DJ.

Each to their own. I use my Seven mainly on the road, and I don't let rain stop me enjoying it. I organised a tour a few years ago and it rained for four days out of five. There was no way I could or even wanted to drop out and we had to drive though a lot of standing water. On days like that, I would happily trade a bit of outright grip for reduced chance of aquaplaning.

I have been using Uniroyal Rain Experts for a few years, and now have the Rain Expert 3. I went from ZV3 to aO21r to the Uniroyals. The Uniroyals are definitely better than ZV3s in bad weather, and even hold up ok on track days the way I drive my 125

Sorry to hear that. My Seven has the Ford diff, but just wanted to say you don't have to disturb the hub bearing to remove the driveshaft. I can't remember exactly how it is done, but it wasn't too bad a job. I would have thought a bit of goodwill from CC would have been appropriate considering your car is brand new.

I have a Sigma car, but I really don't like the way Caterham only fit an oil gauge. To my mind, the first thing you need is an oil warning light as the chances of spotting the needle drop when presssing on are pretty low. I fitted an adaptor with the original sender and a 21psi switch. The switch works through the cables provided for oil temperature. Not only is the light much easier to spot, but it provides a back up in case the sender fails, so you aren't left wondering if it is the gauge or the oil pump. Also, there is no damping in a switch/bulb set up, so if you are getting oil surge for short periods on track, the light comes on when the gauge might not move. Duncan

Give them a go and report back

For the Seven, I tend to think poor fuel rating is a good sign. It would indicate higher rolling resistance and consequently softer/grippier rubber. As our cars are so light, there isn't as much load on the tyres and the effect on fuel consumption is probably not as noticeable. Having said that, as Stephen says, fuel consumption isn't too important to me. Duncan

I have had acoustafil in for several years and it is lasting better that thethe original packing too.

I have Uniroyal Rain Expert 3 tyres on my Seven which I find a lot better than ZV3s. They have a similar pattern which is reversed on each side, and this is what the Uniroyal website says: Is it right that the grooves on one side of the car point upwards and on the other side downwards? Yes. The long, steep grooves on the outer shoulder of the tyres are designed to direct as much water as possible to the outside via the shortest way and therefore in shortest possible time. The RainSport 3 and RainExpert 3 are designed in such a way that the water can be drained in the direction of the shoulder, to the outside, as well as in direction of the deep circumference grooves. The angle in which they run has no impact on the aquaplaning performance and the driving comfort of the tyre. So it’s completely ok, and doesn’t change anything with the overall performance of the tyre, if the tread pattern seems to have a different orientation on either side of the car.

I'm still using the standard filter, so if you find a cheap and simple mod, I am interested

Hi James, Space is really tight on the left side of the engine, I can't see how it would be possible to get a large enough duct to the front, and you would still have to be behind the radiator. The Caterham airbox is quite an elegant solution and only involves the one hole and moving the battery. By the way, it is normal to be advised to search before you ask here unlike on some other forums Duncan

My Mot tester commented on how good my handbrake is. Unlike the one on my Lotus Elan that only worked on MOT day after I had adjusted it

Don't worry, as the handbrake acts on the normal brake pads, it is very unlikely to have done any harm

I am still happy with Uniroyal Rain Expert 3 tyres. Less than £50 fitted, great in the wet including standing water. Not as much grip as 888, but they are grippy enough to be fun Duncan

Yes that is the one I fitted to my Sigma. 0.7" bore, it was better made than the Girling one Caterham supplied. As I said on Facebook, I had a couple of occasions where it became hard to select gears, particularly when the car was hot. I moved the pedal stop about a 1/4 of an inch and it seemed to cure it. However a few months later I headed to Scotland and had lost the clutch by the time I reached Scotch Corner. The AA couldn't fix it so I was relayed home where I took the engine out to change the slave cylinder. However, the slave looked OK and after chatting to a friendly garage owner, he suggested the master cylinder was more likely to be the culprit. In the end, I changed both and when I installed it the pedal stop could be moved about an inch further up, so I don't think it ever worked properly. After you've checked the pedal is OK (!) I would change the master cylinder as it is very easy. The clutch should work well immediately. If it doesn't you may have to take the engine out to swap the slave and check the actual clutch plate and mechanism, but I hope you don't! Duncan

I had a drip from the pinion oil seal on my first Sierra diff from new, then replaced it with a rebuilt one to try and cure the whining. The new one dripped and whined in exactly the same way I couldn't face removing the diff again, so just decided to top it up every 2000 miles. It hasn't got any worse in 35000 miles, in fact the last couple of times I checked the level, it didn't need oil, so it may be getting better. It might be an idea to just keep an eye on the level and see how it goes, unless you have a driveway that will be damaged by oil. I have to admit that I do ask friends if they mind before I drive my Seven onto their property. Duncan

Hi, I was in the Yellow Seven going up the hill. Thanks for waving Sorry I didn't wave back, but I needed both hands on the wheel. Duncan

I have a softbits halfhood with the cover Jonathan mentioned. If the boot is full and/or the forecast is poor, I have the hood rolled up on top of the boot cover. With a good forecast and empty boot, I tuck the hood inside the boot, but keep the straps attached

You are right about access to the top bolt. I have removed my starter when doing the timing belt and found a very long extension allowed me to get to it, but I had to use a universal joint which made it a PITA. I plan to try using a ball ended allen driver next time. I think I remember finding the bolt wouldn't come all the way out as the head fouled on the starter. I had to undo all three bolts together and loosen the starter before I could get them all out. I can't help you with a part number, but last time I had a problem with a Citroen starter, a search for the code written on the unit brought up various rebuilt units on Ebay. I bought one for £35 rather than the £100 plus from Citroen and it worked perfectly for 5 years.o Hope this is helpful. Duncan

I have to admit to being mystified by this thread. Early on in the thread, I understood that the brake balance had changed, after a swap to uprated front brakes which have increased the pad area and over braked the front. However, later on it would appear that science tells us that pad area is not relevant to braking friction. Surely if this is true, the uprated fronts wouldn't have affected the balance. I suppose that the uprated fronts have different callipers, so the balance may be altered more by increased clamping force rather than pad area. I am interested to hear how you get the problem sorted. It's a shame you couldn't just have added a servo to reduce pedal pressure with the old set up

If it used to run well and has just started doing this then I wouldn't be looking at a remap. There are several possible causes, but I have had similar symptoms (from a different car) when the coil pack started to fail.

I was very glad my Seven was the standard yellow (called firecracker in 2010, but cargo yellow touch up is a good match) earlier this year when a minor accident damaged one rear wing. £138 later and the gel coat rear wing Caterham sent me matches perfectly

I think you will only get a long lasting improvement by having them sprayed. I recently damaged a wing and was impressed by how reasonable they are from Caterham, It was only £138 including vat, so that could be another option. I don't know how well they would match your colour red and if they fit an '87 car though.

I have used the Visibleed tube that attaches to the nipple, there is a valve in it and it does prevent fluid returning into the system when you raise the pedal. But I didn't like it for two reasons: 1 air can get back into the system by passing around the nipple threads when it is unscrewed, and 2. There is pressure left in the Visibleed tube so fluid come out when you take the tube off the nipple. I now use a Visbleed tube on the nipple end, but with the valve removed and the end under some fluid in an old milk bottle. I always used to use the old two man system of open nipple, pump pedal and hold, close nipple, release pedal and repeat. Now my daughters have grown up and don't want to help, I use the Esibleed with the bottle empty and the spare tyre pressurised to about 18psi. It is definitely the easiest method, I only have to top up the reservior regularly and occasionally pump up the spare

The only problem with headlights is if you are on dipped beam and the road has a bump, it can look like you are flashing your lights to let someone out. This is why some bikers ride with full beam on.

Hopefully you can see my running lights either side of the nose on my Seven above. I fitted running lights a few years back to stainless steel brackets I made to fit under the front top wishbone bolts. I wired them through two relays, so they come on/off with the ignition, but also go off when sidelights come on. They are very bright, so it is important they go off in the dark or at least dim. The ones I have fitted are these from Ebay (only £14) https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-3-LED-High-Power-Car-White-DRL-Daytime-Running-Light-Fog-Lamp-Waterproof-12V/311892101050?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649 If you buy these, please be aware that I needed to clean the mounting threads with an M3 tap before they were usable.