McBreadhead

Does anyone know the history of the Superlight for sale? Says it's an import but there's no plate on it.

Heard the rumble, looked up and you were headed up Broad St. What a great day for a blat

Your green 7 with black stripes was paired up with another 7 in red heading west probably wondering how best to dodge the rain around 3.30pm today. Both cars looked great btw.

Wow that is a lot of pork pies!

Out of interest how much do you need to budget for a F190 coming from a Sigma 125 VCT? There's bewger all stock currently for sale with that power so weighing up options?

Re #11 I bought a xflow engine which had similar characteristics. Once rebuilt it turned into a cracking engine. Re #12 indeed it is. I can easily see £5k required to bring that car back to reasonable condition as it needs repairs and a full repaint. And I haven't been underneath it yet.....

Thanks all for your comments. I visited PT for the first time today and it's clearly a thriving race prep operation - Ian is a very knowledgeable and helpful guy. It appears they sell many cars on behalf of customers who want rid with minimum investment in bringing to showroom condition. So while the R3/400 has had its engine refreshed, it hasn't been set up on the rolling road which means no test drive until that's complete. Any buyer will need to specify the state of tune they want and commit with a deposit and the rolling road will follow plus cosmetic improvements. It's got a great spec but probably too great a leap of faith for me at this point. Note: while I was there they took delivery of Superlight R #76 which is being put up for sale if anyone's in the market.

Hi all and hope folk have had fun blatting today. I've become feverish and fitful with level 3 withdrawal symptoms and need to get into a 7 again. Does anyone know this car here? It sounds a bit tatty from a previous post and seems it has had a history of losing power which doesn't inspire confidence but could form the basis of a sound car. Did anyone on here own it? McB

Thanks all for your comments. Car runs Valvoline VR1 20-50 mineral oil. I can confirm oil pump is both high capacity and high pressure as per receipt from Burtons. As for what happens at 5,000 rpm I need to take her out to explore and confirm but I'm pretty sure the gauge shows 3.5+ bar so maybe I'm getting cross eyed for nowt. It's just the 1 bar at idle that concerns. Could the oil collector be too close/far away from the sump floor I wonder? Is there an optimum position as I recall the engine builder had to raise it a tad? Car is going to James Whiting soon so perhaps he can test with a mechanical gauge.

On my 1760cc Xflow I'm getting just under 3 bar on cold start up at idle, then just under 2 bar on hot idle. I've also noticed the oil pressure light takes maybe 10 seconds to extinguish after start up. When cruising at 2500-3000 rpm I get 2.5 bar, When returned to base after 20 mins, I get only 1 bar at 1,000 rpm. This is scary but oil pressure light doesn't illuminate. Oil level is at full mark on dipstick with no discernible loss. Gauge is standard Caterham, not mechanical. Engine runs a high pressure oil pump and rebuilt only 4K miles ago and not tracked nor ever taken to rev limit. It's due an oil change but any thoughts as to why I'm seeing such low readings?

TomB

Ray, I have a 96 Xflow 5 speed and the reverse light wouldn't work but I came from underneath the gearbox and found the reverse switch housing had worked a bit loose. I managed to tighten it back up with a 19mm open spanner and it started working again. Might be worth checking this as well. McB

Update: I've replaced the front brakes and braided hoses using the Eazibleed which was much more straightforward than I imagined. Thanks for your tips. The only issue I encountered was excess fluid in the reservoir after I'd bled all the brakes so I syringed it out to reduce the level to max. In future would draining it by one of the caliper bleed screws be just as feasible? Pedal seems good but off to the MOT on Tuesday so I'll know if it's all been worthwhile.

Wow great information guys thank you. The gauge read fine with full deflection so I removed the sender from the tank and moved the float over its full range, cleaned the sender contacts and reassembled. And bingo gauge now working. I may renew the rubber seal for good measure. I spoke to Chris at Redline who likely has the part if anyone needs to renew. Thanks for your help.

John, Thanks for your comments. Yes it's a Caerbont unit with 1/4 sweep. Re testing the gauge, I assume I do this in situ and with power on? I've got twinned green wires, one black and one green/black (plus the separate lighting circuit) so I am shorting the green/black to black? Re the sender yes it's a top set device with separate high level feed to an external Facet fuel pump. In terms of quantity before I added the 10L I think the needle was showing just above the red. I'm not sure re unusable quantity however but it's an S3 chassis. Do you know if you can just buy new seals as I can see the old one is cracked around the edges?

My 96 Xflow hasn't run for around 12 months and the fuel gauge has gone sleepy - it now barely registers despite adding 10 litres of fuel. It only moves from below the red zone marker to the first white mark immediately after the red zone finishes. Firstly how can I check the gauge itself is not faulty? It's out of the car at present. Secondly I've measured the resistance across the black and black/green wires to the gauge and get 186M Ohms without any power. From other threads I think the range is approx 0-250 so does that sound about right for a half full tank? Or should I connect power and measure it? Sorry my elec knowledge is useless. Thirdly I suspect it's a seized sender part No TB 1114/034 which I think is a Smiths unit with 6 fixing screws. Can these be jogged back into life if I remove the screws and access the unit in the tank? Guess I'll need to replace the rubber seal if I do. Thanks in advance folks! McB

1Wel just tried to PM you but your mailbox appears full

Thanks 7wow, I was planning to replace fluid but was averse to draining entire system and refilling from empty to avoid the dreaded air pockets. I had thought to flush old fluid with new if I can by keeping the system full if that makes sense? Yes I've considered using cling film over the reservoir cap but there's a plastic 'plunger' in there that pulls cling film down. I will check to see if I can get around this though and also investigate the rubber band trick. Thanks

Hi folks and resurrecting this thread as I'm about to fit new braided front brake hoses. I've separated the old hose from the caliper end already with some loss of fluid which I've managed to stem. My question relates to removing the old hose from the union with the bodywork. The brake system is still currently charged so I wondered how you stop fluid ruining the panel paintwork as when I disconnect it, it will pour out. Is there a particular sequence I need to observe? And a neat way of plugging the brake line? Thanks, McB

Murph, Hi there and like you I'm coming back to 7 usage after a bit of a lay off. Not sure if you've already started the engine but if not here is my advice I picked up from a race engine builder. Regarding the engine, one of the key things is to get it lubricated before you run it. My procedure is going to be this: make sure car is level and has fresh oil, disconnect fuel pump, remove spark plugs, squirt a bit of diesel via atomising spray into each cylinder to provide some initial lube to the piston rings, then turn the engine over and wait for the oil pressure gauge to start showing pressure. You may need one or two battery recharges for this. Once you've got oil pressure you are good to re-connect everything and fire her up. Happy runnings!

Garth, Thanks for the heads up and I may take you up on this. However I've since learned you can get calipers refurbished for circa £135 at BiggRed, or Redline do a refurb kit which may be an even better option. How much did you want for the set out of interest? Feel free to PM me. McB

Thanks all for the suggestions and apologies for multiple posts: the system doesn't refresh particularly well! I was running M1144 compound which worked fine until one of the calipers started to drag so happy to repeat. I was considering the big brake option at circa £1k as to replace the standard offering with same would have set me back £750 I hadn't appreciated the rebuild route however (great suggestion, thanks) so have just pinged Chris at Redline for more info. Failing that BiggRed sounds a good alternative at £135/pair refurbished. I also need to get me a solo brake bleed kit and was thinking of the Gunson which uses your tyres for bleed pressure. Any opinions on this or others? Cheers folks.

One of my front brakes developed an intermittent squeal last year which almost turned into a seized disc. So I need to replace the front discs as a minimum and most likely the calipers. It's a 1996 xflow de Dion standard S3 car. I'm looking for a set of standard discs and calipers which must be in good working order and I'm guessing suitable for pre-2014 models. Alternatively I may consider an uprated AP big brake kit. Thanks in advance all. McB

One of my front brakes developed an intermittent squeal last year which almost turned into a seized disc. So I need to replace the front discs as a minimum and most likely the calipers. It's a 1996 xflow de Dion standard S3 car. I'm looking for a set of standard discs and calipers which must be in good working order and I'm guessing suitable for pre-2014 models. Alternatively I may consider an uprated AP big brake kit. Thanks in advance all. McB

One of my front brakes developed an intermittent squeal last year which almost turned into a seized disc. So I need to replace the front discs as a minimum and most likely the calipers. It's a 1996 xflow de Dion standard S3 car. I'm looking for a set of standard discs and calipers which must be in good working order and I'm guessing suitable for pre-2014 models. Alternatively I may consider an uprated AP big brake kit. Thanks in advance all. McB