Graham King

David, did you get my mail 🤔 R7 GPK Superlight #85

I have a 1.8ss SL that is fitted with a shift light. I thought the rev limit on a supersport was 7400 and assumed the shift light would come on a little way short of this. The shift light never comes on and the rev limiter seems to cut in at about 6800ish, it's actually difficult to tell exactly. Does anyone know at what point the shift light should come on and what the rev limit actually is. Alternatively is there any way I can test the shift light to check it is actually working. Thanks for any advice you can offer. Graham. R7 GPK Superlight #85

David, thanks for offer. YHM, let me know. Graham. R7 GPK Superlight #85

I am looking for a black heat guard for a standard caterham silencer. Please post or e-mail with details. Thanks. Graham. R7 GPK Superlight #85

Thanks for all the info guys, I think I will ask Caterham to renew the sender unit when I take it back in to get some other things sorted as well. Graham. R7 GPK

I believe this is the "lay shaft" in the gear box, and yes they all do it, both 5 speed and 6 speed. R7 GPK

I have just traded in my 1.8K Roadsport for a 1.8Kss SuperLight which I picked up on Friday. My previous car used to have a warm engine oil pressure of 4 bar at running speeds and 2 bar at idle, the new car has a warm engine oil pressure of 3ish at running speeds and 1ish at idle. The new car has an Apollo tank fitted which I seem to remember reading somewhere affected the oil pressure reading, although can't remember why. Does anyone know if this is really the case and if so by how much is it affected. I am just trying to work out if I need to be concerned or not, and need to get it checked, the car was purchased from Caterham so is under their 3 month used warranty. On a related point, with the Apollo I also now get a switch that changes the temperature display between oil and water, this works fine, but what is a reasonable running temperature for the oil, it seems to run between 80 - 100 depending on driving style but I don't really have a benchmark to compare it against. Any advice appreciated. Graham.

As Prisoner says try George Polley, I ordered 2 A048 last Wednesday, despatched Thursday, delivered Friday. Approx £66 each including delivery (185/60*14), took them to my local Stapletons who charged me about £6 each for fitting and balancing.

As a future high mileage motorist I am having to look into buying a diesel tintop, I am looking towards the Golf TDI's. Can anyone explain for me what a "Common Rail Diesel" is and how Volkswagons "Pompe Douce"? (PD) system differs from it. This is out of interest and also trying to work out if Volkswagon's system is the future or just different from everyone elses. Thanks for any info available. Graham. R7 GPK

Jules, bit of a hijack I know but as you already have good answers to your questions I hope no one minds. I am interested in your views on the SuperSport R upgrade, I have been considering this for a while on my standard 1.8K. What is it like in terms of driveability on the road, any views on fuel consumption etc. Anything you have would be appreciated. Thanks. Graham. R7 GPK

Barry, YHM GRaham R7 GPK

Peter, I suspect what Caterham mean is that they will not handle any cars that have non standard modifications done to them (i.e. replacement ECU's), this would make things like trade in impossible so the replacement route becomes more problematical. When I bought mine from Caterham they made great play of the fact that all the cars they sell are either a) Factory built or b) Built from standard, new parts. This clearly affects your ability to sell the car as a large number of buyers turn to Caterham for their cars, there is a market via this forum for all types of 7 including heavily modified examples. Whether non standard modification affects the resale value on this forum is open to debate but I suspect that many people (including myself) would be reticent about buying a car that was non standard. I'll now duck and await the barrage of criticism from those who have gone this route and disagree. For myself I would rather stick to factory approved engine mods and keep all future options open. Graham. R7 GPK

Shaun, they do cover this on the "get to know your 7" day, I did the last one. Front: As Darren says under the cruciform (where the 2 diagonal bars meet the bar across the car), axle stands as far to the outer edge of the cross bar as possible. Rear: As Rupe says in the centre where the A frame meets the De Dion, axle stands under the far outer edge of the A frame where it bolts onto the chassis tube. The De Dion does rise before the car starts lifting. I covered my trolley jack and axle stand tops in bits of carpet so that they didn't damage the powder coating as well. If you are putting the car up on 4 axle stands, do the rear first (chock the front wheels), and be carful when you take it back off the stands it is easy to pull it off the rear stands as you lower it down from the front. Do it slowly and if the rears start to move knock them back square with a hammer. Sorry if teaching grandmother to suck eggs but heard of people damaging their cars by doing this too quickly. Graham. R7 GPK

John, I just went through the same process as yourself, and swapped from AVON ZV1 185/60 HR14 to Yoko A048R, have only done a few miles so far but very impressed, changes the whole character of the car so well worth doing. I got these from George Polley £66 +VAT each plus £10 delivery (next day for all four). One point to note is that at the moment they cannot get hold of 185/60 14's (and they don't know when they are likely to get any more) but do have stock of 195/60 14's. Like Angus I went for these and am very pleased, however I have cycle wings and they are very tight against the stays. I used a bit of manual adjustment (read large hammer) to alter the wing stays enough to stop the tyres rubbing. I don't do very many miles so was happy to put up with the reported tyre wear (3-4000 miles). Good luck. Graham. R7 GPK

Matt, I just got a quote from Powerspeed for a 4-2-1 exhaust for my 1.8K, price is £600 all in (stainless steel, fitted, lead time about 4 weeks). They have a pattern so do not need the car to make the exhaust up, fitting takes about hours. One point to bear in mind is that if you go for their option you will not have a cat so will need to put the old exhaust back on to get through an MOT. They can make up a bespoke one to fit your silencer (with cat) but I have no costs for this. One extra point, I am not sure whether Caterham would regard this as a non standard mod and would therefore not take the car back, but I guess you could put the old one back on but that would leave a big hole in the side of the car. Good luck. Graham. R7 GPK

I have just fitted a BC1400, very easy, took longer for the araldite to secure the magnet to the wheel than to complete the installation. In terms of mounting, I removed the Windscreen Washer switch, the BC1400 fits into the hole after filing a little bit off the mounting bracket. It is nicely in the line of sight and easy to read. One point to be aware of is that there is a little bit of a lag in showing the correct reading (I assume it has built in damping so that you get a steady reading) but it does seem to be very accurate. I set the pickup in a bit of pipe lagging cable tied to the wingstay. All in all very easy and a good solution. Graham. R7 GPK

Rob, I'll take them. Graham. Drop me an e-mail on graham.p.king@talk21.com to sort out payment etc. R7 GPK

My 7 is "Sonic Blue", I think it was a Honda colour not Subaru. It's more of a deep pearlescent blue/purple depending on the light as opposed to the metallic bright blue of the Imprezas. Everyone that sees it remarks on how good the colour looks, and I have never seen another one the same. Don't have anywhere to post pics so can't help there. Graham R7 GPK

Masha, if no one takes the lot I will have the tonneau @ asking price. Graham. e-mail - graham.p.king@talk21.com R7 GPK

Whilst browsing the Caterham website, I came across the following in the "Online Tuning Shop":- Supersport upgrade Power upgrade for the standard EU3 1.6 and 1.8 engines. Includes shift light. 160bhp Supersport R for all 1.6 & 1.8 engines available soon. Two things here, Firstly, as the relatively new owner, of a pre-owned standard 1998 1.8K (bought from Caterham), who had been told he could easily upgrade to SuperSport spec during the winter the addition of the characters "EU3" to the first statement seem to contradict this as I assume mine is an EU2 engine. Secondly, does anyone have any details, including potential cost, on the SuperSport R option, does this apply to all engines as specified or only to EU3 engines as I assume it is an upgrade to the existing SuperSport package. Any opinions welcomed as I was hoping to upgrade mine during the winter and now one potential route appears, on the face of it, to have been removed. Thanks. Graham. R7 GPK

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Jon, I too have a standard roll bar so will be interested in other answers. As to cost, advertised on the Caterham web site. To purchase yourself approx £220, or to have them fit it, including new boot cover, as the FIA bar requires different holes is £375. Not sure if this is body color though (would guess not). Graham. R7 GPK

I have a standard 1.8K Roadsport. According to the manual max revs are 7000, there fore I assume the rev limiter should cut in at this point. My rev limiter cuts in at approx 6200 revs. 1) Is my understanding correct as to where the rev limiter should cut in. 2) If so is it user adjustable, or is this as I suspect a function of the ECU. If so is it something Caterham can correct for me. Graham. R7 GPK

Chris, if the sale of the wind deflectors falls through drop me an e-mail, I will have them. Graham. R7 GPK

James, I too have suffered the same problem, I have owned a 1.8K Roadsport for all of 6 weeks now, oil pressures very similar on both idle and running when warm (2 bar idle 4-4.5 bar when running). When checking the level I have found it impossible to read the dipstick accurately. The only way I have found is to see if oil is in the notch in the dipstick showing the correct level, I have found this easier to check out of direct sunlight (eg in the garage). If anyone else has any better suggestions I too would be interested, but having read previous postings on oil pressure I think yours are fine. Graham. R7 GPK