p.mole1

Thanks I'm using a capillary gauge,so no sender and it runs at 40psi tick over at 100 degrees oil temperature. When I'm using it on the road the oil never gets above 80 degrees. I might 10w/40 next as that is what Rover used to recommend

I seem to have quite high oil pressure it is 80psi cold and 70psi hot. Even on a track day when the oil reaches 100 degrees it is still over 60psi I am using a stack capillary gauge so I don't think it is the gauge. I am using Comma Motorsport 5w/50 oil but I think I may be better off using a 5w/40 oil to reduce the pressure. What sort of oil pressure is considered normal for these engines? I would of thought 40 to 50 psi hot. Apart from flowing the oil pump ports and an Apollo tank the oil system is standard.

don't over torque the fronts or you risk cracking the front hubs

If you are a practical type you can get very good results setting up a car with a tape measure, a couple of straight edges and string!. I bought myself a Trackace laser tracking tool, its paid for itself and is easy to use and more accurate. I set up my car with my wife for ballast plus a couple of bags of sand. The main problem is finding somewhere flat most garage floors aren't. If you are not doing track days flat flooring is probably not that worth while, but the camber and tracking are. Front camber 1 deg 20 mins +- 15mins Negative tracking 20mins +- 10 mins toe in.Track cars tend to be set up with more negative camber camber and toe out but this will make it twitchy and follow tramlines on the road.

You can get a reasonably accurate reading with a straight edge and an app on an iphone.

The Ford dipstick if much better, however buy genuine Ford. The first ebay special went into the bin Chinese rubbish. £27 for a genuine Ford part ! You can get away with standard plastic Rover dipstick if you re-mark the oil level, however it is still not as easy to read as the Ford offering and they seem to have a habit of snapping.

Hi Revilla that sounds just the job I'll order one

Hi thanks, I'll give that another try, but I seem to get inconsistent results depending on which way I place the dip stick. I have a spare plastic style dipstick. I will try that.

I know this has probably been discussed many times but I can't seem to be able to see the oil on the dipstick. I have a Apollo tank with a VVC head with non VVC cams. I check the oil with the engine running but it is almost impossible to read the dip stick, Is there an alterative dip stick? Up to now when I do a track day if I notice any oil surge I top it up with oil but I may be over filling it.

I'm using Ferodo DS 2500 front and Mintex 1144 in the rear

I already had the AP master cylinder fitted, which might explain the horrendous pedal pressure with the standard brakes.

I fitted a set of these earlier in the year. I used them for the first time at Cadwell and the they were fine 100% better than the Cast iron offering from Triumph. Ok they are not quite as well finished as the Caterham kit but they are a fraction of the cost. Once bedded in they worked flawlessly loads more feel and much less pedal pressure required

Use a mechanical oil pressure gauge and then fit an oil temperature sensor into the oil filter head as Revilla stated. Then you fit a switch on the dashboard and you use the standard water temperature gauge to switch between water and oil temperature. Just make sure you use the correct sender.

Still for sale, open to offers

Check the mountings, they ane metal elastic bushes and should be fitted with shims. Check the diff is isolated properly and bushes are doing their job. if the shims are incorrectly installed you can get metal to metal contact, transferring a lot of noise.

The Coventry Climax engine was indeed a fire pump engine and it was designed to be able to run flat out once started. I think it was not quite ideal as a car engine as the clearances were quite slack to enable them to run at full power from cold. It was ideal as portable fire pump engine as it was very light. We used to have LPP's (Light portable pumps) when I was in the Fire service they used Nissan Micra engines. I don't know who classified it as an LPP as it was defiantly not light! but it nearly had the same pumping capacity as a Fire appliance from what I can remember, but they took some abuse.

I've got no experience of Nankangs but hve used Toyo 888 on 14 inch rims and have nothing but praise for them. That said you don't have a lot of choice, I even found fine on the roads in the wet. A bit of a plug, i ahve a set of 4 for sale in the marketplace

Sold

2 Genuine new Caterham track rod ends and 1 new non genuine £ 20

4 x Two Gates Miniltes 14x6 ford bolt pattern just powder coated last year fitted with competition metal tyre valves. Toyo 888 track day tyres, loads of tread left These wheels are better than new £450

I'm not quite sure but have seen this item for sale at Burtons. Tracsport Ford Sierra Type 9 5 speed 2.74:1 long 1st gear conversion kit GBT9201 it is around £400. Thiese gearboxes are very simple and it shouldn't difficult to yourself if you are handy with a set of spanners.

Hi, Yes I have just re-greased them. I'm sure when tightened the hub nuts if I went to next hole I had zero play.

How much play should I have on my front wheel bearings. I have .05mm measured at the wheel rim. I am bit worried about tightening them up as I spun a bearing on a hub a few years ago. With the hub being aluminium would the clearances tighen when the hub heats up? If I use the next hole in the stub axle it seems a little on the tight side.

Hi Alan, I don't know if I was particularly unlucky with my car. Mine was an older vehicle but with a very low mileage. Having never driven a 7 before, I really didn't know what to expect. I don't think you should experience any real problems with a new Caterham, that said I doubt the suspension is set up is done with any real accuracy. If possible I would try and get a car with the adjustable spring seats this allows some adjustment. If you take the car for a test drive find a bumpy road and if darts all over the road you'll notice it! it's bump steer and it really spoils the car. In my case it was really hard to eliminate due to the steering rack needing to be lowered! If you are purchasing from Caterham, get them so throw in a set up as part of the deal. One of the reasons I mentioned a more track focused car is it costs a fortune to add all of the bits you need. In my case I did £2000 pounds of damage when I put the conrod through the block due to not having an Apollo tank for the oil. I think the more modern Sigma and Durratec cars are much better in this respect, but it's nice to have the right bits if you ever decide to do a track day. When I say track focused, I am talking about a track day roll bar, adjustable spring seats, 13 inch wheels. You can still have a windscreen and heater.I ran without an LSD for a few years and I never found it an issue even on track days. If you go for the "R" version these come with all the relevant bits, but often have a hood, windscreen and heater,Just a thought. If you go via the second route, have a look on Piston heads there are loads of cars to choose from, I'm sure it's buyers market. Lots of the cars have been up for sale for a very long time and I think the prices are very optimistic, try putting in offers. Take someone with you who knows the cars well and I don't think you can go wrong. There are lots of cars out there so take your time. I don't think I will be able help as I'm in Whitley Bay and there aren't many Caterham dealers or sellers up here! in fact in the 5 years I've had mine I've never seen another one on road up here yet.

The one piece of advice I can offer is, test drive it first. I bought mine without a test drive. I had to drive it nearly 300 miles home. It was one of the worst handling cars I have ever driven! I assumed because it had rafts of service history including a suspension alignment,it would be fine. Suspension set up is critical with these cars, that said it is a problem that can solved. My car had bump steer that made it almost un-drivable at anything over about 45mph on a bumpy road. It cost me quite a bit of time and money to rectify all the suspension issues with the the car. The difference between a well set up car and one that has just been bolted together is night and day. That said if you buy one new from caterham it should be ok. Also I would go for more of a track based car, I didn't intended to do tracks days until I did one and was hooked. It can cost a lot of money to make a road based car into a track based car. A track based car is just as good on the road.