guilleracing

Well,,,,,,, not being a physicist I couldn't comment on the relative conductivity of Copper against Alloy Aluminium. I am only speaking from a point of view of personal experience. I do have 30 years experience of motor racing at National level and have found by experimentation, that Alloy Radiators of the same dimensional size differences in construction aside, do reduce the overall temperature in service. It is a proven fact for example the the 1982 Van Diemen RF82 FF2000 overheats in temperatures over 30 deg ambient air temperature with Copper Radiators. They do not overheat with Alloy Radiators. The units must be identical as the FIA regulations demand parity. I know this to be a fact as I have one of these. The radiator situation is a well tried and trusted "Fix" with these cars. I also have a FVJ 1600 which I have re-radiatored like for like as the space is limited and the results are the same. I am not a techno bod on paper, I can only tell you what works in the real world. To be fair I would use Copper ones as they are cheaper but my experience tells me the Alloy ones work better. Given the indicated superiority of Copper over Alloy Aluminium, I am bound to ask if there is a reason Formula 1 teams don't use the material in their radiators. Money can't be an issue with them! 😬

There is a VERY minimal saving in weight, not really worth any performance gain however, an alloy radiator will radiate heat at a faster rate than a copper one. We have had a fair bit of experience of cooling issues on racing single seaters. Without exception and alloy radiator of the same size radiates heat more efficiently than a copper one. A further improvement is to use a special paint that increases to exchange of heat but it may not be worth the extra expense. I would recommend going for the alloy one simply because of my many good experiences with them. Greg.

The best before date is there solely for FIA level motor sport competitions. Seats and seatbelts are "life limited" to 4 years only. This requrement does include circuit racing for seatbelts, ( not sure about seats ) in the UK but NOT hill climbing. I change my belts regularly as they are a cheap bit of safety, however I know of a chap who is hill climbing here in the Islands, with a set that were originally made in 1995. There are probably much older seat belts still in use! Makes me shudder! Most hill climbers cut the date labels out. I guess Common Sense would be to take in to account their visible condition when checking their suitability for use. I recently had a mint set that went to a kit car owner that were over ten years old but due to their condition still worked and looked like new. Greg.

I can 100% guarantee the 106 discs can be installed inside a 13 inch wheel. I have done this many times. MG Metro calipers work perfectly. You can also use Caterham OE calipers as well. The missing bit is the hand brake mechanism. I am about to order up a new batch of 106 discs to make up a couple of new set ups. I will get some extra discs and do something for the Escort axle. Greg.

Hi Phil, I haven't yet researched this in any great depth but Peugeot 106 rear discs are just the job at 247mm and Ford stud pattern.I have done a number of rear disc set ups with them in the past. For me too there is plenty room to re-drill them 3" 3/4" PCD. Calipers are again a bit of a open subject, I have seen some small ones on a new Audi, probably VW Golf size as well. 13" wheels always cause clearance problems as most new car manufacturers don't use them. I don't think they need to be very powerful as there is no weight on that end of the car. I have looked in the past at go-kart calipers for a hand brake as they are cable operated and you could use a very small caliper for the foot brakes. This would get inside a 13" wheel. Greg.

Thanks for the info, I must admit I have not checked the exact width of the axles. We have done many similar projects with Clubmans Sports Racing cars, your idea will work perfectly. I would use 7082 alloy material for the spacer/stud mountings. I plan to put the discs on the outside of the shaft and adjust the width with a spacer as well. Greg.

Maybe in the UK they are but I am on Guernsey and I already have a set plus a spare Ital pattern for the car. (Ultra light magnesium genuine Minilites) I am not really going to want to change those for something else am I ? Plus it means I can keep the same stud pattern front and rear without changing the front hubs. This means I can keep only one spare wheel on the car. Edited by - guilleracing on 5 Sep 2011 19:26:31

I am in the process of upgrading my live axle car but want to retain as many of the "Period" looking parts as possible. One part of the upgrade is to go for a Ford axle in place of the ital one. I plan to run in some historic events in France next year and would like the peace of mind in knowing the axle won't fail with me far from home! I have discovered that Quaife Engineering can supply blank drive flanges for their English axle conversion kits. I guess some might wonder why you would go to the trouble but it does save on changing a complete set of wheels. It also means that If I ever sell the car, I can revert back to the original parts in as short a time as possible. Big for Quaife Engineering. Greg.

Thanks for the advice Eugene. I was planning on taking some careful measurements and machining up a jig in the CNC mill. Then clamping a drill onto the frame to make sure everything is parallel. Thanks Giles, I think that method of fitting the wishbones will do the trick nicely! Cheers, Greg. Edited by - guilleracing on 5 Sep 2011 10:38:43

Right! I am going to put this together like this for now but when I get a moment to spare, I am going to make a drilling jig and turn the spigot bobbins in the bottom into simple drilled holes through the chassis so I can just use a bolt! Whoever came up with this idea should be shot! Then Shot again! Greg.

On my chassis the front "bolt" is a spigot fixed to the chassis. It doesn't appear to come off! There is a 5/16th bolt that fixes into this and retains the rubber bush in the wishbone. You have to physically bend the wishbone and deform the front rubber bush to get it in! I can't believe this is how the wishbone is fitted. If it is, this is truly the worst piece of "Design" I have ever seen! Greg. Irrespective of how many Caterham sevens have been sold, this is poor design.

I guess you are right, I shall get my measuring tape out! Cheers. Greg.

I recently took the lower wishbones off my series 3 to have them re powder coated. They were the devils own job to get off! They are nice and shiney now! But, and here's the problem How to get them back on. The side skin is preventing me putting them back on. What am I doing wrong?

Following on from my recent post on fitting a Zetec to my Seven. Just is case I can find a sierra gearbox I may just upgrade to a Ford Escort axle all as one project. Does anyone know what combination of propshaft will work with this set up. Is it worth asking CC or should I go with a specialist like Reco-Prop? Greg.

The situation with poor service in the channel island shops in general is one of long standing. Because there is 150 miles between us and the UK mainland shops locally have been protected from competition to a large extent. If you didn't like the service, there was nowhere else to go! Also, jumping up and down is a bit different, if you live on an island 9 miles by 5 miles. If you shout and swear at someone, unfortunately you are bound to see them next week and the week afterwards. Secondly they are related to loads of other people you need to do business with and all you end up with is an escalating problem. Oh, and by the way, the "Manager" works from one of the other islands and you have to make an appointment for him to come over for you to speak with him! I have found that as frustrating as it may be, the internet is the best thing that ever happened to retailing here. At least I can look things up on the 'net and most of the time get it for about a quarter of the local price. Anyway, I'm off to start saving to get the zetec under way. I can't wait to try an extra 60HP! Cheers! Greg. Edited by - guilleracing on 4 Sep 2011 15:33:13

I know this will sound severe but the local ford dealers parts man once reduced a mates wife to tears over a pinto cam cover gasket so I won't hold out any great hopes! I recently went in there for a pair of brake pad retaining spring for a ford van and was told "Don't come back without a registration paper!" I would certainly NEVER ask my wife to collect something for me from them! If you don't have the details to hand, don't ask for help!

Thanks Phil I have been in touch with Retro Ford for some other bits and they were really good. I will give them a call tomorrow. Greg.

Hi Guys, Thanks for the info. I have discovered a really active "Historic" scene in Brittany close to where I live in the Channel Islands. The French classic car clubs allow Caterham sevens in to their meetings without question. I am looking to make my seven more reliable and not really more powerful than the original. I won't be doing any tyre smoking antics. They do a French version of weekend "Blats" but they don't involve any life threatening speeds! I am sure what I am planning to start with won't stress the mechanicals too much. I do plan to upgrade to a Ford axle and a sierra 'box but this is for the future. I plan to use the megajolt ignition and most of the raceline install kit as funds allow. I do plan to use a light flywheel as the original one that came with the Black top engine I have here weighs about 10 kilos all up. I am keen to have any info however as living here in the islands, makes life hard when it comes to sourcing parts like alternators and starters etc. Our local ford agent will not supply parts unless you have a full registration number and full chassis/engine number from the donor car! Cheers, Greg.

Hi Phil, Thanks for the reply. I have started to take off all the un-needed bits. The engine came from a breaker and was pretty clean, I will change the cambelt as a precaution and start working out a shopping list. I want to retain the original type 2 gearbox as I want to retain the "Old Look" of the car. I would welcome any tips on installing the engine like the type of alternator to use etc. Greg..

Well, it has finally arrived here. I have a 1999 Ford Zetec 2000 focus engine. The engine has some sensors on it, a coil pack and not a lot else. We have people started in the past as far as a shopping list for bits to install this? Any info, gratefully received. Greg.

Reading this has reminded me that bad luck does not always fall on my doorstep! I recently had a similar experience with a "New" battery. Mine was made a little worse as it was in a race hire car, we had shipped to a circuit in France for some clients to run for two days. Thank goodness I had a spare! New doesn't not always mean fault free!

I have had a look at this and it is bizarre!! If I might add something to Stuarts description of the fault. Firstly, this has nothing to do with a bent throttle pedal and nothing to do with a "wrong cable" If you take both away from the equation the real problem remains. The cable is correctly fitted and adjusted. The throttle pedal is as it came from the factory and undamaged. The throttle quadrant where the cable is attached at the TB end, clearly rotates to a point where it catches the main bracket /assembly attached to the throttle spindle and opens the butterflies. At the moment there is a light spring is holding the quadrant in a position relative to the throttle body butterfly spindle about 35 degrees away from contacting the spindle bracket. This means that the pedal needs to rotate the throttle quadrant about 35 degrees round before actually opening the butterflies. It is as if something has slipped or jumped round. The rest of the attachments appear to be securely mounted and not to have slipped. Any thoughts would help Stuart as this is not a simple problem and is a real head scratcher! Greg.

Yes this is a very well known effect of removing the rocker cover. It is a common happening when people fit a shiny polished cover and forget to do something proper with the breather pipe. Greg. Edited by - guilleracing on 28 Jun 2011 07:12:00

Brilliant, Thank you very much Nick!

I have a very standard series 3. The ARB makes part of the top wishbone/link I plan to change over to a top wishbone and more modern ARB. What bits do I need to change to go for a wide track at the same time. Cheers, Greg.