orangepeel61

The Aldon Ignitor that I had lasted 2 months, guess I'm just unlucky with electronics. Ironic really after spending 39 years as an electronics engineer! 🤣

A quick update, the Sparkrite SX4000 has now packed up! Car started coughing and spluttering and lost power. The saving grace was I was able to flick the switch and revert to points, instant cure without drama or recovery truck. Will be sticking with points from now on! Neil.

I'm sure they're bespoke, Caterham sell silicon ones, bottom hose 594-3 £68.34. Bit pricey, maybe worth trying elsewhere. Neil.

I used Renovo on the roof of my Audi A4 and it brought it up well. The first time I used it with their cleaner and then proofer. It doesn't last for ever and I ended up redoing it every 2-3 years, to be fair, when its parked in the sun and weather you can't expect miracles. Once I'd used up the original bottles of cleaner and proofer I switched to soapy water and a brush to clean it and Fabsil to proof it and just used the Renovo black die which seemed to work ok. You shouldn't need a litre bottle, I would say the 500ml would be ample for at least two lots of treatment on a boot cover. One more thing, don't even think about using a jet washer on it! No amount of die will ever get the Mark's out! Good luck Neil.

Oily is correct, the Ignitor is just a trigger to replace the points with an amplifier to give a bigger pulse, I used one for a while until it starter misfiring, Burton Power were really good and refunded me. So I wouldn't be caught out by failing ignition again I replaced it with a Sparkrite SX4000 which is an amplifier that uses the points as a trigger, only a switching current goes through the points so they don't burn out, also the points gap is not an issue, as long as there is a small gap it will switch. The other feature I like is it has a switch on it that takes out the electronics and it reverts to purely points. Neil.

I was reading a recent post which brought up the old topic of vacuum advance and it prompted me to give an update here which may be useful and on reflection I should have done at the time. I bought some “T” pieces and some more rubber pipe, connected all the carbs together and to the distributor and I have to say the improvement was amazing, the slow running/light throttle performance was so much better, manoeuvring around Sainsbury’s car park is no longer a problem and popping and banging is a distant memory. When setting it up my vacuum gauges clearly showed that the pulsing from a single tract was far too erratic but when they were all connected together it was reduced considerably and more so when the distributor was added. I should point out that the vacuum take offs I’m using are the ones on the carbs, not off the inlet manifold, I don’t think all DCOE’s have them. Mine are 40DCOE 151’s. Distributor is Bosch. Although this set up has been running for over 2 years now without problem and so worth looking into, please note Roger King’s comments and warning above, his knowledge and experience is far greater than mine. Maybe there’s something different about my car that makes it work or I’ve just been lucky? Neil.

Andrew is correct, mine is in the same place, it was visible when the original standard roll bar was fitted but it now has a track day bar with bigger "feet" so it is now hidden.

The chassis on my car is marked AM 86 20 which I believe to be Arch, manufactured in 1986, presumably week 20. It has de Dion rear suspension with drum brakes. It's a 1700 Supersprint and was first registered in 1987, chassis number KLD 0155R. Neil.

The formatting looks a bit messed up in the guide, should be more like this: CS3 Caterham Series 3 LCS Long Cockpit S3B for Dutch market 5LC 5 Speed Gearbox, Long Cockpit KLCC Kit-built, long cockpit, CKD KLD Kit-built, long cockpit, deDion KLDC Kit-built, long cockpit, deDion, CKD KS3 Kit built (not CKD) KS3C Kit-built, standard cockpit, CKD (Completely Knocked Down ie all parts supplied by Caterham)

Have a look here: https://www.caterhamlotus7.club/guides/frequently-asked-questions/chassis-numbers-what-do-they-mean/

Heard good reports on this place: https://www.thestarterbay.com/ They're at Innsworth technology park just outside Gloucester.

I can confirm that the hydraulic switch requires too much pressure to operate. I found I was able to bring the car to a complete stop without the brake lights coming on! Replacing the switch made no difference, in the end I fitted a secondary switch, a cheap micro switch from flebay and an angle bracket! In more recent times I have replaced the master cylinder, that made no difference either! I'm convinced there's a lot of cars (not just Caterhams) out there with these hydraulic switches and the owners don't realise that they don't work!

What's it like on bare aluminum?

I removed the one on my 1987 Supersprint, from memory, I just unplugged it, one plug by the distributor and another under the dash, no problems with any of the electrics afterwards. Are you sure you haven't disturbed something else in the process?

#3 Yes, I'm happy with the Type 14 calipers, they seem fine although thinking about it now (it was a few months ago) there was a little imbalance in them, I took the pads out and put a (thinner) spacer in and worked the brake peddle a few times which seemed to bed them in. After that they were fine, no leeks etc, and have been ever since.