jamiegb

5pm today blue and silver XX02CAT heading towards Newton Abbot. On holiday?

Yup, that was us on the return leg of our 2300 mile tour from Devon to Durness (actually to Cape Wrath but last bit in minibus). Managed some great roads including Buttertubs pass, Teesdale to Alston, A93, Inverness to Ullapool and up to Durness, Applecross and Skye. Stopped off with number one son in Newcastle and it felt like they'd never seen a Seven there - cue photos with kids etc and a nice chat to your parents! Weather was kind pretty much all the way. Lots of waves from cars we passed (lovely tour of Daimler Darts on Little Loch Broom) but not another Seven in sight all the way. *wavey*

I once managed to fit the thermostat the wrong way round so found the car overheating after a short drive but didn't notice whether the heater was working or not. Might this explain things?

Hi David, Nice note on the screen reminding us of Le Sept - what a great holiday that was! Wondered if you were looking at the property market there.... Check out estura.co.uk if you've got the spare cash. We live close by and pop down for breakfast many weekends. Jamie and Chris

Should've read 7 in Braemar or LOS5T in Braemar. Nice to see you all there and really must bring mine up next time. Perfect Sevening weather so hope you all had a good run south. Jamie

Well every cloud has a silver lining. The Caterham outlet that TBird referred to actually has two locations, the old one for unmangling major chassis damage at the address on the website and their new one for race prep on the French race series just northwest of Ales at St Martin de Valgalgues at the Circuit France Polemechanics. The chief mechanic Benois had some shocks with limited track use in the back for €120 though they needed some fettling from mine to fit the Imperial chassis and all fitted for €55 including coffee! Then it transpired that they have the use of the circuit for 2 hours in the middle of the day so another €84 got me and Benois up to the track for 2hrs track time with 2 academy cars having tuition interleaved with some moto testing. The track is set up for caterhams nicely with varied curves and cambers and a corkscrew section. They have a race there this weekend for 70 French Academy cars so I fancy Benois will have plenty to do afterwards Result: 😬 😬 😬 😬 😬 😬 😬 Well worth a visit if in the Cevennes touring or in Provence. They had overalls and helmet free of charge as well. On y va !!!

Should be fixable tomorrow given that the competition outlet is nearby. Should allow some more fun in the Alps before the trip back via Annecy,Dijon, Orleans and Caen. 😬 😬

Thanks Tim Got there the same time myself. Everything is closed today (feast day) but will call them first thing tomorrow. Am at Uzes tonight which is unbelievably only about 20 mins from them!!! Jamie

Hi guys Just back from a spirited drive on D9 in the Cevennes without a hitch till spotted a drip from offside front shock. Currently 2 weeks and 2000 miles from planned end of trip back in UK. Previous threads suggest replace soon but how safe is it limping along as the oil gradually drains out!!! Is there a Caterham supplier in the region around Avignon, should I get some shipped out, should I try to get an alternative and if so where??? Thanks in anticipation Jamie Edited due to spillcheck error! Edited by - Jamiegb on 20 May 2013 17:44:46

My car nearly failed its SVA test with that sort of speedo error. Then I found out that you can change the speedo settings to account for different gearbox output and tyre size using the rubber button on the speedo. A call to Caterham reduced the speedo error from your 10% to about 1%.

Saw you parked up at Overbecks. Come and join the fun in the morning for the Devon Cream Tea Run up to Lynton. Starts at Whiddon Down services east of Okehampton at 1030. All welcome! Jamie

Taking a well deserved break in Totnes. For shopping therapy?

If its anything like what we used on radio controlled car racing then it would seriously reduce the life of the tyre on a road car. Fine for getting some more life out of well used track tyres though.

Heading out towards Newton Abbot about 4pm, yellow and ally with twin black stripes. Jamie

I would suggest checking battery condition first, especially if cold turnover is slow

Simple test for shorting out:- wait till tonight when it's dark, fire her up and keep the lights off while you look at the coil packs - blue lightening suggests a problem of shorting out - a bit like a van der graff generator at school physics lessons! Probably not a good idea to go prodding with bare fingers at this time.Turn engine off and turn lights on before investigating further... You may just need to tighten the connector nut on the top of the spark plug and push the coil pack firmly back on. When mine worked free it was carbonned up inside the connector so used some wet and dry paper to clean up though eventually fitted a new coil pack as there was some ongoing intermittent shorting Jamie

Good idea Shad. It looks like the end fixing would fit the top of the pedal anyway and the throttle end has fixings for the Jenveys from Dave Andrews - a bit fiddly but doable. I'll check the cable out first. Many thanks

Planning Europe tour and ought to get a spare throttle cable. Anyone got one lying around after selling car or converting to duratec??? Many thanks Jamie

Hi Rob Other tips from my experience: Jack car as high as possible to get good access for re-rivetting the new floor Use old chisel to remove rivets from old floor - much quicker than drilling the rivets Mark the old floor from underneath before removing to give guide to remove the strip which then fits back under the sideskin to stop deformity when replacing rivets. I used a jigsaw to trim this strip off but some use a scoring with Stanley knife and bend to fatigue technique. Squirt waxoyl through the rivet holes before fixing the new floor to stop rivet heads rattling Use a punch to push the rivet heads into the chassis rail after removing the old floor trial fit the new floor and adjust as necessary - different templates are available and some foul at the rear end and may need fettling Get another pair of hands to help when offering up the new floor so that you can drill the lateral edge between the inner sideskin and the chassis rail using the existing holes in the inner sideskin apply silicon sealant as sandwich at front and propshaft sides of new floor prior to rivetting You may be able to use the old floor as a template for the seat mounting positions in the new floor but you should also have some strengthening bars between the seat and the lowered floor - not present in every case but worth fitting Get number 1 son to help with fitting the stainless steel rivets (NOT your ordinary rivets) unless you have a compressed air rivetter or else your wrists and forearms will tell you all about it the next day!! Have fun Jamie

Red followed by blue/ali heading north to A93 funlands methinks about 1030. Also 2 yellow cats in layby south of Perth heading towards Stirling but doing some spannering??? Also Yellow with black wings heading north on M6 near J17 Lots of other classics seen as we headed south from Balmoral area down to South Devon! Jamie

Thanks for the "spotted" Brian. Didn't realise 'twas you in the 500 flashing madly! We'd just been for a glorious blat up to Rosemoor - love that A3124 past Winkleigh 🥰 Jamie (also known as Fluff or Beardy)

I too used a large screwdriver in the UJ - just watch out for the grease nipples as they can be damaged - an extra pair of hands is helpful here! Jamie

Rather than threading it through the wingstay I simply cable tied the sheathed wires to the front of the stay so that the wires were protected from stones thrown up from the tyres by the wingstay itself. 17000 miles later and still no problems. It can be a bugger removing wires later (viz the headlamp wiring) if the sheath is threaded all the way through the stay as the sheath tends to adhere to the inside of the stay. Jamie

When fitting my front support bracket following the Powerspeed exhaust bulk buy I enquired about this of Arch. They said that the bush was fitted in pretty much every chassis (not sure why they wouldn't do this in terms of keeping production simple). They also confirmed that it should be located 800-805mm in front of the rear mount centre to centre. Powerspeed also made up the bracket for me but it would be easy enough to get one made up locally. I drilled a small pilot hole to locate the bush before drilling out then finishing carefully with a rat-tail file. Seemed to work fine. Hope this helps Jamie Yellow R300 with some DVA wizardry for extra fun.....and Gromit of course 😬

Forms sent yesterday Geoff so should get to you this week Jamie