The_ASH

I've had a similar annoying rattle getting worse for the last 2 or more years on my 2012 metric K engined car. I had tried and tried many times to trace the noise which only occurred at about 1800 to 2400rpm and seemed to be coming from the area under the dash, obviously it never did it when I had another person to hand and mysteriously went away when I went hunting under the bonnet for it. This summer it irritated me to such an extent on one blat that on returning home I decided to continue looking until I'd found it no matter what... transpired it was the bonnet tapping/chaffing on the plastic intake plenum, a search on Blatchat confirmed I'm not alone and that there are indeed 2 different driver side engine mounts for a K series one slightly lower than the other, seems on a Metric car the mount intended for cars with the ally plenum is req'd... only took 2 1/2years to find out! Car now largely silenced apart from the correct noises :-)

I notice the Caterham offering doesn't have quite enough clearance to stop the end of the front stub axle rubbing on the back of the cap, also the plastic they use is just a bit too brittle so often the attachment prongs break off rather too easily so a design with 5, 6, 7 or even 8 tabs would stop the car trying to self-lighten by shedding caps on a regular basis.

Probably bleeding off boost over a certain pressure so general power still available but ultimate horsepower missing, certainly good for your transmission components but bad for acceleration, as the Seven is so light it probably doesn't feel that bad but in a heavier car it would really be felt.

I'd try tyre pressures first (I've never run 20psi cold on a Seven) and then if it's still there try up one step on the rear arb. You have all the right kit and plenty of adjustability it's just a matter of getting the settings that suit your driving style (which is also adjustable). Be methodical about the changes, adjust one thing, if it's worse return to original and start again, perhaps keep written or vlog notes at the time.

Glad you found the problem and fixed it for pence not many many pounds! Puzzling as to why there seems to be some drag on the shaft of the turbine but looking at the many Japanese vids of them on YouTube they all seem to be like that so maybe for once TADTS (They All Do That Sir) rings true. The pipe probably has failed due to heat although I'd expect it to get hotter under the bonnet of a Kei car than a Seven so is the pipe something Caterham and not Suzuki have supplied and of a lower quality? Be careful not to fit too much shielding as you may hide the next failure (if it happens) and make it harder to find or complicate diagnosis of same. This failure underlines how important the turbo is when the engine it's attached to only has 3 cylinders and displaces just 660cc... the slightest leak and you are bleeding power away.

9 years! as above must be some kind of record. Remember the Banner battery on a Seven is not maintenance free, it's worth checking the electrolyte levels every now and again. To check all you need is a 2p piece (to unscrew the caps) and a torch plus if you are feeling safety conscious some eye protection.

The subject is discussed here http://www.alcester-racing-sevens.com/ecu_converter.htm

As I've said elsewhere, it's the ultimate 1400 Supersport (more a 1400 Hypersport really as it's a step further). Cheap road tax and all that go!

Excellent, I notice quite a few on eBay with fan cooling did you have to ventilate the lamp pod to allow a bit of air circulation.

Cheers JK, I'd forgotten Google outperforms the built in site search.

Can you confirm this is the Demon Tweeks page to choose the various options here https://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/headlights/cibie-5-34-inch-e-approved-headlight-conversions and for your lamps you chose the options 'flat', 'with sidelight' and 'main/dip beam H4' Very interested in these as the Caterham standard offering is awful and in dip mode verging on dangerous and reminds me that my MOT man is constantly trying to aim their height correctly every year because the dip beam is so rubbish giving confusing results on the beam tester. Can someone post a direct eBay link to the LED's as I don't have access to the 'book of faces'.

BTTT for the weekend. edit: Now SORN'd, maybe it'll be back on sale in the Spring and then again maybe not. Thanks for all the messages, interest and offers.

It should also be remembered that the sender units for the oil pressure gauge wear with time (sometimes read low from new) and it might be that the lower reading is coming from that. I'm sure someone will be along to suggest fitting a mechanical gauge any moment but a new sender might do the trick.

There does seem a large number for sale at the moment, all cars I'd look at if mine was to sell as an alternative to handing £22k to Caterham. And now the question arises... do I SORN it this coming weekend or wait until the tax expires in a months time... reaches for weather crystal ball here.

You wouldn't want an Elise with a bad back, it almost crippled me and yet a Seven with Tilletts is I find the most comfortable place in the world. Back problems come in all shapes and sizes though. Also the Elise was without that sense of occasion that comes with driving a Seven, like it had no soul.

BTTT & final price adjustment, below this I can't afford to build the car I want as Caterham have put their prices up (£21k+ for a 160S kit... are you mad?... I surely must be!). Will SORN, keep and modify the car if it doesn't sell.

Nice car with all the right bits on, perhaps the 'ultimate' 1400 Supersport.

BTTT & price revised.

2012 Caterham 7 1600 Classic Roadsport Vintage Green with Yellow nose band and stripe (Classic Lotus Colours). 6900 miles MOT May 2018 1600 Rover K series 120hp. 52mm throttle body. Recent Kmaps ecu remap (highly recommended). Black silicone hoses. De-Dion Metric S3 chassis. 5 Speed. BMW open Diff. 14 inch Minilites with Avon ZV3 tyres. Cloth Seats. Lowered floors. MOMO 260mm leather steering wheel or original Motolita if you prefer. Carpet in cockpit area & boot plus Caterham rubber footwell mats. Trackday or Standard Rollbar whichever you prefer. Unused full hood & Oxted Shower cap. Recent replacement Banner battery. A lovely, seemingly almost new, very standard and very 'fresh' looking unmolested car, which would make an ideal first or second Seven and is perhaps spec wise like a Roadsport 'lite' (similar to that model except no leather seats), so would be a nice car to start out with or an almost blank canvas to modify. The combination of the Rover K and Metric chassis is said by some to be an excellent match. Car drivability improved/transformed by recent Kmaps ecu remap. £16,000 ono. Offers invited from private or trade, considered as long as you are a club member. For pics or more info etc contact me via 'send author a message' club mail system below. edit: Car is now on SORN for the Winter, so road tests not possible unless buyer is genuinely serious about the car and although the car is pretty much withdrawn from sale I'm still open to offers.

Yes, you can't beat a good honest MOT, it is after all a safety inspection, my present tester is excellent and the best I've ever had, some I've had in the past have been of they type where I know more about the car and what to point out than they do. I hope James isn't retiring but I guess it's inevitable eventually.

I meant quite the opposite, the specialist indies are usually very good and understand what's required. With back street garages a lot comes down to trust, yes some are good relishing the chance to work on a nice interesting car but equally some don't understand the Seven at all. Years ago I took one of my Sevens to a garage in Abingdon for an MOT, I used them for repairs on my Passat, didn't trust them fully so stayed with the car whilst it was tested, they'd never seen one before and asked lots of stupid questions, it passed emissions with the probe on the floor, I'd never have them work on a Seven. On another occasion they left a front suspension rear pivot bolt partially unscrewed on the Passat, hamfisted knuckle dragging monkeys, I never used them again. Take a look at JW's nightmares section on his website for some examples of what he's seen, frightening at times. Here :- http://www.jameswhiting.com/page6.html

I think nowadays we are very lucky to have so many excellent Independent places who can repair our cars when time, ability or space are in short supply. JW of course is 'time served' with the Seven and has spent a good chunk of his life driving, racing and repairing them, even producing a short production run of his own cars, he deserves some kind of award or medal.

I used that exact charge controller on my now disassembled solar charging setup. Basically 30w's worth of solar and a 70ah leisure battery, later it morphed into 45w's of solar. It all worked ok but as with many things the more you pay the better you get. The setup you describe should be more than enough to keep a Banner battery on a Seven alive even in Winter, the main and most important thing to remember is to regularly check the electrolyte levels, my main memory of my setup was that when charging the quickest way to check if it was all functioning was to to listen to the battery fizzing away, the sunnier it was the more ferocious the fizzing! MPPT controllers are more efficient than the PWM type, the controller you've listed used to be listed as MPPT on eBay... it isn't it's a PWM and is the same as another controller that can be found for 99p on the auction site, I think I payed £6 for mine. Anyway, keep checking the electrolyte and that on really sunny days that the battery isn't getting warm by 3pm'ish and all should be fine.

I initially observed the VW marking under the bonnet that says to only connect to battery positive and chassis earth (which is not connected direct to battery negative), if I connect the Optimate to the car a small fight eventually breaks out between the chargers programming and the cars max volts limit (full charge is achieved however) with other non-intelligent chargers and especially solar chargers which in some cases attempt to raise the dc to 20 something volts, with a volt meter it can be observed that the battery voltage never crosses 14v. Something in the background is acting like a solar charge regulator.

I've used several different small solar panel chargers to keep my Golf alive during long periods of inactivity (3/4 weeks). It seems on that car the voltage regulator remains active all the time as long as whatever input voltage is connected to the battery positive and chassis negative (not direct to battery negative), presumably this is mainly to protect the electronics in the car from exposure to voltages above a certain amount, it does seem to protect the battery from being boiled dry but then it is a maintenance free item and I'm not charging it for long periods. I guess as the electrical system on a K Seven is older the voltage regulator built into the alternator only operates when the ignition is on, can anyone confirm this?