The_ASH

There were some here :- https://www.lotus7.club/forum/market-place/k-series-supersport-cams-eu2-only ​edit: opens eyes and notices you’ve already asked Dave so I guess they’ve gone.

Price does seem low for spec but miles are higher than many plus there does seem to be a bit of a log jam of cars for sale at the more affordable end of the spectrum at present so perhaps you are right. Nice car for the money, if an SV was what I was looking for I’d have taken your arm off at the shoulder Fixadent or not!

Cheers, I’d forgotten that thread even though I’d commented on/in it. I may be repeating myself but wish something similar existed to replace the K Series sender (which is expensive oem and not fantastic) and avoid changing to a capillary gauge.

JK - A lot of the info for Danfrost (as someone at work used to call them) is online, I think this is the info for the transducer here http://products.danfoss.co.uk/productrange/documents/industrialautomation/pressure-transmitters/mbs-1350-oem-pressure-transmitter-with-dual-output-and-pulse-snubber/#/

PH clickable link https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/caterham/all-models/caterham-sv-1800ss/8991702

I couldn’t have said it better myself. I owned 4 cars with K’s in spread over a 17.5 year period mechanically trouble free, no head gaskets, no noticeable oil consumption, the only real issue arising being a suspected MEMS ecu idle control problem on the very first car. The engine is relatively uncomplicated by modern day standards and the knowledgebase both here on Blatchat and in the wider Rover community provides a solid foundation of information and support to keep ownership cheap, simple and straightforward.

I notice this happens in the race motorbike world, one workaround seems to involve a wrist sweatband (like that used for tennis) or similar fitted around the cap so anything that comes out is absorbed and doesn’t spread.

BudJuggler who posts in these ‘ere parts has or had until recently the Caterham prototype fitted with (I think) the Toyota engine from an Elise, the car was for sale and at an ultra tempting price too, I assume it’s been snapped up. Drop him a PM I’m sure he’ll tell you more. His Ad is here https://www.lotus7.club/forum/market-place/unique-200bhp-sv-sale-reduced

Stu - No experience of that issue but experience of that and other F.I.R.E engines from 999cc upwards. Worth asking/searching here https://www.fiatforum.com might get you an answer/suggestion/tip OR asking a recommended non-franchised indie could solve things. edit: Often I’ve read that dealing with the modern Fiat dealer can be like walking through treacle, similarly Abarth dealers can be the same, if under warranty a Tweet, Instagram post or direct mail to them gets the problem sorted very quickly as the latter brand seems better monitored for bad PR, dealer seems to get told to stop dragging feet and sort it out.

Perhaps a warning for everyone in this that the carrier can still fail and is worth keeping an eye on. I notice that if one purchases a ‘Caterham Selected’ car you get free pre-trackday inspections for the term of your ownership, depending how/where you are located could come in very handy especially if the car is more highly powered. I hope the diff is ok, to a certain extent I don’t see why it shouldn’t be, I think the noises may well be various external parts touching (bolts etc) that normally don’t, if it’s loose and partly unsupported it will thrash about quite a bit when transitioning between loaded and unloaded.

The BMW diff has a carrier or subframe to adapt it to the chassis which is still engineered for a Sierra diff. Originally when these first appeared there were some failures and subsequent free re-call upgrades, as your car is a 620S I’d expect it to be after that period so have the latest version. I believe that after reading the Caterham blurb about the sub carrier it is important to visually check the whole thing regularly and also check integrity and tightness of all fixings as reading between the lines if anything works loose the carrier can fail as pictured. Always looked a bit of a half-arsed fix to me... why have they never fully engineered the chassis to directly accept the BMW diff. That said on ultra high powered Sevens the Sierra diff used to eventually fracture its mounts and require extensive re-brazing to rectify.

I thought the later racks (after the Mini ones) were Metro items sitting in the Caterham casting. I don’t remember the racks wearing at anywhere near this rate in a Metro or any other vehicle, points to poor design or crap quality or as has been suggested ignorance of the issue by Caterham as it’s good for recurring parts sales. Every Seven I’ve had bar the last one developed (or already had) a rattly end to the passenger side end of the rack. If Caterham won’t fix it is there a rack remanufacturer who can objectively look at the problem and sort a permanent or longer term fix to remove Caterham from the equation completely?

I’d expect a car from that era to have a badge like this attached https://www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/4589003870/in/photostream ​They are rare’ish now, I’d put an ad in ‘Wanted’ and see what pops up.

Do you still have an immobiliser, the engine start and run for a few seconds scenario you describe is what I remember would happen if the plipper wasn’t pressed before starting. As you’ve changed so many things this could be a red herring but worth a thought.

Just a thought but do you still have a windscreen fitted, I’ve always found with Sevens that the greater the screen drag as the speed rises has pretty much the effect on top end speed you describe, quick to a point and then ‘brick wall’, running with an aeroscreen after being used to the same car with full screen I remember getting to the point of triggering the bottom two or three shift lights in 5th (with a type 9 5 speed, 3.9 diff and maybe 130hp). My memory of what the shift light settings were is blurred but I think the first light would have triggered at 6300ish with the standard mems cut being at 6800 (I had Piper 633’s on a 1600K using the standard Mems 3 ecu, shift lights were Ecliptech from Oz best I’ve found).

Nice solution. It’s worth remembering that the pre-drilled hole in the back of the aero cap (not always present) acts as a tank breather and pressure relief often and on a long trip a situation where the fuel pump can’t pull against the lowered pressure from the tank having partially emptied and no air has been allowed in to take its place. A negative pressure when the cap is removed at fill-up after driving some distance is a pointer to this, in extreme cases I believe the cap can be unlocked but held in place appearing stuck. A lot depends on the state of the tank level sender gasket as when old and rotten some Sevens breathe through that (and leak fuel when the tank is brimmed) instead.

I believe PT Sportscars in Maidenhead can do panel repair/replacement themselves and have access to someone who does some of the best paintwork I’ve ever seen on a Seven.

Search on eBay for ‘db killer’ various items on there for reducing exhaust noise from motorbikes. Unit is inserted up end of exhaust small hole drilled in side of pipe for retention often.

WP - One of my more favourite YouTube vids. Have a link on me (He talks about the garage from about 6:10 onwards)A specific vid on the same garage here

Seem to be quite a few of those about on PH and Car & Classic £35,995 £37,750 £37,995 £POA (Please Overlook Advert? or Price Obviously Astronomical!) various colours and tarts handbag interiors, don’t think they’ll realise those asking prices unless someone urgently wants to launder some cash or some lottery winner is truly besotted... with a bit of research you could get a very fast Seven for £40k for track and touring.

Was in or just post en-gin-earring at the time, used to stuff that was screwed, bolted together, rivets always felt like a bodge as a/c ductwork contractors used them/the crappier manufacturers used them to mount stuff like condenser fans making my life hard when they failed (on the upside previous successful projects like the Spitfire, Lancaster & Queen Mary used them to good effect), didn’t possess a riveter before owning a Seven, so I had to buy a hand rivet gun (Draper I believe) to complete the task with the car sat on the jack at the front. Later I learned there are short and long handled riveters for different types sizes, compositions and applications.

Or as far as I can remember any pre-central handbrake chassis 93-94ish.

It’s a real snap/bang/elbows thing when the rivet finally lets go isn’t it!... I still feel/remember it 15 years later, much more than an ally one and I don’t think I had to do as many as you.

I’m surprised this doesn’t come up more often, the removal of the steel seat supports mentioned above means the floor and riveting takes it all. If the seat is forward and away from the rear bulkhead there is leverage backwards and downward which plays on the floor, if the seat back is against the bulkhead then most of the resultant flexing force is up/down, both will lead to failure eventually. There have been previous posts where lowered floors have stress cracked in a similar place along at the inside rear, I also remember seeing cars with standard floors where a crack leading off inwards towards the rear edge of the floor. I even remember seeing cars with the seat supports with cracked floors at the rear inner mount. If found at MOT depending on the tester it could be a ‘fail’ item, certainly worth checking for especially on the unsupported and lowered versions as any flexing of aluminium will eventually lead to failure and is something to think about next time you drop into the seat with a big thump... where did all that force go? I’ve always believed that Caterham’s deletion of the floor reinforcement bars was a mistake as it just means the inevitable will happen sooner. Equally I can see why they were deleted they were blooming heavy, question is which would you rather have heavy brackets or a 10/20 year floor replacement and the possibility of the rivets pulling out (and the potential for an embarrassing Fred Flintstone moment) as has been witnessed?

When I had my last Seven dealt with at Kmaps the guy there told me he had upgraded their ex-Academy 1600K by fitting a VVC head (with the VVC mech removed) and Supersport cams (other cams are available), standard EU3 mems ecu Kmaps mapped. It gave just short of 160hp (from memory) for a minimal outlay as you just need a good (above comments ref used parts noted) VVC head and possibly Ali intake plenum (and maybe the rh lower engine mount).