Petethediesel

For sale a new and unused throttle cable for a 360 Duratec. Genuine Caterham part. £25 Inc U.K. postage

Long shower cap now sold. What excellent people club members are to deal with.

Only used twice and in very good condition complete with its bag. fits SV with std or trackday roll bar. £75 inc postage within UK. Call or text me on 07768958591 Pete Crowther (East Yorkshire)

For engines/kit that has a long period out of use it's worth considering synthetic petrol for storage. My camping petrol stove always runs on it and my mower engine is run dry then 1 ltr of synthetic fuel added when it gets a service at the end of the growing season. An instant start in the Spring is assured. Available from lawn and garden specialists, it's branded Aspen and comes in two and four stroke versions. Contains zero ethanol and has a shelf life of well over 5 years . No one really knows what the true max shelf life is but it's more than 5 years. Jets etc will not gum up using this fuel. The downside is that it costs around £18 for 5 litres. This said, you don't use much and it's cheaper that ultrasonic cleaning of carb bodies.

As per our previous conversations. as soon as the pre load drops it will be a Tracsport rebuild. I will then probably have the Titan unit rebuilt by R/R then sell it to recover a little of the Tracsport cost.

For the information file: My late 2018 360 Duratec, fitted with a TIitan Sintered LSD and running with R&R EP90 oil. Was recently serviced by Dave Gemzoe at 5,500 miles and the pre load was at 38.8 ft lbs. All road use.

Ditto , buy a variable nozzle, small capacity, spray bottle. I always heat up the fluid in a pan of water before use as this generates a finer spray, especially in Winter temps.

Good idea, will do.

Yes Stu, its a standard Caterham hood but with double "easy in" entry zips added. Had it this way for 18 months and without problems, so I'm reasonably confident it's the popper weakening. I can get the pop stud to fit fairly (too?) easily, but pulls off at motorway speeds. Other side is fine so far. Previous non Caterhams have had turnbuckles at teach end of the hood and were always secure.

More good ideas. Thanks all. Think I'll try easing out the spring as an interim then use the "raise the dot" when I get some, keeping the original look . If all else fails I have the turnbuckle belt and braces option. Your assistance appreciated Pete

Thanks gents, Pull the Dot sounds a good solution. Now for some EXTREME care!

POBC, I have the full hood fitted at this time of year. It's a vinyl hood and therefore pretty stiff to engage the pop fittings. All is well, except that, at motorway speeds the lowest pop stud on the windscreen has come undone a couple of times. The solution would be a turnbuckle fitting at each lower end. The fittings are fixed with pop rivets. Has anyone done this and is there enough clearance not to damage the screen when drilling out the pop rivet? Clearly the triumph of removing the pop stud would be diminished by a cracked screen! Thanks

Another vote for Gemzoe bulbs. I have had mine checked for MOT legality and they are fine (5 3/4" lights). Not always the case for some on the market.

A very good post. My 180 hp Duratec with the BMW/Sintered plate LSD,has now done 5,000 miles road use. The torque is around 30 ft lbs so OK for now. The LSD noise was significantly reduced by switching to RR's GL5 90 grade LSD oil. Following very helpful discussions with ScottR400, I will switch to the Tracsport when the time arrives. With 20/20 hindsight I would have been better to order my kit with a open diff and have the Tracsport fitted during the build, It works out around £200 more than the CC LSD option, but longevity is important to me. I would certainly recommend this route to anyone shaping their kit spec.

As regards the timing of sintered plate introduction, perhaps this may help. I ordered my kit 360 in December 2017. At that time the carbon plated LSD was standard but my order was noted that a sintered plate diff was required. I was advised, in early 2018 that sintered would likely be standard from around March 2018.

Hello Geoff. As regards maintenance checks on the BMW/Titan LSD: Ollie ar RR said that they set up from new at around 40 ft /lbs depending on driver/ set up required. A torque check is advised, as already discussed, at service intervals: When down to 20 ft/lbs it's time for a refresh/reset. At 15 ft/lbs it's "impending doom" with a big bill. R/R consider that the torque check should be an automatic part of routine servicing, where the Titan LSD is fitted.

Yes please. I always mask off the top 1.5" of my motorcycle crash hat for low sun defense. A club sticker would be great.

My Duratec dry sump ramp has been scarred by a road hump but remains OK. If you want to replace it I'd suggest sourcing a suitable hard nylon block from your local supplier and walki it, and your original, round to a machine shop. Simple enough to replicate. Here in Hull we have Kingston Plastics who can supply the material and, in most cases, machine to suit. A block that size would be £5 to £10.

I understand that the Rainsport 3 is on run out. Being replaced by the Rainsport 5. The 5 is said to be 15 percent better on wear rate,

Checking the LSD torque, In discussion with RR, they have confirmed the torque check figures at set up and provided yet more information on diff performance (mostly specific to my BMW/Titan sintered plate LSD, but not entirely). Here we go, it;s another long one but, I think, of value: " To your question, the correct running torque at the differential should be 40 ft/lbs for optimum use. The exact figure depends on how responsive you want the car to be. (Higher being slightly less responsive on the throttle, lower being more "snappy"). These are usually set higher from new to allow for a certain amount of run in, the bellvilles need a chance to settle, and high spots are taken off the friction plates. We have done numerous tests, and the front runners in various Caterham race series are using figures around there (exact figures depending on the set-up), so we are confident these settings work with Titan LSDs. Other LSDs will differ for obvious reasons. The banging/clunking during turning is not caused by ramp blocks moving excessively, it's a common miss-understanding. Every ramp block in any LSD has to move slightly to provide a clamping load across the clutch plates under power (or deceleration). However, during times of no acceleration or deceleration when turning or parking, the noise is still prevalent. This is the equivalent of just having static load across the LSD , with no no movement of the ramp blocks. This is caused by plate material & oil choice. You can hear the difference when testing static load on a bench with different LSD's and covering the friction plates with different oils, It is also still noticeable on tests where the bellevilles are replaced with solid spacers, effectively eliminating any excess ramp movement. The Molybdenum plates used in ZF, Tracsport and Drexler LSDs are considerably quieter than others such as the metal on metal used in Cusco, Kaaz, and OS Giken LSDs or the Sintrac used in Titan LSDs. Banging on and off power is another issue, and that is usually related to heavily worn bellevilles. This is an issue in most LSDs when worn, not a specific Titan issue. However different LSDs will wear at different rates (which certainly opens the door to design arguments). We see various cars running various types of LSDs, suffering from the same issues. Unfortunately there are very few LSD designs that resist wear effectively, one notable one is the Cusco LSDs used in the Caterham Super Sprints as they don't use belleville washers to provide pre-load." So another informative response from RR, thanks again. Pete

Thanks for that, The more complete the understanding of any subject, the better. A slight aside, RR also mentioned that they consider a torque test of the LSD when the car is serviced is sensible. If down to 20ft/lb its advisable to have diff stripped and re-set at fairly low cost. If the reading is at or below 15ft/lbs .... impending doom and high cost repair! I didn't ask what the "as built" torque should be, and probably should have. Any views? PS: My father was a tribologist for BP and worked on the development of BP Visco Static ( yes that long ago) and was also heavily involved in solving the piston ring seizures of Lanc Merlin engines during take off with a full bomb load. I think of him when subjects like this arise, he would engage with knowledge and enthusiasm in spades. Thanks Pete

Hello all, Well it would seem that the issue of oils for transmissions needs a DIFinitive answer. No apology for that will be given. I am not a tribologist, nor a transmission specialist, however Road and Race certainly are. In dialogue with R&R, they have provided a lengthy but comprehensive explanation, as follows: " Both the BMW 168 and the Sierra 7" differentials used in the Caterhams require an SAE 90 GL5 oil. The most crucial part of this is the GL5, this refers to the level of extreme pressure additives in a GL5 compared to a GL4. As a rough rule of thumb, a GL5 requires twice as many EP (Extreme Pressure) additives as a GL4. It is these EP additives that provide the largest amount of gear protection when compared to any other additives for viscosity. The viscosity does not directly equate to gear protection, however it is also crucial to get this correct, as it is important when relating to flow. An oil too thin or too thick, can increase or decrease the flow respectively. This will not allow the oil channels to circulate the oil as effectively as designed, which can lead to decreased bearing life and decreased crownwheel life. The differential manufacturers, in this case BMW & Ford, will have spent millions designing the casings, gears, choosing the bearings and then the oil, for everything to work as effectively as possible. It is for this reason, even when LSDs or ATBs are added, you should always follow the original grade of oil. Gear oil viscosity is usually specified in two grades. For example a 75w90 or an 80w140. This initial grade, the 75W or 80w, refers to the thickness when cold. Modern manufacturers specify this to take advantage of advances in oil technology which allows for a thinner oil when cold. This will increase efficiency and emissions before the car warms up to operating temperatures. The cold weight in differentials is not as important as they warm up very quickly. It is far more crucial in gearboxes where it can make the gear change "notchy" when cold. The warm viscosity (the second number) is important in both. I will touch on why we opted to go for a single grade later. The GL grade is the single most crucial grade for a differential and gearbox. As previously mentioned, it refers to the level of EP additives, and therefore extreme pressure protection an oil can offer. Differentials require a much higher level of this than a gearbox due to the hypoid gears they use. This means the gear pressure angle is more aggressive, and requires greater strength to stop the gears from touching. When the gears touch, in any scenario, (gearbox or differential) this metal on metal contact generates localised heat and prematurely wears the gears. Stopping this metal on metal contact is why it is so important a GL5 is used in differentials, as it provides the protection a GL4 does not. Unfortunately, you cannot use a GL5 oil in a synchronised gearbox as the EP protection would stop the synchronisers from working. It forms a barrier and the synchro rings can't effectively slow down or speed up the engine to match the road speed, resulting in crunching and wear of the synchros. This is why gearboxes use a GL4, as it provides a balance of gear protection (they are at less aggressive angles) and still allows the synchros to function through friction. Some modern oil manufacturers combine a GL4 and GL5 by using EP levels that pass the tests for both, while being at the higher end of GL4 and at the lower end of GL5. We don't generally recommend these as there is a huge compromise on strength and protection. This is likely to cause bigger issues on older gearboxes and differentials as they are more sensitive to oil. When it comes to LSDs and reducing the plate noise from these, various friction modifiers are used in oil marked as "for LSD use". These effectively allow for smoother sliding of the clutch plates in the LSDs, without affecting the lockup at full throttle. As some of you will have noticed when using various oils, some will make the Caterham LSD "clunking" worse or better. This is due to the type of additive, and the amount used. It is not a requirement for plated LSDs to have these additives in them and they can be used without them. In front wheel drive gearboxes, you can't use any LSD additives as their friction modifiers don't allow the synchros to work, in the same way as excess EP additives. However, in applications where they can be used (such as differentials), it is beneficial to do so. It increases plate life, quietness when making low speed turns or reversing and benefits high speed cornering stability as the LSD locks/unlocks smoothly. Conversely, you should not use LSD oil or any LSD additives with ATBs as the helical gears work much better with higher friction levels.They require internal friction to bias torque effectively. When designing oils, roughly 90 % of the oil is made up from a base oil ( mineral, semi-synthetic or synthetic). This is regardless of it being used as an engine oil, gear oil or some other lubricating oil. The main difference is what additives are chosen to form the remaining 10%. With mineral and synthetic oils being as good as each other now, but their molecular compounds being different, the choice of base oil largely depends on what additives you need to use. Some additives work better with mineral or synthetic oil bases. With this 10% (additives) you need to have a balance of friction reduction, extreme pressure protection, thermal protection, viscosity modifiers,foam inhibitors,detergents, the list goes on. Because of the need for so many components, and the sheer cost of these chemicals, designing an oil is a compromise with no single "right" way to do it., but plenty of wrong ways. When we designed our LSD oil, we wanted gear protection and the effectiveness of the friction modifier to be at the top of our priority list. We opted to use very high quality chemical components, but even so, we decided not to add in the viscosity modifiers to give a thinner cold weight. It was not necessary, and we did not want to compromise on the quality of the rest of the oil.This is one of the reasons that you shouldn't pump excess levels of friction modifiers (LSD additives) into oils, as you run the risk of reducing the % amounts of the other chemical components to a level that will reduce their effectiveness. With specific regard to the Titan LSDs used in Caterhams ( sintered plate version) the sintered plates are very high quality, high friction and have a good longevity. It is their high coefficient of friction that causes the "banging" that is common. This coupled with the cost of additives, type of friction additives, and compromises on various chemical component percentages, is the reason that so many oils from major manufacturers struggle to keep them quiet during cornering. Neither Caterham or Titan should be deviating from the recommended oil grade BMW or Ford give, as they have not designed or changed the crownwheel & pinion, or made any changes to the internal oil channels, or use different bearings. The addition of an LSD does not require a different viscosity oil, only an oil with the appropriate friction modifiers. I will also address the confusion in BMW differential oils. The part numbers that BMW specify for for the differential oils used in Caterhams is 83222365987 or 33117695240 which is a 75W90 GL5. BMW do use a 75W140 GL5 for their more powerful vehicles as they use bigger differentials with larger teeth, and larger oil channels, so a thicker oil is necessary. There are other oils that they have recommended for various years, but the 75W90 GL5 and the 75W140 GL5 are the most common."0 Well I did warn you this was a lengthy post! Personally I have found this a very interesting summary of the technical issues and objectives, so thanks to Road and Race for it. I now know exactly why my sintered plate Titan LSD is so much quieter with RR oil installed. Pete C

My 2018 360 with a Titan/BMW LSD has been fairly noisy from new/ It's been confirmed as "normal" by the gents at Oakmere. Following the advice of Road and Race transmissions, Last week I sucked out the Caterham supplied Motul 75/140, and re-filled with 800cc of R&R's own 90 grade LSD oil. The noise level is significantly lower ( at a guess 80 percent) and it feels smoother in operation. Yes, it's still a 7 with plenty of mechanical noise, but now less pronounced. R&R said that the BMW diff was originally designed to use a 90 grade oil, though clearly with a plate LSD you need the appropriate additives. They indicated sales of several hundred packs of their own oil so perhaps others can advise their findings.

PM sent

Yes please Garth, PM sent Pete C