Graham Hutton

Just had a conversation with the specialist who is going to do a flat floor setup with me on my new 310r tomorrow. He threw some doubt in my mind about weight distribution when I mentioned wanting the front ride height about 10 or 15mm lower than the back. His concern was that it may be better to have more weight at the rear. SO, what do you all think about front to rear weight distribution? It was my understanding that most sevens are setup with about 15mm rake and you end up with close to 50/50 front to rear? As an aside, they do look a lot better with a little bit of rake too! Any thougts appreciated

So I'm off to get my flat floor setup next week and will report back. I'm comfortable that I know what I want to do with ride height, corner weights and tracking but what about camber? Does anybody have any wise advice on camber settings? My 310R is a road car predominantly but will do the occasional track day. ANy thoughts welcome. :-)

Thanks for all the suggestions people, much appreciated. In the end I was recommended a small garage on marsh barton called Volkscape that obviously started as a VW specialist but is in fact run by a drifter for which corner weighting is v important. I am booked in there in a week or so and he reckoned it would take 2 or 3 hours to do it all. He is also happy for me to hang around and be part of it which will be important as I need to sit in it for the measuring. I'll let you know how I get on but if it's good he may just have found another niche business!! G

Thanks Scott. I've asked Williams who sorted it out. Graham

Hi Everyone! I have run my new car for 300 miles now and am starting to think about getting someone to setup the corner weights and suspension geometry properly for me. I live in Exeter down in Devon and wondered if anyone had recommendations for someone in this part of the world that could do it? I'm keen to get it done right. Any advice appreciated.

Thanks Mcalvert. If I'm just going for a drive I usually wear my race boots anyhow because they are perfect for the job. I can't face getting out the car and going into a coffee shop in bright red and white alpinestars though :-) So there we are. If anybody wants to look out for someone with all the gear and no idea, I'll be at Castle Coombe for the Williams track day on July 27th. I might go the whole hog and get an F1 style cool vest and an assistant to hold my umbrella in the paddock!!!

A bit more info on my excitable rev counter as follows. When I built the car, the only thing that didn't work was the rev counter. I spoke to Caterham and they said they would get Williams to fit a new one at my PBC. Turns out there was no problem with the rev counter but they told me that two of the connectors in the loom were the wrong way around which they changed. Subsequently everything worked perfectly until yesterday. Any more thoughts still welcome :-)

I have just booked my first track day in July and have a really sad question....what to wear!!! I mean, if I rock up in a racing suit and boots will I look a complete bell end?

My rev counter started behaving oddly today with the needle jumping all ovber the place intermittently. It is a new 310R that I built and everything has been fine until today. Only done 300 miles so far. Anyone got any suggestions as to what to do other than give the plug on the back a good waggle?

Brilliant! Many thanks for sharing. I'm going to book.

are DuraTile floors the same as the ones from BigDug?

Wow! That is a lot of info John! Many thanks indeed. Given that DVLA tell me to expect a long wait for my V5 following their strike action I suspect I will have to delve into all of this to keep me from going mad whilst I wait. My IVA passed on 30th March and at this rate it'll probably be early June when I get to drive the car. Whilst writing, many thanks also for your terrific blog which is one of 3 that I used really extensively when building the car. It sure made it a lot easier. Graham

Thanks dswhite! That one looks brilliant. I had decided against the ones available on eBay because they don't work with the edge trim on the scuttle panel and I must admit that I kind of prefer my car with the edge trim on. Partly because it conceals the ends of the stick on stripes and also the horrible sharp metal flare out bit on the edge of the cockpit is protected. ANYHOW, your 3D print version looks perfect. What chance of getting a copy??? I'll remember you in my will. thanks a million Graham

I struggle with the logic of the inner front calliper nipple first too but it seems to work. I think the ideal sequence insofar as distance from master cylinder though is NSR, OSR, OSF, NSF because the pipe runs down the left hand side of the engine bay. Having said that, who cares as long as you get all the air out. When I built mine it took 3 goes with a pressure system to get all the air out including jacking the back up overnight with the pressure attached etc. Got there in the end though...

Thanks Nic, that was exactly what I was thinking. Looks really neat. Do you find you can see it and reach the screen OK as you drive along? I'll have a look at the other thread now. Many thanks both

Anyone got any great ideas about how to mount an iPhone for use as a satnav in the car without it looking rubbish? I quite fancy mounting it in front the gear stick with sucker mount onto the front of the heater or maybe to the left with a sucker mount onto the underside of the fuse box cover. I just want it to look neat. Anyone got any great ideas and/or pics of how they have done it? Cheers

Thanks everyone, that's all very helpful. I'm off to get a lead and prepare to waste many hours happily in the garage!

Many thank Tom I will do. I have a new 310R which I just finished building so I think I have an SBD motorsport ECU.

I've read with interest lots of posts about reading what the ECU is doing through something called easymap and I'm really interested to dive in and see how all the electrics are working on my car. However, I grew up tuning SU carburetors by filing the needle and jet profiles so don't really know where to start. I presume I need something to plug into the connector behind the big black bung in the drivers side knee trim. Any advice on what would be good hardware/software to start with on this? I'm sure I might be about to open pandora's box but it'll be good to learn about it all. Many thanks in advance, I'm bracing myself....

Great question, I have the same problem and also no answer! Hopefully someone on here can help

Many thanks Chris. It looks like everything is good and I am ready for the IVA then. Much appreciated Graham

Thanks Nigel, that makes a lot of sense as the picture in the Caterham guide doesn't look much like my alternator!! I'll get back to gluing bolt head covers on my suspension then!!! I'll be glad when the IVA is over, it seems worse than being pulled aside by airport security for a full cavity search!!!

I wonder if anyone can help? I'm getting ready for my IVA on Tuesday and doing the last jobs. The Caterham IVA checklist says I need to put a nut cover on the alternator but I can't work out where....or indeed why! Mine is a 310r with a sigma engine and all the electrical connections have proper moulded connections. any advice would be appreciated Graham

Thanks very much for the advice and I will definitely look that up. He enjoys his kart racing so getting him to drive a road car without sliding the back end into corners might be a challenge to start with!! Perhaps best if his first car isn't our Caterham though..... Much appreciated Graham

Hello everyone! I have just finished building my first 7 with my 12 year old son which has been a brilliant experience. Because of his age, i don't think that there are any track days where he could be allowed to be a passenger but we always go to the Silverstone Classic and it is our hope we can take part in the track parades that seem to always happen there so he can go out on a circuit. My question is whether the Lotus 7 Club always get to take part in the parades? Does anybody know? I have definitely seen them out on track but the Silverstone Classic says that car clubs only get to go out if there is an anniversary to celebrate etc. As much as I'm looking forward to being able to park up in the infield with all the other 7's, it'd be great to know if a track parade is likely. Oh, and does anybody have any other ideas of a track experience where my boy could be a passenger? Great to join the club, it was talking to other owners at Silverstone that finally gave me the nudge to get on and build my own. Graham