rkeywood

I bought replacement units a while back from Statford Vehicle Components (SVC) and happy with them. They do glasses as well.

I've always used regular 80 mineral oil in the gearbox, as original spec, for road and race - Castrol EP or Transmax are readily available. An 80w90 is a lot more viscous than an 80 mineral so probably not a good choice for the box. I used 90 mineral when I had an Ital diff but only for a couple of years before swapping to a Quaife ATB. I've used various oils in that, currently it's Fuchs Titan Race Syn 5 75w90 which Quaife recommended. Robert

Has a restrictor plate been used in place of the 'stat? This was common on race engines and is the way mine has always run.

Thanks, I'll speak with Arch when I've a few moments.

Try Caterham - all original and new at only £1500 for the set!!!!

Thanks but it's an original Caterham FIA bar supplied and used initially without a strut. The strut was added later when mandated for their race series and they were supplied without stickers. So I guess the question is can I use the bar and strut in the Speed Championship? R

Re #6 Can older FIA bars be re-powdered and can a homoligation sticker be added? Currently mine is without sticker but I have paperwork from purchase Thanks R

Is the strip on the scuttle (and nose) foam? The original on mine was solid rubber and when i replace with foam it compressed on the radius after a while leaving the catches loose and bonnet raised a little in the centre. Replacing with 1.5mm solid neoprene (70 shore) worked better. Also the catch on the body looks like it's 'pulled' a little - are the rivets original?

I've always used them without sealant.

Go for 2mm thick copper - usually 33 or 34mm. Just clear the port size and leave as much meat between 2 & 3 as possible. Redline may well do them but a quick search will find them. I needed to face the flange on the primaries off as it was a fair bit out from the factory

Hi Alan, if that's the cap you had from me then yes, I was using a Facet pump and raced with it without issue.

Should be able to get genuine Minilites. A friend bought some not long ago for another car - the classic range are made as blanks and machined to order. 13x5.5 are listed with offset range of 6 to 30 with any PCD

Hi Alan, Here's the diagram Not the most elegant bit of engineering but simple and effective. From my experience, when properly fitted, you'd struggle to notice the difference from the selection on the box, after all it's only a parallel connection between the 2 points. Should have 'balls' and rubber turrets on both. If not selecting 1st and 3rd then are the bars the right length and is the gearbox correctly located on it's mount? The caterham bars are longer than those in Gary's pic and radiused on both ends if unmodified. Has the car always has a 4 speed box or has it been modified to have another box at some point in it's life? Have you sorted the reverse stop? Rob Edit: post crossed with Jonathan's

Hi Alan, I can't answer your question but I had pretty much the same on mine. I also found the dry sump engine mount slightly lower than the standard which compounded things. I've always had a 3.2mm washer under the engine mount and managed to rotate the rack so the column clears the pump. Robert

From the tags they're '89 long cockpit. Both back and seats are the 'thin' option for taller drivers

As said the camber is fixed. 2deg negative wishbones were supplied as an option. They should be stamped "- 2deg" or similar on bottom wishbone mount. If you're happy with the existing springs then there'll usually be stamped or engraved on the end with the rate and length (but you'll need to remove to see this). hope this helps

Hi As said the 4sp is similar and longer but does the job pretty well. I can't see fully from the pics but it looks like square aluminium blocks that go over the gear lever and between the flat bars are missing. with these the whole set up is probably more rigid. The rubber 'turrets' are also clearly from the plastic discs to the blocks. I'd have thought getting a 4sp set (from Redline?) and redrilling the flat bars at the correct centres would be a simple fix.

Alan, the Blue Peter way worked for me - make a cardboard copy of the tank to trial fit in

Wiring for original illuminated electric gauge. R/W daisy chains along the instrument light connections. Green is the live that daisy chains along the instruments. I've had a quick scan of the wiring diagram (Jan 88) and it looks like white at the ignition and green off the fuse.

My '89 X-flow is wired green for the gauge, red/white to the light, white/brown to the sensor and black earth. No switch originally

Hi Brian, Bear in mind that the standard X-flows in the factory cars were not that heavily tuned ranging from the 84Hp 1600 GT to the 135HP 1700 SS. You could put anything you wanted in an amateur build! Are you sure your's is an amateur build as the chassis number suggests it's a factory build with the basic 1600GT engine? If that were the case then it would pass easily. Mine is exempt (thank goodness for a Q!) but will get it tested out of interest when I recover from storage and MOT it. It's a fairly heavily tuned period race car so if that passes then most will.

This is not the case for pre’ 90 cars which don’t have VIN identification for the MOT tester to use. The requirements are however clear from the guide in #5 and I don’t see that Caterham can, or need to, provide anything further to support us X-flow owners. In this case the V5 says the car was new at time of registration, it has a period registration and the chassis number does not identify it as a kit build (‘K’ as first character) which may well lead an MOT tester to insist on a pre ’92 3.5% metered test. I’d have thought the key was to get confirmation from Caterham that the car was supplied as a CKD with all new parts for amateur build, or at least confirm it wasn't factory built. If kit built then the original owner will have submitted a V627/1 Build Up Vehicle Inspection Report when the vehicle was inspected for registration declaring which of the principal parts were new or otherwise. In order to have a period plate, rather than a Q, then all will have been declared new and a Certificate of Newness would (should?) have been issued by Caterham. This information should be available from the DVLA but may be difficult / long winded to get verified. If, as it seems, the engine was declared new then I’m pretty certain that the age of the engine will be considered to be the year of manufacture declared on the V627 ie. that for the car as a whole. The other thing to consider is that the engine is not as it was originally supplied which, from the chassis no, would been a 1600GT with a single 32 downdraught. If the engine was replaced then this should be seen from the V5.

Hi Alan, The build diagram in my manual shows that as well but, as you say, it doesn't quite work like that. I put mine over the A frame and it sweeps nicely to the axle. Where it leaves the tunnel it sits on the chassis rail with a foam pad underneath. R

I've just checked my guide and that is different from Nigel's, both in volume and oil spec. The chassis plate, with the fluid spec's on it, is different again so you're unlikely to get a definitive answer! Back when I started a lot of the race cars were live axle, as were a couple of Clubmans cars that friends ran, and the common practice was to overfill via the breather. I suggest you buy 2 litres, fill as far as you can through the plug, sling the extra that Graham says in via the breather and you'll be as wise as the rest of us! What oil are you intending to use? I recently swapped to Fuchs Titan SYN5 75W 90 on Quaife's advice. R

Hi Alan, Same axle/diff on mine. I've always taken the Graham Sykes guide as the best advice for all Ital axle issues and followed that. That says overfill to 2 to 2.5 pints. I can get about 0.7 litre (1.25 pints) through the plug with the car lifted and then get another 0.5 litre (nearly a pint) in via the breather. In 10 years of heavy use race and road I never had an issue doing that. R