Bob and Carol

Hope this helps. This is how it came from the factory last year. From the rear it looks OK to me with the way the mounts are used. If you would like other picture, please ask.

When I started looking at a replacement for the Motul Sport 5w-50 Fully Ester Synthetic, I emailed Caterham as I thought best to ask them so to keep within the warranty of the car as it is only just over one year old. As with all the emails I have sent to Caterham, no reply, same with the garage that supplied the car to me, hay-ho. Hence the start of this post. Listed in Caterham’s 420 workshop manual that I found using Goggle, was Millers Oils XF LongLife 5w-50 Fully Synthetic (Formerly XFS) and another listed was also a 5W-50 oil, so I thought that was the grade to stay with and fits in nicely (although I didn’t know that at the time) with what 22daz documented in #11 about using a 5w. I liked the idea of keeping the Ester part of the oil that was in the Motul Sport 5w-50 Ester Synthetic as I have been told Ester withstands higher temperatures and clings to metal surfaces. I thought this would work well with how I use the car, i.e. long spells between engine starts then maximum load and revs when I do as I only use the car for track days. When I changed the oil for the second time having done just under 1000 miles, I was surprised at how dark the colour was giving me the impression it had been under stress in its short life, so have gone for the grade higher than the Millers Oils XF (as listed in the 420 workshop manual) and the one Opie Oils recommended being the best of the best, Millers Oils EE Performance 5w-50 Fully Synthetic Engine Oil It has just turned up this morning and I was pleased to read “recommended by Caterham” I would add that I know nothing really about oil and only document the above should it help others.

Thanks everyone for your comments and the links.

Opie Oils have emailed with the news Motul Sport 5w-50 Fully Ester Synthetic is no longer available. As this is the oil that is documented for my 420R, please could anyone out there recommend an oil that is equal or better.

Just a few lines to close off this post, should others happen to search the site with the problem I was having. Following on from #25, yesterday I did the club’s Castle Comb track day with Ferodo DS2500 pads front and rear. Once they bedded in, the brakes on the car are now just fantastic, other pads may be better, but for me no other changes now need to be done to the braking system that I was considering.

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions, reading all that has been said has been very interesting. So for now, I am staying with the master cylinder and pedal the car came with and changing the front and rear pads to Ferodo DS2500 and then learn to push harder on the stop pedal. I had to take the front caliper off because the top caliper pin hits the mug guard stay, I wonder why Caterham has not put a small kink in the stay, have they not been making these cars for a few years now? No worries, I will just unbolt the calipers then. Ha-ha that was a laugh, using a Torx bolt would be ok if not for the red (I am not letting go) compound that has been used on them. Four new cap heads and the use of a tap, sorted. Next stop, Castle Combe 9th May. An interesting car to work on and so much easier with the help from this site and you guys, thanks very much for all your input.

#19, thanks 22daz. Same with myself, I have little pad wear and nearly all my miles have been done on track. I have done the odd track in another car I have and got brake fade in just a few laps. I was recommended to change the pads to DS2500, this I did and it gave better braking, I was told to change the rears also to DS2500 to keep the car braking in balance. With the car being so light, would you know if this could be the same for a Caterham?

Thanks very much, PM sent.

#12 As I have the standard pedal I will try that first and if I find, as you say “it’s horrible “then I change the pedal also. Either way something has to change, just I hope it’s not me.

#11 and #14 I agree, a standard M/C with my pedal and it would make it more like I am use to as James said in #6

Hi James, I ordered the car with 4-pot front brakes. The pedal is firm so no air. The pads and discs look fine to the eye. It would help if I could get the car’s brakes to feel like my other cars. Another thought was to move the top hole in the brake pedal nearer the fulcrum and angle the M/C down to keep the piston in line but think this option feels a little reckless? The 5/8” sounds the one to try as I feel the problem is me, although one person told me they had a faulty M/C and it transformed the brakes when it was replaced.

‘they need a good shove’ I had wondered if the problem was with me, as I unconsciously know when the ABS is about to come in on my other cars and know not to brake any harder. I seem to be unable to undo this automatic reaction with the Caterham. Thanks Wrightpayne.

Would anyone know what make and type of master cylinder this is please? The car is a 420R, 11 months old built by Caterham and I have never been happy with the brakes from day one. My thinking is, if I was to have a smaller bore then this would increase the pedal stroke and give me more force onto the pads. I have not been able to lock the front wheels, my van has better brakes than this car! I did not want to change the pads to a type that need to be warm before they work, I would sooner have consistency from the brakes. I plan to use the car mainly on track. Any ideas would be great please.

From what I have found I think the Duratec rev limiter is set at 7600 so I set each of the lights 200 RPM steps down from this. Throttling an engine that is not on load was not that easy so I will what until Carol is driving so I can look at the rev counter and change the settings to suit. At least the last shift light came on before the Caterham’s light thinking that was a starting point. Any suggestions on what the maximum revs should be or steps between lights, please post.

Just to feed back to those who helped and for others in the future who may wish to do a similar mod to their car. As I could not find a signal that worked from behind the dash I ran a cable to one of the COP’s, coil side of the connector for the four COP on top of the engine as there was plenty of room there to make a soldered connection. As a precaution and to try to keep the signal clean from interference from the other three COP’s, I used a screen cable and connected one end of the screen to ground. A way of getting the four shift lights as high up as possible into my eye line, I mounted them onto of the dash and used a self-adhesive mirror under the aero screen to better display the lights into my line of sight. The last picture includes Caterham's shift light limiter on. Thanks again to those who helped me.