Nigel B

It's nice to see a well looked after 8 valve Vauxhall Terry! I had mine for seventeen years & loved it! I know what you mean about the bruised knuckles...

I had spotted your post. You're probably right, although there was no sign of another 7. It's certainly a great road for it!

Haha, how strange! The A82 is evidently a popular road with Caterhams. It sounds like you've been piling on the miles, good stuff! I've never done the NC500, I really should get my arse in gear & do it some time soon. There's no excuse really, given I live in Edinburgh. I've been over to Skye & Applecross a few times in the 7 & we have friends near Grantown on Spey, so I've explored the roads around that area quite extensively, as well as Braemar & Glenshee. The furthest north I've been is Lochinver.

Brilliant! I do remember the roll bar/cage was in the same metallic blue. It looked cracking! I was in a diesel Astra estate, so felt very jealous. Where were you heading?

Sounds like a good plan, I'm sure a professional will achieve a better finish than I managed & it's difficult to reach some areas with the exhaust on the car. It would be nice to see some before & after photos when it's been done!

Here's my effort. I haven't got a 'before' photo either, unfortunately, but before polishing the exhaust had a matt grey look to it. I didn't do any machine polishing, just an hour or two with some rags & a tube of Autosol.

Metallic blue 7 heading north between Spean Bridge & Invergarry. Nice day for it, rather too much traffic though!

Well, having drilled out the holes in the brackets & fitted the new bosses, I initially tried the second stiffest hole. I went for short-ish blats on Sunday & Monday evening & the car felt fine, so on Tuesday evening I moved the drop links to the stiffest hole & went for a long drive yesterday, south west from Edinburgh & down into the borders along some cracking moorland roads with very little traffic. Again, the car felt really good. It’s strange, because when I briefly moved from the second softest hole to the second stiffest, last autumn you could immediately feel the effect of that, even when driving at a moderate pace, whereas the effect of the adjustments made this week feel more subtle. The car definitely feels more eager to turn in & it feels more agile, yet at the same time, composed. Particularly in a tight series of bends with sharp changes of direction, left & right. I was initially wary about squeezing the throttle too hard on the exit, but as I gained confidence with it, I pushed progressively harder on the way out of bends & there’s no sense of the ‘snappy’ oversteer I experienced before. Traction doesn’t seem to have suffered. Admittedly, the weather has been great this week, so I have no idea how the car will feel on cold/damp/wet roads, but the initial impressions are very good. I must confess, I was surprised by how the car felt, given the comments on this thread & with my own previous experiences with stiffer rear arb settings.

Thanks for the photo James. I started fitting the offside boss this afternoon. What I was assuming was a fifteen minute job was complicated by the fact that the existing hole in the bracket is too small for the M10 bolt. I started enlarging the hole, but ran out of time. There's always something isn't there?

Cheers James, you're reinforcing my concerns! I can't imagine WHAT you're referring to Roy!

That's great John, thanks for the clarification. I'll have a rummage around in the garage & see if I have any of those bolts. I have some bits & pieces left over from the build of my first 7. Edited to add I do have the relevant bolts & washers. I think I will go easy & just go one hole stiffer, given the general consensus! Thanks for the comments.

Thanks John, that's exactly the information I wanted! Well, I'll give it a try, take the car out for a tentative blat & report back. But by the sound of things, I may well end up back on the current setting! Thanks for everyone's comments & experiences, it's much appreciated.

Well, I have to admit, I was very surprised when DPR suggested it! I was taken aback. Having briefly tried the second stiffest setting last year, I found the car felt very sharp & 'pointy' on the way into a corner, but would snap into oversteer very abruptly on the way out! I questioned them very closely about the wisdom of using the stiffest setting, but they were adamant that it would suit the current set up. I'm assuming that it will feel different to my last experiment with a stiffer arb setting, because the rest of the set up has changed. But I am mindful of the previous experience (I changed back to the second softest hole after one blat!). But at the same time, DPR have way more experience than me with these things, so I feel prepared to defer to their better judgment, at least just to see how it feels.

Having owned my 420R for over two years, I finally got round to having it flat floored & properly set up a few weeks ago. I took it to DPR at Redhill who did a fantastic job & have transformed the feel of the car. My rear arb is currently on the second softest setting. DPR recommended using the stiffest setting with the current set up. Although I’m delighted with the way the car feels, I am interested in trying DPR’s recommend rear arb setting. However, I don’t have sufficient clearance to be able to use the final, stiffest hole as the drop links make contact with the wheels. Apparently this is a recognised issue & Caterham have produced a boss which enables the drop links to be moved inboard of the arb to clear the wheels. I’ve ordered the parts from Redline, but I’m not entirely sure how they fit! I presume they simply bolt to the arb bracket & the drop links are screwed into the other side? Does anyone have a photo of the boss installed on your car? There is a threaded hole drilled through the boss, but the thread size is different on each side. I’m assuming the larger thread is the side that bolts to the arb bracket, but does anyone know what size the thread is & what type of bolt is used to secure it? Is a spring washer involved? I’m struggling to find the answers & I’d like to get it right. Cheers in advance! Nigel.

No problem Alan. Good luck with getting the axle back in. I've heard good things about the R&R oil.

I don't think I ever measured the amount I put in (after the first fill when I built the car). I still have the assembly guide, which recommends - "Marina/Ital - Comma Oils GL5 SX 75w-90 with Extralube LZ6178 (No LSD). Volume - Approximately 1 litre GL5 and 100ml Extralube" From what I remember, I suspect I had closer to two litres in mine. I learned the hard way! About six months after I built the car I did a club track day at Cadwell Park & with the prescribed 1.1 litres of oil/lubricant, I found I had a very loud, whining diff by lunchtime! By overfilling the axle (with the newly rebuilt diff!), I didn't have a recurrence of the problem.

I'm not sure I have a 'definitive' answer, as such, but I always took the approach of jacking the car up as high as I could at the back & filling through the upper fill hole until oil ran out. Essentially getting as much oil in as I could. I had my Ital axled 7 for seventeen years & I didn't have any problems using that method. I didn't experience any leaks from the driveshaft seals, even on track. For about the last eight years of my ownership I ran it with a Quaife diff. Strangely enough, it's for sale at GP Sevens right now. The blue VX Classic. I'm half tempted to buy it back!

I did tick the 'black pack' option on my car. The headlamps & windscreen were black & the rear wing stone guards & sill protectors were carbon fibre. It didn't change anything under the bonnet though.

My 8 valve Vauxhall was a 2002 car & it had a bare alloy bulkhead. If I recall correctly, a black painted bulkhead was a feature on Superlight spec cars at that time. I couldn't stretch to such fancy luxuries!

Luke does have a very good reputation. I actually got as far as emailing him last year. I really should pull my finger out & get it sorted.

That looks cracking! They've done a very neat job on the bonnet cut out. I really must get round to having mine done this year.

https://motornuts.co.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8uSu59fx7gIV0-vtCh31awIwEAAYASAAEgLnj_D_BwE I got a pot of touch up paint from here. They needed the original manufacturer's paint code, 'Caterham Riviera Blue' prompted a confused email! But the colour match was very good indeed.

http://bathoscars.simpl.com/lotus_caterham.html This place might be worth a look Arthur. They look reasonably priced to me too, given the work that must be involved producing alloy panels. I loved your article in Low Flying by the way. By strange coincidence, I read it this morning. It was a fascinating story.

Sorry Patrick, I've just realised your post is referring to a different bush! Read the post properly Nigel!

I have a hazy recollection of a previous Blatchat discussion on the subject of replacing the standard bushes with polyurethane ones. It was of interest to me at the time because I was becoming a bit tired of having to regularly replace the A frame bushes! As I recall the discussion was ultimately inconclusive. Some members had changed to polyurethane & had no problems, but there was also a popular view that having a softer bush in that position was an important aspect of the rear suspension design & replacing it with a harder bush could potentially cause the A frame itself to break. The bush is effectively a sacrificial part, the suspension equivalent of a fuse. Having pondered the various views expressed, I decided not to risk a potential breakage & stick with the standard bush, as the bushes are very cheap & quick & easy to replace. It's a view that's worth bearing in mind anyway, whatever course of action you decide to take.