Midnight

Thanks guys for the advice, I had some white spirit and this has seemed to do the job. For a while I thought it was brake fluid leaking from the car above, when in the crate UK, bound from the U.S. As the container wasn't sealed properly on the way home I've now major corrosion to deal with on all the previously bright metal parts and some kind of fungus to get off the seats, seatbelts etc. Still at least the 7's still in one piece.

I've just noticed that my 7 appears to have patches of what I hope is just gooey pine resin on its front wings and on the bonnet. The car was in the U.S for the 2005 tour and may have been standing under a tree awaiting shipment back to the UK (i'm hoping that it's is not brake fluid from the car that was sitting above it in the crate on the way home!) The car is painted so has anybody got a method for the removal of such stuff without doing damage. A wash with hot water and car shampoo had no effect and the stuff appears to be waterproof! Cheers, Des

Probably a topic for Tech talk but my car appears to be covered pine resin (at least I hope thats what is!) on the wings and bonnet. Anybody know the best way to get it off the paintwork without doing any damage?

Ventilated discs don't seem to last as long as the solid ones, probably because corrosion can get in between the two faces. Iv'eJust changed the discs and pads at 70.000 miles on my 1997 2 litre Mondeo. £56.00 in total, easy to do apart from the original discs rusting themselves to the hubs which needed a large puller and a bit of heat to free up.

My 7 had done only road miles and failed after 34.000 normalish miles. Its just the luck of the draw some will go on forever. The problem with mine appeared to stem from a tiny bit of corrosion under a weld which initiated the split in the tube. All you can do is inspect the tube very carefully every now and then, looking especially at all the welds.

Hi Nigel, my centre header flange is 17mm thick and obviously it needed longer bolts as well.

I've posted on this before, had the same problem which I solved (after some advice from Steve Parker) by having a Van Dieman formula Ford center exhaust flange welded onto my centre primaries. The problem with this joint is that it doesn't have a center bolt to hold it against the head between the two siamesed exhaust ports, and the standard flange is too thin, hence the warping away from the mating surface when hot which can cause the blowing gaskets. The Van Deiman part is at least twice as thick as the standard Caterham Header flange, and since getting this fitted have never had a reccurance of the problem. I can't remember the name of the company that did the work, only that they reside in the Croydon area and do lots of stuff for exotic engines and racing exhausts. Give Steve Parker a ring. His ads in Low Flying every month.

Paul your'e right about Easibleed kits... more like easibleeding brake fluid everywhere but where it should be!

Thanks for the replies. The Myles method looks good to me!!

What's the best method of changing the rear pads on a dedion? I was thinking of cutting the tye wraps holding down the brake bundy to the dedion tube and undoing the caliper to ear bolts to lift the caliper and pads clear of the disc. Does anybody know a there a better way?

Is it possible to fit the new rear pads by undoing the bolts that hold the caliper to the De-dion ear and lifting it off the disc without disconnecting the brake pipes (perhaps by cutting the tie wraps that hold the brake pipe assembly to the dedion tube to give more movement) otherwise what is the best method of getting access to the pads particularly the insIde pad and the piston?

Tim H, I'm glad to know you have a big-un! and thanks for the offer. With a bit of luck Frankyknuckles will be sorting me out tomorrow Saturday, but if all else fails I may take you up on your offer. Thanks again for the reply. Cheers Des

If you have a standard power drill a cheaper alternative isto buy one of those small flapwheel sanders that go in these. Quite controllable when on low speed setting, the only thing is that you will get aluminium dust floating about all over so cover things up, including your /mouth/nose. while sanding/

Cheers Dave, much appreciated

Got to refit my rear suspension follow the fitment of my new Dedion tube, would anybody know where I can borrow or hire a 200ft lb torque wrench in the Chelmsford area this weekend?

Robster, Good luck with sorting this out. Lionel Lawrtence is the man to talk to. Just in case you do need a rotor arm the Lucas code is DRB192C and the part number cast onto the arm is 54400173. and as far as I know my local Lucas outlet 9Chelmsford) is still going strong as of a month ago.

Robster, My Xflow ignition system had a similar failure and It might be just the rotor arm. with the Lucas ignition pack you need a special one. Its quite big and has a funny shape and a diode thingy soldered into it. If you are using the stand small rotor arm it can look fine and work for a while but still give up the ghost for no apparent reason. I will try and get the Lucas code for type right type and post tomorrow. I fitted the correct rotor and it started immediately, hard to come by though!

Redline also do kits of the rubber rivnuts together with the polyamid shear bolts which minimise damge should you knock off a wing. I have used them and think they are better than replacing with the original metals rivnuts in that they will fit into a larger hole which is what you are usually left with when the rivnuts pull through the aluminium. Also in the event of another whack to the wings they will simply get pulled out without doing any major further damage

The Yoko 539's are supposed to be quite good on the 7. They are more a road tyre compared to the 48's and 21's but give better grip than the pile-ups and last well.

I've noticed that the rivet heads seem to stay in position until moved. as if they are only just hanging on. I now check each one by hand and each year find that about two or three have come away. i guess the alloy in this area must have some shearing or tension in it as the chassis flexes to cause this kind of occurence. and i have a 93 chassis with the seat mounted onto the tubes and not the alloy.

Peter, Depends if you do track days. I have an 170 bhp Xflow on 15'' prisoners and was recommended to buy Avon CR500's which are apparently superb on the 7 but they are £106 each plus VAT!! and only in 195 X 45 at 15'' size I'm taking my car to the US this year and wanted a reasonably lifed tyre with better grip than my current Michelin Pile up's. By reading various threads I may go for Yokohama A539's which are essentially a road tyre which although not that great on the 7 still give much better grip than the Michelins (though nowhere near as good as AO21R's or 48R's) but also have rubber that will last a reasonable distance 10/15.000 miles. Also they are available in the exact 195 x 50 x 15'' size similar to your Goodyear's. which means thast your spare (Goodyear?) will be compatible in size. You pays your money and takes your choice. Cheers Des

Sorry it is a xflow, hould have read it better.

Tim are you K series, Vauxhall or Xflow?. if its a Xflow then the centre manifold joint is usually suspect due to the fact that you have just two bolts holding the exhaust to the head with nothing to keep the centre of the gasket tight against the head. so this is where they usually let go. There are special thicker gaskets available. see ad in low flying. or for a permanent fix you can get a thicker flange for the centre siamesed pipes that does not bow like the standard flange when it gets hot.

Swatson, There should be a threaded boss/nut welded to the cross brace inside the boot through which the bolt that holds the tyre to the body via the Y shaped brace/Chrome bolt will go. There should also be a tube which spaces the wheel away from the rear skin by about 1". if you don't have this and the tyre rests right on the bodywork then eventually you will see a pattern ground into the alloy skin which matches the markings on the tyre, if you can read backwards you can even see what make/size of spare was fitted by seeing the marks on the alloy on well worn examples. Its even worse on painted cars. Luckily I fitted my spacer before it got too bad, but you can still make out the circular mark of the tyre on my rear panel.

Thanks Mark, I'll look for the guy and his number. The CR500's from Waltham tyres were only available at 195 x 40 X 15" size whereas my present tyres are 50 sidewall section, so speedo reading will overead, also my spare which i'm too tight to change is a Goodyear eagle so also I'm also concerned what would happen if different sizes were both put on the rear? As for my invalid car at least its an AC if not quite a Cobra!