Alaskossie

I should add that having the d/s tank in the airstream ahead of the engine may actually lower operating temps, compared to the pass. footwell location or the bell-housing location. I have noticed no untoward operating temps.

I too installed a Brise tank in front of my 2.3 Duratec in my 2007 S3. I had the tank custom-fit by Brise with inlet and outlet where I wanted them, plus a Peterson filler cap and Peterson in-tank electric pre-heater probe. I bought a HD Radtec radiator with the inlet and outlet on the proper side and top/bottom to meet the hoses from the engine, without awkward crossovers, etc. that the stock Caterham triple-pass rad would have required. I think that for most Seven owners, the d/s tank in front of the engine will not noticeably affect f/r balance. Certainly, it beats chopping the passenger footwell to accommodate a d/s tank, which seems to be the other popular option (disregarding for the present the Caterham bell-housing d/s tank).

Paul, Thanks. I was curious, because I've seen some c/f half-doors (Fluke/MOG) in which the description states that they are designed for the leading edge to fit *inside* the lip of the scuttle. I take it that with the poppers, your half-doors don't "hinge" outward without undoing the leading poppers first?

Paul, How did you fit your c/f half-doors? What do you use as the front hinge? What brand/make are they? I've got some half-formed plans for c/f half-doors, with removable lucite windows hinged on the stanchions...

Yes, my mistake! I only noticed it after I was finished.....

Tim Bird has kindly offered to post the photos of my lhd Cosworth 2.3 Duratec S3's engine bay. I spent quite bit of time thinking about how I could maximize the limited use of space under-bonnet. An explanation of what the photos show: Scuttle (please ignore the dent -- scuttle will be replaced this winter!) locating the following: interior heater, radiator overflow tank, radiator catch tank, windscreen washer/bottle, battery cutoff switch, battery conditioner (hooked to mains by covered plug receptacle under front-end of car), remote 12-v power outlet, and two aluminium cans to hold spares, rags, etc. (one positioned on top of Odyssey battery). These cans are made from Coleman camp-stove containers, and are not yet fixed in place, awaiting scuttle replacement. Front end: Brise d/s tank with Petersen cap and in-tank pre-heater element (hooked to mains by covered plug receptacle under front-end of car), breather tank for d/s tank, and modified round Coleman stove can (to hold trans. filler neck, trans. dip-stick, and other misc. rags and tools), nosecone shaping hoop a la CSR, full-time running lights replacing turn signals, and separate turn-signal stalks on nosecone (thanks, Nathan Down for these and other nifty mods to my car!). All of the Coleman cans are lined with thin rubber sheet-roofing material to stop dents and rattles. My S3 is for touring, not racing. While the under-bonnet area is quite filled, I found a convenient place for everything I wanted.

I took some time to organize the scuttle/bay on my lhd S3 with 260 2.3 Duratec and dry sump. I have a heater, windscreen washer tank, d/s tank heater, rad surge tank, catch tank, battery tender hookup, under-bonnet 12v power source, battery cutoff switch, and some tool storage (more planned). I have had no success in posting photos on BC, but if you can send me your e-mail i will send existing photo directly. i can also take more, if you need them My e-mail is tmeacham@gci.net

I have recently remove "Ford Cosworth" badges from a damaged bonnet (not Union Jacks, I'm afraid). I heated the backside of the bonnet with a heat gun, and worked a thin putty knife under the badges. The adhesive on the back-side is gummy and takes a while to separate from the bonnet, but no paint loss occurred due to paint lifting. If I was concerned about leaving the bonnet essentially unmarked, I would have used a plastic putty knife, in combination with working fishing leader-line back and forth to separate the adhesive from the bonnet.

Please clarify, but I believe the Caterham "diff struts" are different in location from the diff braces that Caterham supplies for the R500 Superlight. The latter come up from the diff housing bolts through the boot floor to the shoulder harness bar (as do the MOG version, except that they attach to the shock top tower bolts), while the former seem to be involved with the de Dion suspension bracketry. Clarification would be helpful....

CC list a propshaft guard "for the R500 metric chassis only." Has anyone in BC-land tried to adapt this part for an Arch chassis, or alternatively, devised an equivalent part for an Arch chassis?

My Seven is an S3 with the 2.3 Duratec 260, not a CSR -- but I have found that the combination of the 6-speed transmission and the 3.38:1 rear diff is the best of both worlds, for touring and performance. The 3.38 is not too high for stop and go traffic, and the 6th direct in top is not too revvy for motorway cruising at (or above) the speed limit. My 6100-mile trip in my Seven in 2010 proved, to me, the wisdom of my trans/diff choices.

Sorry, error in prior post -- my custom "7" emblem is definitely 2/3 regular size, not 3/4. ( I suppose one could be made in 3/4 size, but it might not look very much different from full-size).

Yes, my Caterham "7" grille emblem is 2/3 normal size. I thought that a smaller "7" emblem would look right, centered on a black mesh grille rather than filling the entire space, and with the black-painted radiator behind (sort of a "black hole" effect?). A fellow from UK was advertising on eBay, offering to laser-cut "7" grille emblems out of stainless steel. I contacted him, and asked if he could scale one down to 3/4 size; and he said, no problem, his mate (who was doing the work) could do it. I had the emblem powder-coated in silver to match the car body color, and wired it to the mesh with stainless wire. I passed the word around the USA Seven community about the availability of the smaller "7", but no one appeared interested. The person offering the smaller (as well as regular) "7" in s/s was Marcus Ridley, at marcus.ridley@sky.com Don't know if they are still available. I bought mine in 2008.

Croc, Yes, but they look very nice, and they stay that way. Besides, since I had already coated the undersides of the wings with pickup-truck bed-liner, any inherent weight savings with c/f was already foregone.

Too late for some, but the "cure" is to have your c/f wings and other c/f parts clear-coated by a paint shop before installing them. C/f is avery porous and moisture-absorbent fabric in its untreated state, and you will find that it will soak up four or five applications of clear-coat before you're done. But once clear-coated, the c/f is impervious to moisture, can easily be waxed, and has a wonderful 3-dimensional depth to its appearance.

I believe I have answered my own question: http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Ftail-brake-turn.html Red LED bulbs should be used behind a red lens (lense).

velocityblade, Did you use the white or red LED replacement bulbs? With a red lens (lense), the white bulb would show red. I see from the catalog listing that the white LED bulb has a lumens output of over twice what the red LED bulb has.

Croc, I assume you meant that you do NOT really need the side mirrors with the panoramic windscreen mirror...? That has been my experience. I have one of the MirrorsforSevens windscreen-frame pano mirrors, and wouldn't be without it. It is barely wider than the windscreen frame itself, and gives a full view behind, from over one shoulder to over the other. And it frees up a blind area in the center of the screen normally occupied by a stick-on mirror.

Anyone know why CC recommend that the 15X9 CSR wheel not be used on the rear of an S3, as they will not fit? (At least, that is what the US CC distributor told me). Swimming against the tide, I installed the wider CSR 15X9 inch wheel and Avon CR500 tyre in 245/40 R15 size on the rear of my 2007 S3. I used a 5-mm spacer (though it might not really be needed). The stock wheel studs are long enough to fully seat the wheel nuts. These tyres fill out the rear-wheel wells nicely!

Billyboy, I got my Hella Optilux 1500 lamps from Susquehanna MotorSports in USA (www.rallylights.com). The Hella 1500 may now be a discontinued lamp; the only one shown on the current Susquehanna Motorsports website is the Hella model 1502, in chrome. See: http://www.rallylights.com/SearchResult.aspx?KeyWords=1502

I'm a little late to the party...I have mounted two full-time running lights (Hella Optilux 1500 with halogen bulbs) where my direction signals would normally go. The CC turn signal pod was used as a pattern for cutting replacement carbon-fiber light pods to fit the Hellas. The turn signals were placed lower, on either side of the nosecone, with motorcycle stalk-type LED signals in c/f housings. They are supplemented with two turn-signal side lamps on my c/f headlamp housings (Fiat Barchetta (?) items). The work was done by Nathan Down of Boulder, Colorado USA, whom some of you may know as a former CC engineer. I don't have a photo-hosting site, so if I can ask some kind soul (gileshudson??) to receive and post a couple of photos, I can show POBC how my ideas turned out.... Alaskossie

Linds at Seven Speed has a solution that involves fitting a larger aero cap to eliminate the slow-fill problems of the standard aero cap. But I understand that CC now has a re-designed standard aero cap that also eliminates this problem, and does not require a new, larger hole in the rear panel. I've got one on order.

6speedmanual, Thanks for the advice. Yes, I have already binned the plastic handgrip -- but in favor of a heavier brushed ally one from CC -- well, it looks better!

I learned just yesterday that Caterham is now offering a re-designed aero filler assembly of the same design, but changed internally so that the filler nozzle goes in better. The filler cap is tethered to the new assembly with a short cable, which may or may not be a good addition. So it may not be necessary to order Linds' larger aero filler and cut a larger hole in the back panel, to get a better-working filler...

Sorry to take it a bit O/T, but has anyone modified the standard CC tunnel handbrake lever so that in its off position, it nestles closer to the tunnel? I haven't disassembled things yet, to see what might be involved. When my brake is fully off, the handle still sticks up at enough of an angle to interfere with the gearshift, unless i am careful. Alaskossie