Pierre Gillet

Stewart, I am very much interested by your idea, and looked into the YOKO 032R tyres charter( 01/2000) and could not find 185 and 205 on 13 inch wheels. Instead I found 175/60 and 215/50. Also what is actually the width of the 13 inch wheels you are using?

You may want to check the torque of the rear hubs and tighten the bolts if necessary. You need a very large socket to do so.

But it is not Chrome. It is anodised ali...

Steve, No we don't. We put the verbs basically in the same place as in English. Easy! I wish you all the best for your search of the Flared-Wing Seven, Very Sevenly Yours, Pierre Pierre

Alex, you really are addressing a point that I have been concerned for quite a while without getting the answer. Question #1: how can you measure the oil temperature since our cars do not have an oil temperature gauge? I read that the owner of a Kent engined Seven was able to find a spot on the engine to screw an oil temperature sender . He is using the same gauge on the dash thanks to a switch. It seems to be really a good idea , but since that time I am trying to locate a place on my 1.6 K engine where I could bolt an oil temperature sender! Any idea? I am concerned because I also do not have an oil cooler, and there is a risk that the plastic foam in the oil sump get deteriorated by the heat if temperature is too high. It happened to JP Jaussaud ( former F3 and F2 and Le Mans Matra pilot) who runs K Series Seven on a small circuit in Pont L'Evèque ( famous for its cheese in Normandy !). Jean Pierre did not know that there was plastic foam in the oil sumps of his Sevens ...and got a kind of plastic sludge in the engine.Horror! Caterham recommends that the foam is changed every 10 000 km, and I do it ! As far as I am concerned I am using a generic synthetic 5W50 oil bought in a Car Center and I change it every 5 000 km.

V7, I read an advertisement of the Caterham factory for 1000 £ apparently not including fitting. It seems that this conversion which has been engineered by the Rover motorists delivers a significant increase of power for a relatively moderate price without diminishing reliability. So I would go for it. There is a very interesting article by Roger King about tuning the K engines in the last Low Flying issue, and Roger is apologetic about the SS conversion.

Thank you all. In fact I understand that PS is basically what we use in France as " chevaux DIN "( for Deutch Industrie norms)and BHP is closer to " Chevaux SAE" ( for Society of American engineers?)

Steve, at least it is what i read in one of the books on caterham in which it is said that the Germant TUV approved type is cycle wings plus a bunch of several othet specific specifications such as the rear lights (lower) or the licence plate. Also, one of the front cover of Low Flying was made last year by a German Sevenist boasting a superb cycle winged Seven. Now you certainly ca, bying a left hand drive even Seven to Caterham in England (in fact mine was built by the factory caterham ( not the French importer), but sold to me by the French importer. He is very conservative and would even not sell me race harnesses...because they are not street legal. So what I am doing is buying parts directly from the Caterham factory . I find them very efficient and easy to deal with despite my poor English! So, you should not be concerned, I am sure you can manage.

Well, I understand now that it may me not be so easy to get a perfect result, unless, as recommended by Alex, I have the body redone by Arch. In fact, I do not like the idea of filling the holes etc... I am afraid that I am a little bit of the "polisher" type, and I would like the result to be perfect, especially for a 40th Anniversary which should be at the level of the reputation of Caterham. the problem that we have here in France is that the positioning of Caterham is more on the "Lotus" classical side ( this explains the flare wings) than on the may be more sporty side of the car as I understand most of the sevenists in GB are. So only the flare wings are "licensed" by the "Service des Mines". Amazing, when you know that, in Germany, only the cycle wings are approved by the German "TUV". Only the racers, not street legal,(imported by another person in France) are with cycle wings. It is probably time now for Europe to adopt the British standards!

Thank you for sharing with me your experience. Seems really worth it. By the way can anybody tell me the difference,if any between "bhp" (which I understand means "British horse powwer"), and "ps".

Has anyone experience a conversion of a 1.6K engine with the package supplied by caterham? Is it really worth the £ 1000 plus the costs of hours. Does the car remain pleasant to drive in the traffic? What is the real increase of power?

Thank you both for your very helpful thoughts.I am also concerned about the risks of having the rear wings "sand blasted" especially with the 13"/14 " wheels cycle wings which are shorter than the 15"/16" wheels ones. It even seems that one can be hit by gravels or stones should the side screens not used and the passengers not wearing crash helmets.

I am envisaging converting my 40th Anniversary 1.6 K Seven from flare wings to cycle wings. Has anybody done that? difficult? How can I hide the holes of the screws fixing the wings on the side body? What is the aproximate cost of the new components that I must buy? Is the SCx improved? Any perceptible increase of the top speed ? Thank you for your help.