Scotland North AR

I’ve just followed the procedure for setting the sensor and found that the LED stayed on for ten of the 43 teeth i.e. the sensor was too close to the drive shaft. Had to adjust it a couple of times to make sure it counted all 43 teeth on the drive shaft. Have yet to try it on the road but it should be better. depending on result, I’ll fit the earth mod.

Found this excellent link on the club site https://www.lotus7.club/guides/technical-guides/speedometers

Hi just returned from a hot run to Dinant in Belgium, highly recommended if you haven’t been. 2009 Sigma 150 SV. After two days in the heat, sat nav stopped working as did the Speedo. On return to the UK in the cool, thespeedocame back to life asdid the satnav. The Speedo needle has always wandered about a bit and hasn’t had the revised earth mod done. I’m assuming that when fitted a new speed sensor a few years ago, I didn’t get the gap quite right. The heat of the last few days has made the gap grow ever larger and therefor the readings become progressively more erratic. what I also noticed today was the the trip is under reading by 6 miles in 30 miles when compared with the sat nav distance to a point on a route. Presumably the speed sensor works or it’s broken, nowhere in between? given that I’m getting some readings, all I need to do is correct the gap? What should the gap be? to test the unit, presumably wire it up to a battery and check the pulses equate to the high points on the hub? Any other ways to test it? Anyone else had to deal with this inaccuracy?

10 minutes toe in each side was used. I didn't ballast the car as 99 percent of the time there are two of us in the car so I assumed that the ballast would not be needed. I did 100 or so miles on my own today along some twisty roads and it seems to handle and steer far, far better. That is with brand new tyres (500 miles), new passenger side wheel bearing and toe in corrected. ......oh and some nice sunshine and little traffic.

Thanks, I did notice that earlier after re-reading it. Should have tried 10 degrees to see what it drove like!

Well, there's a thing.... Front of car Camber Front -1 degree 15 minutes -1 degree 20 minutes Rear -1 degree 49 minutes - 1 degree 43 minutes Caster 3 degrees 47 min 4 degrees 46 minutes Toe in 0 degrees 19 minutes 1 degree 13 minutes Nothing changed but toe in:- 10 degrees 10 degrees Just gone for the standard setting as I don't track the car. Steering much lighter (as stated in above posts). Going around a few roundabouts on the way home it seems to be a vastly better drive. The technician at Stonehaven Kwikfit had been a technician for Bosch installing these system before a cycling injury stopped him traveling about. Good to have the machine display in the customer area so you can see what is being adjusted. £55 well spent. Will do a longer post to summarize everything.

Thanks for all that, have now found the table in the various manuals. It varies from toe out in the early manual to toe in in the later one. The relevant terms don’t come up using a search of the PDF documents annoyingly. Funnily enough, the posting from 2014 which Jonathan refers to is from my mate Tony on Mull! What I’ll do is get it all measured up in the morning at Kwikfat and revert back with a more comprehensive post summarising it all in one place. To answer 7W, I’ve never had the suspension properly checked out flat foot wise before.

I was looking for the “manual” standard road settings as a starting point. I’d read different views on the toe in and out and understood the difference between track and road ok. I was struggling to find a definitive Caterham “as delivered” spec before the owner tuned it to their liking.

Good procedure. Thanks for that, do you have the actual standard settings though? I used a vernier to check the length of exposed thread at each side before taking apart.

Hi, can anyone point me in the right direction for standard wheel alignment figures for a 2009 150 Sigma SV please. Castor, camber and toe. Just replaced my steering rack gaiters and found that before I took the relevant parts to bits, there was 3mm difference between the end of the locknut and the end of the thread on the inside of the track rod at each side. I'm getting the alignment properly checked in the morning before I drive too far on brand new tyres. Ta very glad.

Worth checking/changing the spigot bearing at the same time. The failure of this £8.50 bit nearly stopped me getting to Spain last October! Gave the impression the clutch had gone, which it hadn't, couldn't get any gears in a petrol station car park. Premier Power changed it Saturday night Sunday morning so just made the ferry!

I should have added it's a 2009 Sigma 150 SV.

Hi, not being an electrical type, I could do with a bit of assistance please: - When I start off from cold after not having used the car for a number of days or weeks, the fuel gauge goes to full scale, the tacho stay on zero, the engine warning symbol comes on on the bottom of the tacho. I drive three miles, fuel goes to proper reading, tacho reads correctly and engine warning light goes off. Each spring I take the battery earthing bolt out by the battery/ECU clean it up and the other earth wires which go onto the bolt after have that cause me a breakdown on the car at one point i.e. nothing was earthed due to corrosion build up on the bolt and associated earth connections. As an aside, I have the DRE SLD5 shift lights, I'm sure that the settings are correct but I intermittently get get all the lights coming on at just over 5,000 revs. I've turned the stall indication off (all lights flashing). I'm wondering whether this is an electrical problem associated with the tacho wiring and is associated with the main problem above. If anyone thinks it's a specific connector somewhere, could you tell me where it might be located please. Thanks. PS great blat out in the Scottish sunshine today, a toasty 15 degrees.

Hi, mine's a 2009 SV. The passenger side mount sheared off where the box section meets the flat plate which is bolted to the engine. This was down to lack of penetration on the weld. Caterham sent me a new mounting FOC under warranty to fit myself (live near Aberdeen so couldn't take the car back practically). There was a posting a few days ago from someone else with an engine mount gone at a different weld. Lesson learned, wire brush off the welds and look for signs of cracking at all welds before putting back on. Top tip, when you are putting the bolts back into the engine, put them nearly all the way in with fingers as they are small threads and easy to cross thread if forced in. Torque up to correct value with no weight on the bolts i.e. still on the jack.

Ta for all of that chaps.

Blooming spell Czech “pair of Bilsteins”!

Hi, had first blat of the year last Friday after two months off the road. Went to wash the car this morning and found the oil from the passenger side damper distributed on garage floor. Car ten years old and 50,000 miles. Decided to get a new psi of Bilsteins. Will get the garage 100 yards up the road to do the change as it is booked in for MOT on Monday. Any other bits I should order which may be knackered? Any advice I need to give the garage on doing the job? Thanks for any assistance.

When I was in the shop in St.Andrews the lassie looked on the computer for other colours and found the clearance items. Not sure the public get access to that.

Thanks for all the suggestions, got the job properly sorted yesterday and bought some Ecco Biom Lite. Fit like a glove straight out of the box. Will have to wait a while before I'm driving in them due to the weather up here but they are the same physical dimensions as my old Adidas trainers so shouldn't be an issue. £100 per pair but they had some blue ones in the clearance section for £70 so bought them also as well as the brown ones I originally picked up. https://www.eccoshoesuk.com/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Brand&utm_term=ECCO%20Shoes&utm_content=ECCO%20General https://www.eccoshoesuk.com/ecco-biom-lite/p7133

yes it was the Trackstar XLT I tried and they were the narrowest shoes I've ever seen and I'm surprised they fit anyone. I called Demon Tweeks and asked if they did any wide fitting shoes to which they said no and I'd just have to take pot luck trying more on. Living in Aberdeen, it's not too easy to call in to their place.

That’s exactly it, would rather the front of my shoes didn’t enter the room ten minutes before my body.

Hi to all, had a great run out over the weekend driving in shirt sleeves in Scotland! Weekend marred by mysterious shearing of driver's side engine mounting bolts on my pal's car. Could have worked loose over time leading to more engine movement leading to weight on the bolts leading to them shearing. Maybe hit a bump. Result all the same. The car is currently being recovered home to have a closer look. The bolts are snapped off a couple of mm inside the engine block casting i.e. nothing sticking out to get a grip on. The recovery garage has tried to tap them around with a punch we think but without success. Obviously want to avoid taking the engine out to get at the bolts with a drill and "easy-outs" but may have to buy a right angled drill and do the same thing with the engine in place. The car is a 1997 S3 Vauxhall Red Top with 20,000 miles on it built by my pal and current owner.......and fellow Lotus 7 Club member. Any pearls of wisdom much appreciated. PS car in Aberdeen area.

Hi, I was using 1 litre per 1,000 miles on my 150 Sigma for 30,000 miles consistently, never got any worse. Had the 175 upgrade at Premier Power, bores found to be glazed so honed, new rings and run in on rolling road before ECU set up. Zero oil consumption in last 2,500 miles.

Thanks for that Alan, just waiting for a new rubber boot for the top ball joint and will then reassemble.

Hi, I've just found one of my front wheel bearings goosed, the hub has worn to such an extent that the outer race of one bearing spins in the hub and can be moved in and out by finger. I have a new shaft, hub and bearings but a thin washer in the pack of bits I don't think was on the car when I took it to bits. It is about 1.5mm thick, the same inside diameter as the shaft i.e. 25 mm. Am I right in assuming it should go against the upright on the outside before the hub goes on, then the thick spacer then the wheel bearing nut? The thin washer resting on the split pin is the one in question. Thanks for any assistance.