Dave McCulloch

Has anyone seen these "in the flesh"? One of my current headlights has picked up a large hole in it, which gives me the excuse to switch to some smaller 5.5" jobbies. I had been thinking of going black, but then spotted the carbon effect - but don't want something that looks naff. Car is a 40th anniversary - ruby with silver stripe - but I'm planning on getting a black pack windscreen and carbon stone guards in due course. Thanks Dave

Richard Thanks - that's very helpful. Wish I'd known it was that simple to make the hoses up, as I'd have ordered those parts at the same time as the brake kit. Think I'll order those up now and then I'll have everything I need. Dave

Is the M10x1 fitting at the sideskin end or caliper end? Thanks dave

I've just ordered a set of Wilwood 4 pot calipers and 265mm disks to uprate from my standrard front brakes. However, Rally Design don't supply flexi brake pipes with these, so I'm going to have to fit them, then measure up for the front flexis and get some made up. One thought I had though was what fitting do the caterham front flexis have at the caliper end - just wondering if they would be a direct fit. Can anyone shed any light? The other thing I'm going to have to play with is brake balance. I've ordered Mintex 1144 pads for the front, and also for the rear - but I'm unsure if this will give me the right balance - I still have memories of trying to bed in pagid rs15s on the front with rs14s on the rear - every time I hit the brakes the back end locked up . Thanks Dave Edited by - Dave McCulloch on 27 Feb 2012 21:40:26

Wilwoods are approx 2lbs (1kg) each according to Rally Design website - but that's for the powerlite caliper (which I'd been looking at rather than the midlite (which you linked to and has dust seals). Dave

SM25T I didn't reply as I'm still umming and ahhing about the Hi Specs. I like the look of them and some people have been very happy with them, but....... there's quite a few horror stories floating around about them too - calipers cracking, disks cracking and hopeless customer service if things go wrong. Also been looking at Wilwoods - which seem to have a much better reputation but seem to have a more limited range of pads available. Dave

SM25T - that was my thought too about the price difference - if you look at individual calipers rather than the kit the price difference seems to be only £25 per caliper - so I'm not sure how a £50 difference translates to £150....... Dave

Q102 That's great - thanks. They're working out at £491 including VAT - so almost £200 cheaper than the Caterham AP big brake kit. Are you happy with the 260 kit? Did it all fit without drama? And how do you find the brakes compared with the standard Caterham (Spitfire) front brakes? And finally, what pads are you running in them, and what have you done with the rears to maintain brake balance? Thanks Dave

Thanks Phil. Been looking on the Hi Spec website and they also do a kit with 260mm disks - based on your clearance figures they should fit ok. Decisions, decisions! Dave

Phil Do you know if those would fit with 13" minilite wheels? Thanks Dave

Afraid not - that would be far too easy! Drifter - first dibs are yours. Drop me an email or call me on 07881 578682. Thanks Dave

I've got a 6" Caterham slr silencer can which I've replaced as it was getting pretty noisy (marginal on passing 105dB limit), so fine for road use or if anyone wants to cut the end off to re-pack it. It's got the usual scuffs on the underside but otherwise would clean up fine. I've also got a black heat shield which was fitted to the above silencer. This was originally fitted to a smaller silencer can, so I 'persuaded' it to fit the larger can. Unfortunately it got slightly bashed at the front end during transport, bending the end slightly and taking the black paint off. Before I bin them, I'll offer both for free to anyone who wants them - collection only from RH19 2LB (near East Grinstead, West Sussex). Can email photos to anyone who wants them. Dave Edited by - Dave McCulloch on 26 Nov 2011 12:14:50

Nigel I removed mine part way through a track day at Cadwell last year whilst trying to get rid of terminally dull understeer in the faster corners. I haven't put it back on and won't now - I much prefer the feel without. Dave

Terry I've used Abbotts in Copthorne for a few things - don't know how they compare on price but they do a good job. Privately owned rather than part of a chain so thy care! Dave

Simon I've got a spare one in the garage (from a s3 with 6 speed box). It's probably ok - I swapped it because I was getting some vibration through the chassis - but from memory swapping the prop didn't cure it. It had done about 15,000 miles, mostly on a standard 1600 supersport engine. I'm in East Grinstead, West Sussex - collection would obviously be better as it's reasonably heavy to post / courier. Don't really know what they're worth - make me an offer if it's of interest. Dave Edited by - Dave McCulloch on 1 Aug 2011 09:05:57

It's a little fiddly to extract with the radiator in situ, but I removed mine during a track day by slackening the rad mounting bolts and pulling the rad forwards slightly. Took 15 minutes max. Dave

Ok - thanks, a few more things to think about and sort out. The tyres are getting near the wear limit so I'll invest in a new (matched) set. The Freestyle adjustable arb does sound like a good idea to provide some easy adjustability. Don't suppose there's anywhere in / near West Sussex who can measure stiffness of my existing springs if I remove them? - at least then I'd know what I've got at the moment Thanks Dave

Thanks all for the further suggestions. Need to book another track day now to play with the settings more. I'll double check the rake and maybe try increasing that a little. I checked the front arb last night - it's a green one - but I've no idea how stiff that is compared to what other arb's are available. Dave

Thanks Dave. Front tyres are probably 5 years old now - Yoko 048s - and rears are probably 2 years old - Toyo 888s. I started the day with the cold pressure set at 18psi all round. I then dropped these to c.16psi all round - they would still have been warm at that point but certainly not hot. Unfortunately I didn't check the pressures hot (which I should have done 🙆🏻). As I said this is the first time I've played with any of the settings and (other than some swearing as I tried to remove the front arb with the radiator still attached) I really enjoyed trying different settings. What I'd now like is to be armed with a bit more knowledge (and the right bits on the car where they need changing) so I can continue trying different things. Towards the end of the day I did have enough balance / grip coming out of some of the corners (particularly at Mansfield) that I miss not having an lsd - the inside rear wheel was spinning up. Charlies was the worst corner for understeer. I don't want to spend a fortune - so Nitrons are out of the question! - but would like to get a better overall setup. Thanks Dave

Dave The understeer was throughout the corners, the car seeming to settle into an understeer state with no feeling of adjustability from the throttle. It didn't feel like "entering corner too quickly" understeer if that makes sense. The front arb is whatever was standard for a 1998 supersport - no idea which that is (I can have a look tonight). I don't know what the poundage of the Freestyle springs is - I believe this is a closely guarded secret! I did buy them secondhand though so it is possible I've not got what I think I have? And no passenger with me - this was running solo. Dave

Wasn't sure which forum to put this in, but anyway.... I did a trackday at Cadwell park a week ago. I've always felt my car has understeered quite a lot, particularly in faster corners. At Cadwell, for the first time, I tried making a few changes to see what impact it had. My car set up is currently standard 1998 supersport but with the following changes: - running 210bhp - 205/60 13 rear Toyo 888 and 185/60 13 front Yoko 048 - rear anti roll bar set on one of the middle holes (can't remember which) - Freestyle springs on Bilstein M0 dampers (which are of unknown history as I bought them 2nd hand) - adjustable platforms set up to give about 10mm rake (front 10mm lower than back) - tracking set up to parallel - c.2 degrees -ve camber on front As usual it was understeering badly, so what I tried was: - swapped front tyres for 205/60 13. No noticeable difference so went back to "standard" - removed the standard front anti roll bar. All I can say is it transformed the feel of the car - felt much more eager to turn in and then hold the line. I've also since driven the car on the road without the front arb and I have to say I much prefer the feel of it. Question is, should I leave it like this, or is this a symptom of an underlying set up problem? I was comparing with a Westfield which has never run a front arb, but has adjustable avo shocks. Should I be looking at adding adjustable shocks so I can fine tune the set up better? The car gets more use on track these days than on the road - but I don't want to compromise the road set up too much. Would welcome any thoughts! Thanks Dave

I've just fitted a Sterling Excel immobiliser today as part of an upgrade to an aero ignition switch and starter button, but I'm still plying with here to site the loop ariel. I'm trying to fit it behind the carpet on the panl down the transmission tunnel, so that with the transponder in my left pocket it will disable the immobiliser. However it seems quite sensitive to positioning - an involves bizarre wiggle of my hips to get the system to "see" the transponder. So........ where have you mounted yours? Thanks Dave

You can drop the sump and from memory I think I remember seeing that you can then get the rods and pistons out once you've lifted the relevant head. The problem is you then have to split the block to get the crank out if there's any damage to the crank - which there will be if it's spun the big end bearing....... There was a feature on stripping and rebuilding the impreza engine in, I think, Car Mechanics mag - several years ago, but you might still be able to get hold of a back issue. I don't recollect it being that difficult from reading it - it's just a bit different. Dave

OK, thanks guys. My car has also has a fair few things bolted to, or going through the vertical panel, so I really don't want to be having to remove that with the scuttle. So as for source of rivnuts, I assume Caterham is as good as anywhere for the (fairly) flush fitting ones? (as the website Bob linked to looks like a US site). Jason - thanks for the recommendation for the rivnut tool - I'll get myself one of those. Cheers Dave

I need to remove my scuttle panel soon, and would like to use rivnuts to reattach the scuttle to the vertical panel in the engine bay. What type and size of rivnuts should I be using? I'm guessing aluminium and 4mm? And where's the best place to get them from. How do I avoid a gap between the scuttle and vertical panel from the rivnut head? And finally I read on a post on here about using some sort of rubber washer to avoid the scuttle rattling - what type of washer is this and again where's the best place to get them from? Thanks Dave