garybee

Test it with a thermometer then if it's fine, remove the buzzer. That'd be my fix.

2 of 6x13" Caterham anthracite wheels. These have a couple of marks so are probably best for someone wanting a pair for track use £150 2 of 13" CR500 tyres to suit the above wheels. these have around 3mm tread remaining £30. 3.92 open Diff' £80 I'm located in Sleaford (Lincolnshire) if anyone wants to collect. I can also bring any bits to club sprints that I am attending (first of which is Curborough). postage will be expensive so would rather avoid that. Edited by - garybee on 2 May 2013 16:13:34

One pair of CR500 tyres (175/55/13) with around 2.5 to 3mm tread remaining (more in areas as they're not worn evenly across the tread). £40 collected from club speed champs. event or Sleaford (Lincolnshire).

The USB versions (usually listed as ELM327 readers) are absolutely fine at that price. I use one of these on a regular basis. They tell you the reason for the warning light which is not the same as telling you what the fault is. Mine has saved me thousands of pounds as it's enabled me to diagnose and fix issues myself instead of letting garages attempt to fix. It usually costs somewhere in the region of about £70 at a dealer to have fault codes read once, for less than £20 you can do this yourself as many times as you like (assuming you already have a laptop). The cheap Bluetooth versions are more than a little flakey though. I've tried a couple of these and although they worked perfectly for a few uses, they quickly failed (and were returned for refunds). While they were working they were very handy though (used in combination with the android app 'Torque') so I'll try a slightly more expensive one at some point. Torque does a lot more than just read fault codes and is very neat in use.

Dave, Thanks for the reply. I will pass on the head, just after a complete standard spare head really. Ta

Hi, I am interested in the head. Is this a complete head (with lifters, cams, valves etc.)? I see you say you've used the solid lifters from it but did you swap in the hydraulic lifters at the same time? Cheers Gary

How much would you want for the manifold/collector to justify splitting? I would like to just buy the lot of you but a box with no cat' is of no use to me sadly (car is barely driven except for sprints so needs to have a cat').

Have you decided that you don't want to sell the manifold and collector separately?

Quoting David Mirylees: John, Why would the crank pulley affect the alternator? (probably my dementia, I know...) A smaller diameter crank pulley means that less belt is moved for every turn of the crank. This means that the alternator (and other accessories) isn't being spun as quickly as would otherwise be the case.

If you have the original thermostat housing (as on my zetec) the sender for the gauge is a 1/8NPT thread on the underside. Remember to wire in an earth at the same time if using a single pole sender as this type of sender requires the casing to be earthed (which the plastic housing obviously isn't).

Thanks very much for the info everyone. I thought I knew what I wanted but will hold slack on this for a bit as I had convinced myself that the move to wide track would make the already soft front end significantly worse. Richard - If 150lbs/in is enough for your car (which will be dealing with significantly higher loads during cornering) then I'm sure they will be fine for ours. I'll try playing with ARBs instead so long as the car is on the standard dampers then. Thanks for the info all. Gary

Hello all, I'm hoping someone can help me out with what springs I need to order. We currently have an '04 Academy car which I will be upgrading to wide track before next sprint season. It is currently too softly sprung as it rolls a lot so I intend to fit stiffer front springs while I'm at it (particularly as the wide track kit will decrease the effective spring rate). The car has standard Academy Bilstein dampers and I will be using the extension pieces in the wide track kit. I do not have access to the car (out of the country for a while) but would like to order the springs so that everything is ready to fit when I get back. Can anyone please tell me the length and diameter (assuming 2.25in ?) of spring I need to go to 220lbs/in on the above car? Any hints on the best place to buy are also appreciated. I have searched and Faulkner comes up a lot, is this still the best place? Thanks in advance Gary

Quoting four20: what's the score with tyre fitters then? when i've had to undo nuts tightened with an airgun i've usually needed a scaffold bar over the spanner to crack it off. am i a weakling or are the tyre shops stretching my studs? this is on an old Merc estate but would mean that i'm undertightening the seven i suppose. (too mean to buy a torque wrench) Edited by - four20 on 17 Dec 2012 17:48:49 On the rare occasion that I take a car to a garage and they need to fit a wheel (balancing usually) I make sure I'm somewhere I can see what they're doing. It's not uncommon for them to use pneumatic impact guns to fit wheels and they should receive a good shouting at if you see them doing it. With alloy wheels, due to the different rates of thermal expansion (of the wheel relative to the stud) torquing is important. Significantly over-torqued nuts can result in snapped studs if the wheel is allowed to heat up. It's not just to allow for braking, something unforeseen (seized caliper or similar) can put a lot of heat into a wheel.

2WD Cosworths used a 7.5" diff' (as did the Granada/Scorpio) whereas 4WD Cosworths used the 7" unit. There are issues with fitting the 7" Ford LSD to your Caterham though. If you want an easy life, the 'no stress' option is to get an open Sierra diff' and fit an aftermarket limited slip unit into that. If you want to fit a standard Sierra LSD you will at the minimum have to swap to a different type of joint on the inner end of your driveshafts (assuming you have normal Caterham shafts, for all I know you may be doing a conversion on a Sierra of course). If you decide you want to fit a Ford LSD and you want a 3.92 ratio unit, you're looking for one from a 2.0 4x4 Sierra. These are a bit rare, I luckily picked one up a few months ago but you may have a lot of trouble finding one. 3.62 units are much more common. These mostly came from XR4x4 Sierras and most of the 7" Ford LSDs you see for sale will be of this type.

I'm in Lincolnshire, about 15 miles South of Lincoln.

I'd be interested in everything except the silencer. Do you think we might all be able to do a deal?

Or, go for any 'coil on plug' mondeo duratec coil:- ebay link

Quoting Stationary M25 Traveller: Ditched my rear ARB - much better without. Won't suit you - it is for an SV I've now bought an ARB (on it's own). Would you be willing to sell the mounting hardware?

Now looking for just the mounting hardware (adaptors to bolt to dedion ears, drop links and clamps).

According to this site it looks like a flat beam pattern is ok:- MOT Manual Quote from above:- "A flat top or other alternative headlamp dipped beam pattern (not being one of the examples) is acceptable providing all of the beam upper edge, including any “peak” is contained within the appropriate tolerance band."

Thanks very much for looking and taking the time to post a link though.

I'm looking for a rear anti-roll bar and all the parts required to fit to an imperial de-dion chassis. Does anyone have any of these bits, or even better, a full kit? I can't seem to find a price for a kit on Caterham's site, just the component parts. Found now, under 'upgrades', would rather not have to pay that much though. Now looking for just the mounting hardware (adaptors to bolt to dedion ears, drop links and clamps). Edited by - garybee on 18 Nov 2012 19:17:34 Edited by - garybee on 22 Nov 2012 20:53:48

Quoting 7heavensoon: Gary - I've got to do the same on my car before te MOT. Is it easy enough to change them? Any points worth noting? Did you use a splitter or the 'clout with a big hammer' technique? I started with the clouting and got nowhere. So I used a 3/8" drive double depth socket positioned between the retaining nut and the hub (with a bit of packing so as not to damage the hub) wound the nut off which popped the ball joint's taper out easily. I would suggest this method as being the easiest and also the kindest on the car. Edited by - garybee on 18 Nov 2012 18:48:43

One possibility I suppose is that someone may have fitted alternative track rod ends at some point. I've searched for alternative part numbers for these a few times and have come across lots of conflicting advice (and even more people who just say "do a search" ). It seems that there are alternatives available with slight differences to the taper that could make it sit a little lower. If it is the machining in the upright at fault, I'll probably just have to live with it. I suppose I could ream the hole out and freeze in a tapered bush but that would be a lot of faffing.

Either would be helpful actually. Essentially I am after any suggestions that could possibly alleviate the split boot issue. I was thinking about a really old fashioned leather boot that covered the whole joint. Might get an odd look from the MOT tester but would still comply I think.