Nigel B

#24 At about this time last year I spent the best part of a week repeatedly bleeding the brakes & I posted on Blatchat at the time, asking for any tips, hints or experiences. I think you suggested those methods at the time, Chris & I did an awful lot of handbrake jiggling & caliper tapping, but sadly it didn't improve matters, in my case. #25 7 Wonders, I did try bleeding the brakes with the rear calipers angled upwards & also removed from the car. I replaced the dedion brake lines with braided hoses, as holding the calipers as high as possible while bleeding was another method suggested. I also tried bleeding the brakes with the pistons wound fully in (handbrake adjuster nut slackened fully off), but that didn't improve matters either. I'm also aware that the 'pips' in the pads need properly aligning with the recesses in the pistons & that the brake pedal needs a firm press to let the pads self adjust, before adjusting the hand brake. I definitely didn't do any fluid bottle shaking! I also tried gravity bleeding & I tried reverse bleeding the system by pushing fluid up from the calipers, but again, to no avail. I can't help feeling that for some reason, Caterham's current braking set up simply does result in an unusually long, squishy feeling pedal. My last Caterham had a much shorter, firmer pedal & I didn't have any problems with bleeding the brakes on that car. I've spoken to a fair few owners of recent cars who have told me 'mine's the same!'. Last spring, I asked Luke Stevens for his opinion, when he was fitting a set of throttle bodies to my car & a few weeks later I asked DPR for their opinion when they were setting up my suspension & both were of the opinion that my brakes felt good. I was reluctant to fit a high effort pedal, as I felt it was a 'sticking plaster' type solution that would simply mask the real issue that was air in the system. But I'm very pleased I fitted one in the end, as I now have a short travel pedal, with good feel. I can heel & toe automatically, without really thinking about it, as I did in my old car. I'd go as far as to say, I think it's the best modification I've made to the car, I appreciate it every time I press the pedal!

I spent eighteen months repeatedly bleeding the brakes on my 420R, using every method & trick I could find & pushing many, many litres of fluid through the system & I still had a long, mushy feeling pedal. It really did feel like air in the system, but I still felt suspicious that, that wasn't the case, because after the initial couple of bleeds, no further air bubbles emerged (not even tiny ones) & after each bleeding session, the pedal felt exactly the same, with no incremental improvements. I asked two Caterham race teams for their opinion on the brakes at the beginning of last year, when they were doing work on my car & they both said the pedal feel/travel was very good for a 420R. Eventually I fitted a 'high effort' pedal, which halved the travel & much improved the feel.

#7 Yes, although I used the metric version. (I think your car is metric too?) It essentially means the pedal travel is reduced, but more foot pressure is required. Although, in practice, I can't say it seems to require much more effort than the standard pedal. You quickly acclimatise. I was convinced my long pedal travel was caused by air in the system. I asked for a second opinion from DPR Motorsport & they advised me that 'they're all like that' & suggested a high effort pedal. It's strange, because my last Caterham, a 2002 live axle car, had a much shorter pedal travel as standard. The 420R with the high effort pedal fitted, feels to me very similar to how my old car felt.

I struggled with this issue for about eighteen months with my 420R (uprated master cylinder, but standard front calipers). I tried all manner of different approaches to brake bleeding, but the pedal still felt 'spongey'. Eventually, I fitted Caterham's 'high effort' brake pedal, at the advice of a specialist. That sorted the problem, the pedal now has a very short travel & a positive feel. Far better for heel & toe.

#96 David, If I recall correctly, the EV Caterham referred to in the 2021 webinar was produced by a company other than Caterham.

#24 Colinton Tesco? It looks very familiar!

I think my approach would be to take it to a specialist & get it properly set up. DPR Motorsport set my car up last spring & having the car correctly adjusted to suit the wheels & tyres you're using really does make a world of difference. They start at the beginning & ensure the ride height & rake are correct, before systematically working their way through every aspect of the set up, checking the corner weighting, camber, toe, caster & finally, dialling out any bump steer that may be present by shimming the steering rack. I know a lot of members do set up their own cars, but I personally wouldn't feel confident enough to have a go myself. As you hint at in your post above, all this stuff is interlinked, adjust one aspect & it affects everything else. Personally I think it's well worth the expenditure.

I find a cocktail stick is quite an effective tool for releasing the pins. But it's a fiddly job!

If you have adjustable spring platforms, you can simply adjust the ride height to suit the new wheels. Having the car flat floored & properly set up makes quite a difference. Oh... & welcome to Blatchat!

https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/foliatec-brake-caliper-paint-and-engine-lacquer-243118/ I managed to inadvertently leave the hand brake on, during a blat in my live axle Seven & fried the brake drums, burning off the paint. I used this in matt black to paint the drums & it was fantastic stuff. When I sold the car ten years later, the brake drums still looked as though they had been newly painted. I imagine it would work just as well on brake callipers.

That's the spirit! It warms the heart to hear of owners using their cars properly. Looking through the classified ads on Pistonheads & the like, it's amazing how many Sevens for sale have just a couple of thousand miles on the clock. I'm not in the same league as the people on this thread, but I did manage 45,000 miles in my last Caterham & 15,000 so far in the current one. Must try harder! I have a European trip planned for later this year, so I'm doing my best!

I had a 120bhp 8 valve Vauxhall Seven fitted with 185/70 13s. I sold it three years ago & bought a 210bhp 420R which was fitted with fifteen inch wheels with 195/50 ZZS front & rear. I was expecting the 420 to feel wayward with an extra 90bhp over the VX, but it has always felt very well tied down & you can certainly give it the full beans in the dry without having to worry about the back end sliding unexpectedly. I guess improved tyres, suspension set up & the LSD help. Since then, I’ve changed the Titan diff for a Tracsport & swapped the fifteen inch wheels for thirteens, with 8 inch rears & if anything, I’d say it feels a little bit TOO grippy at the rear, even with a recent upgrade to 220bhp. I've since had the car flat floored & adjusted to suit the new wheels, so it's not a set up issue. I do wonder if I’d prefer the car with matching wheels front & rear. If my experience is anything to go by, I’d say you’d probably be okay with the same sized wheels. Perhaps just drive it for a while & see how it feels?

Have you looked closely at the hose in question? The chassis to dedion hose on my 2017 car looked like a rubber hose from a distance, but on closer examination, turned out to be a braided hose, with a rubber hose cable tied around it! I believe it's an IVA requirement. It confused me for a while! The hose from the clutch fluid reservoir was the same.

You'd think if Caterham now have an ECU modification to cure the problem, they'd be making use of it on new, factory built cars...

Ed, I've sent you a PM regarding the cost of the RBTBs. Chris C is right though, roller barrels are not necessary to make the car run correctly, they'd be a bit of a 'sledgehammer to crack a nut' solution! They are a nice addition though, if you like your Sevens rorty! I'm doing very well thanks, Peter. The Caterham is tucked away for the winter now though. I hope you're pleased with your new set up.

My 2017 420R was exactly the same. It had a tendency to cut out for the first few minutes when started from cold, but ran fine once there was a bit of heat in it. I had a set of roller barrel throttle bodies fitted by Luke Stevens, along with a remap by Steve Greenald & the problem has gone, it now runs perfectly from cold. Admittedly, that's not the cheapest solution, but it is highly recommended! Gratuitous photo...

Haha, fair enough!

It's not necessarily about doughnuts though (I've never done a doughnut), it's about being able to precisely control the car & gently point the nose towards the apex with the throttle. It's about how consistently the car behaves as you approach the limits of grip.

There's just something about a LSD equipped Seven though. There’s none of that ‘will it slide or will it spin up the inside wheel?’ nonsense you get with an open diff. You can control the car with pin point precision on the edge of grip, which for me is the whole point of a Caterham. I drove my first Seven for over ten years with an open diff, before progressing through Quaife, Titan & now Tracsport diffs, so I have quite a lot of experience with each type. I’d never go back to an open diff now, I think it would be very frustrating, from a driving perspective. In my experience, the Tracsport offers the best of both worlds. I’ve now covered over 7,500 miles with the Tracsport fitted & it’s just as quiet, unobtrusive & smoothly effective as when it was first fitted.

True enough! I'm in Edinburgh & some of the roads there are shocking. I was saying to my son in law recently, when we were out for a blat, 'whoever's in charge of the roads in Edinburgh should be forced to drive a Caterham for a company car!'. I'm sure that would improve matters.

Ah, I see! Cheers Mark, I hadn't considered that aspect of things.

This is a bit of a strange one, but I’ve been wondering about it for a while. Obviously Caterhams are a popular car in Japan & when scanning the ‘net for Caterham related material, I find I often come across Japanese Caterham photos, YouTube videos, blogs, Facebook posts etc. One thing I’ve noticed is Japanese Caterhams often have a noticeably lower ride height at the rear than British cars. It’s one of those things that once you’ve spotted it, you can’t help but notice that it’s a common feature of Japanese Sevens. Does anyone have any idea why that is? Surely a certain amount of rake is required when setting up a Caterham? It’s been puzzling me for a while now.

If you’re looking for improved stability, then a little toe in would probably help. I’d imagine the Uniroyals would be a better match for a Classic than the ZZS, in terms of grip level & profile. I hope you manage to get it sorted.

I phoned Caterham when I was struggling to find this information when I had a VX Classic. Simon Lambert advised me to set the car up with the front wheels parallel. No toe in or out. It seemed to do the trick & the car handled nicely as a result.

Haha, oops! Read the whole thread Nigel! Thanks Peter, I was wondering why no one had suggested that. I swapped my brake lines for flexible hoses earlier this year. I guess there are pros & cons to that modification, but I think on balance it’s a good idea.