charlie_pank

Wow, how much is your insurance with and without (if you don't mind me asking)?

Had it been driven away, or dumped off the back of a stolen trailer?

What did you do with it?

I don't think Caterhams are stolen by the opportunist thief. They'd be difficult to sell on, so must either be taken abroad or broken up for parts. Even taken abroad they'd be difficult to sell because they're RHD, so it must be mostly for parts. Given that it's a parts-bin car in the first place, what use is it to someone stealing a car for parts? I think in most cases where they're stolen, it's the trailer that the thieves are after. I guess fitting a tracker might encourage them to leave you the car... How many do we on here know of that have been stolen?

I've got a full-width aero you could borrow - it's the sort that bolts in to the windscreen mount-points.

Give Malc a call @ Yorkshire Engines: here

Can't comment on ratios but definitely get the LSD and track rollover bar.

I had a long conversation with someone on here a wee while ago about diffs and noise. One possible source oft-overlooked is engine-noise transmitted down the propshaft.

how a carburettor works

They dissolve over time, once it's completely dissolved, it's time to buy a new one. They normally take longer than 5 years to disappear completely though. BTW does anyone know about the bat/gnome theory of carburettors

Guidance I got from James Whiting is that you want the wishbones to be horizontal with you sat in the car. If when you do that you've got too little clearance under the sump then you have a few options: 1. Higher profile tyres 2. Dry-sump (shallower than wet-sump) 3. Taller engine mountings 4. Compromise on handling and adjust the ride height to where you want it regardless of whether or not the wishbones are horizontal. Then you want to think about rake - ie - the rear should be a bit higher than the front. How much depends on your weight distribution. I've been tweaking mine recently to get the right balance of oversteer/understeer. Edited by - charlie_pank on 31 Jul 2012 13:52:57

Dunno about how it will be with 140hp as I have no experience of that. I've found it a great upgrade, but I made a lot of other changes at the same time. There are 3 types: viscous (avoid), clutch-type (eg: Titan), and ATB (some will tell you it's not a 'true' LSD). The clutch-type are en-vogue right now and that's what you'll get if you buy one from CC. ATB is more progressive in its slip-limiting but can't deal with one wheel being off the ground (eg bouncing over curbs on track). I bought an whole (second-hand) 3.14 diff with ATB for about £800 IIRC. So if you're happy with your ratio you'll probably pay about half that for the ATB unit, then you'll have to pay someone to fit it for you (unless you like fiddling around with dial-gauges and vernier calipers). I think a Titan is about £450 new (excl. VAT), but I could be wrong...

Gents, that sounds like you have an earthing fault. Probably worth getting to the bottom of it before it deteriorates to the point where the engine cuts out when you use the horn (see other thread from today!)

My pads (mintex 1144) have done 1600 race miles and 20000 road miles. I've always driven it like I stole it and there's loads left in all 8. Since my caliper foolishness the other week I'd be delighted if my brakes squealed a bit, so long as they stopped me!

Can you reliably reproduce the horn or the hazards issue? I wonder which parts of the loom/fusebox are common to both...

In all honesty, I'd probably order some of each and use trial and error to answer the question. You can probably get them to agree to take back the ones you don't use.

You need a whiteboard in that garage of yours, so you can write down your job list. I've got one with stars next to the things that HAVE to be done before the next drive.

Yeah, saw your writeup on that, I already have the angle-grinder sitting in waiting!

Always the way with these things Myles!

here

I've used the blue lipstick stuff. Haven't done many miles though (but not due to problems with propshaft bolts!!)

Saga continues... Spoke to the guys who sold me the piston. They assure me that the seals are 'square cut' so it doesn't matter which way around it goes in. This means that I must have nicked the seal, so I ordered a re-con caliper... Caliper arrives, I put it on, bleed everything, get the wheel back on take it off the axle stands, find that I've overtightened the bearing nut . Loosen it off... jack it up... take wheel off... borrow 200lbft torque wrench... remove caliper and slider to allow bearings to free-up again... find slider spacer and de-dion ear have been damaged by the pad that parted company... order replacements from CC... wait for them to arrive... remove bearing from old DD ear whilst being careful not to damage speedo sensor attached to bearing... file down new spacer to same depth as old one (was .6mm thicker) ... remove DD ear and put on new one... attach bearing to new ear and ear to axle... attach hub and torque correctly to 200ftlb...attach caliper slider... attach caliper... note that brake fluid is weeping ever so slowly from bleed screw threads of new caliper ... try PTFE tape on threads to no effect ... call supplier who says it has been pressure tested and he's happy for me to tighten it further even though I'm concerned I'll strip the threads... strip threads from bore of bleed screw ... supplier sending me another caliper FOC, won't arrive til at least Tuesday What next?!! Edited by - charlie_pank on 28 Jul 2012 11:52:10

Myles, I reckon I can do it mid-september...

Confused as my radius arms are nylocs on studs. If you remove the wheel-arch, surely that gives enough space to drill it out? If the head is off, can you slide the radius arm off thus revealing much more of the stud for you to grab?

It runs 'fine' on warm up and too rich when up to temp. Warm up involves extra fueling anyway so it is probably just masking the problem during warm up. 2 things are likely to make it run rich: the ECU thinking it is cold or the ECU going into limp home mode (running rich is less likely to cause damage than running lean). To find out why it's limping either plug it in to an obd reader or start testing every sensor with a multi meter and the manufacturer's spec for each.