GordonW

Thanks for the info guy, good detective work. Gordon

Guy, I too was having starter issues and on the basis of Arnies advice ordered the unit in his link so I would be very interested to hear more of your investigations.....

....and the two through the bell housing?

Hi Roger, long time no see, hope all is well on your planet. I've ordered up a fuel king as insurance against pressure issues, thanks for the encouragement. I have also had a closer look at some of the internals and I have to say the quality of both the floats and auxillary venturis is alarmingly low. There are lumps missing out of the floats, although not to the point of leaking and the circumference of the aux venturis is uneven and paper thin in places at one point next to the fuel aperture so thin that a crack has appeared. The miscreant bits are going back for exchange although depressingly the supplier says 'that's what we get from the factory these days'...... The pump jets are 45's so I'll maybe need to look at an alternative. I'll re assemble it all with the replacement bits and hope for improvement to the point of the odd drip. It's good to be reminded of the 'norm' for webers. Thanks again.

I've jus fitted new 45's and on starting up for the first time one leaked badly and it seems the needle valve was stuck. Subsequently they both leak. If you look down the choke a drip drip falls from the end of the accelorator pump jet. The float level seems ok and there appears to be no dirt under the needle valve. Any clues as to what the problem might be? I've got the mixture set at two full turns from closed as a starting point so I hope it's not just wildly rich, the fuel pump is the same as for the old set of carbs so it should not be overwhelmed by pressure.

Many thanks guys. Paul with embarrasment at my goldfish like memory I realised just after my post that you had mentioned UP previousley, I gave them a quick call and Simon seems to be a very good bloke. There has been some work done on the head by Paul Exon and the manifold (and gasket) is now being matched to the head, so fingers crossed for a good result. Captain, thanks for the tip although I seem to recall the Roger ended up putting some of the 'soft' gaskets between throttle body and manifold a la original carb style as a way of reducing the effects of vibration. I'll be retaining these with the carbs.

Must be loads of these original Caterham items kicking about out there from throttle body up grades. I need one free from cracks and dings please?

I thought I might improve on the original caterham item the webers feed through with a Jenvey alternative but it ain't gonna fit. I think I will resort to getting the existing one flowed and matched to the head as far as possible, can anyone out there recommend someone with proven expertise in this area? Edited to add: If you have or know anyone who has a standard caterham weber inlet manifold I need it so please get in touch! Edited by - gordonw on 1 Apr 2010 08:26:10

Excellent, that saves me a few bob and it's very good to have the re assurance of actual experience, many thanks Barry.

I'm told that a 205 AO21 will fit on a 6 inch rim without any safety issues??? and that the problem will be greater flex in the sidewall, I'm not sure what the effect of this would be or if it's just a generally bad idea, has anyone done this?

Preferably a pair, red or black.

Hi Arnie, £10.00 incuding postage and I'll take it.....?

Many thanks Roger.

The cam cover on my engine (XE) is a bit battered from previous owners and I would like to get a pristine one with plug cover if possible so I can do a loverly powder coat on it as part of the engine refresh.

Pair of DCOE45's, must have the ident number on the top 45DCOE 152G - it's the G thats the important bit. Must be generally sound and undamaged. Edited by - gordonw on 20 Nov 2009 16:33:54 Edited by - gordonw on 20 Nov 2009 16:36:11

Hi Paul, Apologies for the tardy response I've been away and many thanks for your thoughts, good to have the views of an experienced VX owner. I too had spotted vibration free and a quick chat with them suggests they are good and not frighteningly expensive. The guy I spoke too offered a 'package' of balancing cams, pistons, con rods, flywheel and I may get them to lighten the existing flywheel and balance at the same time for optimum cost effectiveness. All the best, Gordon.

The winter engine project will haved the crank out so it's a good opportunity to get it balanced, can anyone recommend a specialist for this and maybe the flywheel too, I'm based in Lincolnshire. Also has anyone experience of the QED lightened flywheels or Neil Roper a head porting specialist? Thanks Gordon

Hi Guys, many thanks for all the replies. My simplistic thinking on this is that if it stays wet sump then the efficiency of the system is governed by A. the effectiveness of the pipe in picking up oil and B. the plentiful availability of oil for the pipe to act on so; Paul, much appreciate the extent of your post, I have already carried out the SBD cam cover mod and will delinately modify the end of the pick up pipe as you suggest at the earliest opportunity. I'll definately give the Apollo some thought too, I suspect this may well help keep more oil available. Oily, are your baffle thoughts attachments to the sump pan base where the foam currently sits rather than the 'plate' above I described (or both)? Aves, yes you are of course absolutely right about the shallow nature of the sump pan but here's what passes for my logic. Currently the foam may reasonably deter the oil at its level from slopping about too much but it has a comparatively small 'well' on which the pick up pipe can act and in the event that the oil moves away from the pipe area and the 'well' runs low I can't beleive that the foam allows the oil to refill the 'well' that quickly/easily. Surely if a volume of oil equivalent to the area occupied by the foam and captive by a plate above it is available to the pick up it has more chance of constant good supply than via the small well and volume displaced by the existing foam. The pan is always going to be shallow but creating a greater proportion of it that has more captive oil available to be picked up seems to be to be a reasonable objective. I realise that other baffles to reduce surge under braking may be a good idea too but I see that both SBD and Swindon have produced seemingly similiar mods for wet sumps. I guess it doesn,t necessarily mean they are right and certainly they both seem to operate on deeper sumps, although SBD not much so. Paul Mc, your experience seems to confound my thinking, do you have any details of the mods you ran? Thanks for all the input Regards Gordon

In anticipation of an engine refresh/upgrade I recently had an email conversation in which a respected engine specialist expressed the view, as a part of the dry sump not dry sump question, that a 'properly' baffled sump might help a lot. I'm guessing he meant junk the foam and substitute a fixed metal plate at the same height as the top of the foam which would be (part?) perforated but have a circular hole in the same position as the 'well' in the foam which would give pick up pipe access to the oil reservoir 'trapped' beneath by the baffle plate. Is this a too simplistic interpretation of the concept? Would you still need the windage plate? Has anyone out there tried something similiar? Any views on the worth of the idea as an economic means of stabilising oil pressure at a few not too demanding trackdays/sprints?

Ideally a pair of road legal, half, or less, worn, 185x60 R13, can collect depending on location or pay carriage. All the dealers seem to be out of stock and I've got a track day coming up.......

Yours for a donation to NTL plus carriage, steel bodied, bit tatty, from a wide track front pre 96 chassis and centre tube de dion fixing, set of 4 with mystery Freestyle spring rates but probably 300 front 170 rear. If you're interested blatmail me, offer ends 25th Sept. Lincoln based.

Hi Paul, I've got a heated screen, no surround.

I've got a 'quick shift' lever for my type 9 box and want to swap it for the standard lever. I've never looked at the top of the box and have this image of taking the old lever off and having a load of springs fly past my ear never to be seen or assembled in the right order again. How easy is the swap? Any tips please? Thanks Gordon

The trumpets on my carbs seem to periodically work loose in turn and vibrate annoyingly (cymbals not trumpets......) I realise the shaped 'washers' should clamp them in place but these seem to have lost their effectiveness, any suggestions for a cure? Maybe I should try Southern Carbs or similar for replacements as the simple solution.

Hi Roger, I've got 4 x 6x13 Minator style which have been sand blasted and professionally sprayed black, pics if you want to see, Lincoln location but could arrange carriage.