Graham Sewell

I understand that this is not advisable because if the hylomar dislodges and gets into any of the channels or jets, then it is difficult to find/remove. But I am happy to be told that I am wrong. Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!

PIAA are excellent wipers. The wiper assembly is very well contructed and stiff - so the blade is on the windscreen more of the time. The silicon blades do not smear as much as the old rubber and they coat the windscreen like Rain-X More importantly, they last for ages. Most rubber blades seem to last one year if you are lucky. My PIAA are now three years old and still working well. Best safety upgrade that I have done to a tintop in ages. Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!

or Comma Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!

Or switch manufacturer to Champion in which case any of the N9Y range of plugs. Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!

There is a letter in this month's CSMA mag from the driver of a 1989 Honda Prelude and after covering a total of 99,000 miles from new, he has given the car one oil change and is still on his first cam belt, set of tyres, exhaust, brake pads and brake fluid. Suffice to say that I would not like him driving behind me.... Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud! Edited by - Graham Sewell on 12 Nov 2009 08:04:07

The intermittant wiper module was built by the Prince Of Darkness and is no longer available. It was also prone to failure if it got even mildly damp with shorts to Earth causing it to stop all wiper action. Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!

If they are the bolts holding the manifold to the engine, then just match the size/thread from Namrick. If you are refering to the studs that hold the carbs to the manifold, then maybe a stud pack will get you out of trouble. Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!

If you are going to do this upgrade, it may be worth looking at the adjustable ARB from Freestyle that can be fitted using a pair of milled aluminium blocks. Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!

First thing tha I would do is get the car on a rolling road to see that you are getting the level of performance that should be standard (135bhp). If not, try to work out why. One of the most common issues is the dizzy that Caterham used does not have an optimal advance curve and this can be changed quite easily by sending the dizzy back to Aldon (assuming it is one of theirs) for a remap. Also, be quite fussy on valve clearances and ignition timing at idle - can make huge differences. Check the jets in the Webers. Caterham have always been slightly conservative on their choices. You can use Dave Andrews jetting program which is available from various sites on the web. Once this is done, and if you still need more power then look at an exchange head from Vulcan and possibly an uprated cam (Kent 244?). As others have said, for driveability, a 3D mapped ignition will help with mid range even if it does not give any more top-end power. Before you think about engine transplants, consider if it would be more cost effective to change the car as many people still like an original xflow car even if it is not the fastest car on the market any more. Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!

Well that was an interesting day..... If you recall, my symptoms started last May when I dragged the car out of the garage for the first time in months to get an MOT. It was starting to misfire slightly then (although that felt like a carb imbalance issue)). While trying to balance the carb, one of the ignition leads broke hence needing a replacement set. The fitting of the set required hours of messing around trying to get the dizzy cap off, leads swapped, dizzy cap on (which required unlocking the timing to get to the second clip, the leads to spontaneously leap off the cap and need to be put back on blind. Finally I drove the car a couple of hundred yards to the petrol station to fill with petrol. So which of these was the culprit of my major misfire?????? The most serious contender was the petrol. I know this as the tank was nearly empty yesterday morning, so I filled with super unleaded (usual Texaco brew) and two miles later my misfire could not be reproduced! So I turned up as Chris Wheeler feeling like a fool - to put it mildly. Chris then suggested that he put the car on the Sun engine analyzer (Krypton tuning of old) and pronounced that my timing was 4' retarded, I had a minor carb imbalance and my idle mix was too weak. So with these all corrected, I headed home with a car that pulls like a train and does not misfire. Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!

I always use Demon Tweeks. Ask for Dave Kimberley for any Caterham related bits. Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!

I may be way off base, but I seem to remember that the original hood did not have clear screens in the rear quarters and needed different doors. Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!

I have not been around for the last week or two, and the car is booked in with Chris Wheeler on 2nd Oct. So hopefully a spirited drive home will ensue. Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!

For a supersprint any of the Champion N9Y range will work (resistor and copper core are both cheap options but not strictly necessary). The biggest benefit of the Champion plug is that it has a wide heat range so that it gets hotter close to idle due to the extended nose and thereby keeps cleaner, but runs cooler at higher speeds (if the blurb is to be believed). Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!

Not sure why you want to spend so much money.... Start with Dave Andrews' jetting program from here and be realistic over your expectations for the engine in terms of max revs and whether you want drivability for the road or out-and-out power for the track. Ensure that your valve timing and ignition timing are correctly set up. Get these jets in place and then it is only a minor deal to balance the carbs and set the idle mixture (OK the last part can be a little bit of a pain but there are many prior postings on how to do that). If things still aren't quite 100% - then check that the carbs are not mounted too tightly (causes the fuel to foam in the float chamber causing starvation) and that the floats are set correctly. Only then, pay serious money to garages. Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!

It may be worth checking for any current usage while the engine is off (eg immobilisers) to check if these draw enough current to drain the battery over the 2 days. I notice that your battery is barely more than 50% of the size specified by CC - 18AH vs 30AH - so any current drain will be more noticeable. I do not know the consequences on a modern engine, but a battery master switch could be useful in reducing this current to nil. Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud! Edited by - Graham Sewell on 17 Aug 2009 15:28:23

Took my usually trust steed out for the first decent run this summer after a few minor glitches early. Recent work included swapping the spark plug leads - which entailed resetting the dizzy as I couldn't get the cap on properly while the dizzy was in place. As the car was mostly stationary for 6 months with a nearly empty tank, I filled the car with petrol at the start of the journey. It became noticable that under hard acceleration above 5000rpm in 3rd or 4th gears that i was getting a major misfire. If I let up slightly, the misfire goes away and I can keep going to 6000rpm (in 3rd at least for obvious legal reasons). Now I can see a few options for causes: 1. a dodgy spark plug lead 2. a dodgy spark plug 3. dirty fuel has partially blocked a main jet or acceleration jet. 4. dying alternator leading to a flattening battery - although I would expect to be stranded before 100miles Point 3 and 4 are relatively easy to check, but 1 and 2 are a bit trickier. I am hoping that the dirty fuel is the cause as I can clean the jets easily enough and hope that it does not happen again. If it was dirty fuel, then I guess a new fuel filter will be in order.... Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!

Ruff, Why bother drilling out the strap mountings? I just did not bother to use the top hat washers and the screws fitted perfectly. Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!

or 082439: Cibie H180 H4 7" Headlight with Sidelight, Right Hand Drive from http://www.motoscope.co.uk/lighting.htm These are the original equipment and I still like them. Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!

Just means that you have a 2-d map rather than a 3-d map in the ECU. That being the case, there is probably very little advantage over a distributor based system. Even the hallowed Weber system could be run as a 2-d system, albeit with the option of adding a thottle position sensor into the system at a later date. Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!

As you do not need to tighten down - could you not just use a couple of pieces of 3/8" or 10mm wooden dowel - head bolts are 7/16" UNC so the dowel should be a snug fit to lower the gasket and head over. or 2 of these Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud! Edited by - Graham Sewell on 18 Jun 2009 17:41:48

Green/Ali car. Tried sying hello but the driver was in the supermarket before I got close to the car. Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!

Another method that I use is "on the rock" - so when 1&2 are both just closed on the overlap (i.e. 1 is just closed and 2 is just starting to open), then 7&8 can be adjusted together. This allows you to work one cylinder at time, rather than either working out which exhaust valve and which inlet valve work in tandem and then use the rule of nine on these. Or you could work on 8 turns of the engine rather than 4. On my engine, both methods do yield the same result (+/- 0.001in). Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!

Two questions after I replaced the ignition leads following the plug end of one falling apart. 1. when trying to set the timing dynaically using a strobe, I noticed that I was getting shocks off the dizzy - not major but irritating. Is this normal or do I need a new dizzy cap? 2. While setting the timing, my strobe died and I had to resort to setting static timing. How far off am I likely to be? Do I need to get a new strobe or will it be sufficiently accurate? I tried to get a new strobe from Halfrauds but they now say that it is too specialist for them to bother stocking! Burton do one for £40 and Tools-n-all do one for £18. Cheers, Graham Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!

The only thing that a voltmeter would have helped me with was when the rectifier went phut and started charging my battery at more than 18V completely frying the battery. This would have told me to stop pdq, and get a new alternator rather than get stranded somewhere in Hampshire. Cheers, Graham ------ Low tech luddite - xflow and proud!