fordy

Phil has now rebuilt this gearbox for me. I'll be picking it up tomorrow and will look at the worn parts. Seems they think there is a potential issue with later Caterham 6 spds. A few boxes have now exhibited similar symptoms to mine (jumping out of 3rd). Apparently the spec of the 3rd synchro hub has changed recently (don't know when) from a Ford type 9 part to a later Ford IB5 part which is 1mm shorter. The thinking is that the 3rd gear does not get enough engagement and this causes premature wear, causing the gear to slip out at low speeds, low/no load. Usual case of the customer doing the durability testing for the manufacturer They have replaced my hub with the earlier type, replaced 3rd gear and replaced 4 synchros and some other bits and pieces. Not cheap to fix either. This box has very low miles on it and had done only 1 season in RSA before I bought it. Its probably about 18 months old. Happy that it will be minty fresh now though

@phil... OEMs do get heavily involved in oil R&D, its an integral component in the engine, its part of the total performance package in a modern engine. Also remember that the big OEMs do a phenomenal amount of testing on oil. Every single development mile or hour is effectively an oil test. When a new engine is released to the public the durabilty testing will have run into 100s of 1000s of dyno hours and millions of road miles. On one new oil specification development alone in the last 2 years I've run about 6 million vehicle kilometers. Just dedicated to testing the oil. As long as you read your owner guide, put in the recommended vis grade and spec and get the car serviced according to the maintenance schedule you can be pretty confident that your engine will last to its design life..... You might even prefer to use the own branded stuff because its highly likely to be the very stuff they did all the development on..... Second guessing it can leave you totally on your own. And although Caterham do not have the same level of budget, they have developed an oil with Comma and they have durability tested it (so I was told by Andy Noble) and they will stand by it. It was a bold attempt by CC to respond to customer demand to develop something specific, especially as they'll never make much money from it (oil development is very costly). My only qualm with CC is that they do not give you an alternative spec to look for which is apparently a somewhat anti-competetive practice. If everyone new what vis grade and spec was required, recognising CC recommended their own branded product, we simply would not need endless boring oil threads......

acea have just revised the specs... last release was nov 2004. The top spec is actually A5/B5, these would be fully syn 'top tier- long drain' products. The way ACEA works (for oil specs anyway, ACEA is about more than oil specs) is for oil experts from the major european car manufacturers to together (and in consultation with the oil and additive industries) decide what the latest lines of engines and technologies need in terms of oil performance and to tweak the specs accordingly. We don't upgrade for the sake of it though and have to keep in mind all the millions of legacy vehicles out there. The process takes a couple of years as there are always obsolete tests to replace, reality checks to be made with the oils and adds, performance, environmental considerations to be made. In the end the specs bring a range of tiered 'minimum' performance levels that all the OEMs can buy into. And the OEMs really do push the oil industry to impove oil quality. We push them real hard..... To answer the original question, c3000 mile old oil will be virtually fresh (if it was good quality in the first place) and is highly unlikely to cause any problems when mixed with an alternative brand. Oil co's test their formulations for compatability when mixed with competitor oils before they go on sale..... @Tim-H .... 10W-40 ACEA A3/B3 will be most suitable. Of course I can vouch for the stuff in a motorcraft can (10W-40 XR+) for interest. Rover factory fill with a 'fuel economy' 5W-30 oil. As do most OEMs nowadays.

can't get that url working

viscosity tells you how thick an oil is. Specification tells you how good an oil is. Branding is just a matter of faith 😳 Everyone ignores specs though. Which is sad because that makes my life a bit of a waste of time. Interested? read this http://www.acea.be/ASB/Download.nsf/Category1Language3Files/F5167E6B75D68AF5C1256F4600263CD9/$File/ACEA2004%20oil%20sequences-DEF.pdf Edited by - fordy on 6 Apr 2005 19:00:47

correction, Ford state 5W-30 for the Duratec.........of a specific Ford spec.

whats a clutch stop?

dicky meaden's fireblade (evo mag) was reputed to be about the 360kg mark. dunno if that was all up wet weight though.

I've been looking at this myself (currently have the same 1.6 superlight engine) and have concluded that the most cost effective first spend for a c200bhp engine would be to source a second hand VHPD engine. There are plenty about since lots of SLR/R400's swapping to duractec and exiges going for Hondas, and seem to go anywhere between £1500 and £2500. At those prices it does not seem worth upgrading the current engine. If it didn't come with goodies like verniers, emerald, jenveys or rolly barrows (you'd replace the KV6 swan-neck types in time if thats what it came with) then there would be a bit more spend later (you'd get away with swan necks and a VHPD mems in the meantime). As a second stage 240bhp 1.9 you have much of what you need from the VHPD (ie head) already. You can stick the 1.6SS back in while you work on the BIG engine in the meantime. After its all done the sale of the 1.6SS would recoup about £1000 of you spend I should think. Rather than an interim 170bhpish (by just dropping the throddle boties and emerald etc.. on a 1.6SS) you get 200bhp (which personally I'd probably stick at as vg vfm). I've also noticed bitsa K's (ie powerfulish non-VHPD engines) tend to be advertised at alot more money than a pukka VHPD. I guess because they owe there owners much more money....

mine did that after only a coupla hundred miles.........

I spoke to R&RT, i'll be taking it to them when I get it out. Actually, every cloud has a silver lining etc. eh? As I should be looking forward to a sweet box afterwards..... 😬 Doesn't sound too expensive.......

5degC = 5500ohm 10 = 4000 15 = 3300 20 = 2500 25 = 2000 30 = 1700 40 = 1200 50 = 1000 60 = 800 70 = 600 80 = 400 82 = 325 85+ = 250 82 is normal operating temp at which it will stop compensating. A good test is to unplug while the engine is running when hot. If the engine note changes, all is normally ok, suggesting its switched to a backup value (which I believe is 60degC ish) You can frig it though by sticking a 220ohn resistor in the circuit to simulate the full temp output from the CTS.......

was a s/h box, apparently in *ahem* good nick. Its funny because its ok under load but as you come off the pedal, sometimes you can just see it starting to creep out of gear. Doesn't always do that though.

yes I am local to Kent (essex so not too far). Just a bit miffed as its only just sva'd so can't be bothered to dismantle it all just yet. V7, what sot of magic does phil weave? What does he do to them?

thanks chaps actually is did a season in RSA..

remind us all what the final spec was myles

i agree with Mike, its easy to plug these sensors on the water rail into the loom the wrong way around on the Eu2, they have the same plug, just different colours (brown and black)

approaching Shaw Farm at South Woodham Ferrers at 8:40 this morning

just built from a starter kit with a 5K mile ex-superlight 1.6 (133bhp) eu3 engine and 6spd, standard zorst, widetrack, apollo, tillets, light flywheel etc.. nice and upgradeable. seen you about alot (i'm in SWF) and I think you are in Maldon area. Must join you all for a proper blat soon..

me and a pal blatting all round. Pal having his first seven drive with consequent biggest of grins 😬 think its taken the shine of his Elsie a bit 😳

my six speed is jumping out of 3rd gear? Any advice on what could be wrong? 1st, 2nd, 4th and 6th all still feel quite tight and notchy, but 3rd doesn't have that same feel. Its not rattling around or making any shocking noises or anything but just occaisionally just slips out of gear. The box had done a season in RSB before I got it. any thoughts?

are Caterhams shallow sumps for the x-flow the same as the Burton ones?

70 at 4K, 6spd, 3.9 diff

oily whats the timing for SS cams on a Plenum setup? Just aquired some older piper verniers so will be getting around to this soon.

certainly was Tim, I blatted all round sth woodham, battlesbridge, hullbridge and towards rayleigh I think yesterday, and back home for about 10.30.