Tony P

Agreed. A routinely-available cobalt drill bit - and a bit of care - should be ok for a regular-ish fastener. I don't see why stainless is so preferable over a quality, plated item in this instance. What material will it be in contact with?

LAS Aerospace** have what you are looking for in UNF and UNC sizes (though not stainless, obviously); they are agents/distributors for a host of brands and obscure (to car folks) stuff, so they might be able to find something for you if it has to be metric. (Six 1mm holes in an alloy M5 alloy caphead wouldn't leave a lot of 'meat' in the screw head...) (**I've had excellent service from them in the past on small orders.)

I weighed a lot of different wheels and tyres some time back; I’ll see if I can still find my notes. (From memory an ACB10 was at least as good a weight saving as a mag wheel; but I can’t recall the detail.)

Do let us know what you go for, David - and how it works out for you.

I have a corded Dremel (I forget which model, but it wasn’t especially cheap). I can’t say I’ve been delighted with it: it’s a bit clunky and the speed control is very notchy and could do with a finer control at the slow end of things - and for some kinds of work won’t actually go slow enough. Somewhere between “marginally above mediocre” and “crap” would be my judgement, depending on my mood and the task I’m asking of it. If it had the extra convenience of being cordless I might forgive some of its shortcomings, but a lot of the time I imagine a cheap lookalike would do pretty well in comparison. (Re. The collets, you can get a small Jacob’s-style keyless chuck for a Dremel which is a lot more convenient. If your intended use is more at the smaller scale, precision end of things, I’d take a look at a Foredom - but that’s a whole other level or two of expenditure. The Proxxon products have a good rep amongst modelmakers and model engineer hobbyists. (And the supplier quoted above - Axminster - are, in my experience, a delight to deal with. If you’re into woodworking, a visit to one of their big stores is a treat. But leave the credit card at home.)

In respect of the options suggested on the previous page, do bear in mind that (Toyo) R888 and R888R are different tyres. I’d have thought the R888R rather too ‘extreme’ (dry weather, track focused) for your use. I had, briefly, a set of almost new ZV3s on a set of 14-inch wheels that I’d bought secondhand. I’m struggling to think of any tyre I’ve used that wouldn’t be an improvement over ZV3s. After nearly thirty years of Sevening on goodness knows how many different tyres, they would come bottom of the list (below the old Eagle NCT from the early 90s). Choose carefully and you’re in for a treat...

I don’t think I’ve seen an alternative part. I just cut away some of the panel and rolled the new edge, using a thin dowel as a former. (I figured that new edge was likely to catch the side of my kneecap when getting out). (I subsequently relocated the master switch entirely, though.) If you plan on attaching the panels semi-permanently, you might want to create enough room to get a spanner or socket in there, in case you need to disconnect to tighten the large terminals at some point in the future.

I've always done the same as Elie. I don't think I'd ever want to jack via any part of a wishbone, whatever anyone says - seems like a really crude, hooligan thing to do.

There is - or at least used to be - a folded metal bracket available, which fitted into the channels inside the scuttle edges, where if is fixed to the top rail; that bracket having captive nuts, for cars that didn’t already have them. (Actually, I think they were made available before they became a standard figment, but you get the idea...)

I have the breathing arrangement you describe (in one end, out to the catch tank from the other); the rocker cover was tapped (from memory; James Whiting did mine, but it was a long time ago...). Alternatives are awkward: such as using what is, in effect, a bulkhead fitting (difficulties being finding one of appropriately modest depth, since such a thing would normally expect another hose fitted to the other end - and making damn sure that any locking nut cannot come loose, though you could modify the fitting) or welding a shallow nut around the hole on the inside (assuming you have access/ability to weld alloy - and a nut of the appropriate thread for your fitting). Or I suppose you could just weld the fitting on, perhaps? Any other ideas, anyone?

My car is 'Imperial' (1990-91 originally); the setscrews holding the screen frame to the stanchions were, I'm sure, M5. I replaced them with countersunk hex-socket screws when I made some simple plates that would allow me to mount mirrors on the stanchions with or without the doors fitted. I had a large stock of various M5 stuff at the time and don't recall buying anything special for this. If I get a chance today I'll take a look and check (my memory might be failing...).

Getting back to the original question... mine were M5.

Ah… or should that be Doh! I was just thinking about not wanting the locus of the crank journals to be ploughing through the oil - I forgot all about the oil pick-up! My old, standard Caterham dipstick, (c1991 issue), measures 214mm from the mid-stick ferrule (that bears on the stop near the base of the tube) to the end of the ‘blade’ reading end; the top ferrule, which ’stoppers’ the top of the tube, is 240 mm above the ‘stop’ ferrule. Don’t know if that’s what you need. But I’d be tempted to start with a known/correct amount of oil and work backwards from that… I imagine the only important thing is that the stick seats firmly in the tube without bottoming-out in the sump, and the bottom end is deep enough to be in the oil - and put your own mark on it to match the level with your preferred amount of oil in. However, on my present form I’m possibly missing something else vital (no jokes please…). I think I normally have a little but more oil in that that, but not much. After venting the crankcase breather into the rocker cover (and other end of the cover vented to catch tank) - another JW recommendation of the time - I get very little ever reaching the catch tank. Re. the alloy sump… I’ll probably have to review the amount of “stuff” I hoard, as I may be losing my Dad’s garage space, so I’ll certainly let you know if I need to have a ‘cull’. I still have a Xflow flow in the Seven - hence my continued hoarding of such things.

<< but regardless of sump shape or design the oil level should have a relationship with the bottom of the block.>> Not sure I follow that (?) I'd have thought that shape, design or capacity all affected block-to-oil surface; have I misunderstood you?

Not quite sure where you want to measure to or from on the stick, but... I have a Caterham-issued wet-sump Supersprint Xflow engine sitting in my Dad's garage - I can measure it later today if you don't reach a conclusion in the meantime. I didn't have to replace the dip-stick when swapping to a James Whiting alloy sump (on the engine now), or having to shorten the original dipstick (though I may have ground a new mark onto it after putting in the appropriate/desired amount of oil). The dipstick is a tight coiled type (like an old-fashion curtain wire) with a flat blade at the business end. The tube is as you described, above. (In the past someone here mentioned - or should I say, blabbed? - that I had a small 'stockpile' of James Whiting alloy wet sump pans... To pre-empt any questions - it is true, but I don't really think I want to get rid of any of them. At least, not at the moment...)

Maybe it was the boot floor that I removed (rather than the tank); does it it look like that might help, if it would come out from above?

I think the Alcester example is the set-up that SM25T describes, above. Doug's looks like one of three variants that my car has had over time: low-slung forward-facing (the original type with continuously adjustable links with rose joints); low-slung rear-facing, as above); and mounted under the inertial reel boxes, as per Doug's pictures. For that version I have a (hazy) memory of taking the fuel tank out...

Excellent work, Jonathan! I must confess that, when I posted, I had not considered the limitations that 'not having four axle stands' might impose on one's options, should that be the case...

I wouldn’t want to put the jack under any part of a wishbone at all. I’ve seen people put the jack under the bottom of the upright - but that only works with a trolley jack with a ‘cup’ rather than the tiny top of the scissor jack. You could put a stout length of wood (a long-enough pice fits into the boot) laterally underneath the lower cruciform of the chassis (do recent cars have that feature in the spaceframe?) and jack the car up centrally from underneath the wood. If you’re going to do this “in the field”, so to speak, I’d place the/a spare wheel in a suitable place under the car while it’s ‘up’ - then if the car does fall off the jack you will have a)less chance of damaging the car, b) less chance of crushing a hand or limb, and c) some space from which to retrieve the jack and start again.

Apologies if I'm missing something in your particular needs, Stephen, but what's wrong with raising the car entirely, front and rear, and settling it on 4 axle stands?

If you have a 4-into-1, aren't 2 and 3 conjoined at the cylinder head end? Could there perhaps be a crack (around the weld near the top perhaps) hidden by the wrapping? Mysterious...

I've never had any trouble at all getting a fit and seal with the Eezibleed kit - though I have had better/easier results with someone to help and pressure applied via the pedal.

I don't think there's the slightest need for embarrassment; you pic was for reference, not the art gallery!

I think it's the end of the wrist-strap of a camera, with a plastic tag on the end, The part that looks like the handle of the 'torch' would actually be the two sides of the looped strap - the 'highlight' being the gap between the two (you can see a glimpse of the yellow bodywork between the two). Were you holding the camera case, or something else, in your other hand whilst taking the picture?

Decent hair...