DeDion Rear suspension

[GEARBOX]

Hello all;

I just bought a Caterham basket case that was used as a race car since new. Unfortunately, the PO canibalized the car for parts for his other race cars, but the bulk of the car is still intact. One of the main components that is missing is the DeDion rear suspension. I have the Seirra LSD diff, rear shocks and springs, but that is about it. No uprights, hubs, calipers, rotors, axles, and all the associated tubing. I checked the US and UK Caterham websites and they do not list these parts. Does anyone have any drawings of these parts so I can fabricate them or possibly a source in the US where I can buy them? Thanks Allan

[moosetestbestanden]

The build manual is online hereabouts. A search should find it. There's a section that covers rear suspension. A good place to start to gather up a list of the parts you'll need.

There's lots: DeDion tube, a-frame, half shafts, watts linkage, ears, etc. etc. etc. Colorado may have some. The rear discs are from a Triumph Spitfire, or at least mine (chassis fabricated in '03) are. Moss Motors up Santa Barbara way has them. And there's aftermarket stuff like calipers and such that work quite well.

You don't mention the year. The rear suspension evolved so knowing when Arch built the chassis will be helpful.

Edit: There's Blat Chat Over There. Searching is available w/out signing up / paying. Also, there are at least several companies Over There that may have things to hand, as they say. I'm sure others will be along here as well.

[GEARBOX]

Thanks Chris, a schematic of the entire car would be helpful, not to mention cross over parts. The car I bought is a 2000 Superlight R, so I am told, which was used as a race car from new. But the guy had several cars and stripped this one for parts after shunts. The frame looks brand new and the aluminum skin looks in great shape as well. The car came with a Zetec VCT motor that had a fully rebuilt bottom end, and two heads, a VCT head and a R head non VCT. I was told to finish the build with the non VCT head and delete this feature, so I need to source some parts like the pulleys etc. Have been working with Lotus Twin Cams and Cosworth BDD's all my life, so these new ECU motors will be a challenge. Rebuilding the car is pretty straight forward for me and between my lathe, Mill, and other equipment, I can fabricate most parts. Here are some pictures of the car, please don't laugh too hard. Thanks again Allan

[magnusfeuer]

The build manual is available at http://californiacaterhamclub.com/resources/, and should be a good reference for a 2000 car.

It is actually a good thing that the DeDion tube is missing since the late 90s tubes had a tendency to fail in a pretty bad way.

Doug L will surely be here soon with mechanical advice on the Zetec. He also has a crate SVT engine, with its superior head, that is for sale. You may want to consider that option if you want to get on the road quickly.

Did you get any kind of engine harness and/or ECU with the car?

I regularly do engine mapping services for the club, but the engine needs to be mechanically and electrically complete, and in the car, before I can get to work.

/Magnus F.

[magnusfeuer]

Also - Where are you located?

/Magnus F.

[GEARBOX]

Hey Magnus;

Thank you for the link, I just downloaded it and will be going through it right away. "Quickly" would not be the proper adjective for this car, I'm just finishing up on a ground up restoration on a Lotus Elan S4 and just bought a partial 1962 Lotus Seven S2 in boxes, mainly for some of it's parts and a clear title, but now see that even without a chassis which I could fabricate, the car is worthy of restoration. So I'm thinking I will be in parts acqusition/fabrication mode on the Caterham for at least a year before I can start on really restoring the car. Plus with no tag and title, it will take me at least that long to go through all the DMV hoops and hurdles to obtain a title.

The Caterham I have has the ECU and harness, but no gauges and body wiring. Body work is intact outside of the windshield, but the clam shells were cut down for racing. I have a type 9 gearbox, but no bellhousing nor drive shaft. Combined with building a complete DeDion Rear, not to mention all the other missing bits like the nose cone, brakes, radiator, interior, etc., it will take awhile. But first I have to address getting the car on all fours, then I'll wittle away at the rest. After all, this is what makes it fun right? LOL. BTW, are the aluminum rear uprights still available and what caliper and rotors should I be looking for? Thanks Allan PS I'm located in Westfield, NJ

[Doug Liedblad]

Allan

Are you also a member of USA7s? They have more members local to you.

Also you should check out Blatchat, the UK Lotus Seven Club. Ebay UK too.

At one time I had found a UK source of used Seven parts but no longer know if they are in existence.

Good luck with your projects.

Doug

[JohnCh]

I'm located in Westfield, NJ

That address will go over well if you have to order any parts from the factory

-John

[GEARBOX]

Allan

Are you also a member of USA7s? They have more members local to you.

Also you should check out Blatchat, the UK Lotus Seven Club. Ebay UK too.

At one time I had found a UK source of used Seven parts but no longer know if they are in existence.

Good luck with your projects.

Doug

Hi Doug;

Yeah, I tried registering for the USA7 site, but it keeps on asking for a code that the site admistrator has given me. Needless to say, I have no code. Have any idea what this code is? Thanks Allan

[GWise]

Welcome Allan,

I'll be less help with the Caterham than some of the others around these forums but EscondidoRon and I can help with questions on the 1962 S2.

Did you by any chance buy the lot of parts that was for sale on ebay?

[Sean]

Hi Doug;

Yeah, I tried registering for the USA7 site, but it keeps on asking for a code that the site admistrator has given me. Needless to say, I have no code. Have any idea what this code is? Thanks Allan

Mazda (the site administrator) will e-mail you the code after he sees that you have registered for the site, and has determined that you are a human rather than a spam-bot. Check your own e-mail account's spam filter in case the code may have been caught there. Or at least, that's how it used to work there; I don't get to that site much anymore.

[escondidoron]

Welcome Allan,

I'll be less help with the Caterham than some of the others around these forums but EscondidoRon and I can help with questions on the 1962 S2.

Did you by any chance buy the lot of parts that was for sale on ebay?

Welcome aboard.

Can't wait to see the '62 lot of parts.

[JohnCh]

Hi Doug;

Yeah, I tried registering for the USA7 site, but it keeps on asking for a code that the site admistrator has given me. Needless to say, I have no code. Have any idea what this code is? Thanks Allan

Allan, I help out with site administration for USA7s. It looks like a setting may have been unintentionally changed. We're looking into it and will get you sorted. I'll reach out via PM here once I have an update.

-John

[GEARBOX]

Welcome Allan,

I'll be less help with the Caterham than some of the others around these forums but EscondidoRon and I can help with questions on the 1962 S2.

Did you by any chance buy the lot of parts that was for sale on ebay?

Hi Gwise;

Thank you and yes. I spoke with the seller before the auction closed, real nice guy who owned this car since 1972 and raced these cars throughout the 60's and 70's. Outside of the chassis, he had a pretty original S2, with spare blocks and diffs and some race parts. The missing parts were used as replacement parts for his race car, so all the street parts are still there. I originally just wanted the title, but now see that I have to fully restore the car to original spec, drum brakes and all. It should be a lot of fun.

As for the S2 help, absolutely, I can use all I can get. I have the plans from Pat Prince which I think is his reinforced frame design, so I see a bundle of tubing in my future soon. But were these cars ever fitted with a heater? And was the car positive ground? Also, I am missing the bellhousing, was the gearbox the same used in the Elan's? The Ford 2000E? If so, is the bellhousing the same for the 105E 1340cc motor? And finally, what was the original configuration for the gauges? Smith's? I have tons more, but this would be a good start. Thanks Allan

[GEARBOX]

Welcome aboard.

Can't wait to see the '62 lot of parts.

Me too! Car or should I say Parts are in Michigan and I have to leave the country for 3 months. So my buddy will be treking out to pick up the parts for me next week. He has a ton more parts that are not in the pictures, but it gives you an idea of my passion, or to better put it, sickness, in having to restore every cool car I see. It makes herion addiction seem like a mild yearning for something salty in comparasion. The things we do for fun lol.