Midnight

Dave, Have a talk with Steve Parker who advertises in Low flying or Roger King if he's available also knows a great deal about Xflows.

Would recommend using bullet rather than spade connectors on the screen heater wires, as it makes it much easier to push and pull these wires through the rubber grommets on the scuttle.

Thanks again Roger, your advice is much appreciated!

Hi Guys and thanks for the advice. The engine is not standard Caterham Supersprint, and already has forged pistons fitted into a complete brand new AX thickwall block engine (at the time). The engine was built by Steve Parker with a lot of upgraded internals including a cam ground to Steve's specification and even now at 30.000 miles has been reliable, (across America without a hiccup) Has an extremely hard cutting exhaust sound that many people have commented on as being different from other X-flows, and is an absolute corker. Rolling road at Marshalls of Cambridge a few years ago after the engine got its last rebuild gave slightly under 158BHP top power reading. Performance wise, the only thing I've really noticed is the smoke. and the oil, about a two inch wide patch after each run coming from the oil catch tank breather pipe (although the tank remains empty bar a half inch of oil in the bottom. If a rebore is needed then its new forged pistons at what cost. Seriously wondering if I should bite the bullet and go for a Zetec but I would miss this engine and its character.

My car has begun to blow smoke from the exhaust when either accelarating hard or under sustained high revs (ie flat out in top) I did a compression check on the 1700 Xflow and it looks like I have a large variation in the readings, which are : 1. 250 psi - 2. 220psi - 3. 240 psi - 4 200psi So much more than the usual + - 5psi varience A drop of oil into each cylinder sent the readings off the gauge on all cylinders (The gauge is a Gunson Hi-test and readings on it stop at 300psi). So it looks like I've some work to do this winter, I know its hard to tell, but in view of the relatively high readings whether I'm wondering if I could get away with with just new rings or whether an engine out and a rebore and new Forged pistons are called for. Any advice appreciated. Ps what is also strange is that the oil catch tank never fills up, yet after parking up a patch of oil appears under the breather to road exit pipe. car does use a little oil as well.

Cheers Brent, Already have phosphor bronze valves guides fitted. and a fuel pro regulator which I believe is set at the corect pressure for a pair of 40's on my state of tune. may have altered though. so I'll check

My X/flow has been starting to smoke a bit under acceleration and I get a puff when I start up, but when just cruising or ticking over there's no smoke at all. I've looked at a lot of previous postings on smoking X/flows and I'm still not sure whether its the valve guides or a ring/worn bores problem. My catch tank doesn't ever fill up but if I leave the car parked I get a small patch of oil which has dripped straight out of the catch tank breather down pipe. I've not noticed any drop in performance and my compressions are all fairly equal and my oil pressure is 4 bar cold, 3 bar hot and on the move, and 1 bar at tickover, but the oil consumption is quite high in that I usually have to add a little oil after a run of about 150 miles. The head never had valve stem oil seals fitted but hasn't smoked before , so now I'm hoping that I can get away with taking the head off and getting the guides renewed. Iv'e heard that Vulcan can fit a set of very close tolerance valve guides, but any advice or experiences would be appreciated. Cheers Des

My best yet larms triggered with the Xfow was 5 out of a line of 30 cars in Chelmsford. But my most memorable X/flow effect was going through the tunnel before the Golden Gate bridge on the U.S tour last year, when coming back from Infineon raceway. the explosions and flames from my exhaust magnified by the confines of the tunnel caused the yanktanks alongside me to stand on their brakes. Pete and I drove the last part of the tunnel on our own with the following traffic holding back about 4 car lengths, Magic!!

Dave, Steve Parker who advertises in Low Flying knows a thing or two about Xflows, He built the engine in my X/low car which has done 40.000 miles and got me all the way across the U.S last year without the slightest problem and its way above standard Supersprint power. Based near Stansted airport though, so quite a treck for you I guess

I have a 1993 De-Deon car and have always just taken the engine out on its own when changing the clutch. Saves having to drain the gearbox.

Hi Mike, Pete's on a weeks leave now and his home computer's internet link isn't working at the moment, I'll pass your message to him and He'll no doubt make contact when your back from your travels. Thanks, Des Fom Blue xflow 7 on the U.S tour

Muscat, I took my centre pipes to an address in Croydon to a small premises recommended to me By Steve Parker (ad in Low flying) I'll try and find the address and post it up on Blatchat, The y did all sorts of specialist exhausts and a lot of race stuff maybe even a bit if F1 pipework in there as well, Watched the guy cut off my old flange and weld on the new one. Like watching an artist at work!

Sorry Finger trouble!! I deleted the bit about the Seven workshop who make a set of special copper exhaust gaskets which get around this problem!

Jano, Its not bolt torque or your right foot its a design fault. The reason these centre gaskets blow frequently is because the siamesed 2/3 exhaust ports have no room for a centre bolt. As the exhaust expands and contracts there is an area between the pipes in the gasket that lets go first. You can go two ways to make this joint (See ad in Low flying mag). Or go down the route I took which was to have the centre exhaust flange replaced with a Van Diemen Ford centre exhaust flange which is roughly twice as thick as the standard offering and therefore does not warp away from the cylinder head when it gets hot. Hope this is of use.

Hi Richard I had a good look at the WCM Ultralite while on the 7 tour of the US last year. This uses a Subaru diff which judging by the performance of the two cars on the tour is more than up to the job and yet is small and light and comes standard with a limited slip. I think the latest Ultralite has over 300hp so handling the power should be a problem. Maybe have a look at the Ultralite web site for info.

I have the same noise from the back of my Xflow dedion 7. Which I'd describe it as a sort of loose growling noise. Its been there since I built the car, which has now done over 40.000 miles so unless you're unlucky I don't think it will be too much to worry about.

You can also get the rubber rivnuts and the plastic wing bolts from Redline. Got mine from there after my nearside rear wing had an argument with a local cat which decided to get on the road as I drove past it. I already had the plastic shear nuts fitted, so virtually no damage to the alloy skin or the wing itself. they just parted cleanly

Paul and Jon, Thanks for the advice Ill give your suggestions a try Cheers

The braking in my Xflow 7 has started to get a bit unstable so that when braking really hard it feels like the back of the car wants to swing to the right and swap ends with the front of the car. I.e It feels as if the front left brake/tyre is working much more efficiently than the rest and stopping better and so the back of the car is using this nearside front wheel as a pivot to get in front . Its getting so that I'm putting a tiny bit of right turn on the steering to counter this effect but I've managed to spin while braking and turning left into a roundabout I guess viewed from above you would see the back of car spin anti clockwise. I know the topic has been brought up before, but any new advice or clarification on what's happening and possible causes would be appreciated

I think my De-dion failure was number 3 on the list. One point I would draw attention too is that the tube failed 20 minutes after havig my car MOT'd!! I was under the car with the MOT tester in the Pit and all looked perfectly fine! Those who know my car will also know that I'm a sad twat that such is the level of care I take in looking after it, that you can actually see your face in the underside so all looked as good as new. The point I'm making is I think a failure could occur with little warning even after a careful external look at the tube. On my way TO the MOT test centre I'd been baiting a Porsch 911 on a road I know very well. Hate to think what would have happended if the tube had let go at the pace I was using then.

I've only just started work on getting my 7 into shape for this year following the extensive in-transit corrosion suffered by the car on its way back from The U.S last year (Didn't help being left in the docks at San Francisco for many weeks). To do it properly at this point in time would require virtually a complete strip down, and engine/gear box out, suspension off exercise. Would've started sooner except a break up with the other half, and house hunting etc got in the way a bit . I've therefore decided therefore just to get in and use it with just a bit of work to halt or at least slow down the corrosion. Any suggestions on what areas I should be applying my limited time to on this matter, and can anyone recommend a good powder coating company, preferbly not too far from Essex for when I start fixing everything during the next winter?

My Crossflow has always done this to a lesser or greater extent depending on how well it was tuned at the time. Perhaps the best moment of the lot was a downchange in the tunnel just before the Golden Gate bridge, San Francisco while on the US tour with the last year. The bang and the flames caused all the yank tanks around us to stand on their brakes, Probably thinking a bomb had gone off. One minute surrounded by large automobiles and then emerging from the tunnel with all three lanes to ourselves was something I won't forget. The extra flame performance might just have been caused by the full tank of 119 octane fully leaded fuel I'd just bought at the race car pumps at Infineon Sears point raceway, extortionate at almost £1.50 a gallon

I've often removed just the engine. You need a bit of broom handle to rest on the diagonal tubes above the front of the gearbox. When the engine is being separated from the gearbox you can put a scissor jack or a suitably sized wooden block under the gearbox bellhousing to keep it at roughtly the right height and to prevent the whole weight of the engine gearbox from resting on the gearbox input shaft. You then need to feed a couple of heavy duty tie wraps through the top gearbox bellhousing to engine bolt holes and round the broom handle to support the G/box while the engine is out. When putting the engine back in you just cut and pull the tie wraps out once you have a few of the bellhousing to block bolts started to keep things together. I then just use the engine hoist to position the block in the chassis to get the engine mounts on and bolted to the block

Prior to cleaning the car and exhaust I spray my pipes with Autoglym alloy wheel cleaner. I keep the stuff away from the bodywork by putting a piece of cardboard between the body and the pipes. Leave it on for about 3-5 mins and then wash it off when doing the rest of the car. My pipes were shined up to begin with, but this appears to get rid of a lot of the blueing. I then just finish it off with a chrome polish, and if I've done a good job they you can see your face in them. Worth a try and easier to find than pickling paste

While on the US Caterham tour last year, followed a couple of the U.S made Ultralites both with Honda power. They were seriously fast, outdragging a few superbikes here and there which the riders seriously weren't expecting. I know I've only got a crossflow, but often when the will took them, the two just dissapeared from view in front, and on one occasion during an impromptu drag race, Steve's car appeared to pull well in front of a 6+litre Chevy Moroso powered Westfield, also on the tour,