Pat
Supporter
Hi Nathan,
I think most of your questions have been answered but I would like to offer some suggestions and reinforce some other comments.
1. I have an early MONO CAV and I've been really happy with it. There have been several issues I've dealt with that in most cases had to do with errors in the engine installation, (hose routing causing water cavitation, wrong starter, loose drive coupling bolts etc.), and my own learning curve. So I'd recommend you get someone that has built out a CAV before to do your car if you buy new. They'll have learned some of the quirks and will be a great source of knowledge to you.
2. Keep an eye out for a used car and you may just stumble on something. I found my car through friends in the exotic car business and got a pretty fair deal.
3. See whatever you are going to buy first. The RF saga is a sad lesson and the idea if spending $65-75K sight unseen on an E-bay item is a very courageous choice indeed. Instead, you can network with forum members (as you are doing) and have someone knowledgeable go with you to see a car of interest. Before I bought my car I had the guys at Alex Job racing go over it and they saved me a lot of money in getting a host of little things corrected before I put down any cash.
4. Alignment, alignment, alignment! I've held a national SCCA competition license for decades and I still wasn't prepared for the scare of the bump steer effects of one of these cars under hard braking. It took a while, but once the set-up was correct, it was night and day. For the unwary, these cars can be lethal though. I wouldn’t try to set any track records on my first outing.
5. Be prepared to do your own work. I suspect you won't find any two CAVs exactly the same. Bob Childress' car is a great example of the incredible quality that an owner can add to a vehicle. I suspect the day I finish my car will be the day I sell it.
6. My CAV insurance is about the same as my Corvette but the insurance company knows it's a weekend driver. That was the one problem I was worried about but it was a non-issue. They actually insure a couple of CAVs and knew the car.
The only registration hassle I had was the CAV VIN has fewer digits than normal but the DMV was eventually able to show a little elasticity on the issue. Their big concerns were that I wasn't trying to re-badge something stolen. Once they looked at the car it was no problem. I live in Florida so your NJ folks may not see it the same way.
7. Dynomat makes great sound and heat insulation for the cockpit and BSR makes heat shielding for the rear deck. The first makes normal speech possible underway and the second preserves the paint and rear shell from the engine heat. I think they are a great add to any car.
8. I also added a license plate 3rd brake light and LED interior lights because I thought they looked cool. (When I want to horrify my adult son, I threaten to put purple neon underlighting to the car)
9. If you shop a CAV made before the AutoFutura era, verify the front safely upgrade was done with the lower ball joint block hardware and the ignition switch relay kit was installed.
Hope that helps.
I think most of your questions have been answered but I would like to offer some suggestions and reinforce some other comments.
1. I have an early MONO CAV and I've been really happy with it. There have been several issues I've dealt with that in most cases had to do with errors in the engine installation, (hose routing causing water cavitation, wrong starter, loose drive coupling bolts etc.), and my own learning curve. So I'd recommend you get someone that has built out a CAV before to do your car if you buy new. They'll have learned some of the quirks and will be a great source of knowledge to you.
2. Keep an eye out for a used car and you may just stumble on something. I found my car through friends in the exotic car business and got a pretty fair deal.
3. See whatever you are going to buy first. The RF saga is a sad lesson and the idea if spending $65-75K sight unseen on an E-bay item is a very courageous choice indeed. Instead, you can network with forum members (as you are doing) and have someone knowledgeable go with you to see a car of interest. Before I bought my car I had the guys at Alex Job racing go over it and they saved me a lot of money in getting a host of little things corrected before I put down any cash.
4. Alignment, alignment, alignment! I've held a national SCCA competition license for decades and I still wasn't prepared for the scare of the bump steer effects of one of these cars under hard braking. It took a while, but once the set-up was correct, it was night and day. For the unwary, these cars can be lethal though. I wouldn’t try to set any track records on my first outing.
5. Be prepared to do your own work. I suspect you won't find any two CAVs exactly the same. Bob Childress' car is a great example of the incredible quality that an owner can add to a vehicle. I suspect the day I finish my car will be the day I sell it.
6. My CAV insurance is about the same as my Corvette but the insurance company knows it's a weekend driver. That was the one problem I was worried about but it was a non-issue. They actually insure a couple of CAVs and knew the car.
The only registration hassle I had was the CAV VIN has fewer digits than normal but the DMV was eventually able to show a little elasticity on the issue. Their big concerns were that I wasn't trying to re-badge something stolen. Once they looked at the car it was no problem. I live in Florida so your NJ folks may not see it the same way.
7. Dynomat makes great sound and heat insulation for the cockpit and BSR makes heat shielding for the rear deck. The first makes normal speech possible underway and the second preserves the paint and rear shell from the engine heat. I think they are a great add to any car.
8. I also added a license plate 3rd brake light and LED interior lights because I thought they looked cool. (When I want to horrify my adult son, I threaten to put purple neon underlighting to the car)
9. If you shop a CAV made before the AutoFutura era, verify the front safely upgrade was done with the lower ball joint block hardware and the ignition switch relay kit was installed.
Hope that helps.
