bstark

Ralph - I use both on my LA Xflow. Personally I prefer the 70 profile AO21R's on the road - more ground clearance and a spot-on level of grip for the road. I use the 60 profile R888's for sprints (and drive on the road to get there). Ground clearance is occasionally an issue (but I have a lowered d/s floor that drops below the chassis), the handling is tighter but less relaxed (relative, I know) on the road, but less playful at sensible speeds. Different matter on track where I can lean more heavily on the tyres and still find grip, and the car is less bouncy in extremis. Agan - we're talking relative here, and absolutely on the limit. Bob Stark Supersprinter

Thanks Chaps, I just spoke to Richard Egger and as you say they only have information to suggest an immobiliser was fitted as standard from 1996. Anyway, they are going to remove the endorsement without any problem so I'm a happy bunny . Bob Stark Supersprinter

I've just renewed my 7 insurance with Richard Egger and now the paperwork is through I have spotted a clause that says my car is no longer insured against theft unless I have a Thatcham Category 2 Immobiliser correctly fitted (and can prove it) and active. I don't know much about immobilisers so before I call up Richard Egger and make a fuss is this an easy job to do? Is it expensive? There are no fancy electronics managing a X-Flow so how effective would it be? Anyone done this before? Bob Stark Supersprinter

Russell, given it's repeatability I'd be betting on it being electrical one way or the other (even if it turns out to be fuel starvation). I hate problems like this... Silly question, but was the car OK for a bit when the coil was replaced, before it then started happening again? I'm just wondering if something else is causing the coil to fail... Bob Stark Supersprinter

I'd be checking the coil as well - we've had a couple of cars (MG Midget, Mazda 323) with this symptom. They'd run for about 10 minutes from cold with absolutely no sign of a problem, then suddenly die. Let the car cool down for a few minutes and it would start and run for a few second. Let it cool for an hour and you'd get your 10 minutes running again... New coil, problem gone. Bob Stark Supersprinter

Stephen, Apologies if this isn't very helpful, but I have only heard mixed to poor reports of webers on A-series. If the engine is bog standard why change from the SU's (which seem to work very well)? SWMBO's Midget is also bog standard and goes very well on SU's and electronic ignition... Bob Stark Supersprinter

Rich - I use 70 profile 21R's for the road and soft 60 profile 888's for sprinting. On a sprint I found a couple of seconds at Lydden with the 888's and I can lean more heavily on them in tighter corners where the lean on the A021's would get past the tread blocks losing traction (the 888 sidewall is stiffer and the tread continues round the profile further than on the 21's). On the road, I like being able to lose grip at a lower speed when I want to 😬 and from others' comments I would trust the 21's more in very wet weather too. Bob Stark Supersprinter

Martin, Boxley Tyres in Boxley Road, Maidstone. Lovely chaps, proper old fashioned service and will happily cope with the 7 if you bring it (or just bring the wheels) and have no problem fitting other people's tyres. They won't want to do it on a Saturday, though (busy period). Bob Stark Supersprinter

AFAIK those above 1144 spec are not designed for road use - ie. scary lack of brakes until up to temp. Bob Stark Supersprinter

Probably just me then Combination of sticky track-day tyres, 130bhp of x-flow, and fear of the Ital going pop means I've never been brutal with it - still, it drifts nicely at Lydden and Brands 😬 Bob Stark Supersprinter

Quaife ATB - works a treat on road and track unless you specifically want it for donuts (it doesn't suddenly lock, rather progressively balances load to the grippiest tyre - makes a huge traction difference). About £550 new inc. vat. Bob Stark Supersprinter

Jez, I switch between a bench seat for road use and a foam one for sprinting to lower my helmeted head - the foam seat is in conjunction with a lowered section of floor. 7-Indulgence in Meopham did the work for me - have a look here They also helped me make the foam seat (or rather I simply sat in the car whilst they did all the mixing and pouring etc... Bob Stark Supersprinter

I'd second that - happened with my old GTi. You need some straight line space for this, but try starting it in 1st gear with your foot on the clutch; be aware my Golf travelled a good few metres before the clutch suddenly freed itself. Bob Stark Supersprinter

Very happy with my GAZ setup on all corners... Bob Stark Supersprinter

123 is brilliant on a standard (or standard-ish) old classic - we run SWMBO's MG Midget on it as a daily driver and it constantly runs as if you had just got the points perfectly setup. Better in fact, as the old dizzy was worn and the 123 just bolts in as a complete replacement. Whether its the ultimate setup for a tuned xflow I don't know. Mine is on an Aldon Ignitor and touch wood its been very good. Bob Stark Supersprinter

Chris, Did you notice much difference when you changed? Mine's still the old set-up but seems fine even with R888's on it when sprinting. We do make sure the bushes are in very good nick. Bob Stark Supersprinter

Unless you need to adjust them regularly it may be cheaper for you to source a bench seat (you can always keep the old seats and runners and replace if you need to). My car's a similar age to you, I'm 6ft2 and with a bench I fit perfectly. I also have a lowered floor section that allows a foam seat to be dropped in when I'm sprinting / on a track day (to give plenty of helmet clearance). 7-Indulgence did the work - photo at the bottom of the page here Bob Stark Supersprinter

Thanks Chris - that's very comforting. Jigsaw were very helpful indeed and have made some suggestions which make sense to me about possible causes (one being that synthetic oil (which was previously recommended to us) is likely to quickly eat the phospher bronze thrust bearing, which would result in substantial noise). So... diff is about to go back in the car with new Jigsaw CW&P, the oil they recommend, and a new thrust bearing. The shafts are virtually new, the ATB is recent so hopefully this will give it all a fair chance of coping. Bob Stark Supersprinter

Thanks Chris - let's just say I have been advised that the vendor believes it to be an oil problem... It's a complicated chain of supply sadly, which I won't get into here. I think I am being told that the CW&P has overheated rather than all the oil (most of which was probably all the way up one end of the axle at the time). All I want to do is stop the thing from going again (whatever the true cause may be). I'm only putting 135bhp through it but I tend to be pretty committed in the turns as I'm never going to keep up with power alone . I'm not brutal with the car, though - just smooth and carry as much speed as possible. So, my reasoning is if I can beef up everything then hopefully it will be sufficient preventative measures. Bob Stark Supersprinter Edited by - bstark on 6 Oct 2008 12:58:41

Thanks Bri Does this stuff have any obvious downsides? Bob Stark Supersprinter

Or at least getting it to cope with the occasional sprint and track-day. 🙆🏻 The current one lasted all of 60 miles at the Brands GP circuit on AO21R's before the screaming started to drown the engine out on the back straight... Once the oil has cooled down it's quite quiet again but gradually gets noisier as things warm up. The axle shafts are new, there's an ATB in it, and it was overfilled with whatever oil R+R recommended... I just want to be able to enjoy the car without this happening again (the old CW&P was on the car 18 years and probably on an Ital for years before that and coped OK with AO21R's - R888's at Goodwood finished it off though). Don't really want to go to an Escort axle (financially etc.) so can anything be done with the Ital innards to beef things up - baffling? particular oil type? some kind of special CW&P? Bob Stark Supersprinter

James, Sorry to hear that ☹️ Les - can't post pics 'cos my car is away with its rear axle in bits having chewed the last CW&P in about 60 miles at the Brands GP day... 🙆🏻 Bob Stark Supersprinter

Les - I have exactly the same setup and it works beautifully, a big difference over the previous 'straight to catch tank' setup. Bob Stark Supersprinter

The mileage could well be genuine - mine is 18 years old, 2 owners, 29K - but most of that is way harder than you'd drive a repmobile. The Steve Parker engine was fitted at 18K as an upgrade to the original 1600cc unit. If you're burning that much oil I'd expect to see plenty of blue smoke from the exhaust under power, especially at high revs - get a mate to follow you and check. (most likely candidate would be oil getting past the piston rings and burning off if that's the case) Personally, I'd book the car into one of the many specialists and get them to give it a good checking over - I can personally recommend Redline in Caterham and 7-Indulgence in Meopham, Kent. I understand that Caterham didn't use the best pistons when the cars were new (do a search on here) Bob Stark Supersprinter

From experience, generally speaking (ie. within a sensible working range for the tyre)more pressure will equal less grip so you can tweak one end of the car to balance the handling (within reason). Looking at individual tyres and maximising grip (ie. assuming a decent initial handling balance), when sprinting I was told to get out immediately after a run and feel the surface of each tyre across it's width. Where the heat is tells you a lot about how the tyre is working: eg. if the middle is noticeably hotter than the edges you may want to let some air out so the whole tyre is providing grip rather than a relatively small bulge in the middle. If the outer edge of say the rear tyre doing most of the work for that circuit is very hot and the middle to inner edge cool then add some air so it deforms less and the rest of the tyre shares the workload. Obviously there is loads more to handling than this but at a sprint the tyre pressures are all I play with as the car's basic setup is very nice. Bob Stark Supersprinter