paul jacobs

Wow, it's done the rounds then. It looks like a very smart car. How important is it considered to be that the kit was bought several years ago, but not registered? Are you certain it isn't a 360R Chris? What is the difference between a 2019 360R and a 2015 SupersportR, if the latter has been brought up to the 2019 spec? It's now at £32k + 5% with only 30 minutes to go.........

What would be a good price for this car? It's already up to £31k with another 27 hours to go.

Well, all very interesting and some good points as well. I've had a 260 and a 200 and ended up raising the engine on both of them by the addition of large washers. I raised both engines so that the highest point, the cam cover badge, just kissed the bonnet, I also bent the hoop supporting the nose cone to give a little more clearance. It was some years ago now, so I can't remember the dimensions, but I do know that raising the ride height ruined the steering and roadholding, so went for just raising the engine. It made no discernable difference to the ride, cornering or steering, and was easy to do and would have been easy to undo as well if I had wanted to. I had a little difficulty with the primaries and had to enlarge the sideskin slightly, but that was all. If the new engine mounts don't give you enough clearance, just lift the engine with some spacers, it's easy, quick and can be returned to standard if required. I think you can overthink these things sometimes.

A 3.9 cwp Sierra diff. unit complete with Quaife ATB lsd. Taken from a bike engined Seven as longer ratio required. It has covered approx. 22,000 miles and, when installed, was quiet and seemed to be working perfectly. Try me with a close offer in the region of £795 ono. Preferably collect from Taunton or courier at cost. Paul.

OK, thanks for the heads up both, I'll have a look.

I don't suppose anyone has a 2.3 or 2.5 Duratec lying around, they want to get rid of do they? I am after the basis of a torquey motor, so fully built, part built or just a bare block. If anyone hears of one going I would appreciate the heads up. Just BM me. Thanks, Paul.

The auction ends at 8.20pm this evening, (Fri.22nd Jan) the bidding currently stands at £10,250 and is looking on. track to reach the reserve, which I have lowered, to increase interest. It is begining to look as if it will be very good value for someone. It might be worth watching from 7.30 onwards.

With 2 days of the auction left to run, the bidding has reached £8,900. At this price it would be a real bargain, but it will have to come up a tad to reach its' reserve. Watch this space or rather, watch that space, it is going to be fairly entertaining for a day or two.

Cheers Regin - my bad. (Do people still say that?)

OK, my R1 Seven is now in a live auction with 'Collecting Cars' and anyone interested can follow it here: https://collectingcars.com/for-sale...transactional&utm_campaign=gone_live If you like it, don't be afraid to lob a bid in, in fact put a bid in anyway, it'll help the price get towards the reserve a bit quicker.

Shades of Morgans - oops sorry...........................

After 3 years I've decided to change my steed, which is a Yamaha R1 170bhp engined De Dion Seven of 2001 vintage with around 22,000 miles under its' wheels. I intend to put it onto the internet auction site 'Collecting Cars', but before I commit to that, I wondered if anyone here would be interested in something a bit different? My reserve is going to be £17,000 so make me an offer close to that and we can start talking. It is fully trimmed, sorted and road legal, with full carpets, weather equipment, heater and FIA roll over bar for those odd track days you might want to do and Tillets and 6 & 4 point belts to hold you in place. It is Kawasaki green and good to go with MoT until next September. There is a huge spec. which I won't bore you all with, but if interested get back to me with your email address and I will be happy to send it to you, along with a stack of pictures etc.

Don't start on Morgans again, you'll wake Derek! I'm also 5' 7" and when I had a bench seat back in 1985 (a genuine '69 S3 Lotus), I made with the wooden spacer behind the back rest, but you also need to deal with the squab, which, if memory serves, slips in behind the chassis cross rail at the front? I used a bit of 2"x1" and sat the squab forward of the rail, with the 2"x1" screwed into the seat base, holding it in place. It raises the front of the squab a bit, but I found that it gave me better support under the knees. It's easy, light and unobtrusive - what's not to like?

I've just checked Burtons catalogue, I was right, £480 is the price for just the Quaife ATB unit on its' own, not a complete ready to install into the car differential unit. In fact Burtons 2020 catalogue doesn't even show a 7" Sierra diff. at all, new or reconditioned, so I can only assume they are getting like hens teeth, as Roger intimated. In fact I see that Quaife are advertising reconditioned complete units for £1,295 on their website, so I guess £750 is about par for the course.

That really does sound too cheap to be true for a complete diff assembly in a housing, especially as Caterham seemed unable to source new Ford standard diffs. Is that just the Quaife LSD unit or the complete diff. with case etc?

Is it too much money? Make an offer, I can only say "yes" "no" or "maybe".

Complete Ford Diff. unit for sale. 3.9 ratio Quaife ATB LSD unit fitted. It has done approx. 22,000 miles in a 2001 car. It's quiet but effective. Ready to install. Price - £750 ono

I don't suppose an R1 engined DD chassied car would do it? It's got full road trim and weather equipment, even a heater and with the much vaunted electric reverse and a 170bhp fuel injected motor. All for a paltry £17,000 (ono of course). BM me with your email address for pics. if interested. Paul

I had a Quaife ATB fitted to my bike engined car, but changed it for a longer ratio, which bike engined cars need. I ran it solely on the road and it was quiet and unobtrusive, but you could feel it working. The only time it was not effective was on very tight hairpins where the inside wheel was very lightly loaded and it would spin, due to the design requiring some grip from both wheels. Out of interest, if anyone is looking for a 3.9 quaife ATB diff assembly, mine is now surplus to requirements, I am looking for around £1000 for it, if anyone is interested.

Back to the top with updates.

Actually George, I've got some complete chrome 7" headlights spare. They are actually off a Caterham, I'm not sure if there is any difference though. Let me know and I'll send you some pictures. Price - haven't a clue, will have to do some research, but does around 50 quid sound about right? Wasn't the rack off a Mini or was it a left hand drive Mini, and turned upside down? Paul

I forgot to mention that the x/f manifold is also sold.

Graham, Whilst not being able to add anything to help your problem, if you get around to needing to cut the bonnet, don't do it, as I have a bonnet in natural ali. from my old Vx 16v hillclimb HPC which has already been cut, also with a cutout on the opposite side for an over the top exhaust manifold, because of the problems you are having. I only want around £45 for it, and at worst you don't ruin a perfectly good bonnet. Paul.

Given the reliability problems then, how difficult is it to change out the BMW diff completely and go back to the Ford item?

Will respond to Graham and Hobbsy by BM, but with regard to my vertical handbrake mod, on the current car, which is bike engined, it is much easier without the gearbox in the way, to use the gearbox mount to bolt a bracket onto, on which the handbrake base is mounted, on previous cars with a standard gearbox, on one I used a Morgan flyoff and another I used a Midget lever. It was a while ago (25 years) so details are a bit fuzzy, but I believe I mounted them to the narrow chassis rails with small nuts and bolts. I was into autotesting at the time, and they both held up really well to the abuse. If anybody feels that might be the way to go, get under the car and have a look around, there is decent metal available, if only for a bracket to mount the lever base to. It's not just a simple bolt together mod though, but well within the average bodgers ability. If anybody wants some pictures, BM me with an email address and I'll send out some piccies of what my current car looks like.