MTW

I know the stock shift is pretty short already, but has anyone fitted a short shifter to the Mazda 5 speed gearbox in a Caterham? I have read there are a few short shift kits for the MX5 which give a nice mechanical shift feel, I'm curious if you could fit one to the Mazda gearbox in a Caterham? Or if there is already a different shifter in the Caterham application that means an mx5 short shift wouldn't fit?

Thanks for a tips chaps!

Does anyone know if it's possible to remove the adjustable seat rails on the carbon buckets and mount the seats with solid non adjustable mounts and get the seat slightly lower? (Do the race cars mount the seats without adjustable runners?) I already have lowered floors, and my head with a helmet on is pretty much in line with the roll bar, so ideally I would like to lower the seat slightly. I have the seat back as far as it can go to fit in the car, so I don't need adjustable seat rails, so I'm hoping there might be someone who has used a different non adjustable seat mount to fit the bucket seats that might be lower?

I had hunting and irratic idle when warm and it turned out to be the O2 sensor, after it was replaced the car runs great (as great as the standard map allows) again.

I use trim restorer/tyre shine on mine, applied with foam, turns it back to black and seems to last a while

Thanks for all the info everyone, much appreciated! Looks like I will be making a trip to track n road!

"I had a set of roller barrel throttle bodies fitted to my 420R last year by Luke Stevens. Steve Greenald of Track N Road fame did the mapping. I'm delighted with the result. Before, the car would idle lumpily & cut out for the first five minutes or so. It would also turn over on the starter motor for a fair while before firing up from cold. Now it fires the instant you thumb the starter button & ticks over super smoothly without any tendency to cut out. It's smooth & docile around town, but also feels more muscular in the mid range & wild at the top end! (I was shocked, the first time I revved it out!) I'm sure Track N Road could improve matters, even with the standard intake fitted, but if you're ultimately thinking of fitting roller barrels, given mapping the car isn't a cheap process, perhaps it would be better to live with it until you're ready to get the throttle bodies fitted? (Or wait for Chris C's blog post) Good luck with whatever decision you make, they really are fabulous cars when they're properly sorted." Ah nice, yes that was the route I would like to go down, have the throttle bodies fitted then take it to track n road for mapping. did you just fit throttle bodies, or did you fit different cars and injectors also?

"Steve G mapped my R400D (plenum at the time) and transformed the driveability. He actually said, after the session, to try the car out -- no improvement, no charge. He knew perfectly well he was on a winner! (Oh, and McVitie's Hobnobs are the biscuit of choice.) I had roller-barrels fitted a few years later. As Geoff said in #3, that upgrade sorts out most of the common running problems at a stroke -- instant starting, immediate steady idle etc. I'm still using the CC-supplied RB map, and have been told by those that know that this generic map is a pretty good one. JV" Ah glad to hear it made a difference even with the plenum, how much was it for the mapping session? I do want to try and enjoy the car without throttle bodies for a while, and fit them later once I am used to the stock car a bit more! So the map with stock plenium sounds good for the short term!

"If the time is spent, it is possible to get a stock 420r running without hesitation or cold start problems. I am in the process of creating a blog post, but I am waiting for a stock unmodified TPS. My detailed build blog https://caterham420detailedbuildblog.co.uk/" Ah good to hear! yes I was planning on having a go myself, but the cable is out of stock at SBD! I did try and get Caterham to do it, but they were pretty reluctant and stated stuff like it's a "race" ecu in the 420r so it can't be adjusted like with the sigma, but I insisted they try, but this morning on start up the cold start issue is still there.

I have the textbook cold start issues with my 420r, also had running issues when hot after hard driving with full throttle, the car would hunt and kangaroo at low speed etc (although this seems to have been solved by replacing the lambda sensor). I would really like to get it running properly and mapped right, it's a stock 420r. From what I gather track n' road are the guys to go to, and they are able to map the stock "locked" ecu? has anyone else had a stock engine/ecu mapped by them? Can it be done, and is it worthwhile etc? I do plan on going to throttle bodies in the future, but for now I would love to get the car mapped properly as it is, without having to buy a new ecu!

looking for a long nose shower cap for an S3, preferably new or in good condition.