Strangely

Re: half doors fasteners coming loose. I tried a few things before settling on a Tenax fastener. Yes, it looks different, but there is absolutely no way it's going to let go. It's been on for about a year now, no problems.

Don't rule out the possibility of the radiator itself leaking. Often from the seams around the edges, but also from the main body of the rad. I think I'm on my third, soon to be fourth...

Paul, I know that this won't help (you), but I've been considering something similar, so thank you for saving me £110...

> just out of interest what your 7 like on the ordinary tyres, I take it the slightest prod of the throttle had you snaking down the road ? It was a standard 1.6K SuperSport at that time, so not really. Grip on the road, in the dry seemed fine. The steering was lighter. In the wet I felt like I had to tiptoe everywhere. The main benefits of moving to stickier tyres more suited to a Seven were: better braking, much better grip in the wet (perhaps surprising considering their lack of tread), and better grip on trackdays. They do grip better on the road, but most of the time my speed is limited by visibility, not grip, so that wasn't the most noticeable change.

Mike, I'm on a similar quest. I've "only" got 170 bhp (which I'm very happy with), and did have ZZS tyres in 185/55R13 on the front, and 215/55R13 on the back. The car felt dead. I've changed (back) to 175/55R13 CR500s all around, and have raised the rear ride hight to reduce the understeer. It's now quite nicely balanced, still not unruly, but it can be provoked at will around slow-ish slow corners. I'm not (yet) daft enough to try on the quicker ones. (I don't have an LSD.) I ran "ordinary" tyres for a few years before I switched to the stickier stuff, and I'm trying to resist going back -- they really are terrible. CR500s are the sweet spot for me: good grip, but not too much, excellent in the wet, they wear well, and very comfortable (probably down to other tyres' sidewalls being to stiff for a Seven). Jason.

I'm interested in the dampers. Where do the bottom of the rears bolt on / through? I also need to check whether the fronts woudl fit my car ('96 chassis, but it was rebuilt with a wide-track long front). Whereabouts are you? If someone else will definitely have them then please don't wait for me, but I'm keen, especially if you are local to me (near Reading).

EEK, TonyP, the visual test is only applied if the car is was amateur built before SVA came in 1997. I'd guess that the reason why the specific model that EEK mentioned is listed as requiring an emissions check, including kit-built ones, is because that type of engine (8th, 9th letter of VIN) was never fitted before SVA. >Seven Vauxhall 2.0i HPC 16v VIN Code S or K Engine Code VJ Engine codes VI and VJ are for Vauxhall engines, so I'd guess that VJ came later, post-SVA, so if the car has that engine then it must be new enough to require emissions testing, even if it was amateur-built.

If you've got the same kind of body-coloured filler cap as on my '96 K-Series car then if you remove the cap you'll see 2 (I think) screws. Undo these and the filler neck then comes away from the rear panel, which makes everything a lot easier (possible). You can see what I mean here.

I think you're jesting, but whilst 1A is enough to charge a phone, it probably won't be enough to keep the battery charged while also using something like a satnav app, and it also won't charge very quickly. I have something very similar to that Amazon one, but easier to mount on the bulkhead: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282589160579 The same thing is available cheaper, and I originally bought one, but the USB socket has just failed after about 14 months, so I bought this one to replace it. Lots of different listings (including that Amazon one) seem to have exactly the same 12V and USB sockets, but sometimes in different housings.

I bought one of these, and it was a straight swap to fit the new lens onto my existing body, which is the kind that hangs down from the back ('96 K-Series): https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00F9WTCEY/

The two Steves' road is well regarded, but I can also feel that this engine is much beefier than the 1.6 SuperSport that I ran before. It is possible that, at max power, everything is operating pretty close to its limits, but it's hanging together. If I was planning further upgrades then I'd probably have gone for bigger injectors and a new fuel pressure regulator, but I'm pretty happy with what I've got, and have no plans for more power. I've got other things on the car to fund :)

Nick, I've got an 1800 K with a DVA K04 kit which produced 170 bhp at the two Steves' rolling road. I think that's more than "a few BHP", but certainly there's a lot more power available if I pay a lot more money for porting and stronger internals. p.mole1: Steve was concerned about my fuel pressure being maxed out, and he "solved" it by squeezing / compressing the fuel pressure regulator, which made it generate a higher pressure. I'm sure this is a well known hack / bodge, but I can't really find anything useful on the web about it. Of course, it means that my current map is tied to the unique fuel pressure created by my regulator.

Re: jack. I bought one of these -- not that seller, but the same jack. It's low enough to fit under my quite-low K-Series sump, and it claims to go high enough to lift onto these mobile axle stands, but only just. I'm happy with it, apart from it being very heavy.

Mossy7, I found this to be very helpful, and I echo their recommendation of Perma-Grit tools, they made my job much easier. Cutting Carbon Fibre Sheet, Tube and Parts

Kingsley, I got 8,500 miles out of a set of rears (175/55R13). I don't have a record for the fronts, but my fronts generally last twice as long as the rear. For comparison, I got 3K / 6K with Yoko 032R and 6K / 12K with 021R. CR500 is my favourite Seven tyre by far, for the right balance of grip, wear, ride comfort, weight, and cost (once you take into account how long they last).

Excellent, well found

Mike, sorry if this is a bit Noddy, but I'd rather spell it out than you have to guess what I'm hinting at. Of the four connections on the back of the switch, two are the switch, i.e. they will be connected together when you push the switch, and two are for the LED. Of the two connections that are wired together to ground, one will be one side of the switch, and the other will be a leg of the LED. You know the switch works, because the car indicator comes on, right? So you should see about 12V between yellow and black when you push the button, or 0V if the button is not pushed. You should also be able to check for continuity or resistance between those: when the button is not pushed there will be no continuity / high resistance, when the button is pushed then there will be continuity / low resistance. If any of those are not the case, then stop because something really weird is happening. You should also see 12V between the red and black when the button light should be on. I'm not sure how that light should behave, but if it should flash then you should see the voltage alternating between 12V and 0V. I suspect that you will see 0V regardless, and that is why the LED isn't coming on. For the sake of sanity, do the same tests on the other button. If you can't see the resistor then you're going to have to just try it to determine, of the green and white wires, which is the switch and which is the LED. They should behave the same as the other switch, although this time you will see 12V across the LED when it is lit. Back to the switch we're interested in. If, as expected, you don't see 12V across the LED (between the red and black wires) when the LED should be lit, then you've got a problem somewhere along the wire. If you know where the other end of the cable is, then I suggest you go right back to there and check whether there is 12V between that point and ground. If not, then the problem may be with whatever is generating the signal to the LED. If there is, then you have a problem somewhere along the wire, and you will need to look along it to find the damage. You originally mentioned possible "connection problems related to the detachable wheel". As you can now see, the power for the LED is carried on a different wire to the switch, so it is entirely possible that the LED connection might be broken whilst the switch is working. If that is a known problem area then it would be worth checking first. Again, you can check for 12V on the relevant terminal on each side of the connector to see if it is getting across.

And I forgot to mention, my switches, and the ones that I pointed you to, have a threaded barrel that you push through from the front of the panel, then fasten on with a nut from behind. I can't see clearly on your photo, but it doesn't look like that, so it might be one of the type that has a plastic "finger" on the barrel, angled so that it gets pushed in as you push the button into the panel from the front, then it springs out to hold the switch in place from behind. So to remove it, you would have to find the fingers and squeeze them in, whilst pushing the switch from behind / pulling from the front. But I'd check the wiring to that LED first...

Mike, disclaimer first: I've never seen these switches on an R500. But, they look very similar to some that I bought recently. Take a look here, and at the datasheet linked from that page: https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/push-button-switches/0224883/ If it is that type of switch, or similar, then the light is an LED, not a bulb, and it's not replaceable. It's also very unlikely to have blown. On the first picture that you posted, it look like there is a resistor in series with one of the switch terminals -- it looks like a red cable with some black heat-shrink over the cable and part of the resistor. That's the power feed for the LED, and so I'd check for power and continuity along that cable first.

Simon Hoade has done this and and talked about it on the "Caterham - TechTalk" group on Facebook. I don't know whether he's here as well...

Finding a good earplug to match your ears is tricky. I bought some sampler packs of different types, like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00B1STC2C/ I settled on 3M EARsoft FX, and bought a pile of them from eBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3M-EARSoft-FX-High-Performance-Foam-Earplugs-SNR39dB/111123044912 Unfortunately, I did this after buying a couple of well-regarded expensive non-disposable earplugs that just didn't work well for me. Jason.

Paul, don't be afraid to play with the damper settings, they make a HUGE difference to the car. I only had lowly Avos, but I methodically adjusted them to find a setting that was ideal for me. There is a full write up here: http://strangely.org/diary/200208/Freestylehandingkit-fitte.html Basically, I adjusted all 4 dampers to be fully soft, then added 2 clicks to the front, drove it, then the back, drove it, and kept going like that until I found that it had got too stiff, then I wound it back a click or two. Have fun. I'd love some Nitrons (I'm back to non-adjustable Bilsteins at the moment). Jason.

Graham, when I was looking for similar, I ended up going to Track 'n' Road in Rainham, round the M25. It was a bit of a slog, but they did a very good job.

There's another on FB, James: Peter Rimer.

James, you have a PM :)