Q Catcher

Helping a friend build a (non-dry-sump) Duratec 360R, with a heater. Does anyone have a cooling (including heater hoses) system diag, so we can figure out where the hoses are supposed to go? The two big rad hoses are pretty obvious, but where does the expansion tank lower connection go to? Where does the supplied plastic T piece go? Why is there a stubby stainless connecting pipe (not a T) which is the same diameter as the two large rad hoses? And so on ... Many thanks

Many thanks!

The car was registered in November 2003. It's got a 6 speed box with straight rather than angled electronic speedo drive. The speedo is analogue MPH with a digital odometer and says 'Caterham' on it:

Helping a friend with a rebuild. Does anyone know if the Ford speed sensor (sold by Burton) fits the 6 speed gearbox? (Before anyone suggests it, yes, we've asked Burton ... vague answer wasn't confidence-inspiring.) Thanks

I run fifteens on my car, but I'm pretty sure others with these SVs have fitted 6" fronts and 8" rears.

Just replaced the spigot bearing on a 2001 VVC. Getting the old one out was a Dremel and mash-it-out job. The wall thickness on the sleeve was 0.62mm. I forgot to measure the crank hole diameter. We had two new bearing & sleeve sets: Redline and QED. The Redline sleeve wall thickness was 0.60mm; the QED was 0.52mm measured and 0.53mm calculated (half of 22.06 - 21.00). We weren't going to use the Redline one anyway, since, as it happens, the bearing was damaged in transit. However, having had the QED bearing & sleeve in the freezer for two or three hours, and having had a heat gun on the flywheel for about 15 or 20 mins, it still took maybe a dozen blows with mallet & drift to get the new bearing in. Looked OK when in, though, and the engine & box seem to have gone back together OK.

Is the car a K Series? I tried two AGM batteries (Odyssey/Powervamp) and they each lasted only 18 months. I suspect this was due to the K Series' cranking power issue that Revilla described so neatly in his "Demystifying the click" article. So I went back to Banner.

I'm currently helping a friend do a clutch & CRB change on his K Series, and while we're in there, change the actuation from hydraulic to cable. Question is, is there any update on the "two springs" issue, i.e. a recommendation for alternatives to the CQ13s? Thanks in advance

I had two Odyssey/Powervamp Li ion batteries and they were not as good (in terms of longevity (yes, I followed all the care instructions) or cranking power) as the Banner, except for weighing less. So I've gone back to Banner.

Many thanks for all your replies, guys, most helpful. Here are photos of my clutch arrangement, which has been untouched, apart from maintenance, since it left the factory in 2002. As you can see, the hydraulic line routing is different from timb2117's setup. I didn't know about the cable alternative, obviously, but I'll order one from Redline. I must say, I've noticed over the years that I prefer hydraulically-actuated clutches over cable clutches, including on bikes. The operation always seems smoother, with better leverage ratios. But I'll try a cable, nonetheless, and I'll appreciate the simplicity. Responding to timb2117's remark about the fluid - yes! It goes grey. I also run a Porsche 911 964, which has the most complex hydraulic system (developed for the 959, apparently) known to man, operating the brakes, clutch and differentials. When I bleed the system, which has 13 bleed nipples, I notice that the fluid comes out clean everywhere, except for the clutch slave cylinder, where it comes out looking like diff oil.

So, no-one knows how the slave cylinder is supposed to be fixed to the bellhousing?

Thanks. Can you recall how the slave cylinder was attached?

I was bleeding the clutch fluid on my 2002 1.8 VVC SV recently and noticed that there is some free play in the clutch slave cylinder - as in, you can take hold of the front end of the slave cylinder and move it around, a few millimetres, up & down and side to side. Naturally, this play vanishes when you depress the clutch pedal, but explains the faint metallic 'clack' that can be heard when you de-clutch, as the cylinder moves to take up the tiny amount of slack between its rear face and the bellhousing. How is the slave cylinder supposed to be fixed to the bellhousing? I can see that the rear end of it goes through a hole in the bellhousing flange, but is it supposed to be fixed in there somehow? (I imagine it is.) If it makes any difference, the slave cylinder is a blue anodised item with an M6 bleed nipple fastened into an M10 (I think) brass fitting on the rear end of the top surface. Please don't ask me for a photo, as it's almost entirely concealed below the inlet manifold and behind some cable trunking, the coolant pipe, etc. Thanks

Plenty of manufacturers seem to cheat, though. I can only assume they're quoting dry weights, as when magazines weigh the cars, they often get up to 200kg heavier. (Some manufacturers must be weighing the body-in-white ...) When my SV was corner-weighted at Millwood, it was noticeably heavier than Caterham's figure (by nearly 50kg, if I recall) and it's a factory-built car.

Thanks, Elie. Funnily enough, Opie Oils recommended ATF. As it happens, I've only just got around to doing the oil change today. Using a 12v electric oil pump, I've pumped the old oil out, through the filler plug hole. About 1.3 litres came out. I'm about to refill it using Red Line MTL 75w80.

If you have a half-hood (e.g. from Soft Bits for Sevens), I think you'll need a different one for the FIA roll bar. Or to put it another way, if you haven't got a half hood and want to buy one, you'll need to specify which roll bar you're using.

In my case, the gearbox is still on the car. So it's a case of accessing it from the underside of the car, removing the ruddy awkward filler plug with a shortened Allen key and using an electric pump to pump the old oil out. A job I relish - not!

Well, on the strength of all the recommendations above, I've ordered 2 litres of Red Line MTL GL4 75w80. So my summary is: For the Ford T9 gearbox, which we believe was probably filled with Castrol EP80 GL4 back in the day, when it was on a Ford Sierra, the collective wisdom is now that Red Line MTL GL4 75w80 is the best modern equivalent and provides the best shift quality. GL4 is the most important part of the spec, i.e. don't use GL5. And the gearbox takes 1.2 litres from empty.

Many thanks, everybody.

I've already put this same question in the VVC engine oil thread, but for anyone not reading that, my question is: which gearbox oil should I put in the 5-speed gearbox in my 2002 car? I think the 'box is a Ford T9 from the Sierra XR4i - or so I'm told.

Thank you, Mr Revilla, sir, for this post. I am about to do the oil change soon and I will follow your advice. I've got some Fuchs Titan 10w40 Semi-synthetic and some Shell Helix HX7 10w40 Semi-synthetic on the shelf. Will either of those do, or should I go and buy some Magnatec? Incidentally, I was thinking about changing the gearbox oil. The car has the 5-speed Ford T9 (?) gearbox. I called Opie Oils today and they recommended using ATF. This surprised me, so I thought I'd check before purchasing. (The car's done 30k miles and it'll soon be 18 years old - so I thought I'd treat it to a gearbox oil change.)

Any sign of those neck tubes yet? (Or has anyone got one I can buy?)

Thank you

The tyres might run a bit close to the indicator repeater light wiring, if the indicators are fitted in the usual place on cycle wings. And the steering scrub angle will be different. (I notice from running other cars that with up to 4mm spacers, you don't notice the difference in steering feel, but you do with, say, 7mm spacers - the equivalent of running a 7mm smaller offset.)

Does anyone know what the thread size is on the standard oil pressure sender used on K-Series engines? It's a 2002 1.8 VVC. I'm talking about the thread that is tapped into the front (lower) part of the oil filter housing. It looks like M12, but is it imperial, by any chance? (I recall that my original sump plug was imperial, but the plug thread in my replacement sump is metric. Oh the joy.) I notice that oil pressure gauges are sold with 1/8 NPT fittings. Is this supposed to fit my filter housing? (And also that if I Google 1/8NPT I get more than one answer as to the metric equivalent. Eh?) Also, does anyone happen to know what the thread is that is on the upper face of the oil filter housing, that has a blanking Allen 'grub screw' in it - the one you can use to attach an oil temperature sender. Thanks