martyn

If you reduce the width of your front wheels, you may want to consider doing the same at the rear as well.. I also have 150bhp and run 185 width tyres all round. Its a nice balance, but even still I have the rear ARB fairly stiff and rear tyres pumped up to encourage a bit more movement. In my opinion 185 front / 205 rear would be over tyred at the back (for my preference at least).

Thanks. Seems like its not on the parts site anymore. I did already try searching for every combination of "shim", "bracket", "high effort", etc. But it doesn't recognise the part number either. I'll give them a call tomorrow.

Cant see the angled shim in the parts site.. do you have a link?

This is interesting.. Mine has a very buzzy rattle at a little over 2k rpm. Its been driving me crazy for ages now. Will take a look at the wiper assembly.

I've had better luck by not tightening the TPS so much. I went through a cycle of tightening it more and more when it would never stay stable. Just seemed to make it worse. The problem is that the body is made of plastic and it starts to distort easily. Try setting it just more than finger tight, using the short leverage side of an allen key.

I always run different tyres front and rear on my daily tin top. I do this intentionally because I wasn't happy with the handling balance. For lack of any other adjustments, this was the easiest way to address that. No different to running different brake pads front and rear. I dont see the problem with intentionally running different tyres. As long as its planned for a reason and not just "whatever the garage had in stock" when it comes time to change. If you run same size rims front and back you could choose to put the new tyres on the front for the time being for some nice lively tail-happy handling Or keep them on the back for security - probably with a noticeable increase in understeer until you replace the fronts.

I've had very conflicting advice regarding the rear wheel bearings. Ranging from: "they're not user serviceable - check for play and replace as necessary" all the way to: "its an annual service item - pull back the seal, clean and regrease". So I'm quite interested in the collective group wisdom on this.

When you say "fixing kit" do you mean runners? > http://caterhamparts.co.uk/product.php?id_product=4563

See my thread here asking pretty much the same questions: http://www.lotus7.club/forum/techtalk/sigma-sump-drain-plug I've never bothered changing the plug, and its really not necessary unless it is damaged.. I do however change the rubber o-ring/washer. This article explains the different plugs. (Its the SP3 on my Sigma): http://www.ebay.co.uk/gds/How-to-know-which-sump-plug-my-Ford-engined-vehicle-takes-/10000000178114024/g.html I buy the washers from the same shop: http://www.smartearlybird.co.uk/ford/ Oil filter is here: http://www.fordpartsuk.com/shop/ford_focus_oil_filter_2011_onwards_f_1883037.htm I've come to the conclusion that something like a sump plug is better done up by hand rather then torque wrench. I've stripped far more threads trying to get them to some predetermined value rather than going by feel and using common sense. It really doesn't need a lot of torque - it is the rubber that seals it. If it leaks after you've filled it up then give it another 1/8th turn. But I've never found that necessary.

I doubt it is too late to change the order. Especially for something like wheels which they will throw in a box the day before it is delivered. People generally have a hard time finding a good range of tyres in the 14" size so 13" or 15" is definitely the way to go. Wheel size is of course a matter of personal preference, but 13" is generally considered the upgrade option, giving a more compliant ride and progressive handling near the limit. You can buy the 15" Orcus wheels direct from Caterham but you may possibly need to change your wing stays: http://caterhamparts.co.uk/product.php?id_product=5257

Your old floor fits between the bottom of the chassis rail and the exterior side skin. That piece of floor will no longer be there. You could just rivet it back up, but it will probably buckle and wrinkle the side skin. Instead a strip of aluminum will take up the space the old floor was occupying. A lot of people cut the strip directly from the old floor itself.

I had my car out for the first time in about 2 months yesterday. While sat at the lights, I was thinking to myself about how unpleasant it sounds at idle. Without actually recording it the best way I can describe is a mechanical click / tap at a regular fast rate. My understanding is that it is the injectors but don't quote me on that. If it is any reassurance, pretty much any ford engine from the last 10 years sounds the same. I have the 2 litre duratec in my fiesta and it is exactly the same. Although because of all the sound proofing you need to get your head under the bonnet to hear it. Hopefully it is a case of "they all do that sir" otherwise both or our cars (and my daily) could be in trouble!

Thanks, thats interesting. I've always thought my car has a particularly long pedal travel. Can't imagine it getting any longer so I suppose this may already be fitted.

What does the Drive Quadrant thing do Chris?

If you only have the problem at idle and everywhere else in the RPM range is fine, then it could be because your idle screw and TPS have become out of sync with each other. Resulting in the throttle being closed more than it should be for the amount reported by the TPS. Yes that difference will be present across the rev range but at wider openings the difference becomes insignificant. Are you certain this emissions test "failure" is a new thing? It is possible that the car could have been like that since it was new. I'd be cautious about associating it with the lumpy idle unless you can determine that they are related somehow.

I'd be very interested to hear your feedback on the lightened flywheel. Its something I'm interested in but obviously such a big job to consider without knowing how much difference it actually makes.

The TPS generally is quite sensitive, tightening it will usually move it by ~0.01v. I find it is better to set it with the engine off, but ignition on. That way you're not dealing with the vibration and revs jumping about. How did all the other parameters look from the screenshot I posted above?

I imagine a faulty earth connection would effect all cylinders and not just a couple of them. So instead I'd be focusing on the plugs, HT leads, and coil pack. Replace the plugs to rule them out. Its a good thing to do regularly anyway. Then with the fresh plugs, try swapping the HT leads around. Obviously dont run the engine like that but just see if you get a spark. If the failing spark follows the HT lead you know its your culprit. If the failing spark stays where it is then you know the problem is upstream from there.. coil pack, or wiring to the ECU.

A lambda can have one of two failure modes.. One where the ECU knows it is faulty (for example a completely broken wire) and another where the lambda appears to be working normally but is in-fact feeding incorrect information to the ECU. With the first failure mode, you will get a clear error status in Easimap. The ECU will ignore the lambda and the car will appear to run fine. In my case, with the default Caterham map, I couldn't tell anything was wrong until I looked in Easimap. Switching to a new working lambda sensor didn't make any noticeable difference! Not that I monitor my fuel economy close enough to notice. Perhaps the engine didn't smell so rich when running but could be a placebo. With the second failure mode, you probably wont get any errors so you'll have to look for other clues. Useful panels to have open in Easimap are.. Lambda Status - Shows what the lambda is currently doing.. e.g. "Waiting for warm up timer", "Coolant temp too low", "Closed cycle", etc. Lambda - Shows the currently detected lambda value. You should see this oscillate up and down quite predictably. If it is stuck on a value then your sensor is most likely broken. If the panel is yellow or red then the value is out of the expected range - again probably a broken sensor, or could be a wiring fault / short maybe? There is a test you can do with a multimeter and a blowtorch on the lambda sensor. Haven't tried this myself and dont know how useful it is, but you'll find info by googling it. Here is the Easimap layout I use. It has all the important info and readouts from all the sensors on a 150 sigma. Link here for a better hi-res image

Yes they certainly do wear and get loose with time. They're very easy to dismantle, clean and re-grease. While you're doing this any free play in the ball and socket will be easy to identify.

Yeah you're probably right about it being dissolved gas rather than small bubbles. However exposing the fluid to negative pressure definitely releases it (whatever it is) and also helps to shift any bubbles stuck to the side much easier. From what I've seen though, it takes a greater vacuum than you're likely to achieve with any bleed system or syringe. However through extrapolation I suppose we can (unscientifically) assume that some negative pressure is better than none.

I've never considered that benefit of vacuum bleeding, but it is absolutely true. When bleeding the brakes on my mountain bike, you use a syringe to create negative pressure. As you do this, you can see the previously invisible bubbles grow in size to the point that they are dislodged. If you pull hard enough on the syringe, you can force bubbles out of seemingly clear fluid. That only works a couple of times though until all air is removed. That process is actually performed before adding the fluid to the system to ensure it isn't aerated. Then interestingly, you attach a syringe to both the master cylinder and caliper, and flush the fluid back and forth. So effectively bleeding in both directions using both negative and positive pressure. It seems like a pretty comprehensive way to ensure no trapped bubbles. I wonder why nobody has developed something similar for cars - a couple of syringes is so much simpler than faffing about with compressed air in a spare wheel.

Sorry all - really not paying attention. Ignore my post

I'll echo that. I've had great service from Julian as well. I contacted him to ask what the 7 pin connector is called so that I could buy one to shorten the cable on the shift lights. Not only did he tell me but also sent me a couple for the cost of the postage. He also gave me some helpful tips on soldering the very awkward 7 pins. Then later when installing the lights, I managed to partially cut the cable when snipping a cable tie! Sent the unit to Julian and he fitted a new cable for something like £20. Great service.

If you're still getting bubbles appearing, then you need to keep bleeding until they don't. Either that or your technique is somehow introducing new air. Dont open the bleed nipple any further than necessary, if you do then it can appear like new bubbles when in fact it is actually air getting sucked in around the loose bleed nipple screw thread. A firm pedal with lots of free travel can be caused by the rear calipers not being correctly self-adjusted. The free travel you then feel is actually the caliper moving before the pad contacts the disc. To correct this (as much as is possible given the caliper design).. Disengage the handbrake and loosen off the handbrake adjuster. Wind back both rear calipers, then refit the pads. Firmly press the brake pedal several times to center the caliper on the disc (there will be lots of free travel the first few presses). Readjust the handbrake.Keep an eye on the master cylinder reservoir as you wind back the calipers because the volume of fluid may cause it to overflow. If you are having trouble with air in the rears, then it can help to bleed while the caliper is wound back. Like this there is less internal volume for air to get stuck. you'll need to bleed with the windback tool in place to prevent the piston from moving.