Thermostat

It has become apparent that the build would have gone smoother had I sourced the Zetec engine from Caterham USA. This engine was purchased locally and some of the connections don't match the Caterham wiring harness. Nonetheless it is actually fun trying to solve each of the differences, even though the effort could add another month to the build. Originally this engine had a thermostat housing without temperature sensors from a 2004 Ford Focus. Pictured here is the newly installed housing from a 1999 Contour. Notice the ECU temperature sensor at the top, and temperature gauge sensor near the bottom. Both have connectors to the harness. The latter is the Caterham-supplied sensor with fabricated ground wire from my prior posting.

Temperature Sensor

The brass temperature gauge sensor (upper left) is supplied with the Caterham kit. Fortuately, it screws right into the thermostat housing on the Zetec motor. Because the housing is plastic, the sensor must be grounded. A ground wire was fabricated with two 3/8" ring terminals. Since this area of the motor gets warm, no soldier was used. Heat shrink tubing gives it a tidy look and supports the wire connection. Several washers beneath the head of the sensor will ensure a good connection. The other end will attach to one of the housing mounting bolts. This was my second attempt and I'm pretty happy with the result.

Oil Pressure Sensor

The oil pressure sensor, or sender, is the cylinder in the center of this photo. Caterham recommends mouting it remotely so that it is not damaged by the vibration of the engine. The location of the pickup hole on the Zetec engine block is too close to the alternator and oil filter to put it there anyway. There are two alternate pickup holes with silver plugs to the left, but eventually they will be obstructed by the starter.

To mount the sensor remotely requires a flexible braided oil hose. At more than 30 inches, it looks awefully long, but I'm told it works. All of this is very confusing because the parts are actually brake parts, and none of it is explained in the Assembly Guide. Again the folks at www.usa7s.com provided guided me through the mess with photos.

The brass T fitting will be bolted somewhere to the chassis. The top of the T is plugged with a tiny, black threaded plug. The hose attaches to the side of the T, and the sensor to the bottom. A wire from the engine wiring harness attaches to the single electrical contact on the sensor. At the other end of the hose is an adapter to mate the hose with the engine block. It took some finesse to thread the plug and sensor into the T. Turn a few turns, then back off to clean out the threads, and repeat.

Engine Identification Number

The engineering number on the head of this Ford Zetec engine (exhause side) is RF-YS4E-6090AC. The local Ford dealer says YS means it is a Focus engine. According to the Burton Power site, the 4E indicates that this motor was manufactured in August 2004. That is consistent with the photo below from a late model Ford Focus taken from the FocusHacks site. Wikipedia indicates it is actually a "Zetec-R", based on the black plastic cam cover. The serial number, also exhaust side near the fly wheel, is 190992219.

Oil Filter - Engine Mount Conflict

The right-hand engine mount supplied by Caterham USA has a section removed so it does not conflict with the oil filter. Even so, the stock Zetec oil filter conflicts with the mount, shown above. Thanks to the folks on www.usa7s.com, it was easy to locate a shorter filter that clears the mount, below. The new filter is a Purolator L10241 from a 1994-96 Toyota Camry V-6. I am told that a WIX 51374 also works.

Engine Arrives

Monday marked the long-awaited arrival of the engine, a 4-cylinder 2.0 litre 16V Ford Zetec. Zetecs were made for cars like the Ford Focus and Contour, and the Mercury Mystique of the late 1990's and early 2000's. Numbers on the block will reveal which model and year. More recently it was built up as a spare engine for a Formula Ford Sports Racer, but never actually installed. After that it was accidentally swapped with another Zetec and shipped to a racing team in Australia. The recipient quickly realized the mistake and mailed it back. Now it rests in my garage awaiting its proper place in a real car.

Stone Guards Installed

You may recall a prior post about drilling holes in the rear fenders for stone guards. Now that the fenders have been painted, the stone guards can be installed. I chose to use backing washers behind the rivets, although the Assembly Guide does not all for it. Yes, that is my attic; all the precious bodywork lives in the attic where it is safe from children, dogs, and other sources of accidental bumps.

Quicksilver RacEngines

Quicksilver RacEngines has been building engines for cars like Formula Fords for more than 30 years. They have an expansive shop located in southern Frederick, Maryland off Buckeystown Pike where they can fabricate just about anything for your toys. In fact, they have done several Caterhams in a wide range of horsepower, including Zetecs. Both Sandy and Eric are very helpful in answering questions. Look them up!

Reverse Light

The Assembly Guide says that the reverse light comes installed on the car. Fortunately mine was not. Some seven owners are reluctant to make holes in the delicate aluminum body for a small light that does not serve much purpose and just adds weight. I chose to install the reverse light anyway in hopes of alerting other drivers when backing up. To avoid drilling through the body, this bracket was fabricated from some 1mm 5052 H32 sheet aluminum from www.onlinemetals.com. It will be riveted to the chassis. This was my first experience fabricating a fixture for the car, and it turned out well. This is good practice for the metalwork that is required later to plug a hole for the ECU in the passenger footwell.

Halfway Point

With the suspension complete, including the differential and propshaft, and the interior and weather gear started, it's fair to say that the car is half way to becoming drivable. The next major step is the installation of the engine, which is scheduled to arrive this week. Big shout out to friends and fellow Seven owners John and Erin for graciously loaning their engine stand and hoist!

Press-N-Snap

Since the Seven can be build almost entirely using common tools, I don't mind splurging this time for a tool that makes a job much easier. The job is attaching 14 snaps (or poppers, as they are called across the pond) to the boot cover. Another 14 are required if you ordered the tonneau, as in this case. The Dura Dot tool supplied with the kit is a simple metal rod called a striker and base that supports the snap. To use it requires striking with a hammer to fuse the snap top with the snap through the fabric. Although the supplied tool works, it has some disadvantages. Since my boot cover is fixed permanently to the chassis, I cannot easily remove it to align each snap. I would have had to support the base with a piece of wood or metal leaning against the car, or across the boot. Instead I ordered the Press-N-Snap tool shown. It is a marvelous tool that looks like a vise grip, but with dies for snaps.

Use an awl or ice pick to puncture the canvas, taking care to not scratch the body. The ambient temperature is about 50 degrees in the garage; any colder and the canvas may not have been workable. If you do install a tonneau, remember that the two most forward snaps on the boot cover are different from the rest. These snaps parts, called double studs, have a snap base on top for the tonneau. Send me a note if you need to borrow the Press-N-Snap for your project.

Ron Paul for President

As the Maryland primary approaches I am reminded of how cars are an expression of personal liberty. The Seven is a design that dates back decades, yet still rings true today. Likewise, the US Constitution set forth a design for government that is equally valid decades and centuries later. As an advocate of personal liberty, I am voting for Ron Paul for President in 2008. Ron Paul has an unwavering record of supporting the US Constitution. He favors a balanced budget, no income tax, and smaller federal government. Ron Paul would withdraw our troops from Iraq and encourage a non-interventionist foreign policy. I encourage all Maryland, DC and Virginia to support Ron Paul on Tuesday.

Bleeding Brakes

Bleeding brakes was an entirely new experience to me. In high school I used to secretly admire guys who could bleed their brakes. Today I finally got a chance to live the dream. Turned out to not be nearly the adrenaline rush I was expecting.

Brake fluid is very caustic on painted and bare metal surfaces. Have plenty of rags on hand, preferably one beneath each fitting at the wheels and junctions throughout the system. Have wrenches too. Two of the joints required tightening when the pumping began. It was obvious by the drops on the floor as well as from the leaking sound.

Started with the left rear wheel, then right rear, then front left, and finally front right. For each wheel a friend pumped the pedal and held it down while I released air bubbles at the wheel. Use a rubbler mallet to gently tap the calipers to encourage air to exit. Tighten the bleed screw and repeat. We did this 3-6 times at each wheel, twice all around. The resevoir was filled at the beginning, and needed toping off after each wheel during the first pass. We'll return tomorrow to do it again, allowing time for trapped air bubbles to surface.

The DOT4 fluid comes in 12 oz. bottles. Probably could have done it with just two.

Jill and Gaga

The purple paint is barely dry and the girls are already flocking! Actually, it's just friends Jill and Gaga stopping by this afternoon after touring Washington DC. They didn't seem to mind that the seats were missing when they climbed aboard. Ahead this week: Bleeding the brakes, torquing the rear hubs, and mounting the tires!

Watts Links

The Watts Links are pairs of horizonal bars that support the rear wheels. Fore and aft they bolt to the chassis through the body. Behind the wheels they attach to the DiDion tube at junctions known as a bellcrank. The Assembly Guide calls for attaching the Watts Links early during assembly of the rear suspension. Since the bellcranks arrived late, the rest of the suspension was already together. As a result, I had to wrestle with it a bit to get it on.

If this happens to you, here's the sequence. Disconnect the anti-roll bar to get more play fore and aft. Attach the rear arm to the bellcrank, making sure you torque it now, because you will not be able to later. (The rest of the bolts were torqued at the end.) Attach the rear arm to the chassis with Locktite. Attach the bellcrnk to the DiDion tube. Use a floorjack and block of wood to gently raise the tube at the ear, using care to not raise the car off its jackstands. At the same time coax the bellcrank to rotate to align with the forward arm. Torque the bolts.

The Watts Links are probably one of the more complicated parts of this kits. Watch out for:

• Insert spacers inside the DiDion tube flange.


• Gently spread the flanges with piars before starting.


• Bellcrank bushes stick out away from the car.


• Long end of the bellcrank points down.


• Wasted section of the forward arm is outward; wasted section of rear arm is inward.


• Forward arm attaches to the upper of two holes in the body.

Purple Paint

From the start this car was conceived to be purple. Interestingly, Caterham offers all of the primary colors except purple. For an extra few quid the factory would have done a custom job, but I wanted to enlist local talent for this car.

Thanks to the folks at JT's Collision Repair in Eldersburg, Maryland, the dirty deed is done. JT's came highly recommended by a Lotus friend and they specialize in exotic car bodywork. They did a great job.

Initially I feared that purple would be too Raven-esque, as it is also the color of the Baltimore Ravens football team. Chapster5 from LotusTalk did a photoshop rendition that is used in the banner of this blog, and I still really liked the look. So I figured, if the color makes Raven fans happy, so be it, the car's gonna make people smile anyway. The real theme is "Harold and the Purple Seven", a spin on the children's book that is a favorite of mine and my sons. Turns out the third person that saw the fender--I took the fender to work--asked whether it was going to be a Raven car. Doh!

The color is known as "purpearl" from a Suzuki motorcycle pallet. It has a moderate level of pearlessence, so it should look nice in the sun next to the bare aluminum body. JT's added a flex agent to the paint to discourage cracking when the body panels move. More reminders of how Sevens are similar to motorcycles.

Not shown, JT's sprayed the inside of the nose code flat black to match the radiator. Looking at the picture just makes me want to go racing!