Benedict.

Hi, Could I have the gearbox mount if it's still available? BM Sent. Cheers, Ben

Nothing at all to do with me, but purely by chance have just spotted these on eBay - in case they're any use. Cheers, Ben

My "K" has had a gudgeon pin make a bid for freedom, helpully prevented by the cylinder liner laying down its life to keep it from escaping. There's not really any damage to the top end and I've yet to see if any swarf has got anywhere near the main bearings or anywhere else it really doesn't want to be. One of the complicating issues is that this is actually a scholar block and instead of clamping the liners as, I believe, is normal, they fit them with some sort of interferrence fit, facilitated it would appear by applying heat by burning money. So it's either a new block / all new liners or ship it back to them at possibly more expence to get them changed. There are quite a few options with moving forward with the "K", but as they all involve spending money and taking time, I want to look at all alternatives & possibilities. I can definitely see why the "K" is thought of as the "right engine for a 7", and also, interstingly, what's clouded my mind still further is that I thought that the duratec was the torquey option, something I'm also considering as I seem to be doing more touring nowadays. However looking at some dyno plots for simmilar headline BHPs (200-215) in duratecs, the torque curve is not much better, and in some cases worse than mine was (on both northampton m/sports's RR, as well as the plot I have from Track'n'Road proir to my ownership) Cheers, Ben

Hi all, I'm looking at the possibility of moving to a duratec engine in place of my, currently damaged, K-series. Does anybody have any experience/recomendations/warnings with any of the fully-built suppliers out there, or any dyno plots they'd be willing to share? I'm thinking about the likes of Dunnell, Cosworth (via resellersonly it seems), Omex, Minister, PremierePower or any more??? Unfortunately Ammo is no longer in this business, or I'm pretty sure it's to him I'd be headed. I'm not sure at this stage whether I'll be sticking with the "K" or not, just trying to do as much homework as I can for all options (and to that effect, any suggestions of "try a such-and-such engine" would also be welcome) Cheers, Ben.

Hi Giles, I think I'd already rejoined by the time I posted the above and confirmed my attendance tomorrow. Unless there are 2 different places that one affiliates onesself to areas? No big deal anyhow... Weather looking for tomorrow

Not sure if this has just affected me or not, but last time I looked (albeit a while ago) I was subscribed to 2 area groups: Leics/Notts/Derbs and Warks-North(Bear7s). When I looked earlier today, I had non listed and had to resubscribe to both. I certainly didn't remove them deliberately and so just thought I'd mention it in case it's happened to others, and they're missing AO emails. Cheers, Ben (edited. for. punctuation.)

I've got one. It was certainly working when removed ~3 years ago. It's from when my car begain its life as a 1999 Roadsport, so hopefully a straight swap. Blatmail/Private Message on the way... Ben

Huge Lotus 7 Club logo (looked brilliant!) on the back of a white, 7-sized trailer being towed along the Leicester A46 Northern bypass, away from Thurmaston towards the A50 & M1. About 10am this morning (30/4) I was in the tintop, not the 7, so I didn't wave lest you thought I was some kind of loony Best trailer I've seen for a long time - particularly liked the small "Baby on Board" sticker towards the bottom Ben

Each DRL/Indicator LED "bulb" has the same offset bayonet, double contact fitting as a standard stop/tail bulb. One contact is for the DRL which is designed to receive continuous 12V. The other contact is for the existing indicator connection. When the indicator goes on/flashes, the DRL goes out, and then stays off until the indicator has stopped flashing. I suspect, as my query above, if we used the carbuildersolutions ones, we'd have to do the switching bit externally, which while adding complexity, would also add the flexibility to independently dim the DRL for night-time. Cheers, Ben

Hi Guy, I'd be interested in the 2.0 version too - now got the 1.0 version fitted, but concur that in bright light they're not as piercing as most OEM DRLs. Do you know how they'd implement the bi-coloured-ness? I'm wondering if it'd be using bi/multi coloured LEDs, or having half(?) the LEDs orange, and the other half white? I suspect the latter would be more practical, but would there be enough LEDs to achieve suitable brightness? If you're negotiating the design, then I'd suggest not having the "switchback" circuitry built in; we could then do our own switching circuit to incorporate the dimming functionality that you found doesn't work with the existing "bulbs". If you can't get 500(!) orders, then maybe carbuildersolutions, SVC or similar would be interested in stocking them? IMHO it's something that Caterham themselves should be doing. Cheers, Ben

Yay, another spotted 😬 Really enjoyed Curborough too Ben

I've got a spare block taking up space in the garage; it came with loads of spares when I bought the car. IIRC it was "standard", so I don't know if it'd be any use to you. I think there's actually a VVC head as well as a standard head, and a standard crank sat next to the block as well. You're very welcome to come and have a look if you like - I'm in Thorpe Astley, Leicester (just off M1J21), so but a very short blat down the road. Cheers, Ben

As the title. Loved the passenger's matching pink T-Shirt Didn't see (m?)any other 7s there, apart from mine 😬 Ben.

^ ^ ^ Boing, BTTT ^ ^ ^

Can I have the non-rusty £15 clutch cable please? Blatmail on the way very shortly sent , Cheers, Ben Edited by - _Benedict_ on 19 May 2014 16:59:20

Anyone know of where I can get one of these (as seen here)? It's actually not so much for the adjustability but the position and way it mounts. The Caterham overslung (can't get it to work with 8" rears (and believe me I've tried)) and underslung (not got the chassis mt points) have ruled themselves out. Help me obi-wan F/S REAR ARB owner, you're my only hope Cheers, Ben Edited by - _Benedict_ on 6 May 2014 22:46:09

...as a test :o

Quoting Grubbster: Freestyle adjustable rear ARB, used but condition is OK (powdercoat lifted in places and droplinks rattle a bit). £75 Dibs Steve G As this isn't crossed out yet, can I please have "second dibs" - in fact I will definitely take it if the above doesn't go through... Cheers, Ben

Less than three minutes for an answer Thanks 😬

...the same on both ends and, more crucially, are they the same as the normal ARB balls 🤔 Ben

Quoting Wrightpayne: Apparently, WD40 sprayed on will change the engine note when it gets sucked into the leak. Ian I traced an inlet air leak on the tintop using a similar method. I used "EZ Start and the directional straw it came with. When I sprayed it towards where the air was leaking in the revs rose momentarily but very obviously. It saved me hours then as there's a plethora of small pipes and potential sources on the tintop, but could still be useful here? Cheers, Ben

Thank you for stopping and saying hello, it was great to meet you and your family. We had a fantastic trip round France (now back home ☹️ ), taking in some great scenery and roads and being very lucky with the weather. We sat out a rainstorm before going over the viaduc (nice coffee in the visitors' centre) and then you saw us just as we'd had another downpour after passing underneath. Apart from a light shower while crossing le massif central we had no other rain (in the daytime) for the whole trip. We were also very impressed with Millau as a city generally. It was the viaduc that brought us there, but on walking into town in the evening, we thought there was a great atmosphere and a really cool "buzz". This was aided by the jazz festival that was underway, and after a delicious French/Moroccan meal, we sat outside a bar enjoying the most fantastic blues guitarist / performer that I've seen for a while Hope you see plenty more 7s around the viaduc 😬 Ben Edited by - _Benedict_ on 30 Jul 2013 00:36:20

Quoting revilla: Thanks, will look for 10.9 then. @Wrightpayne - You don't know anywhere in the Leicester are which is good for specialist fasteners like this do you? We've got Charnwood Fasteners near us in Loughborough but I've never actually tried them. If there was anywhere local that people have used before and would recommend I'd give them a try. I'll jump in here; I use All Screwed Up on Cavendish road, off Aylestone road. They've got a surprising amount in stock and are a friendly, small business (to which I have no connection I should add, just a happy repeat customer) There's also Annalexe Bute on the Blaby Industrial Estate. Less of a family business but still useful to know. They both have counters up at which you can turn. There's also Screwfix (counters in Leicester and Loughborough), who sell 8.8 grade hex head bolts and 12.9 grade capheads in various sizes. If all else fails, or you can't get out in office hours (I don't think the former 2 open at weekends) then if you search on eBay, there are huge numbers of screws/bols/nuts available in small quantities of all grades. HTH, Cheers, Ben Edit for spilling Edited by - _Benedict_ on 5 Jul 2013 20:59:05

Quoting Wrightpayne: Ben, I have an old set of caterham blades somewhere to rob the blade to arm fixing if you wanted to give it a go. Thanks Ian, appreciate that. I appear to have 1 and a half ( ) old sets in the garage too, so I can potentially use the fixing for then. May see you on Thurs (if you're there), just depends how well the prep's for France are going Quoting elie boone: I use these but the performance is not as good as any tintop but at least the don't scatch the windscreen. I have to say you do have to bent the wiper arm for a good result. Thanks Elie, they look like a very good option, I wonder (being picky ) if they do them in black. Will give them a call (or maybe buy some paint 😬 ) Quoting sjmmarsh: Other solutions are available: 1) Rain-X means you don't really need wipers unless it is really heavy rain 2) Don't drive in the rain.... Steve Thanks Steve, Unfortunately (2) isn't really an option if you live in the UK and / or have tours / schedules / events arranged I've tried Rain-X before and found it to be OK. The problem I had was when the screen got covered in insect road-kill (every day, especially evening, in the summer) I'd clean of all the bugs and end up cleaning off the Rain-X. Had simmilar with a helmet visor when aeroscreened, many years ago. Thanks for the input guys, Ben

For those of you who haven't eschewed all things windscreen, has anybody tried any alternative wipers to the Caterham / Landrover(?) ones that are standard. A bit of googlage for 7.5" wipers has come up with volvo 850 headlamp wipers. Their construction looks more like as blade from the latter half of the last century, rather than the former It might need a bit of bodging to make a suitable pivoting attachment to the arm, but surely worth a go for ~£10? Available here, on eBay and probably other sources. If the original 850 headlamp wiper arms could be used (need to find one to measure) then the washer could be routed up the arm as well, which might save soaking oneself during the MOT 😬 Someone has seen the need to upload a slomo of the above working Off touring France in 10 days so preparing for rain while hoping for sun Ben (sat at work in what appears to be rather splendid weather ☹️ )