London West AR

For those of you out there who run from any distance to long distance from slow to fast let us know what your Couch to 5, 10 K, 20 K, 40K, 50K and 100 K and Super Ultra plans are for 2021/2022 so we that we can keep Mo Steer, our ever young Charity supremo and long term Club Member, updated on fund raising opportunities.

There are several marathons and half marathons that will definitely be running this year and I know where and when they are and would love to put a Blat Run Team together. You can park safely too.

It's the lowest cost way to reduce the weight of your car.

Send us an e-mail if you are remotely tempted and I will see what I can do to persuade you.

events@lotus7.club

or give me a call 

Geoff Varrall

07710 020 040

Thanks all - yes i definitely have  had an air lock problem so that's a possibility

I like the idea of a switch

I live perilously close to London's Ultra Low Emission Zone and within the Low Emission Zone

This is London specific but a lot of cities and towns are moving to congestion zone charging based on emissions

But also there is a mandatory requirement to turn off your engine after a minute of idling

It took me two hours to drive from Twickenham to Wembley the other night on the way to our monthly meet at the Ace- there was no way my Banner battery was going to cope with that kind of stop start cycle

Instead i came to a rolling boil just as i finally arrived at the Hanger Lane Gyratory system

So two questions

How do i check that my electric fan is working?

I have a feeling it was just the heater with the fan turned on  that kept me from doing serious mischief to the engine

But also is there any plausible way to do stop start in a Caterham?

Would a Lithium battery be better or worse?

Auto stop start cars generally have bigger batteries but that  introduces a weight issue where Lithium helps but the existing offers seem to be the same capacity for less weight rather than more capacity for the same weight

And will the starter motor cope?  

PS I have a 1600 VX 8 valve so no cat but at least it produces less heat than most other engines

Thanks - yes definitely the next thing to try 

Does anyone have any ideas on why I have a lowish oil pressure reading on my 2001 VX1600

It's the 8 valve and as far as i know is the old cavalier engine with added carburetors though mine is actually sourced from Holden in Australia

It looks from the below as if it might be a rubber seal on the oil pick up pipe?

The Insignia is well known for suffering from low oil pressure caused by a rubber seal on the oil pick up pipe going hard, which results in reduced oil flow. Usually starts with the odd warning from cold but can quickly progress to a scrap engine if the main crank bearing journals spin as the crank seizes up.

And I have a small oil leak as well which might be the same problem?

It never gets into the red zone- it has been like that since i bought the car two years ago, oil is the recommended synthetic and I changed it last year

Starts high and goes lower

Goes up when I increase the revs

Could be the sender?

No dangerous noises