polainm

Thanks to Revilla for the wiring diagram. What really stumped me was coming to the conclusion that the hazard switch contacts had gone AWOL and swapping that switch out for another I had lying around, which produced exactly the same fault! I then went sluthing for all kinds of other problems....lesson learnt; don't leave old dodgy crap Lucas parts lying around!

It was the hazard switches. BOTH had the SAME fault. Unbelievable....I have now ordered 3 new hazard switches, and carry one spare sealed in the car.

Thanks Bob. I actually slightly twist the tabs so they have improved connection/fit, but still no joy....M

Thanks Andrew, yes bulb OK. I can only think it's two things; two duff Hazard Light Switches with the same fault and/or faulty indicator switch. After this, it's hand signals....Matt

Hi, it's that old chestnut again, faulty indicators. I'm normally pretty good with car electrics but this has me baffled.

The indicators suddenly stopped working completely while driving. The hazard lights work but only on three lights, the rear left indicator light does not work.

I've checked earth and live feed to the non working rear left lamp and it is all fine back to the main loom.

I have swapped out the hazard lights switch for another old one, and I can only think that BOTH hazard switches have the identical fault!

I've ordered new replacement ones, but I've never had the direction switch totally fail before. All fuses checked too.

I will soon have replaced so many parts to solve the Lucas Curse, that all that is left is the main loom...

Any ideas?

It COULD be those crappy hazard light switches, but really, both with the same fault?

Thanks for any hard learnt knowledge shared...

Matt

Depending on how booked up the Brands Hatch Indy day is on 1st October 2019, I represent a reserve place, as I can't make the event, as my Caterham is still being repaired after it dropped the differential at Snetterton....

Please contact myself and Simon Maitland (Trackday coordinator) if you would like to attend the Brands Hatch Indy track day but the booking is showing Sold Out.

matt@polaine.com (Matt)

trackdays@lotus7.club (Simon)

Can anyone tell me who was driving what spec of Caterham in front of me (the orange Tech 7) at the Dunsfold circuit on the 11th May 2019? I'm not sure if they were keeping slow enough for me to keep up, or if I was almost keeping up! Thanks, Matt.

Gone OMEX. All sorted.

Another way of doing this is to paint the whole caliper, then file off the paint on the raised lettering, then hi-temp lacquer it all.

I assume these are metric SIBs? If imperial, I'm interested, and only next door in Cambridgeshire, with family in Suffolk. I know some metric SIBs can be drilled/bent to fit imperial chassis, but would need to offer up before paying!

Ha. Interesting.

I have a Type 9 Quaife SC box with Zetec 1800 and cable operated clutch, no pedal stop. There was a recent 'crunch' noise during heavy rain/flooded road and I lost full disengagement with pedal to the floor. I could still just get gears engaged, but it was clear the clutch was dragging. Looked at all usual issues; could not find anything. Tried to adjust locknuts but wouldn't budge. Needs to be up on stands in garage job. Only option I had was to space the travel out a fraction with this ultimate spanner bodge job! (There is a foot box cover BTW).

The clutch has only done ~4,000miles and none of that on a track or hill climb. I can't determine if the clutch arm or bearing is bent/falling to bits, or this is natural wear and the clutch cable needs adjusting - preferably without a zip tied spanner.

I'll be doing the NC500 in September, so reliability is important, but I am loathed to lift engine out for clutch bearing/arm replacement until I know for certain it's this. In an Escort I'd expect the clutch plate/bearing to last around 30,000miles, hauling twice the weight.

Normal 'wear' or something else....?

It does, but the change in ratings is not good. Going down in current blow rate is OK, but doubling from 10A to 20A isn't good!

Thanks everyone for the info. It's seems like much else on this Caterham, it's 'a bit different'. Anyone recognise this layout? I can of course unplug and find out whatt isn't working and go from there, but I can't believe someone wired this all up from scratch? (1995 S3 imperial chassis, which was a 1700 Super Sprint, but is now a Zetec 1.8).

It looks like it's be rotated 90 degrees anti clockwise but the brake lights fuse is up from 10A to 15A, the heater from 10A to 20A, the dim/dip down from 15A to 10A. It's possible that the ECU was/is connected to the heater fuse, but now I've removed the heater motor, I should reduce back to 10A, although I was going to use the redundant fan switch to override the coolant 'stat to pre-cool the engine in bad traffic...

I should point out that I've done a lot of work on the car, replacing the Weber Alpha ECU and amplifiers with an OMEX200 unit, and tidied up the wiring/quality of connections somewhat, so I've yet to put power to everything...

Since 1982 I've wanted a Caterham, and many didn't have even an aeroscreen back then. At the time I was invincible and not concerned with protection of any kind. Years of paying out for education, mortgage, business, family, family holidays, people wagons, boring diesel runarounds...I ended up riding motorbikes instead, until swapping to a four-wheeled motorbike Caterham last year. Just in time before I get too decrepit to get in and out of one. It is very true that when one is young enough to drive/use a sports car as intended, it's unaffordable, then once one can afford one, it's driven like bread van.

During a three year period of motorcycling over 15 years, three mechanics at two different workshops were killed on their motorbikes, and they all serviced/MoT'ed my motorbike. Then a close friend had a pigeon fly into his visor at a combined speed of around 60mph. He kept control of the motorbike to a stop, but he has a broken nose and a messy bike. I felt like a cat with a few lives left.

I also cycle a great deal, and still have a racing licence. Having a bug fly into your eye during a downhill moment in French Alps (80kmh) losing your stereoscopic vision can be lethal, as hitting an Armco wearing just lycra or an oncoming car is Game Over.

For local country lane trips of less than ~10 miles and less than 50mph my cycling glasses and large gaps between vehicle in front is my approach in the Caterham with aeroscreen on. Over this and I use a motorcycle helmet.

The point of these comments is it's not necessarily the impact into your face that could be lethal, but what loss of control comes from it.

Sure, I look a dick in a track car on the public highway with a helmet on, but not half as much of an arse as those tintops with racetrack wannabes inside thrashing their 2 tonnes around the road, taking all the wrong lines (race or vision) and making the roads dangerous for everyone else (including me when I'm out cycling). So I keep this in mind when protecting my face from the rusty bolts flying off the builders' van drivers doing 80mph on country lanes....

Awesome response, thanks guys. I will compare to what I have when I get home this evening....

Hi

Sorry if this is already covered somewhere on Blatchat but I can't find it. I have a 1995 S3 imperial chassis, which was a 1700 Super Sprint, but is now a Zetec 1.8 and loads of other changes since. I'm 'assuming' the fuse box and relays are original, but I have no diagram to refer to for fault finding.

Does anyone have a c1995 fusebox/relay diagram/manual I can refer to? I would it be easier to post a picture of what I've got, given it might have changed since 1995!

Thanks!

Matt

The Kumho V70a  has weird size options in 13". 235/45 R13, 175/60 R13.....most of us use 185/60 and 205/60?

Relay. Pull out each relay one at a time, and check operation of hazards and starter motor. When neither of these are affected, that is the headlight relay. Take part to Halfords etc, match pin type and rating.

A multimeter will only help if you know where to poke, but you have your indication via headlights.

Could be loose wire/earth problem to relay, and relay is OK.

Fister HW514 5pin 12v 30A changeover relay. <£4 off eBay.

Also known as:

Hella 4RD 003 520 081
Hella 4RD 003 520 088
Hella 4RD 003 520 131
Hella 4RD 003 520 137

Bosch 0 332 204 101
Bosch 0 332 204 113
Bosch 0 332 204 115
Bosch 0 332 204 125
Bosch 0 332 204 150
Bosch 0 332 204 801

Leyland Auto MAG3004

​Rover YWB 10032L

VAG 443 951 254 A

Thanks. Looks like the R888R GG has it. I’d prefer the wet benefits of CR28s but finding these seems really difficult.  

Wow. 13" tyres sizes for 60 profile REALLY restricted! Add the 205r 185f mix and it seems I can only obtain Toyo R888R GG for £90 a corner.

I've read mixed reviews on R888R in the wet. Obviously a 600kg vehicle with 150bhp+ going through a live axle with LSD needs some care in the wet, especially standing water. I think I would pull into a motorway cafe and sit out torrential downpour anyway, if faced with high speed water issues.

Coming from a Yamaha FJR1300 I have respect for the contact patch of life, but just how 'bad' is the R888R (GG compound) in the 'normal' rain and when cold?

Wet grip only matters if you prefer going through the hedge front first or rear first.

Rim sizes at rear, on special live axle set up. It's a Ford Escort 8397-7008 Quaife LSD with halfshaft upgrade and Ford disc conversion by JW Sevens in 2006. Don't really want to change this, and just had rims recently sprayed!

It seems the 60 profile is difficult to obtain in anything other than 'classic' tyres, or track orientated ZZS/Rs or R888s. However the 55 profile seems more popular. Changing from 205/60 R13 to 215/55 R13 means the tyre diameter reduces by 9mm and increases in width by 10mm. Changing from 185/60 R13 to 185/55 R13 reduces diameter by 18mm and but width is the same. This effectively lowers the car at the rear by the car 4mm and at the front by 9mm.

Aside from speedo errors and ground clearance problems, anyone else point to handling/ride problems switching from 60 to 55 profile?

[edit] well it looks like it boils down to the Toyo R888®, as I'm sticking with the profiles I have. Demon Tweaks seem to have the best price, but for most things they aren't the cheapest:

R888R - 205/60 R13 £105.37 each
R888R - 185/60 R13 £86.94 each

Anyone know where I can get these for less?

My wife had a brand new £45,000 Mercedes E300 diesel hybrid as a company car, delivered just before we drove to south of France. On the way back I thought I'd put Premium diesel in it, but admit I was tired. Filled with petrol (colour coding of pump was different to UK pumps). After 20 litres went in I thought  F**K! So I put another 20 litres of diesel in! Then I thought that this super hi-tech engine might not cope...so began the phone calls in poor French and had two young children very angry. Wife didn't speak to me for weeks...had to shell out £500 to French garage in back street while he messed about with an engine way beyond his abilities, with lit cigarette. A very bad experience....so you are fine :-)

Bugger. I have 185/60 r13 in front and 205/60 r13 in rear. Yokohama A539s I can get in 185 and A048 and R888R but the latter are too race/expensive. Selection of same tyre in 205 is virtually impossible. What am I doing wrong? Swapping rim size not an option. Any other recommendations that cover both tyre sizes?