ben7 Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 I am currently considering various upgrades at present, but before I start investing my hard earned cash, I need to understand how long a se7en will last for. I currently do approx 5k per year in mine, mainly in the dry and not in winter. It’s 3.5 years old at the moment and beginning to show signs or corrosion on the chassis etc (which is to be expected). If I were to invest £8k in a new engine, and replaced consumables etc as required, how long do you think before the car started to become quite tired. Can you take additional measures to protect the chassis for example? I need to understand whether its better to upgrade the existing or trade up to a newer higher spec model. Thanks, Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheds Moderator Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 Angus and Tessa have done 80k miles in theirs which is now 8 yrs old and still looks good and runs well. Original engine and box, paintwork still shiny if the odd corner and the underside are starting to show some wear. Photos on "mycaterham". Basically I think that with decent maintenance a 7 will put up with daily use for longer than most people will. Regular paint and Dinitrol will keep the chassis going beyond the 20 yr mark if you are prepared to keep on at it. Mechanicals will last as long as any car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelspeed Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 Is the chassis corroding structurally or has the powder coating started to fall off exposing steel which has surface rust on it. Probably the latter. The good news is that no matter how bad it appears to be it's relatively cheap to get it as new. For approx 1500 quid Arch will strip off all your ally panels, blast the chassis clean, repowdercoat the chassis (with longer lasting coating) then reskin it with new alloy panels. For the cost of the new stage of tuning on the engine you have a brand new car. And once you are talking to Arch you can specify all sorts of nice things like getting the interior and engine bay powder coated black, much nicer than bare ally. I did mine 2 years ago (it was 10 years old then) and it's still like a new car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Support Team Shaun_E Posted September 27, 2004 Support Team Share Posted September 27, 2004 It'll cost a bit more than £1500 now but that's exactly what I'm doing starting this weekend! Once complete the car should be as good as new. Yellow SL #32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julians Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 What cost have they quoted for a re powder coat and reskin job? And what does this include, ie is this for them to strip the car, or are you giving it to them with most of the main things already removed? Any more details would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ferguson Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 Shaun, would also be interested to know how much ARCH charge & wot they do for the money Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burt1969 Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 With regards to how long will a seven last.... I have a 1985 Xflow and have no major wear problems. However I expect I will do a strip down sometime in the future, or may just upgrade for a newer model... depends on what you want from your seven I suppose. When I asked about a reskin (send car to arch already stripped) they quoted me 1k All the best, Phil Green and Ali 1600 X-Flow Edited by - Burt1969 on 27 Sep 2004 23:02:20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyrone Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 Ben, Perhaps we could discuss this very subject at the club meeting this Wednesday from 7.30pm at The Church Mouse in Chester le Street 😬 You know you want to!!! Bri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben7 Posted September 28, 2004 Author Share Posted September 28, 2004 Brian, this wednesday as in the 29th? Could be well on for that, I'll have to bring the tintop though - the se7en is sans rear wheel 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Support Team Shaun_E Posted September 28, 2004 Support Team Share Posted September 28, 2004 Julian/Mark, I am budgeting around £2500 for the job at Arch. For this I have to remove everything from the car except the panels. I could save moeny and drill out all the rivets to take the panels off but Arch can do this much more easily than I can and it's not a lot more money. Arch will remove the panels and then sand/shot blast the chassis to remove all the old powder coat and rust. They then dip the chassis (zinc something or other I believe) and then powder coat. They will then supply and fit all new panels. I am having the car painted at TSK - this will vary with what you are having painted and what paint/colour. I then have to put everything back on the car. This is quite a task as a kit has a lot of stuff already fitted but I will be re-fitting everything so it's a fair bit more work. This is not a job for the fainthearted and I'm pretty apprehensive about it but although I could probably get away with just having the side panels replaced, I want to do a proper job and ensure tha car is as good as new. Shaun Yellow SL #32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyrone Posted September 28, 2004 Share Posted September 28, 2004 Ben, I'd offer to pick you up, but there's a mate of Iain A who wants to come along. I think he has just a 7, but doesn't take delivery for a couple of weeks. Do you want to meet up, if you are going? Bri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben7 Posted September 28, 2004 Author Share Posted September 28, 2004 I think I'm hijacking my own thread here but ... Thanks for the offer Brian, but I'll go straight from work to pub - saves me some time. Cheers, Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Ferguson Posted September 28, 2004 Share Posted September 28, 2004 thanks Shaun, appreciate the reply Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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