AndrewGP

Brand new silicone bottom radiator hose for dry sumped cars, but pretty sure it fits wet sumped cars too. CC Part Number 30C079A. £15 http://www.caterhamparts.co.uk/img/p/4900-5444-large.jpg

Second dibs please if Culminator changes his mind.

Well I took the car the very long way to work and back this morning and I'm glad to say it's all fixed 😬 The misfire and flickering rpm gauge has gone and must have been the loose alternator lead. The new relay, leads and solenoid have also finally sorted the K Click out. I must have switched the car on and off at least 20 times whilst it was red hot and it started on the button every time. No more sitting in petrol stations looking like a berk 😬 I'd also like to say a massive thanks to Andrew (Revilla) for taking lots of time over the last few months to try to work out what's going on with my MFRU wiring and ultimately help me sort out the K Click issue, it's much appreciated I did find something you may find useful in the future so will drop you an email later on too.

Thanks Tim Whilst my relay mod is sound and the relay nice and tight in the housing, I may have solved the erratic rpm issue. The solenoid arrived today (great service from Woods Auto) and I fitted it this afternoon to the starter and put the whole lot back on the car. Whilst I was refitting the solenoid wiring, I discovered the nyloc holding the feed wire on the alternator was loose It was quite obvious that the ring terminal would have been able to vibrate quite a bit, making and breaking the connection. Would this likely be the cause of the flickering rpm needle and associated misfire? On the separate K Click issue, I'll finish the job tomorrow and take the car out for a blat to see if this has been solved, but with a new relay, a new solenoid and new wiring I bloomin' hope so 😬 Steve, many thanks, I've checked the knurled ring on the starter button and it's nice and tight. Never heard that one before so very useful to know

I actually phoned them up on the off chance the website wasn't correct, it wasn't and they had one in stock 😬

Update I've checked all the chassis earths both visually and with a meter and they're all fine, I had cleaned them all up over the winter with emery paper so I thought they'd still be ok. The alternator is charging the battery OK and the voltage drop from the rpm gauge negative and the battery negative was also zero. So I've now taken the primaries off the car and had a look at the starter and alternator wiring and it's all in a pretty bad state to be honest! So the next job is to make some up new wiring. I've also ordered a new SND1250 solenoid from Wood Auto and fingers crossed this should sort the problem of the starting and the flickering rev counter. I'll report back when I've got it all back together! Edited by - grenpayne on 22 Jul 2014 16:39:48

Hi Andrew, OK will do. BTW sent you an email ref K-Click last week, did you get it at all? Morning Jonathan, car is EU3 and standard R300 MBE unit, remapped by Northampton Motorsport earlier this year. I did recently fit a relay to bypass the ignition relay in the MFRU, however I did notice the RPM gauge flickering the blat before I fitted it. It was only a momentary thing though and I dismissed it at the time. However, I'll check it along with the earths. We have family over very soon, so I'll report back this afternoon.

Went out for a blat this morning and half way round, the RPM gauge started to get very erratic, swinging randomly between 0 and full scale deflection. Associated with this was the speedo needle started swinging about (but not as much as the RPM) and there was a pronounced misfire, ie the car got quite juddery and wouldn't pull cleanly. I managed to limp the car home and it's now sat looking guilty on the drive 😬 I've checked the wiring on the back of the gauge but a quick look through the archives suggests it could be the crank position sensor. Is there any way to test this out? Anything else I should be looking at? On a separate note (as I think it's unrelated) it's recently started to pop and bang on the over-run when before it never did - should I look at changing the TPS?

Chris, you need to speak to David Masters at Bilstein on 01455 283407. I'm not sure of the office address though as they've recently moved to new premises. I had all four of mine done over the winter and was very pleased with the results. Edited to add: turnaround time is 2 to 3 weeks. Edited by - grenpayne on 15 Jul 2014 22:28:56

Ah right, thanks Dave So I could disconnect it then with no ill effects?

Chris, why not send them back to Bilstein for a refurb? Its £80+VAT per corner and they come back like new.

Any ideas what the little black box is on the top RHS of the picture just above the DS tank? It's the one between the DS tank and the MFRU and it has 3 wires going to it via a green plug and it also has what looks like a hose connector on top, although no hose is fitted. Is it some sort of air pressure sensor?

Jon, YHM.

Whatsup, will do but I'm currently serving in Afghanistan and not home for almost 3 weeks. What I will do is up load it to Dropbox on my return to the UK and post the link here so it's freely available.

Graham, I take you're both running mech oil pressure gauges so comparing like for like? Also I found that the oil level made quite a difference to the amount the oil pressure dropped. Perhaps worth checking your oil levels are identical and retesting to see if the luminova is making a difference. In the end, because I'd spent a lot of money getting my engine rebuilt and also because I was fed up of seeing it drop on the road (I've not done any track days since the engine was worked on) I bit the bullet and bought one of the last of the CC K Series dry sump kits. Yes it was expensive but I view it as an investment and now I get more enjoyment out of the car not worrying about right hand corners. FYI, CC do have several kits still in stock as I've only just done my car. Appreciate that probably isn't the answer you wanted though

Ian, YHM

Big for Solutions Racing. They set my car up a few weeks ago post my winter refresh and I'm delighted with the result. They're reasonably priced, very friendly and will talk you though how you want the car to feel. Highly recommended. Edited by - grenpayne on 30 May 2014 07:51:47

I'm after a pair if windscreen stanchions, preferably in black and a pair of side screen doors with mirrors and the hinge attachments. All for an S3. Please drop me an email to grenpayne @ hotmail.com (I'm abroad right now) if you have some for sale. Thanks, Andrew

Quoting mechanicalmoz: Any feedback on this yet Grenpayne? I'm looking to replace my ailing Banner and am trying to decide between the PVR and Ultramax. I think it boils down to whether or not I want the PVR bracket or just modify the existing one so any advice on fitting either is appreciated. I intend to fit the new battery where the Banner is, K series car with the battery on top of the passenger footwell. So far, so good. Starts the car with ease and was easy to install where the heater used to go. I had the cage powdercoated and I keep it plugged in to a CTek 5.0 Battery Conditioner as I have an immobiliser.

Not us Darren, we were back home by 1pm and me and my 7 year old son were sat on the sofa watching the BTCC at Thruxton by the time you were out 😬

Seen today at 12.15pm going towards Hungerford on the B4192. We were in the blue Octavia VRS with the filthy muddy bikes on the back, gave you a flash and a

YHM

Probably worth getting the TB balanced with a flow meter to see what's happening, as well as having a look at the TPS.

Quoting grenpayne: Scott, my car is being flat-floored and corner weighted at Solutions Racing tomorrow. They see plenty of Sevens and I know several on here have used them too, equally I spoke to Peter the owner on the phone and he seemed a thoroughly nice chap. They are near Witney in Oxfordshire. I'll let you know how I get on Got the car back late this afternoon, Peter came and collected it from my work on a trailer and brought it back too Long story short, I'd dead chuffed as we talked through for ages the best way to set it up for my needs and that's what he did. It feels great and if I'm not happy with it in the coming weeks he's happy to have it back to make the changes. Price was excellent and he even gave me a bit more off as a new customer. All in all, highly recommended

Is it possible to swap the older flat square expansion bottle (like this one on Angus and Tessa's website here) with the newer style round one shown here? Mine's looking quite scruffy and could do with changing. Is it a one for one swap? If so, is the round one a Ford part and where's the cheapest place to get it?