Benton

Typical “standard” Caterham factory fitted Banner battery is rated 30Ah, the alternative factory “standard” Odyssey (AGM) is rated at 16Ah. Based on the CTEK recommended settings (see below) personally I’ve always used the “car” setting or “AGM” setting as appropriate for a number of years with no I’ll effect.

Caterham old Gatwick and HWM charge 4 hours labour in total to remove and refit the whole diff. around £500. Install LSD cost will depend on whether existing diff is “refreshed” I.e. new bearings and seals etc. or not. BTW. Have replied to your PM 😀

Best pick up the phone and speak to Ollie at RRT. He can give you a direct comparison of prices for Drexler, Quaife, Wavetrac, Tracsport LSD units plus a Titan rebuild cost . He will also of course provide a recommendation based on your budget/requirements though there’s certainly no hard sell at the end of the day. 😀 Bear in mind you also need to consider the actual installation and “diff” refresh costs (bearings/seals) on top of the cost of the new LSD, which seems to vary when comparing overall quotes from any supplier.

First of all protect the area top of scuttle/windscreen with an old rowel (the wiper arms can snap back). Lift 5he wiper arm vertically and look for the small sprung tab in the wiper arm base. This needs depressing whilst lifting the base rocking (wobbling) side to side and lifting as you go. BTW …. Don’t get your fingers caught when it eventually releases and the base snaps back into position. It’s painful! I find a “v shaped” plastic trim removal tool does the job though could use a flat bladed screwdriver, though riskier to paintwork if you slip. Maybe try some Plusgas (or equivalent) if they still don’t seem to want to move.

Having tried road use for 500ish miles Nov/Dec time, personally I would describe them as either interesting or buttock clenching! (depending on whether you’re a half full or half empty glass person) 😂 OverallI I found them too unpredictable.and a liability so swapped to ZZS before my skill/luck ran out.!

If you’re still having problems finding a source you could try contacting HWM (the new Caterham South) as they are apparently painting new builds for the factory.

Thanks for the Drexler (and other) feedback.

Anyone who’s run a Drexler LSD in their Seven for a while care to share their experiences/views/maintenance required etc? For the record looking to run it in a Ford Diff.

There’s no room under the bonnet so the only other option is sitting in the boot i.e. just above the fuel tank! All considered I think I’d rather opt for the passenger foot well 😂 BTW They do have a cutout in the floor mat 😀

Interesting you have a single connector, my “connectors” for my 420 came as 3 separate spade sockets! I think you might find that connector isn’t specific for the Aces unit (I seem to recall seeing a picture somewhere of the Aces unit coming with just flying leads) so that connector is probably just something Caterham specified or just came with the loom. None of which of course helps 😟 I assuming the connector, like mine, is tucked way up near the top of the scuttle. Without removing the scuttle can you get better access to it by removing either the tacho or speedo, as I had to do? Then at least you might stand a fighting chance of trying to replace it with a connector of your choice, or fabricating some form of connection if you can’t find the matching equivalent.

Carbon fibre can shatter into many pieces on impact, ABS plastic wont, is probably the reason

How about the DRE shift light, for a cheaper option aftermarket solution. The DRE unit claims it can be set up for any number of cylinders. Used to have one on my 420R worked well and straightforward to set up. To “drive” it apart from the usual +ve and earth, you need to find the feed wire to the tacho (which I seem to recall (vaguely) is a black/white wire on the Duratec engine cars, obviously the 160 set up could be completely different) On my 420 there was a spare set of unused connectors in the wiring loom ready to use, lurking behind the scuttle on the right hand side behind the flasher switch (presumably for those cars that opted for the factory Caterham ACES unit), which I used to connect the DRE to. May or may not be relevant for 160 cars but well worth a look to avoid having to splice into existing wiring.

Just look for rubber U channel on EBay. Measure thickness of screen, they vary depending on construction material, but the rubber channel is normally flexible enough to accommodate a range of screen thickness. Depending on how well your current screen “follows” the shape of the scuttle you might want to opt for a slightly deeper depth of channel cutout to fill any gaps between aeroscreen and scuttle.

Taken from a Facebook thread sometime from Ollie Stewart Road and Race Transmissions

Not sure if you were looking for a cheaper source for the tank other than direct from Lotus.

As above you’ll need sufficient heat. By all means try abrasive on the offending piece. As an alternative suggestion you could try stripping some electrical cable, wrap the bare wire tightly around the parts to be joined and apply solder to the wire etc. Used to do this when soldering piano wire together to make model aircraft undercarriages to reinforce the joint 😀

Would have taken the cover off for a better picture but I put my back out putting up the Christmas lights! 🤣 The +ve and -ve cables exit via the transmission tunnel (grommet etc), cables on the left are just in case jump pack is ever required. Beneath the two bolts holding the plastic cover down is a metal strap to stop the battery moving. The battery itself sits in a suitably sized tray which is riveted to the floor. See photos.

620 Models come with the Odyssey AGM battery mounted on its side in the footwell with appropriate plastic cover over it. I’m not sure given the “moisture” 😃 that can accumulate at time in the footwells I’d want to mount an ECU there unless it was in a waterproof casing or similar.

How to install channels For the heated screen I extended the cables from below the scuttle and use bullet connectors to easily connect/disconnect

I use a 290mm Momo. Prefer the size plus it doesn’t obscure the instruments as much.

Rob thanks for posting up the photos. First the caveats …..I’m no expert, obviously don’t know the full history of your car, nor your usage… but having owned a couple of Caterhams over the last five years and having done over 28,000 miles in all weathers, judging by the condition of the underside it indicates a car that’s been “used“ but without the benefit of having had any or much protective coating, such as ACF50 applied on a regular basis (putting aside the obvious places where the powder coat has clearly failed) as there appears light surface rust in common places. Have you ever applied any protection? Personally as a minimum I’d be cleaning up and checking all the chassis tubes for damage to the powder coating, if they require “touching up” then you’ll find various threads on the subject in the forum. Likewise I’d address the surface rust where possible before it gets the chance to develop into something more serious. Finally applying some protection in all areas. More of a concern to me would be the current state of the “grot traps” (the space between the footwells and the outer skins towards the rear of the engine bay) as if it has not been cleared out/treated, it’s a prime area for corrosion and potentially expensive repairs. Definitely worth checking if you haven’t already done so. Of the other stuff/problems you’ve listed some are common- 1. Scrubbed tyres on the inners are normally a result of the car being set up by someone for track work, typically (but not necessarily) too much negative camber. For some reason Caterham frequently set the cars up this way, perhaps they always assume you’re going to track it! Get someone to set up the front geometry for more road focus use. 2. Exhaust bobbins do fail occasionally, they have a hard job supporting the silencer 3. Wiper arms coating failing, it seen happening, typically poor quality like the headlamp rims 4. Wing trim falling off, again happens, depends who stuck it on and with what? Obviously don’t know if 5he car was a factory or home build. Easiest thing just take if off. 5. Carbon wings going milky, known problem (subjects been covered many times on this forum with various permanent or workaround solutions) Won’t get drawn into the Caterham warranty positioning (I’ve been there myself) but I’m sure others will be along… Hopefully you can get the stuff sorted one way or another

My headlamp rims on my 2018 420R failed within a couple of years, the powder coating was obviously not applied properly in the first place, though the car had been used (14,000 miles plus) all year round come rain or shine, but avoiding salt! Got them blasted and re-powder coated for about £40 by a local firm. What’s the overall state of the car underneath out of interest?

Absolutely no experience I’m afraid but I’m guessing there’s bound to be a “tuning scene “ in Japan for these engines as they’re used in a variety of vehicles and subsequently supporting upgrade parts available.

Start here

Not taking up the offer, decided I need to change my exhaust set up rather than the suspension to solve my particular problem