Graham Hutton

Good effort 7SW!! That's quite a list there and I like the mutley sticker.

Saw a 7 the other day with a carbon rear diffuser. Anyone on here got any experience of them? It was a quick glance but I think it looked cool and would match my other carbon bling....

You're right Daz. The problem is that having looked on Pistonheads I know find myself contemplating building another car in that peppermint colour. They look so cool!!!

Brilliant, thanks everyone. I like the tool tubes idea as I have been thinking of making something similar from a packed lunch box bolted down to the flat surface in front the airbox where the pedal box would be on a left hand drive car. I'll check those out for sure.

Youds7 - we should meet up sometime, I live near the rugby stadium in Exeter and head your way a fair bit as my favourite fun roundabout is at Clyst st George!!

I've not measured my wheel studs but will do so when I get the wheels off at the weekend. From memory there are lots of turns to tighten but I'll check. I notice that Redline components do stainless steel wheel nuts which I might go for as my chrome ones are already corroding.

On it with the exhaust wrapping research....

Keep it coming 

This is great. I have added wrapping my exhaust primaries to the list now after reading #14 Tom B. Anyone got advice on what kit for wrapping to get? I don't want them to come undone.

Also, why longer wheel studs Tom?

I like the oil bottle solution and did something similar with my tyre goo using velcro straps riveted to the inner arch skin on the driverside.

Thansk 22daz. They look awaful, decision is clear! 

Thanks Beagler. I guess it beeps rarely because you stay above the limit!!!

When I built the car I bought a big box of assorted rubber grommets and the right size just happened to be in there. Luck more than judgement! It tidied things up a bit though

Thanks Chris and yes, it was great to chat at Brands the other day. Julian sent the pics which I really appreciate!

Most of your list is covered off too although not the exhaust. Given it is pretty much the last remaining silver thing on the car I have been considering getting it coated with that black enamel that many motorbike exhausts have. I even got a price for it of about £400. That'd have to be a winter job though.

Cutoff key is a good idea Doug. It'd stop the Jeremy Clarkson type of irritation too.

I've also put rubber grommets in all the bolt sleeves through the trackday roll over bar and the bolt holes for the 3 point seat belts which are unused.

Hmmm

Good job there Beagler!! Much of that already done as I have the big brakes already. I love the idea of the rivnuts and mushroom screws on the tunnel plate. It is both uneneccesary and very time consuming which is perfect. My driveshafts are OK but I did notice a bit of rust on the diff casing....maybe I should paint that again.

Where are you going to put the USB sockets? In the fusebox cover or in the dash?

What fun

It's always a pleasure looking at the little things people do to their cars to upgrade them. Most completely unnecessary but the joy is in the time in the garage faffing around and generally being undisturbed. So far I have done the swanky handbrake sleeve, high level brake light, heel & toe pedal extension, LED light upgrade, made a phone mount, changed my wing mirrors etc etc. It's been hours of  time to myself!!!!

Next jobs are to carbon wrap the steering arms and put black bonnet catches on but I thought I'd ask on here what other little things have you all done just for the fun of it.... I guess I am worried that I will soon be running out of excuses to be quietly faffing around in the garage 

The first set of Avon ZZS tyreson my 310R are getting close to needing replacement and they seem great! I really like the look of the 15" wheels over the 13" (I know I will get some abuse for this) but the standard 195 rear tyres do look a teeny bit skinny from behind. Has anybody put the wider 245 rears on? Do they fit on the standard rims without modifications/spacers etc? Is it a stupid idea based upon looks alone!!!??

Thoughts welcome as always :-)

Thanks Beagler. That's pretty neat. I presume you fabricated the fixing brackets?

Thank Tim.  Bizzare, although there would be no problem if they provided something better than a 50p plastic catch can. If it were baffled there'd be no splatter. In other news I can confirm that my little breather filter solution has worked perfectly and despite a 400mile blast on the Taffia run, there is no oil misting in the engine bay at all :-)

What a lively discussion. On reflection, I think it is better if the catch can is unvented and the pressure just goes back to the inlet manifold. The caterham chap told me to omit the over flow pipe and stick a bung in the top which is exactly what some of the factory built cars (including Tim's 310R) have. This seems to work fine without the catch can exploding! It seems not right to vent under the bonnet on a road car for two reasons. Firstly, the emissions and secondly because I don't want to have to clean oil mist off everything.

I guess Caterham fit a catch can because many of the engines are used for racing but the solution to the problem would seem to be for them to fit a decent unvented and baffled can rather that the 50p washer bottle system currently provided.

Thanks for the pics Matt, that is miles better than the plastic one and I'm definitely going to do the job properly before my next track day. How did you fix the backplate to the chassis. Was it just big P clips?

I found myself looking at the premier power website the other night and I notice that one of the first things they do on every upgrade is put an aluminium Mocal catch can. Their photos show it on the bulkhead which isn't possible when you have a heater and standard airbox. Anyone out there got any pictures of a Mocal style can installed at the front of the engine bay?

https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/mocal-alloy-oil-catch-tank-245403/

I've done a thing! I have fitted a breather to the top of the catch can instead of the overflow pipe as I need to get the car back on the road for the Taffia run this weekend. It was an easy mod using a spare rubber gater (from the ball joint on the end of the front ARB) and a cheap crankcase breather filter I picked up at Halfords for £6.99. Hopefully that'll sort it but I think I'll still upgrade to a proper Aluminium catch can once I've seen Beaglers pics! Thanks everyone.

I just swapped out the halogen bulbs for the LED ones from classic car LEDs and it made a massive difference for minimal price. The extra bright daytime running lights really are good enough to work and you can sometimes mistakenly think you have the headlights on! When I inquired they sent me all the following info to make ordering easy and aligning he headlights was an easy DIY job in the garage. I marked the existing beam angle on the back of my garage door with masking tape and then made sure the new lights were set to the same angle.

If you have 7" headlamp reflectors H4ZES1X2 would be the best upgrade.  They are however to large for the 5 3/4" headlights for which we recommend H4INTX2 which have a similarly powerful beam.

Please make note of the legal position mentioned in the item descriptions for headlights.

For the rest of the lamps our recommended list is as follows:

Front Sidelights - these should be a 501 capless fitting.  Our standard upgrade is at this link and extra bright at this link.

Stop Tail light 380 fitting we have a standard red upgrade or extra bright.

Reverse 382 fitting we recommend the white LEDs at this link.

Rear Fog 382 fitting we recommend the red LEDs at this link or the extra bright option at this link.

Indicators will require an amber 382 which are at this link.  They also need you to change your flasher relay as they do not draw enough current to work with a mechanical relay.  Your relay should have 49, 49a and 31 connections.  The relay at this link is a straight replacement.

If you have a single indicator warning light on the dash, you may also need our diode harness kit which will stop sympathy flash of the external indicator lamps.

Rear Number plate should be a 989 fitting which are available in various colours at this link.

Please note that all the above items are sold as single units and that VAT will be added at checkout. 

yes, that's the one I saw too. loads of dosh and not much bling!

Being a child, I am keen to get some more carbon bling on the plastic engine cover on the top of my Sigma in my 310R. I have seen some places that do them but they are a different size and don't cover the whole top like the Caterham one does. Does anybody know where I might get one?

As an alternative I have thought about either wrapping or dipping the existing plastic cover but am a bit worried that it won't survive the heat created by my equally childish driving!

What do you all reckon?

Will do Jonathan!

Caterham have agreed to send me a new rad under warranty without any quibble whatsoever. Marvellous!

Thanks chaps

I spoke with Tony (workshop manager) at Williams Automobiles today and he reckoned no need to vent it at all just stick a bung in the top or use something like that sexy Fiesta ST one. Interestingly he says that the duratecs tend to push much more oil into the catchcans than the Sigmas, presumably they have more crank windage or something. Apparently the sigma catch cans can sometimes be half full at service whereas, I have no more than a few ml in the bottom of mine.

I'd love to see your final install Beagler!

Cheers all

Another possible solution, which may be even easier is to stick a K&N crank case breather filter like this one on the outlet pipe. That should stop the splatter I guess.

https://www.demon-tweeks.com/k-n-filters-breather-filter-244153/?sku=K/N62-1000&istCompanyId=a2904180-3a7d-4e56-b876-cf81c9512180&istFeedId=6fbc4b04-fd28-4ce1-8513-835c8f118690&istItemId=wptwlplqx&istBid=t&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_pi14uDC9wIVi7TtCh0L8guNEAQYAiABEgLM0PD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Mind you a nice piece of alloy bling for a catch tank is quite appealing.

Is it really necessary for the can to be vented at all? If the crank case pressure is simply fed into the inlet manifold surely it'd all equal out....or would the catch can explode??? I take James' point about routing the pipe to the back of the car though

Thanks everyone, I'm just going to get rid of the breather pipe and put a bung in the top with a little breather hole like Tim's and see how it goes. Awesome!