CharlesElliott

Steve, Out of interest, is this the small 'doughnut' shaped seal that you think is leaking? [see you at Brands tomorrow!] Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

Pat, That would be great, thanks. Yes, I'll be at Brands Saturday morning for the two Academy races. Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

Dino, Unfortunately not - Xstream Red is Ethylene Glycol whereas Coldstream is Propylene Glycol (i.e. basically non-toxic) hence my desire for the latter. Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

Coldstream is definitely still available - I bought some from Redline a week or so ago. Just wish it was open on a Saturday! Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

Factory or sales centre? The sales centre only seem to have diff oil, gearbox oil and engine oil. Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

Anyone know a good source of Coldstream in the Caterham area? I know Redline sell it (that's where I got my first 5 litres from) but they are only open 9-5 Mon-Fri which makes it a bit of a challenge for me to get to. One of the 100 or so Motor Factors around must stock it. I just don't want to have to drive around them all ❗ Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

Sorry for the change of topic. It was my fault looking at Guy's pictures..... Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

Thanks both - this is great and I think I have a clear understanding now. I'll keep an eye on the throttle exit out of interest. Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

I wonder why my chassis still has the 'old' steering column blanking plate. Given Steve and Guy's cars it does seem that some adjustment is still needed. Perhaps the race car chassis have retained the plate although I'm not sure why that would be. Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

Thanks Peter - the pump explanation does help as well [i'd assumed until put straight that the pump was external to the engine and I just hadn't found it yet]. So if I'm getting a stream of water from the throttle exit either there is air still venting along with some coolant or the valve has failed. Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

Thanks - I think I've got it now, although you've now got me worried about whether the ball valve is working properly as from memory, there was a pretty full scale flow from the throttle exit into the expansion tank. Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

Thanks for this. So when the thermostat opens the flow of water from the head circuit 'pulls' water from the radiator circuit into the head - is that right? The implication of this is that the radiator circuit is not pumped directly. In normal use, would you expect coolant to flow from the throttles exit? How about if you had the front of the car jacked up? (when I was doing this to bleed the system, there was a fairly steady stream from this outlet). Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

Thanks - I think I've got it. So the implication of that is that if you don't fill the head circuit specifically (with the thermostat cold) as I didn't there is no water in it and no way of water getting into it until the thermostat opens. Is that right? How does the pipe that exits from near cylinder 1 into the expansion bottle fit into it? Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

For my own interest and education, can anyone point me to a diagram of how the cooling system works in the K series? (the water circuit that is, rather than the electrical circuit associated with the cooling) Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

Thanks for the comments. And yes, mine is a race car chassis so there are a few differences. I've just updated the site with some more pics..... Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

Indeed. I had this problem (with the adjustable platforms) and had to 'reshape' the pipe a bit. I have an outstanding problem that my pipes rise from the De Dion quite early and take a direct route to the caliper. The clearance under the radius arms when on full suspension travel could be tight. The main tip I would offer (having only done this once) is to make sure you take advantage of the length of the pipe and keep the pipe as close to the De Dion all the way round the front of the lower damper mounting bracket - then only rising up behind where the caliper hole is. This is what I'd do if I was doing it again 😬. As it is, I've just put it on my post build check list for Caterham to look at. Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

Here's a pic from my site. Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

Guy, The longer section should point towards the centre of the car (as per the picture). I also read the text as meaning the union should be the other way around and ended up having to reverse it *after* I had fitted the pipes. Not recommended. Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

Guy, It wasn't in the fastener bag where you expect it to be. I can't remember exactly where it was but I think it was either in the 'Misc' or 'Chassis' bags. I chewed a few bolt heads a bit during the build but in general didn't bother replacing them. Some of them are just too difficult to get to to guarantee getting a clean socket/spanner to. Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

Guy, It's in two parts. A shallow metal dish around 1.5cm in diameter and a metal punch around 6cm in length. 'Tool' is a bit of an overstatement. Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

Thanks Steve. Have you got rear wing protectors? Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

I used to have an Elise and after about 100 miles I wish I'd bought some Armourfend. About 1000 miles later I forgot about it 😬 😬 Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

11) Mine does that as well. Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

Reading this again I think I may have cocked up more than I first thought (not unusual) but assume that I haven't done anything fatal given that I shut off at an indicated 100 degrees. Because I haven't got a heater I totally ignored all the info about backfilling as it seemed heater related. It appears that this is the best way to fill the head circuit and make sure that you at least get water following round the head. So when I first ran the car, I probably had very little water in the head and the thermostat didn't open at all . Assuming that the water thermostat gives and accurate(ish) reading of what is going on in the head circuit I hopefully avoided anything serious by shutting down before it got too much. Go on then, someone reassure me that I haven't done some fatal internal damage and warped the head or whatever happens when it overheats. Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary

Can anyone do me an idiot's guide of which way the water flows and what happens when the thermostat opens? I don't understand why just the top of the rad is getting hot when presumably the thermostat is closed. Charles --- My Caterham Academy 2004 Diary