garybee

Terry, can you confirm you meant 2.5V and didn't mean to type 12.5V?

I wrapped/painted my S3 and put a thread on here a few months ago. Having done that I wouldn't consider wrapping a band round the nose. A stripe is easy but the curve of the nose band would be far easier to achieve with paint.

Composite simply means made from a mix of materials. So carbon, kevlar and GRP are all types of composite. Being slightly more accurate, carbon would be referred to as CFRP (Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic) in the same way as GRP is Glass fibre Reinforced plastic. So composite and GRP seats are the same thing in this context. If people don't make a song and dance about them being Kevlar or carbon fibre then they're GRP. Before the pedants start, yes I've called it Kevlar and yes I do know the difference.

In far less time than you've already spent you can remove the scuttle to have easy access to all the wiring behind the dash. It's easy to get drawn into the trap of trying to do these jobs without any disassembly. Often it's faster and less grief to just remove what's in your way and work in comfort.

Is there something about the X flow that means a standard bolt on lifting eye doesn't work? I keep a few of these in my garage as they can be fitted to most engines:- https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Ford-Engine-Lifting-Bracket-1374179/273364307345?epid=1009759013&hash=item3fa5c84d91:g:C5kAAOSw6lJbUOHH

Damnit! Beaten to it.

Do we? Please tell me:- 1 - How do we know? 2 - What does that knowledge justify? These aren't idle questions, I'm genuinely interested to hear your take on it.

I had no reason to believe otherwise, are you saying that's not the case? Your question has prompted me to have a (slightly) closer look though so I've just had a look at the Web page and Facebook page. It states that it's his and he mentions his motorsport degree (in prog) so it seems perfectly reasonable to assume he's got a little motorsport venture. Regardless of whether or not that is the case (and I'm happy to be told it's not if you know better) going after it and attacking it to cause problems would be the actions of a pretty unpleasant/vindictive person wouldn't it? I remember Arnie being on here and I didn't particularly take to him. I have however seen some pretty crappy behaviour from plenty on here that goes completely unchecked. Some of the attacks on him when he was here also seemed unjustified. Blatchat has a nasty little clique at the moment that is pretty clear to even a casual observer.

If the guy wants to run without a roll bar and is happy to accept the risk that is his decision. I also don't see what's wrong with the 160mph run without a roll bar. That is surely safer than driving a seven on any public road.

Risk's a funny thing. I wouldn't feel comfortable driving a 7 without a roll bar. But one of my motorbikes does have nearly 1000bhp/tonne. Realistically I'm far more likely to be injured riding that than driving a Caterham without a roll hoop. I wouldn't remove mine as I don't see any benefit and there are definite drawbacks (unable to use on track, which is the main reason I own it). Looks seems an odd reason to remove it though, I doubt anyone else would notice. edit: thought of another good reason to keep it. It is the mount for the head restraint in my car. The thought of broken neck/paralysis scares me far more than the thought of just plain snuffing it.

It's excellent fun and with a really great group of supportive people. Don't let not having done it before put you off. I'm sure you will be able to find a 'buddy' to guide you on the first couple of events. There used to be a system to partner new entrants with experienced competitors for precisely this reason. There's a good chance it is still the case of course. PS - I think you should do it. PPS - Give it a go. etc

I believe that to be the case too. Some comments in this thread come across as attacking someone's business because the poster doesn't like the business owner's dad. That's pretty low.

Isn't JWM his son's trading title?

It's you that has to be happy, not the mechanic. He won't be the one that loses his legs when the flywheel exits the bell housing.

Powerspeed prices seem to have gone a bit silly. There was a recent thread on here that linked to a company still making them for reasonable prices though. Will try to find them... Edit: found it https://www.lotus7.club/forum/market-place/k-series-18-4-2-1-exhaust?page=2

Bit more information would be handy. Have you done anything to the car recently or has this occurred after the car was working fine/cooling ok with no other actions?

A couple of thoughts on the above... Is it possible that you are pushing the seat back and trapping the harness anchor plate before it has been aligned with its direction of pull? If that were the case then it could just be a case of pulling the crotch straps to align them as you slide the seat back. If the above is not the case and mounting the anchor plate higher up (in line with the chassis fixing) I would just do that. The mount will buckle at the floor mounting point first. At which point it will have a moment on the chassis mount (due to the distance), that will increase the stress on the weld/joint. Assembly instructions are fine but not infallible. If you see a better way of doing something it makes sense to just do it.

I missed that we were talking about a X-flow filter. Ignore my previous comment then, not relevant.

Does the protruding section of rail serve any function? Can you just chop it off?

Thanks very much Andrew. My intention to remove the MFRU isn't so much down to their perceived weakness. The MGZR 160 loom doesn't have one. I have a spare but don't have the loom side connectors. It wouldn't be hard to go past the breakers and cut one out but at that point I may as well just add a relay and holder that serves the same purpose. That looks like quite a production line you've got going there. My workshop is looking less organised at the moment with a range of different engines sat waiting for attention.

Oil contamination of inlet sensors is generally not so much of an issue on MAP based engines. MAF sensors are much more susceptible to contamination. I wouldn't worry about filter oil causing an issue with sensor function in a K series.

I haven't been through the loom to see how much junk is actually in there. If the MFRU wiring is representative there must be a lot. I might be a bit too lazy for option D. I will get rid of all the junk whilst I have the loom apart though. I can't see it ending up in anything other than a Caterham at this point.

Don't shoot me, I have seen Revilla's (extremely helpful) guide. This is a slightly different scenario though and am interested if anyone has taken this approach. Car currently has a 1.6 EU3 engine as fitted by Caterham I pulled the engine and loom from a MGZR 160 a couple of years ago. My intention was to fit the engine with loom so that the removed engine/loom could be stored and refitted at any time with no alterations required to the car. I wanted it to be a simple bolt up and a couple of plugs job to swap back. Laying the loom out this afternoon I couldn't figure out why I didn't seem to have any connectors for the MFRU. A bit of research has shown that the ZR160 didn't have an MFRU and included the relevant relays in the fuse box. I suppose my options are now:- 1) Modify current 1.6k loom to include VVC gubbins (Not ideal as can't switch back easily) 2) Modify current loom to be switchable between the two engines (clever bit in Revilla's guide on this) (Good option but leaves me swapping looms between engines). C) Modify VVC loom from MGZR to include external relay holder(s) in place of the MFRU/relays in fuse box. (preferred option). Has anyone reading this done 'C'? I suppose this has the added benefit of getting rid of the problematic MFRU. I seem to recall the Caterham doesn't use all the relays in it anyway. Also, can the wiring in the car to the 5AS unit stay the same? It'd be nice if it just required me to swap the 5AS units at the same time as the engines if required. I'm guessing this is a bit specific and nobody is likely to have done it this way but who knows? Will update with a quick guide when I've sussed it if nobody knows... Thanks in advance

What does the battery do if you disconnect it from the car? It is possible that the car has a fault that is causing a parasitic draw. The best way to tell if the car is causing the issue is with a 'low amp' clamp meter but if you're not into this kind of thing it's probably not something you own. 2nd best way is to use an ammeter in series but you need to connect this very carefully so as not to break the connection from the batteryto the car. If you just remove the terminal then connect the ammeter it can cause a fault to disappear and everything appear to be ok when it isn't. Chances are it's the battery but I don't like buying expensive parts on a guess so always test to make sure.

You don't time the K-series with No. 1 at TDC. The timing marks are set for 90 Deg before TDC. Also as above, if you use this method for assembly with an unmodified crank/pulley your cam timing is not accurate. Edit: Actually this looks to have gone round once so will leave you to follow whichever advice you prefer OP. Best of luck and hope it's all fine after being laid up