Ken Sailor

I've never read or heard anywhere that the VIN number was stamped on the frame of any of the Lotus or Caterham 7's, although anything's possible. The impression I have from what I've read - and photos I've seen of the Lotus factory - is that the frames Arch produced for Lotus were piled up, helter - skelter, all over the place. Some were even stored in a pile outdoors. I would think that Lotus would have taken them off the pile at random. I guess that what I'm trying to say is that there would't be any corralation between frame numbers and VIN numbers so that IF the VIN number was stamped on the frame it would have been done by Lotus when they partially assembled the chassis portion of the kit car. It just doesn't seem very likely to me. Ken Sailor

I have a RHD 1979 Caterham and I believe it's Arch Motor's FRAME number and those for the Lotus Series 2 and 3 all all in the same place, i.e. on the cross member at the top/front of the drivers side footwell near where all the pedal pivot points are. On my car this is a piece of angle iron. The FRAME number is stamped on it. Mine reads 'AM......" By CHASSIS number I assume you mean the VIN number which, on the early cars is normally stamped on a black faced plate riveted somewher near the heater (it's in slightly different places on different 7's I've seen) Ken Sailor

Jimchap: I used a US product called Thermo Tec to insulate the foot wells of my Seven. They sell one that's adhesive backed. I used it on the engine side of the foot wells. There are probably similar products available in the UK from places like Demon Tweeks. There's been some posts on heat shields/barriers so a search on BlatChat should pull up some alternative products and sources. Ken Sailor

Is everything on the ignition circuit working (electric fuel pump, etc.)? I had a similar problem recently when my ignition switch went wonky and worked sometimes and sometimes not. Ken Sailor

This might work here Ken Sailor

I've streightened them with a flat head screwdriver and a lot of fiddling but if I'd known about this gadget I would have bought it! Ken Sailor

If you want to know how to bake a cake, ask a baker. If you want to know how to store tires, ask a tire maker here Ken Sailor

1979 X-Flow. Rear exhaust. Standard windscreen. Always drive without soft top or Tonneau cover. Never smell exhaust. Ken Sailor

There's some info here There was a California S4 owner who was also putting together a parts list. He posted on BlatChat not that long ago. Worth a search. Ken Sailor

Scalper, there's a bunch of photos of clutch release bearings here that will give you an idea of what it is. Additional suggestion as to what you can do while the engine is out of the car - there are a number of posts about applying heat shielding to the engine side of the foot wells and inside the gearbox tunnel. The foot well of the Seven can get pretty hot and uncomfortable in hot weather! Ken Sailor

Peter C: The radiator paint I mentioned was in response to Ferrino's problem of painting a radiator that had flaking paint and his concern about clogging up the spaces between the fins. The radiator paint here that I used was thinner than regular paint and was heat resistant. Don't know anything about heat transfer. Ken Sailor

I repainted mine with a radiator paint I got from Eastwood here in the US. Same kind of company as Frost so they probably have it also. Not 'gloppy' at all dispite my liberal spray technique too. Ken Sailor

A member of the Golden Gate Lotus Club reskinned his Series 2 and posted info on how he did it, what type of alum. and rivets he used here. Ken Sailor

I found an article by Frank Michaux in the July 1997 issue of Low Flying that had, what seems to me, a good solution to getting air into the footwell. He took, from a Mark three Escort's dashboard, the far right and far left fresh air intakes with their plastic pipes and put one into each footwell. Drivers side was installed in a cutout he made behind the pedals with the vent angled downwards. The vent was held in place with silicone sealant. He claimed he had no water leakage. Any reason why this shouldn't work? Could be sealed with duct tape for the winter. Ken Sailor

I took a look at Weale's book also. The two axles look similar with some differences between the diff. casings that are hard to discribe. However, the diagrams in the book show a square plate at the outer ends of the axle for the Ford type. This is the plate that the brake assembly is attached to. The diagram for the Ital axle shows round plate at the axle ends. Ken Sailor

A word of praise for Silkolene, US. I typed Silkolene into Google and the Silkolene Shop was hit number one. Very easy site to use and order from. Lots of info on the site too. Out of curiosity I also looked at Mobile 1’s web site. Useless! I had looked in five different stores and found that they all carried only 5W30 and 10W30 which seem to be the grades recommended for modern tin tops. Mobil’s web site offered zero help in obtaining anything different. Also tried Redline. They do list which stores carry their oil but, as with Mobil, the stores don’t carry their full range of products. Red line does, at least, give mail order sources for their oil but only one of them carried the 5W40 that I want. So, kudos to Silkolene. Ken Sailor

1979 CrossFlow so my gearbox tunnel is a bit different than later models [more space around the gearbox - no tubing]. When I had my Seven in the UK the footwell was hot enough to melt rubber shoe soles [not true, but it sure felt like it]. During the restoration I applied heat wrap around the exhaust pipes and Thermo-Tec [the self adhesive one they claim blocks radiant heat up to 2,000 deg. F] on the engine side of the foot wells and on top of the foot well where the clutch/brake mechanisms poke through. Note that early cars don't have a pedal box. I didn't insulate the inside of the gearbox tunnel and wish I had. The amount of heat in the footwell has been reduced considerably. It's still warm, but no longer unbearable and it does get warm here in the summertime. So, I think the first step anyone should do to cool things off is to add insulation between the footwell and the engine. Easy to do and not expensive. The second step would be to get any heat build up inside the gearbox tunnel out of the tunnel. It looks like Richard in France's method has a few problems. I couldn't understand why Oliver Sedlaceks method of getting the heat out of the tunnel didn't work [NACA duct in the floor of the tunnel] until I looked at his photos again. I don't think that having the large open scoop facing forward inside the tunnel would really suck much air out. I think that a rearward facing scoop that protruded below the floor pan would create enough turbulence/suction to suck the hot air out. This could easily be blocked off with some duct tape for winter driving. I’ll probably put this on my list of winter upgrades. Third step, if the above two don’t do it, would be to get fresh air into the footwell using one of the suggestions in previous posts as long as it could be blocked off for the winter. For my Seven, I don’t feel the need to go this far. Ken Sailor

Those diagrams are also at the back of the Series Two, Three & Four Seven Owners Manual that, I think, Redline sells along with some book dealers. I think that most of the wiring hook ups can be figured out with the diagrams and a multi-meter. I don't know what you do with a tach that has 2 white wires going to it though - one from the oil pressure gauge and the other from a resistor that's wired to the coil and the starter solinoid. Unless it doesn't matter which way around there attached? Ken Sailor

There was a post on this a couple of days ago here Ken Sailor

Interesting how many materials are used to make gear knobs. Do you think the choice of material says something about the personality of the driver? I have a round wooden one with a Caterham insert on its top. Not cold on early winter mornings and a very nice tactile 'feel' to it. Looks good too! Ken Sailor

I think it is frowned upon. There's a fine line here somewhere but I don't think Oilman has crossed it. He seems to be pretty objective. Certainly all the info he's provided has been very useful and will enable us to choose among, not only the oils he deals in, but others as well. Ken Sailor

1979 Ford CrossFlow rebuilt and bored out to 1700cc approx. eight years ago. Road use only. Not thrashed about. Infrequent use during the winter (2 to 3 weeks between start-ups). Kept in heated garage. I like your idea of a seperate something for oil questions. Not sure if you're allowed to post prices or advertise but it may be okay to post a link to a seperate web site where prices are. Anybody out there who knows what's allowed? Ken Sailor

After you've checked for stones and if the noise remains, why not jack the rear of the car up and turn the wheel by hand to help locate where the noise is coming from? Ken Sailor

You could try Raceco here or use the kind of insulation that's used in housing. A very interesting series of postshere about using it but don't hold me responsible if your car burns to the ground. Ken Sailor

I did some looking around and I found these here which appear to be all rubber. Lots of solutions to a problem I didn't know I had. Ken Sailor