 Crossflow has an oil cooler in front of rad. As it seemed to run hot I fitted a larger fan. My theory being the oil rad was blocking flow a little so a larger fan would cover a larger area. This worked well. However, after a shunt the rads were both replaced and now holds temp perfectly even in standing traffic. So, my advice would be try a fan first, knowing that when and if you replace rad and fit an oil cooler the money on the fan won’t be wasted as you’ll transfer it across.

One other thing. To start I turn on car, listen for pump, press throttle 5 times, then start. it will splutter a bit, but by the end of the road it’s running fine.

A few things to check if you can. The Weber’s have gaskets to the manifold, which should have a small amount of ‘play’, how much, hard to say, but enough to jiggle firmly by hand, you can replace these gaskets with ‘misabs’ which have built in O rings. If air can get in between manifold and Weber’s you may get splutter, they can rot over time. These can be replaced yourself, just awkward to get to bolts if big handed. Buy your self a balancer and watch some vids on balancing carbs. It’s not too hard and useful to be able to do. I like to run 96/98 octane fuel. Things like internals, floats etc I leave to my local 7 servicers, Ratrace and Chris Wheeler in Herts I can reccomend but any good old school racy type garage should be able to check the Weber’s.

It’s a tricky balance ( having taken a while to get an acceptable balance on mine). Checking the thermostat in a pan on the cooker with a thermometer diagnosed a faulty one for me. Replaced fan switch. I am a big advocate of wiring an override in as well, to anticipate traffic stops in hot weather. Also I have a light on the dash to tell me when fan is on. Bit of piece of mind. Wiring a temporary override (assuming fan works) is very simple as a get you home fix. Those tiny crocadile clipped wires can be handy. I’m now acutely aware of how outside temp can affect overall temps, I see on my regular drive where I expect fan to come on and how a good run in shaded trees can bring temp down and fan goes off.

By checking the leads, have you just checked connections, or done a test on resistance with a multimeter? If leads are of different lengths you do a simple calculation to check all is well. (I did this a few months ago and found one lead was shot) youtube:

My Crossflow prefers BP 97. Though 95 is fine if that’s all I can get.

Derek, I use it if I anticipate stationary traffic or city driving (and if I remember). Example yesterday on M25 backup. It gives you a little more ’margin’ though touch wood my 7 seems to be able to cope, what with new rad, larger fan and 74 degree thermostat all added over the last 3 years...I do have it wired to a yellow light which is just above my indicator light. This lights wether fan has switched on automatically or override. This gives me the reassurance the fan is functional. Also nice to see light/fan go off after a few miles of free flowing air. Proves everything is in balance, at least for now.

I’ve got Weber Alpha 3D mapping in my Crossflow. Paperwork tells me it was fitted by Chris Wheeler of the Seven Workshop near Ware. (Well known in Caterham circles. He’s on a Eurotrip right now, I was i the Dartford queue yesterday eve for an hour around 8pm, keeping an eye on temp. Very satisfied it sat at below 80, it’s taken a while to get temp balanced, larger fan, new rad after accident, new thermostat. Oddly previous owner left the distributor in after the upgrade, which I removed (seemed to help engine spin up better, and of course removed weight. A blanking bung for a classic mini and a mate made a ‘yoke’ to just nip the bung in (I believe it’s not entirely necessary, but belt and braces) Chris Wheeler recently did a bit of work on my car and tidied up a lot of the superfluous wiring, so might be worth contacting? (Sorry if not all relevant to your exact issue)

I’ve got Weber Alpha 3D mapping in my Crossflow. Paperwork tells me it was fitted by Chris Wheeler of the Seven Workshop near Ware. (Well known in Caterham circles. He’s on a Eurotrip right now,) I was i the Dartford queue yesterday eve for an hour around 8pm, keeping an eye on temp. Very satisfied it sat at below 80, it’s taken a while to get temp balanced, larger fan, new rad after accident, new 74 degree thermostat. (Worth checking these occasionally in a pan on the sink with a thermometer if in any doubt) Oddly previous owner left the distributor in after the upgrade, which I removed (seemed to help engine spin up better, and of course removed weight. A blanking bung for a classic mini and a mate made a ‘yoke’ to just nip the bung in (I believe it’s not entirely necessary, but belt and braces) Chris Wheeler recently did a bit of work on my car and tidied up a lot of the superfluous wiring, so might be worth contacting? (Sorry if not all relevant to your exact issue)

Halfords mesh, cut to shape, sprayed black Hammerite, Zip tied to 7 grille.

Generally rolled in its sheath, with golf umbrella tucked into loops. On tour I might use full hood bag, with lightweight tonneau rolled in as well. If showery on trip, rolled into boot, straps ready fixed for quick deploy. Never used full hood.

Its a balance isn't it? If they know you have cameras I'm sure it will act as a deterrent. I'm keen on keeping mine hidden as I want to leave it when parked up for short times and would be worried about it Being nicked. Today I'm going to experiment with front facing camera on rear bulkhead.

Do those box girder mirror arms whistle at speed ? Nope, or at least the rest of the car is noisier. Photo does make them look a bit bigger than reality. Mirrors are CNCd scooter mirrors with convex glass from Taiwan

The horn? Frankly I’ve been considering a bazooka.

JNC, true, hence why no GPS module fitted. I guess it’s the same if you film with a go pro. On balance, after a few incidents in 3 years, particularly when reversed into by a mini cab, whose first words were “you drove into me”... (his passengers disagreed), A couple of cars pulling out on me and recent close calls on mini-roundabouts where cars have just plowed straight on at speed. I like to think I drive defensively, sensibly, even questioning whether it’s not them, it’s me, in terms of recent incidents. Maybe it’s because I’m up in ‘that there London’...driving standards are atrocious. And that’s just my sister! I've recently had a spate of vans up my backside in traffic, as it were, to see the driver taking pictures on their phone. On my last ‘blat’ we were followed for a short time by a scooter, unplated, with two chaps on it... only on reflection did we realise they might be muggers, ready to swipe stuff. I was particularly keen to make the system as invisible as possible,

Front location, thinking about mount, wondering if behind grille might be an idea, or even between seats on rear bulkhead? Ill get a still of rear view, police car behind me.

I am a little concernd the rear number plate light may seep in to the lens, but I think a small shade made from tube will shield it, but will do a nighttime test soon

After being reversed in to and having a few close calls I decided to fit a dashcam. Requirements were good price and front and rear facing cameras, along with small size preferable almost hidden. I chose a motorbike system from China, using Alibaba. Link: http://Look what I found on AliExpress http://s.aliexpress.com/u2Mv26ru It took 2 weeks to arrive tracked, £13 extra duty charge and admin. It arrived with the optional switch to protect files on the move, which I didn’t order but came inbox anyway. It’s basically an unbranded VSYS C 6 system didn’t bother with satellite tracker module. The cables are long enough to stretch front to back in a Caterham, I’ve put unit behind passenger knee panel. Front camera uses hole for heated screen wires, very hidden. youtube clip: ​i fitted rear camera on number plate bracket, front I tried behind screen but decided tuck by mirror worked fine, using Sugru to fix, may review position. i wired in to my cutoff switch, so it records as soon as I turn on. I review it again after a night run.

Hope you weren’t too held up in the traffic. Looking great amongst all the mundaneoboxes.

I had an issue with the upgrade version but the seller offered to replace, diagnosed as a possible relay problem. The first kit I had without the on/off feature worked fine and was simple to fit, basically you piggy back it off the indicator switch itself with those blade type plugs that have an extra tab to piggy back another blade into. I like the way it’s adjustable so doesn’t beep for around 15, 20 flashes, so it’s your call if you want that feature with these units. So, my advice is if you already have a buzzer adding a micro switch to cut the buzzer itself might be easiest and cheapest. I fitted switch with tape and cable ties (thin ones) to the horizontal pedal mounting bracket so the lever of the micro switch is triggered by pedal push. The switch I got was under £2. https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F230788849314 ​you simply find buzzer and wire switch into it to cut power, the micro switch is marked with ‘normally on’ ornormally off’ circuits so very easy to figure out. Simple enough for me, as soon as you come off the brake it’s beeping again.