Fil M

Strange that on the grounds of safety many years ago motorcycles we not obliged to have front plates ... if they can do without em so can cars? makes em a little more fuel efficent and better on the eye too

i have the CC one Longy and the mount is held in place by the centre boss that takes the thread of the 'wheel retaining spider'. you lift the wheel off and the light and carrier are left in place. fil

I reckon a thread on fitting a third brake light to a Seven has got to be one of the most popular ever up for discussion. Hours of fun searching for the light that suits and the ways it can be wired in. I only hope CC never fit one as standard because there will be an equally popular thread on how to remove it 😬 Happy Days

I dont track her but at the mo she is shod with Yokohama AO21R's and they are very good in all conditions for general bimbling and spirited road use. She had Avons on before that and they were ten years old! at purchase of car. If its road use and maybe a bit of track go for the above. I read endless suggestions about switching to 13inchers but feel the car was originaly made and set up as a road car by the manufacturer. If I turn trackie then maybe I would swop the WHOLE car for a trackie type (R ?00 series) rather than a cobbled set of compromises. fil

If you have a pair unloved in your garage cos you did'nt find they did the trick. Can I give em a go? .... so long as they are in good smart nick. Cheers Fil Edited by - Fil M on 4 Mar 2012 19:32:08 Edited by - Fil M on 7 Mar 2012 13:39:01

My Astra battery died the other week ... it started up and got us to the supermarket close by. After loading up it just went ...click! The lights when turned on shone bright but the battery was dead for starting..... If the starter was fine before it was put up for the winter chances are its fine now ..... I put my money on the battery ... I got a banner battery from a motor factors for £50 for the Seven . After changing the Astras it fired up immediately and been ok since.... incidently the Astra battery charged up too!!! ....maybe take it out and take it to a battery supplier for a test ...if its ok then at least you have taken one thing out of the edquation.

AO 21 R again I use the seven all year round and they are very predictable and give no surprises. I changed from some ancient avons that Ben Hur had been using. You will notice a bit more road noisey n gritty flicky due to gripability and a slightly lower mpg due to smileability,grinability, and all round yipeeness. 😬

Are you far from Soft Bits? they will fit it if you drive there and you ask them nicely. I have a full hood but never use it. I use the SBFS half hood and if its wet and parked out side I put their shower cap on ....its a perfect combo! So is thier tonnau with a half hood but water can get in the boot. I did modify the shower cap by putting some poppers on it to hold the screen and use a self synching luggage strap on the elastic at the back to hold it under the spare wheel carrier rather than hooked over the little box lights. With this mod you do not get water pools on the top.Great pieces of kit ... I use my 7 all year round and in all conditions except snow or wet/salt combo. You wont regret it.

You may be able to back it up with a washer or two and cinch it up just as it reaches the tight point. A quick remedy pending further surgery.

Here is the blat chat link to the definitive answer. I have done it Minster Style but the best result and figures for a Caterham are from this page of BC....stick it in your serch engine and its easy to do.....http://www.blatchat.com/T.asp?id=56472 Good luck ...mine is running sweet now and no soot in the pipe.

As in Velocityblade's example you can have a family of badges with a unifying theme as in the colours and line scheme.

The firing on three cyclinders could just be damp or some water getting down by the spark plugs ... quite likely if you washed it after its last use and before you tucked it up in bed. I had a misfire in these circumstances a little while ago and after a mile it cleared. If she was ok before she went to bed its ulikely to have developed a seal fault by sitting cold.

Its the little green coloured thing sat on the inlet housing of the throttle bodies ... when you take off the sausage shaped filter its there winking at you. Fil

there are several threads on here relating to installing a 12v socket in the dash. Many use (as have I ) a yacht one from a chandlery that has a rubber flip up cap to keep the water out. You simply wire it direct to the battery and it serves as a battery charging socket also. Using a 'fag' lighter plug you then do not have to take the bonnet off to charge or top up the battery. If you need more info and or some photos then shout. I am sure some one will come up with the link with photos on it....check the faq page too. Its easy to do. Fil

Yu get the corrugated tubing from Garden Centres that do pond equipment. The tubing is for water pumps etc. Just cut to length and spring them on and zip tie. ACF50 is the dogs nadgers for the front suspension. They come up shiny like new and keeps the weather out .... it dulls after a while so just re wipe it on.

any loose cables or tape that may begin to whine when vibrated by air. Does its pitch change as you go faster over the 50mph? ie ...fster you go the higher its pitch. Fil

Popped mine out after a bit of a struggle because the lugs are quite long. Washed it. Laid it on newspaper, sprayed with a tin of black stuff from Halfords then painted the 'seven' white. Its been perfect for a year now. Be prepared to take a little time in easing the grille out of the nose cone .... put a couple of layers of masking tape in the area where the grilles 'pegs /lugs' might 'scrape by' on the way to the holes. Its a combination of thumbs and grip thats easiest. Do it on an old blanket or large towel. Fil

In view of a couple of the posts on this thread .... If you are new to the joys of multi meters or intend to get one but arent sure how to use it then buy a copy of '' Haynes -Practical Electrical Systems - ISBN 1 84425 267 1''. I am not with it on car electrics but with a multi meter and this book (not expensive) and a few other little bits and pieces you can have a lot of fun chasing faults. This combo has helped me ... re balance my throttle bodies, chase a fault with my rear brake lights, test a faulty water temp sender. I did buy an expensive multimeter in ignorance but at least its paid for itself now! There is no better read on a wet winters night when the seven is in the garage than the book above. Treat yourself Fil

Sounds like that must be the reason Andy ..... distraction and or reflections! Perhaps they could have tried diagonal

Didnt think of that Ian and Andy. Good point! ..... I am sure some 'normal cars' have front windscreen de mist/de frost elements .... anyone got one? Is it vertical too?

Thanks for the tip Martin ..and..I had intended going but my visiting sister and father left far slower than they arived. I have found no trouble heating up a long length evenly Bob so cant be sure why they can't .Horizontal is favourite when things get damp n clammy. Vertical is OK provided youve got a rag handy. Cheeeeeeeeeers Fil Edited by - Fil M on 30 Dec 2011 15:22:59

Having used the car in the wet this week and used the screen de mister I wondered if there is a technical reason the heating filaments run vertical and not horizontal? If they ran horizontal they would demist more efficiently and not create persistent stripes of mist. Does anyone know why they were made this way? Should Caterham look at improving them? Fil

You should have mail with my contact details Kenno. Fil

Thanks all for your posts ... it was kenno who wanted a bit of advice and resurrected the thread from a few months back. It seems we have both benefited. I agree a trip to the two Steves is the ultimate fix. I have spoken to one of them on the phone. the advice was get the Verniers and other things done first the nget it mapped last. I have held it off since getting the car (had her just over a year now) so as to settle in and get to know her before doing anything significant in terms of upgrades. Having started year two I have to decide what bits come first and when. I am fancying the use of 'shims' over verniers after reading about Vernier teeth wearing out over time. With that and an exhaust upgrade first the mapping will come last. Upgrades are like Xmas ... half the fun is thinking about it and looking forward to it.... so I am teasing myself! Fil

Hello Kenno ..... TADTS is about right but you can do something about it ..... I purchased an air meter / Synchrometer and a multi meter to do a re set of the throttle bodies and see if they were running at their optimum. I did gain an improvement. At this time I have not had verniers fitted or had a rolling road done. After adjustment I ran an experiment. I did long journeys at a steady drive with a 'sedate hat' on. She achieved 33.6 mpg. Then for a week or two I took her out and spanked her with lots of acceleration and heavy right foot ....21.9mpg! To cut a long story short if she pops and bangs a lot and your a bit sooty in the pipe adjust the throttle bodies or get them adjusted by a garage that can do it. You can very easily DIY it ... I did...and its fun to have a go .If you want more info on how just shout me again or e mail me. My 1.8K has had the full R conversion to bring it up to R300 spec under the bonnet. I havent had her at the Steves yet but will in the future. I havent had verniers fitted but will in the future. Doing so will make a bit of an improvement in MPG and more in performance too. We K owners have to live with the fact that if we like to hear the barrells suck hard, the engine roar etc ....it will be at a cost! Mine pops and bangs a little at the moment and I know I can re adjust her to lose it. In doing so I will lose a bit of performance too though! I hope that helps. Shout if you need to. Merry Xmas Fil