AntonyH

My right front is down around the 4mm depth, while the left has over 5mm remaining.

They were on the car when we bought her 12 months ago, nearly-new (the tyres, not the car) and since then we've almost always been 2-up so it's not down to having 80kg (ish, honest!) more on the driver's side.

My only theory thus far is that I turn right - where under steer is likely to end in a kerb / pothole / ditch / tree - more cautiously than I turn left.

Just wondered if anyone else has seen similar mismatched wear between sides of the car? The rears are both rather newer so hard to tell if they're wearing at similar rates, left vs right.

Yellow, black arches front & rear, full roll cage, aeroscreen. Parked on the road outside the Tennants Arms at Kilnsey, North Yorkshire.

Guessing you were in the pub garden so we gave you a four-cylinder salute as we passed (silver/black stripes).

:)

Heading out of town near endclffe park, Ecclesall Road, Saturday.

S3, British racing green with yellow stripe and yellow '7' on grille.

Classic yellow wings, yellow '7' on grill, yellow rear haunches with chrome protectors; chrome headlights and polished aluminium most other places.

Holme Lane Sheffield, Malin bridge to Hillsborough corner, Saturday 16th February.

Hi all,

I am currently fitting some of these headlamp bowl indicator repeaters. They're quite long inside the bowl and with connectors, foul the rubber boot that sits between the H4 (headlamp bulb) lamp connector block and the back of the headlamp reflector.

Take said boot off and it all fits.

Question then, what is the boot actually for? It doesn't affect how the H4's connector sits on the H4's pins, so my guesses are it's either to prevent damaged cables shorting on the otherwise-exposed metal base of the H4 bulb, or to prevent cables resting against said bulb base and having their insulation melted if the base gets hot (and then shorting).

Does anyone actually *know* the purpose of this boot? (i.e. can I get away with not having it!)

Does the base of the H4 bulb get hot enough to melt wire insulation?

Can anyone else with these repeaters confirm whether they also removed the boots?

If necessary and with a minor mod and some pin bending on the repeaters I think I could squeeze it all in, boot and all, but I'd prefer to not do this if a workable solution is to just discard the boots.

Thanks in advance!

Hi all,

2010 Caterham vinyl full hood with zip-out rear window, to fit metric SV. Never used - removed from packaging once to see if it would fit imperial SV (it doesn't!), then re-packed for protection.

Does NOT have easy-in zips.

Caterham part number 50V004A (no longer produced).

£125 + delivery by courier at cost (or collect free, Sheffield).

Thanks - I'll double-check but I'm sure they looked the same to the naked eye, pins at 12/6 o'clock (not 12/7 offset like a 581, not vertically offset like a 380 stop/tail).

Also, as Caterham sell the same bulb for F+R, and the ones I have fit the rear, I'm guessing they *should* fit at the front too.

Caterham orange bulb (specifically mentioned in relation to the clear front indicator lens, and clear rear cluster lens) - i.e. same bulb F+R

Autobulbs Direct silver 382 bulbs - fit the rear but not the front.

Which is making me wonder if I have the "right" bulbs but they are not manufactured to quite the right dimensions.

Really I'm after confirmation that a 382 bulb *should* fit the front indicators before querying with / complaining to Autobulbs Direct that theirs don't.

Ta

Hi, forgive the possibly idiot question.

Indicator blubs *are* 382 size, aren't they?

I have four silver (orange) 382 bulbs for use with clear lenses (from AutoBulbsDirect). The first two went in the rear clusters just lovely and work fine. Great.

They don't fit in the front indicator pods though. They look just like the clear bulbs I would have taken out (dimensionally to the naked eye), but while they slide in they just won't turn to lock in place. It's like they're just a fraction of a mm too wide, or too short in the base, and they 'stick' in the socket. They won't rotate, they're pretty tough to remove (thought I was going to break them, the amount of force required), they just "don't fit".

Have I been a div and just bought bulbs that aren't right? (In which case, what size should they be, given they fit the rears just fine and the Caterham parts dept reference the same bulb for use front and rear indicators?)

Or are these "382" bulbs maybe fractionally different to other "382" bulbs and this only shows up when attempting to fit them into the more snug front fittings?

Confused...

Good spot!

These at under a tenner for a pair do indicate a main/dip function ("Hard light" and "low light" connections, forgiving the translation!), but it's since occurred that the usefulness of a headlight is not defined purely by the brightness of the bulb.

There's also the beam pattern to consider, and a standard H4 filament bulb has two point (almost) sources of light. These sit in specific spaces (ish) within the reflector bowl such that the bowl and lens conspire to produce a dipped beam that lights up the tarmac and white lines, and a main beam that picks up owls in the trees whilst leaving the road in darkness*. The LED versions have 120 light sources spread around a much larger volume within the bowl, so I would expect the beams to be much more diffuse and thus less usable.

I'd still be interested to see a comparison done but for the moment I'll not bother!

*Maybe that's just ours.

Mostly an 'idle curiosity' question, having recently invested two purple notes (nearly) in Halfords' 'ultra brilliance' bulbs.

Has anyone experimented with any of the LED H4 bulbs?

Loads currently on ebay (at seemingly impossibly low prices) from Shenzen / HK, like this:

here, ebay item 220979403442

(If linky no worky, ebay.co.uk -> search for "h4 LED")

Some with 120 chips on the stack, some with 102, some with just five huge emitters ( like this one, item 110877313492

Just wondered how they compare in the real world (aka driving in the dark) to a decent H4. And, er, if they're legal at all.

Hi,

Just wondering - I'm led to understand that running with both doors (i.e. both mirrors) removed is borderline illegal.

But it's also great fun.

Is there such a thing as a 'temporary' mirror that would, for example, slot into the lower door hinge for those days when doors are unnecessary?

Don't really want to set about permanently bolting new mirrors to the car and removing the door mirrors (I guess it would also restrict the door opening).

I'm thinking it probably wouldn't involve massive amounts of engineering, just wondered if anyone had already made such a thing.

Ta

:)

Thanks - yes, those Thursday evenings are etched into the calendar!!

:)

Can't make this week (going to a maternity-leaving "do") (and, er, we don't have the car yet either... :( ) but we'll no doubt see you later in the summer.

Thanks Ian - I've sent you an email.

:)

Edited by - AntonyH on 21 Jun 2012 15:07:56

P.S. To anyone else with further suggestions - please keep them coming! As good as Bob's sounds, and as keen as I am to follow it up, obviously until we're actually in somewhere, I'm open to other options.

:)

Hi all,

I'm looking to rent / beg / borrow either a garage, or half a double garage, in Sheffield, for the secure parking of our first Caterham (collection in a fortnight... so excited!).

Exact location not critical, ideally near Hillsborough area but anywhere within a 10 minute walk of a tram or well-serviced bus stop would also be fine.

Must be secure, dry, not about to fall down, and not shared with tins of paint or heavy items stored on high rickety shelves.

Really hoping someone can help, currently we have promised use of a friend's garage but only short term.

If you can help or suggest places to look (have already trawled several estate agents, commercial lettings, etc!), please let me know.

Many thanks in anticipation