paul_w

On my car, just putting the handbrake on and rocking back and forth showed the bushes were gone. Plus if it still knocks then, you know it's suspension, not driveline. If the axle bushes haven't been done, they are worth doing and carry spares on long trips - I had mine go in France which limited the enjoyment on the run back!

Hi Alberto I believe those tyres Avon recommended were the ones developed for the Caterham race series, so even if the compound might seem a bit hard to you they will likely be among the best tyres regarding sidewall stiffness and overall construction, which can be a big factor with 7s. They should also work well with the set up of the 620R - a softer compound may well mean you start needing to change spring rates etc. Plus they might last a bit longer then really soft ones, I don't know if that's a factor but I'd imagine the cost of getting lots of sets of tyres may well add up! Best wishes, Paul

Hi - could I have the front wings please? I'll be able to pick them up as I'm in London. Cheers Paul

I took a full cage off my 2010 ex-academy car - the cage lined up perfectly with all the bolt holes, whereas the standard, brand new, road roll hoop was out of line and took hours to persuade into place. I would suggest the bars are not made to the same tolerances as the chassis, so not to worry too much. It's rubbish they don't fit, but I don't think you need to start worrying about the chassis - just keep getting CC to send you bars until they send you one you can fit...

Hi Trevor, which type are the fabric half doors, Caterham/SBFS or something else please? Cheers Paul

I removed the Academy cage from my 2010 metric car because I didn't want to wear a helmet all the time (even on the trip back after buying the car someone called me a w****** for wearing a helmet, so I assume people are friendlier whereever you live!), and I really didn't fancy driving without one. That had no problem with the sidescreens and it wasn't that hard to get in and out of. I'm 5' 9" and the car has lowered floors. The only holes that were left are the ones at the bottom of the cowl - I put bolts with black plastic covers in the holes and you hardly notice them under the sidescreens. I've still got it complete with the rear view mirror if you want to make me an offer - it's in my garage in South London. I kept it in case I wanted to put it back on the car, but I can't see that happening, not least because the standard roll bar was a poor fit and very difficult to put on.

thanks Roger, it was indeed the venturi lock screws I was (dimly) remembering :-D

the other thing that can happen on webers is the jet holders (probably not the right term) underneath fall out if the locking tabs haven't been replaced or bent over enough - I've experienced the same symptoms you're describing as a result of this happening on a BDR after the carbs had been rebuilt. if you get a mirror or take pics with your phone look for a missing brass hex head on the underneath of the carb.

If you haven't bought one yet, I'm toying with replacing the QR in mine with a standard one, so might be up for a deal if you're interested? Mine's a 2010 car so assuming it's the same part.

Hi - as above, could you please say what wheels and tyres they are, and whether there are four or five of them? Looking for a complete set of wheels for a De Dion car at the moment. Thanks, Paul

Thanks to the others who jumped in to share measurements, as I'm afraid I didn't get a chance today to measure my one! Sorry about that...

I have one sitting in the rafters in my workshop that I intend to fit to my Lotus at some point - I am down there in the morning so will try to remember to take some measurements...

Hi Andy - do you know if your car has had a thermostat added (sorry if you've mentioned this in other threads)? If you want the heater to work you'll need one! I followed the advice in post #13 in this thread: https://www.lotus7.club/forum/techtalk/vx-16-8v-thermostat?page=1 which didn't need the submarine pipe, just a long piece of small hose and the stat. It worked fine for me for 10,000 miles in all weathers. I bought one of these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VAUXHALL-THERMOSTAT-GENUINE-NEW-90232012/152314376299?epid=1327089471&hash=item2376a4f06b:g:eMQAAOSwx2dYJfPO ​and drilled a small (3mm from memory) hole in the stat as a bypass before doing the hose mod. The other advice I have is to keep an eye on your water pump - mine lunched its bearings even though the car had only done about 6k miles and I was lucky it didn't take the cambelt with it.

Tune the VX lump with a head, cam and mapped ignition and you'll have as much power as you'll want to put through that axle (cue loads of people saying 'I put a zillion bhp through mine for 40 years and never had a problem' - mine blew up on my first airfield day with the stock engine on a low miles car though, so fair to say 140bhp is risky for a component designed for about a 100 less) If you're going to put that much work in (and you'll probably only find out how much when you actually try it, for example I think you'll need another tank as well for the injection pump to work as it should) then do it with a De Dion chassis which will give you the option of upgrading further in the future.

Hi Andrew I've mailed you about the TRS harnesses, m/cyl and springs and shocks Cheers Paul

just to add more confusion, the right wheel offset will change depending on the sidewall height of the tyres you run. that's why the newer wheels have a bigger offset than the old ones, because the newer cars tend to run lower profile tyres. This is because of the king pin inclination, and you will feel it through the wheel on a car as sensitive as a 7. So if you've got the standard Caterham wheels for your car and the factory tyre size, measure them and try to get that, because they generally know what they are doing...

Did you get my message?

If it's not cracked I'll have that please - I'll pm you now :-)

I'll take the bushes please, will message you my details Cheers Paul

Not a lot of time unbolting if the car's not that old and nothing's seized - about five bolts per wing and four Dzus for the nose, plus unscrewing the various lights. Not more than an honest hour in that. I might have a go at it just out of interest as much as anything else, my nose and wings are in temporary paint anyway so it doesn't really matter if I screw it up. The rear wings on mine are much curvier than on a Caterham though so could prove tricky mind you :-/

I'm amazed you've been quoted £500 for the vinyl wrap, aren't you tempted to just buy some of the material and have a crack yourself? I was thinking of trying it on mine until I can afford a full respray (and so would much rather you tried it and reported back how hard it was before I put my hand in my pocket for the vinyl )

Redline still did the extra top link kit with negative wishbones about 18 months ago when we did my Dad's HPC, was fairly reasonably priced IIRC. It works very well based on my short trip out in the car last summer, much better than the original set up on my Classic, and (fairly) easily reversible in the unlikely event that you'd want to go back. Otherwise, I'd agree, try to keep it original, they may not be the fastest anymore, but they are special cars, and I suspect the value of the engines has made the survival rate lower than other quick 7s - I recall some club members telling me that they knew of a few people years ago who bought BDR cars, sold the engines for a nice wedge, then put a crossflow in and sold the car for not much less than they'd paid for them!

great that it's sorted, but odd that it seems to be the opposite way to everyone else! I wonder if the rack has been changed for a different length one at some point, maybe from a later or earlier car? Not that it matters really... I have all this to look forward to on my S1, that has the rack (an upside down LHD Triumph Herald unit!) mounted behind the wishbones, so god knows how close I'll get to eradicating bump steer once I get it all up and running. They'd only just moved on from split beam axles when they designed the S1, so I'm not expecting it to be geometrically perfect :-D

According to the Chris Rees book, Caterham added toe out in bump in '88 'as a measure to improve stability on rough roads' on the recommendation of Lotus who had borrowed a Seven for assessment when developing the new Elan. Though presumably that was only up until the major front end change in '96 when everything will have changed again. I assume you've been through and checked everything else on the front end to make sure that nothing's amiss/bent? The old style front suspension will always be a bit jiggly because the top arm is located by the ARB and large rubber bushes (which need to be in good nick, you feel these when they are worn with similar results to the ones you're describing) but it definitely shouldn't be the worst handling car you've ever driven unless there's something very wrong - if the rack was wrongly installed maybe something else has been too?

have a play on here to see what tyre sizes match your current to avoid gearing and ride height changes or at least to get an idea of how big a change you're making. http://www.tyresave.co.uk/tyre-size-calculator/ your current set up is equivalent to 185/70 R13 as fitted to lots of old school Caterhams. if that size you want around a 19mm offset. you'll find loads new and second hand in this size with a Ford PCD. or on a 15 inch wheel 195/50 15 is near enough and you might find that less of a drastic change from what you're currently running than going to a bouncy tall sidewall tyre. In theory, if all else remains the same, then if you reduce the overall diameter then the offset needs to increase to keep the same geometry - someone more familiar with the newer cars will hopefully know, but I think the newer Caterham wheels that run smaller diameter tyres are about 23mm offset. Hope that helps :-)