Caterham S3 delivery
- Thread starter bigdog
- Start date
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bigdog said:
No one is worried that the car is anything other than what the vendor claimed. As usual, we're all focusing on the wrong thing and rambling on about the intricacies of the British registration system instead of admiring your new toy!! It shouldn't be possible for your car to have plates that effectively make it appear younger than it is, but so what! It looks like a real cracker and a great buy, so let's have some more details / photos, including what's hiding under the hood
^ what he said. It's nothing more than a curiosity and I don't think I'd bother doing a check on it now. I don't for a second think there's anything dodgy about it. My best guess is that maybe restored or rebuilt at some point, that's no bad thing though, like buzyg says kits and indeed any old car is a bit like triggers broom. Buy on condition with such things as they say.
Looking forward to some more pics.
Looking forward to some more pics.
If the bloody weather would cooperate I'd give her a bath and do some glamour shots. Also agree about the number plates. It goes down the road straight, stops well. So I'll not worry about it. It's simple to work on or have someone do the work for me should it have an issue. Heck! For the price of an N52 cylinder head I could buy a new engine.
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Bit of a thread resurrection. Might have found out about the number plate issue with my Caterham. I had been looking for a transport trailer for my 7. It was suggested by someone at the Lotus seven club that I contact the Caterham Canada dealer. Run by a former Can-Am series driver, one Mr.David Saville Peck. Very nice gentleman he is and very helpful as well. In the course of our conversation, He was asking about my seven. I mentioned something that caused him to ask that I take the phone out to the garage and answer further questions. Well by the end of the phone call, It was his opinion that my car has a newer late model chassis circa about the mid "90's" which of course matches the "N" reg plate. It was probably shunted or the old chassis had rusted beyond repair and a new one was bought. It's actually a bit of good news for me, As the later arch motors chassis are much better than the older ones from 1983. In the end my 1983 Caterham has been updated to a 1995.
Interesting to hear - hope you're still enjoying the car? I thrashed my Westfield around a track on Friday and reminded myself just how much fun a fairly modest engine can be in such a light car. I had particular fun chasing down a fully race prepped Clio Cup and sticking to his tail for several laps until he outbraked himself into a tight left hander and went straight on into the pit entry road 
BMWZ4MC said:Interesting to hear - hope you're still enjoying the car? I thrashed my Westfield around a track on Friday and reminded myself just how much fun a fairly modest engine can be in such a light car. I had particular fun chasing down a fully race prepped Clio Cup and sticking to his tail for several laps until he outbraked himself into a tight left hander and went straight on into the pit entry road
I bet the Clio pilot was due for a knicker change about then aye!
It's been quite the adventure with my 7. It wasn't running quite right while still in Germany. I discovered through a compression test that the engine had "issues" The German tech at "schafer club sport" said my valves needed doing. So I told him to do them. 1400 Euro later and the car still didn't feel right, But as we were soon to ship the car. I decided to wait until I secured a mechanic in the US to sort out the issues. Well my US mechanic said the valves were rubbish, All the exhausts were burned and they were recessed into the head, Meaning that no unleaded conversion had been done (as the dealer had stated & the German shop had claimed they had done) I bought a set of stainless valves and all the fixings for a valve job from Burton power. So now it's much better after the new valves and seats and a new set of webers were installed. (It's nearly the same cost (about a $75 up tick) in America to just buy a new weber than it is to have a full rebuild.) Fortunately the shop found that the cylinders look great with a bit of cross hatching still visible and it is at the standard bore, The big end con rod bearings were perfect. So that was good news indeed. I do still need to have the aldon dizzy gone through and a rolling road to fine tune the webers and the ignition advance curve.
But to be honest. I was at one point questioning myself very harshly for having sold the Zed and bought the 7. But now that I have found a good repair shop with a mechanic that is familiar with the old school that is the crossflow. I feel much better now.
Also. Three days after getting the car from the Seattle port. I had the 7 entered in a local car show in Walla Walla. http://downtownwallawalla.com/wheelin’-weekend.html Much to my surprise, I was awarded best import in show. Result! The whole day at the car show, I never once had a moment of silence. I fielded a great many questions about the 7, But as I enjoy chatting with people, I rather enjoyed all the banter. Even when I'm out and about driving the 7. I get a lot of thumbs up and a great many cell phones hanging from passerby's windows. I have actually met two folks who have owned a 7 in the past. They said they were tickled to see a 7 again & it sure brought back good memories for them.