paul jacobs

Ahh, right then. Yes it's amazing what mechanics are capable of when they get their greasy mits on a proper car. Best thing is to try and get a look at another Vx engined car and compare the differences. Best of luck.

Hmm, Yes, this sounds just like a mod that I made to a Vx. engined and chassised car a few years ago. On my car everything was kosher, but I wanted to move the engine back as far as possible in the chassis to compensate for the extra weight of the vauxhall engine. it worked a treat too, giving wonderfully balanced handling. Give us a bit more info on the car Tony. Has the battery been moved to the back, or the fuel tank been modified or the spare wheel carrier been modified? Is the car by any chance running on Leda shock absorbers?

My SBD engine was designed to run in a vacuum like Grahams, but for several years I have had a lot of problems with oil blowing past the gaskets and seals. Following a similar discussion here last year, Arnie advised that a breather from the cam cover to the tank would be a good idea and I have to say that since doing this, I have had no further trouble with oil leaks and the engine seems to run as well as it did before especially since I have stopped using that bloody awful Mobil 1 0-40 stuff and reverted to SynerG. Arnie took great delight in confirming that this was the correct course of action - I have to admit that he was right too. You're not all hot air then Arnie!

I just feel like a change, I've gone as far as I can with the 21, whilst still keeping it sweet as a road car. I fancy one of those motorbike engined sevens which rev to 14,000 with sequential 6 speed boxes and weigh next to nothing. Haven't driven one yet in case I wanted one badly, so I might get put off after that.

The time has come to put my red 21 on the market. Having built it in spring 1997, registered it on a "R" plate, done 3000 miles in that summer, I then fitted an SBD modified, dry sumped Vauxhall 2 litre 16v engine, using throttle bodies and MBE ecu, which showed 246 bhp on the dyno when newly built. The spec of the engine is too long to list here, but if you are interested give me a ring. {I would also be interested in selling the complete engine, with loom, dry sump equipment and all ancillaries except the alternator, seperately for around £5,000:00, if anyone is interested] Gearbox is a Brian Hill BGH Geartec modified c/r helical 5 speeder plus quick shift lever, with a 3.92 limited slip diff. All suspension has been uprated, as have the brakes which now run 280mm front discs with AP 4 pots and a "competition" master cylinder. The interior has black leather "S" seats, piped in red to match the paintwork and is fully trimmed with power point, glove locker, map net, rollover hoops, heater etc and is a great place to be. This is now a genuine 150mph car which has still only done 12,000 miles, and whilst perhaps, not such an everyday car as Caterham might have liked it to be, is nevertheless a great drive and a never ending source of amusement, fun and attention. It has also been the subject of several complimentary magazine articles, is in excellent condition and has never been involved in any accidents nor needed to be repaired. But there is full factory spares backup from Caterham if it is ever required! I am looking for an offer in the region of £18,750:00 which doesn't even start to reflect the amount of money that I have put in during the last 4 years, but will give excellent value for money on a power per pound sterling basis. I also have a spare Vauxhall 2 litre engine, slightly less modified. Wet sumped running Kent cams and Alpha-Weber throttle bodies and ECU. This engine has just been rebuilt and not run. If someone is interested in either engine seperately, please talk to me. My phone number is: 01823 421 748 Edited by - Paul Jacobs on 7 Apr 2002 14:08:27 Edited by - Paul Jacobs on 29 May 2002 09:42:38

Chris, I'm still interested, didn't receive your email, it could've gone straight to my spam box and been deleted in error - sorry. Did you manage to find out how much a carrier would want to get it to me in Taunton? Thanks

Peter, Could you explain why you say that a proportioning valve should not be used in the front circuit?

That's great, good info, thanks Martin.

Hi Rob, I've got the opposite problem on my 21 now. Since upgrading the front discs to 280mm vented and drilled with the AP 4 pot calipers, installing a competition master cylinder and putting in Pagid pads all round, but still retaining the standard XR4 rear calipers, I'm now finding that the fronts are locking under heavey braking, so I'm looking at putting in a valve to limit the front pressure! This is probably a better problem I fancy. I expect that you've got the 4 pots with the 26omm discs on the front, the competion m/cylinder makes a big difference, really shortens the pedal stroke and hardens it up, should help combat the softness when the fluid heats up. The problem with having different pads front to back is that as they heat up they will give different characteristics over a period of time, so you won't know exactly what the car is going to do next. As Felix says, it may be best to brake less - hmm......

Martin, I was interested in your fitting of a brake bias control. Last year I changed my front discs for a larger pair, and installed Pagid pads all round, as well as a couple of other mods, but I'm now having trouble with the fronts locking up under extreme braking, so I reckon I need a bias control to reduce the pressure on the front. How difficult was it, where exactly did you put the valve and is it adjustable from the cockpit? Oh yes, what sort of price was it?

Andy, I think that the real problem is that the Caterham rear wings are slightly too big for standard 185 tyres, so they do stick out a fair bit and the tyres look lost in them. The best advice has been given, don't do it - however....... if you really do want to have a go, consider the following: you will need longer studs and they are a pig to put in because the hub has to come off to get the old ones out and push the new ones in; by widening the track it puts more leverage on the bearings, so they will require more maintainance; it is quite likely to alter the setup of the car too, probably leading to slightly more understeer, which is not a good thing with the more recent cars, as there is already too much built in. Having said all that, I have widened the rear track on my 21[same suspension setup], by a small amount, about a quarter of an inch either side, by using spacers and longer studs, in my case so that my nearside tyre could clear a non standard rear exit exhaust system, and I find no difference in the handling, although it has always understeered like a pig, in certain corners on track only, so I probably haven't helped this trait much. It certainly looks good though!

Geoff, personaly I would forget the rear a/r bar altogether, but go for stiffer front springs, say around 220 - 250lbs, but be prepared to experiment, I would suggest that you can leave the rears alone for the time being. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that you can alter your ride height at will though, say lower it for track days and put it up again later for the road, every time you move it you change all the camber, caster and toe settings which you would have paid so much to have set up when the car was flat floored, have it set up just once then leave it well alone once you're sure you like the feel of it with those settings. [unless you carry your own corner weight scales around with you of course!]

Mike, don't take it all too seriously, it's only a gentle bit of leg pulling. I'd expect no less if I tried selling my 21 on the W*******d or Elise BB sites - hmm, now, there's an idea. Anyone interested in buying possibly the fastest 21 on sale right now? One careful owner, only 10,000 miles, never raced or rallied, oh no sorry, can't put that, but it does eat Elsies for breakfast.

If only it had been a Caterham, at that price I'd bitten you arm off for it - even with the swept wings. Best of luck, it sounds like a really nice car.......for a W*******d of course.

Well it all goes back to popular colours really, I was just wondering if black or black/ali was considered a good colour for a Seven.

Brian has been having some personal problems of late and is rather behind with his orders. I have magaged to speak to him at odd times, but he has his machine switched over to fax mode most of the time now. The only thing is to keep trying him. If you do get through, please ask him if he's done Paul Jacobs' 5 speed box and diff. yet, if so to ring me back ASAP so I can collect them and get started on my build......... Best of luck.

Hmm, good response, excellent spec, but I also notice that it is a black car, is that very important for people replying? Does Black make the car more desirable in other words?

Chris, That sounds fine to me, the only prob is picking it up from you. Where are you in Herts? I've got to go to Cranbrook in Kent in the next couple of weeks, so maybe I can make a detour via you, or if not, maybe you could tie a label on to it and send it down via a courier, just let me know how much that's likely to cost though.

If it's really cheap, I would be interested, the only prob. is that I live way down in Somerset. What part of Herts are you? Get back to me with a price etc and we can discuss it.

I'm after just a few bits and pieces listed below. I'd be v. grateful if someone could help. All for a 1600 K engine. 1 pair of hood straps - high viz hood sticks also req. Radiator Standard K series radiator hose set Fresh air heater, fairly recent if poss. Top steering column section. 1600 K exhaust system Carpets Please get back to me directly, if you have any of these bits or even know anyone who wants to sell them. Many thanks.

Back in the mid '80's when I had my first Lotus 7, it had no tonneau, [or hood] so all I did was to find my local auto upholsterer and get him to make up a tonneau directly on the car. From memory he had the car in his workshop for a couple of days and although I can't remember the cost it wasn't too outragous, and cheaper than Caterham, In addition, I had an extra zip incorporated down the offside so that I could use part of the tonneau as a half height drivers door, when used with an aero screen, which seems so fashionalble now. I had that cover made up as a one peice unit, as I couldn't see the point of a seperate boot cover, just something else to leak. When either half was in use, I rolled it up and had a little strap to secure the roll behind the drivers head so that it acted as a headrest [bench seats with no built in headrest remember] and protection from the backdraft.

Having just waded through the NOS topic, for which many thanks PC for your usual comprehensive reply, it set me wondering about the advantages of water injection. This would seem to offer the benefits of higher HP due to better cooling of the intake charge mixture, without the downsides of blowing up the engine, in fact it could even help with the reliability. It must also be cheaper to install, environmentally friendly, naturally sustainable and lighter. Anyone had a experience of it or got any good or bad comments [PC?]

I'm not so sure that heavier front springs are that bad Rob, there appear to be quite a few advantages and very few disadvantages. Now, having said that, I have to say that all my experience with harder fronts are with heavier Vauxhall engined cars, but I would have thought that it is only a matter of degree, eg say 400lb fronts on a Vx and 350lbs on a K. You could be forgiven for thinking that the ride would be rock hard, and the front end would be thrown all over the place every time you went over a bump, but that doesn't seem to be the case. As long as the rear end, over which you sit is reasonable, say 180lb, then a hard front isn't too noticable [as the actress said to the Bishop!] Benefits include smaller or no front a/r bar therefore "purer" suspension inputs, less weight, less dive when braking, more stable suspension geometry, better turn in and a generally taughter car. Frankly I'm not that convinced that the front a/r bar actually does a lot for the roadholding generally anyway. A couple of years ago, I was at a test day and one of the Vx engined HPC cars had a front a/r bar link break and the driver, who is an experienced track pilot, didn't notice the difference until someone pointed it out in the pits. I have to say that everyone showed surprise. The easiest thing to do is to disconnect it and see what the car feels like, it certainly won't be a huge difference and it won't bite, it'll all be pretty gradual.

Hmm, yes, I've actually got one of these devices, and they do work well, can't say what it's like to use with a Seven, as I only got to use it a few times with a normal car, before it pumped itself up then impaled itself on something sharp under the car, and it been pretty useless since. I really must dig it out of the far reaches of my garage, where I flung it in disgust, and see if I can put some sticking plaster over the wound and try it again. It doesn't need much pressure from the engine, just tickover is fine, just make sure that there is something inpenetrable on the top of it before using it.

I don't know about race scrutes, but I've never had a problem with sprint/hillclimb scrutineers. I've been running without a cover on my Vauxhall engine since 1994, first in an HPC and for the last 4 years in a 21. I've had a few offs, and stacks of stones in the side skins, but so far at least I've been lucky, including an off into the kitty litter at Copse on a Caterham track day a couple of years back [which some of you may remember!] It's a good idea to remember that the cover is off if you're working on the engine whilst it's running, the results could be very interesting otherwise...