Q Catcher

Thanks, everyone, very helpful. I particularly like Revilla's solution, so thank you especially to Glasgow and Revilla.

Has anyone gone to the trouble of fitting one of these (i.e. combined) gauges on a K-Series car? (I'm planning on fitting an oil pressure gauge, with the mechanical capillary, to get rid of the nuisance failures of the OE pressure sender, which I've somehow put up with all these years. But just before I do, has anyone fitted a combined one?) If so, is there a good point from which to take the temperature reading? And in any case, whether combined or not, what length of capillary have people used for the pressure side of things? The ordering options are apparently 7, 9 or 12 ft. Thanks

Early last October, someone that we met on a weekend blat did a very kind favour for the Gloucestershire Sevens. We asked what, if anything, he would like as a little 'thank you', and he said he'd rather like a neck tube. Ever since then, neck tubes have been out of stock. So I'm asking if anyone has a good-as-new condition L7C neck tube that they would allow me to buy off them as a now long-overdue thank-you gift for this individual. (I'd happily give him my neck tube, except that it looks very used ... which somehow just doesn't seem right!)

Assuming the oil filter housing is aluminium alloy, using a heat gun for a prolonged period of time (e.g. 15+ mins) on the alloy while repeatedly tapping on the end of the broken stud with a hammer (not hard enough to 'rivet' it), then suddenly spraying the stud with lots of Shock & Unlock whilst attempting to turn* it usually works after several attempts. *Brazing a nut to the stud might work, to get enough purchase on it. Or hacksaw a slot in the end of the stud and braze a piece of steel strip into the slot, protruding out to provide purchase for Mole Grips. You can prep the job by cutting away any corrosion product (and slivers of the alloy) around the base of the protruding bit of the stud with a Stanley knife and flooding with Plus Gas etc. Warning: this method requires a lot of patience. But cursing loud encouragement during the Shock & Unlock phase is permitted.

I've found Castrol B373 is much quieter than the previous Caterham semi-synthetic GL5 diff oil. My diff's a Sierra 3.92 LSD. It takes 1.3 litres from empty.

Aha, but ... having now cleaned the inside of the transmission tunnel, I can say that: - the grease arc above the front UJ was quite narrow and mostly brown. - the grease arc above the rear UJ was rather wider, fuller and mostly charcoal in colour. I notice that the grease nipples on the new UJs are thinner and longer - they look much more useable than the old ones.

So ... looks like we wuz mostly very wrong. Clearly, everything had got very hot (driving in 41 degree heat in Portugal, after all) and the driveshafts were rather stuck in the diff and had to be knocked out, but the main source of the noise was the propshaft. Not your conventional propshaft knocking at all, but a loud rumbling/graunching that was worse on the overrun and worst of all on corners. It turns out the propshaft rear UJ had broken and was only just hanging together. Following the recommendation further above in this thread, I took the diff to Phil Stewart at Road & Race (at Shoreham, near Sevenoaks), who examined it and concluded that it's serviceable. His firm advice is to use a different oil. I'd been using Caterham's own branded oil, which was at the correct level - whereas Phil recommends Castrol 373. Phil clearly knows his stuff, and is a Sevener himself, and says that this particular model of diff is very robust, so the diff is going back in. As for the prop, there was a clear arc of grease all round the transmission tunnel above the rear UJ. And, as mentioned, the UJ itself is utterly cream-crackered. The prop is now with Propshaft Services (part of Bailey Morris, the Caterham prop manufacturers) in Feltham for new UJs and balancing. I should be able to collect it on Monday. When I handed it over, the technician expressed surprise that it was still actually propelling a car (in fact, he used a technical term for it). As for which came first - the grease exiting or the UJ failing - we can but speculate.

Thank you

Who are SPC?

Phil Stewart's obviously sensible enough to go home on time, so I'll try his number again in the morning.

As seen from the underside, RHS, LHS and the rear plate. Any use in identifying it?

Thank you. The car has a 5-speed box, so it'll be 3.9 that I need.

I'd like to get the car ready for the 60th celebrations, so will sending it to Road & Race meet that timescale? I was thinking that just buying another and installing it would be quicker. As for ratio, I want the same as at present, surely? Can anyone remind me how to do pictures? (Edited: Found the User Guide - thanks, Jonathan.)

Thanks. I'll see if I can post some photos.

The car's a 2002 K Series with a de Dion and LSD. It's making terminal-sounding clunking/graunching/drumming from the rear and is getting very reluctant to go round corners. (Be in no doubt - this is not trivial.) I have always been given to understand that the diff is from an XR4i. (Is this true?) Does anyone know if it's a straight swap for an ordinary Sierra diff (Chassis mounts, splines, ratio ..?) by any chance, as I don't really need the limited slip feature. Once I've decided whether to replace like-for-like or swap to an open diff, I then need to source a good 'un. Apart from the usual searches on eBay, etc, can anyone recommend a good source that they've used? Many thanks

Please see "Looks like it's the differential" thread. Ta.

Yep, grey (and smelly).

If you trawl through the archives, you'll find two or three examples where people have proven that the steering rack platform is set 9mm 'too low' if your aim is to have zero bump steer. (There's also a lot about bump steer on TVR forums ... and separately, Matt Becker, formerly of Lotus, reckons that some bump steer is desirable ...) On my Seven (a de Dion K Series car), I decided to experiment by making up 3mm shims to go under the steering rack (for which you then need to buy longer bolts). I have found that it's true that shimming the rack upwards reduces bump steer. Currently I'm running 3mm shims and I kinda like it that way: reduced bump steer, but still a bit of liveliness through the steering wheel. I've never actually gone as far as shimming it up 9mm, but I don't doubt that that would eliminate bump steer. I notice on Duratec cars that there is very little space to shim the rack upwards, as the steering column will foul on the engine, but on a K Series car there is plenty of space. I run 1.3 degrees of negative camber on the front, with 5 minutes of toe-in on each side. From memory, I think the car has 25mm rake. The de Dion runs with the standard camber blocks and Watts linkages. The car is on 15 inch wheels and 195/50 tyres, at 16psi. With this setup, the handling is just fine for enthusiastic road driving; in fact, I love it. Good luck.

I used to change the foam as recommended, but have run without foam for quite some time now, and fit Dave Andrews' (DVA) modified sump gasket.

I used to run 16" 'HPC' five-spoke wheels and also looked to swap to minilites, partly because I like the look. I bought a set but was shocked to find that they were actually heavier than the HPCs, which at 6.7kg are lighter than they look - so I promptly sold the minilites. I resisted the temptation to go to 13" wheels purely due to ground clearance (touring use, and not wishing to compensate with a 'balloon' sidewall height) so in the end I went for 15", which at least has the benefit of a very wide tyre choice. But I would definitely run 13" wheels if the priority was track use. (I got a bit carried away at the time, weighing wheels, and found that they often weigh more than the manufacturers claim. When I discussed this with one manufacturer, they blamed this on 'different offsets' - the example they weigh for the brochure must presumably have a massive offset!)

Thanks for your help, chaps. It's off a Land Rover 300TDi. 14mm. Part number UAM2957L, complete with copper gasket. Got one from my local 4x4 centre for £3. Same 19mm across flats, just to fool us. (Edited to add the correct the Land Rover model and the part number.)

Nope.

I used to have the same, did similar road trips, and ran happily at 16psi. (How old are those ZZ1s?)

I'm replacing the sump on my 2002 K Series (it was damaged by Brittany Ferries ... they've paid for the parts ...) and it looks to me like the old sump plug won't fit the new sump. It rattles around in the first few threads and then starts going tight way before it should. I've mic'd the sump plug thread and it comes up at 12.9mm diameter. Were they half inch? Is the thread in the new sump 14mm? What the ..?

After about four or five problematic windscreens (I've lost track, to be honest), I now think I have one that's OK. The previous one, again branded Tyneside, turned out to have a couple of problems: some of the heater elements didn't work; and there were some strange diagonal lines on the glass that only showed up when it was wet. It went back. This latest one, branded Uroglas, has been provided by National Windscreens, who organised getting it made. Fitted only yesterday, it's still early days, but it's looking good.