sjmmarsh

I took my SV to Caterham Midlands today to have a 3000 mile service and to get it MOT'd. It failed at the first attempt (worn watts linkage bolt, wrongly diagnosed by testing station as rear caliper fouling the radius arm and excessive play in the steering). Subsequent work by CML meant that it got through the MOT at the second attempt. Thanks Barry! The rear handbrake cable was also fouling the chassis. CML put it down to it being an early build SV (chassis number 12) - it was the first SV MOT they had carried out. If you have an early SV you might want to check these items as well. I WILL be going to Le Mans! Steve

Steve P I put my approach up on my website here. I hope that it helps. Steve

Nick Yes, it is a lovely part of the world, with plenty of blats on my doorstep. If you are in the area again, try one I have listed on my website. The downside is that there don't seem to be many 7 style cars around here (based on driving 2500 local miles over the last 5 months and only seeing one other 7!). I am a bit surprised as Peterborough houses Radical, Tiger, Luego and Locost manufacturers! Steve Marsh C7 RSV My Caterham Page

Isn't the extra drag due to engine braking? At, say, 70mph a 7 in top gear will be revving around 4000 rpm, whereas a tintop in top will be around 2500rpm. As you lift off, there is a lot more drag from the caterham engine. If you repeat the tintop experiment in 3rd gear you should find it slows much more quickly. Another factor may be due to electronic throttle control - when I got my 7 I realised that I had got sloppy in the way I backed off the accelerator - I am convinced that my Jag S-Type overrides a sudden release in the throttle to give a smoother (and presumably more fuel/emission efficient) response. I could be talking out of my 🙆🏻, but it fits my experience. Steve

Test 3

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Checking whether posting works. Steve

Are there any 7-friendly MOT testers near to Stamford? Steve

I contacted the seller. He said they were 13/14". Steve

Having only had a 7 for 6 months, this is a question I thought about. There are lots of things that I could change about the seven, but if I changed them I would be better off buying another car that was designed with these things in mind. The reason I bought a seven came down to: Brand - it must have been those Prisoner programmes I watched long ago. To have fun on the road - The 7 certainly does that! To go on track occasionally To learn more about how cars work and to repair/maintain one myself (blatchat helps here!) To have a car that isn't 'mainstream' (mine is a second car) The main reason I didn't get one earlier was because I didn't really fit, so had to wait for the SV to be born..... My tintop is an S-Type (0-60 in 7sec), so I already had a reasonable car and was looking for something quite different to that. The back to basics design of the 7 gave me everything I wanted. If I hadn't gone for a 7, I would probably looked at something like a TVR (don't fit in an elise). What would I change? Better corrosion protection - that caught me by surprise. I thought that ali didn't rust... Steve

Alex That sounds very similar to my symptoms. I initially thought that it was a duff battery, so replaced it - it was better, but no joy. Not knowing whether the car was going to start (hot or cold) was starting to get to me... I then tried to check the contacts to the solenoid and managed to crack the case when loosening the main contact nut (be careful!). As a result of this, I ended up replacing the solenoid and fitting the 'hot start relay' mod at the same time. Since then I have had no starting problems whatsoever. The only problem is that I don't know what one thing I did fixed the problem. I suggest doing the relay fix first if the battery volts are OK and if that doesn't work, try taking the starter off, then the solenoid, and cleaning it up. (Oh, and disconnect the battery before you start - something I will only forget once!) Steve

The fuse in mine is a 1" 1A 250v rating. You should be able to make out the rating on the side of the cap of the fuse if you want to check. Steve

Pics and instructions courtesy of BigYin are here Steve Marsh C7 RSV My Caterham Page

Brian Your link is broken - I get the message: An error has occurred. You do not appear to be the owner of this album. Make sure you are logged in. Steve

An alternative to buying a complete starter set is to just replace the solenoid - it is not cheap (mine cost £36), but it is a lot cheaper than the complete unit and I now have a cleaned and restored solenoid as a backup. Warning: You need to be careful with the big copper bolt that has the fat red cable on. Mine cracked the cover as I loosened the nut on it - I guess it had been overtightened in the past.... Steve

I cracked the cover on the starter solenoid when I was undoing the terminals to try and cure a hot start problem; I am now looking for a replacement! Caterham tell me that they don't sell the solenoid separately - only complete starters. I have a 2001 SV and the solenoid is on the bottom of the starter. I believe that this makes it the Magneton type. Does anyone know a supplier of the solenoid and the part number I need to ask for? Thanks Steve

I hope this cheers you up here Steve

Ralf and Dobuy If you send me your CT.DAT files to sjmmarsh at hotmail dot com, I will include your results for others to use. Steve

Roger YHM Steve

Ralf Anything I can do to help you run better in Malaysia can only be a good thing for your contract renewal! I suggest that you download the software I used (Car Test) here. If you download my data file here and merge it with the CT.DAT file that comes with the program then you will just need to change some of the tyre sizes. It will produce the graphs you are interested in and does a lot more besides. Steve

Grant I can just detect a slight movement in the wheel as it stands. I can't get the castellated nut to the next 1/12th turn (i.e. tightening the nut and putting the split pin at 90 degrees to the last position) tightening with my fingers. I will take it out for a couple of miles and check again - hopefully it will fix it, otherwise I will need to replace the bearings by the sound of it. Steve

What is 'too much grease'? I covered both of the races and put a generous smear in the centre. It isn't 'packed tight', but it isn't empty either. Steve

Thanks guys. I got the hub off this evening. Have cleaned and repacked the bearings (except I did the inside races in situ as I couldn't get them out easily). It all went back together OK, but there is still some play. Ah well..... Steve

I have a slight bit of play in my front right wheel. A 1/12 turn of the castellated nut is enough to remove the play. Reading the archives, it seems that the general advice is to clean and repack the bearings. To do this I need to take the hub off, but I can't work out how! The hub won't come off unless I remove the brake caliper - is it as simple as just undoing the two bolts securing it to the uprights? Anything to watch out for (there is mention of using string to stop it dropping off too far)? I also had a look at the pads while I was scouting around. There is plenty of material left, but I can't work out how the pads come out. All I can find in the archives is a helpful comment like 'remove the pads'. Is it necessary to remove the caliper to change the pads as well? I assume that once it is off they should come out quite easily. Help! Steve

Pics of BigYin's conversion can be seen here Steve