Ferrino

Does anyone have a set of windscreen wiper arms + blades which they no longer need? To fit a 1989 Live Axle. Cheers

There seems to be an intermittent problem with my webspace at the moment - try again later......

Yeah, we were watching at Quarry when the crash happened - the Lotus driver was incredibly lucky to escape with all limbs. Here's a crappy photo I took of the M Coupe lying on the Lotus

One of what? Cheers for the tickets this morning BTW

I would now like to start using my Seven without the spare wheel, but the wheel has left a hideous black circle, which looks pretty bad on my white paintwork. See here. Anyone have any ideas of how to get rid of it (short of new paint job)? I have already attacked with some polish, which removed the freshest residue, but it still looks terrible. Cheers!

Good effort

I have been driving a Brooklands-equipped Caterham for the past 2 months without a helmet (just my trusty Wiley XL-1 goggles) and it has been a blast. Been hit by a couple of insects, but nothing too painful. Mainly for short blats, but have done a 220 mile blat with no probs. At speed you can tuck under the screens a little, as long as you're not too tall! I think I would rather fit my full windscreen than resort to wearing a helmet when driving the Cat on the road. It just wouldn't feel 'right' to me. An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Nigel - YHM. Strange that RAW said they didn't know of any Toyota Caterhams in UK, as I was in touch with them about mine a couple of weeks back! Now I really must get back to the beach An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Yep, Belgom is pretty good stuff for ali. You can order it here. An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows. Dwight D. Eisenhower Edited by - Ferrino on 25 Jul 2003 18:09:24

So did Simon drive from Barry or did Barry drive from Simon? Question: who the hell is Geoff? An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows. Dwight D. Eisenhower

On the lookout for a Caterham build manual which would be suitable for a 1989 Caterham Classic (Live Axle). I understand that build manuals are not specific to rear axle and that any pre-1996 manual should suit my car. Please contact me at: aqsp47@dsl.pipex.com. Cheers! An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Ian B - YHM! An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Be careful with the wireless bike computers. I am currently looking to install a bike speedo and thought the wireless models would be perfect, but I think you need a clear line-of-sight between the magnet sensor and the display unit. Also, the range of the unit I looked at was 70cm, far too short to go from wheel to dash. Even if you didn't need a clear line-of-sight, when you throw all the interruptions from the electrics/ignition system into the equation, I think this will corrupt the signal too much for an accurate reading? Please correct me if I am talking crap! I have been looking into the possibility of using a Palm Pilot as a speedo, as there is a company that makes software and sensors/magnets to turn your PDA into a digital speedo/odometer/navigator. Don't know if anyone has tried this with a car, but it looks like a pretty cool toy and I guess you could program it to do nerdy things like 0-60 timings. I have no reason to replace the VDO analogue speedo, as it seems to be working well, I am just a sad geek who has a bit too much time on his hands at the moment! Website here 😬 An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows. Dwight D. Eisenhower

No, I completely appreciate that your criticisms are genuine Chris. The adjustability of LED brightness in day/night was something that concerned me, but I didn't really consider the short bandwidth of that model. A wider range of RPM values and an earlier 'warning' would definitely be an advantage. Well, I e-mailed a few installation questions to the company who make the Rev-Lite device (such as length of wires.....) and they suggested that I should first buy the product and then ask them questions when I get round to installing it! Superb advice . Edited by - Ferrino on 11 Jul 2003 14:20:00

Does anyone have any experience of this shift light system? I think it's available in the UK for about £70-00. An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Being new to the Seven experience, I was wondering what the best way to downshift is? I mean, say you are moving from 5th gear to a standstill, do most people tend to shift through each gear, or do some 'skip' gears, say jumping from 3rd to 1st? I am talking about road use only. Personally, I use each gear when downshifting, as I just find it more satisfying, moving through all the gears and hearing the changes kick in. I guess you get the added engine braking too. Would be interested to hear if either method is better/worse for component wear/stress etc....... Thanks An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Thanks for all the replies! I am currently considering Chris W's great-looking shift lights...... Does anyone have a link to any shift light installation webpages? Am wondering how easy it would be to install it myself, bearing in mind that the most electronic work I have ever done to my 7 is replacing the battery and am clueless when it comes to wiring! An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows. Dwight D. Eisenhower

If you live anywhere near Wiltshire, there is a shop at Castle Combe where you can try on karting/racing boots. Link to website I got mine here and am glad I did 'cos I went a size below my normal shoe size for a nice tight fit. Edit: Just realised you live in W Sussex....... Edited by - Ferrino on 9 Jul 2003 08:28:09

I have been thinking how useful it would be to fit a set of gear shift lights to my dash and was wondering what the easiest/most popular system to install on a Caterham is? I am looking for one of the boxes with 4 or 5 lights which build up in increments as you approach a programmable rev-limit. I have no idea what signals these boxes feed off or how much wiring needs to be done, but I would like to install it myself if possible. Do I have to use my EMS (I have EMS-controlled ignition with carbs) or can I avoid it and just use other parts of the ignition/tachometer to send the rev signal? A brief idiot's guide to how shift lights work would be great! Thanks a lot. An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Thanks for the replies. I eventually invested in a proper spark plug socket and found this soooooo much easier than the dinky little blue Halfords tool. Used a little bit of WD40 to help out too. The electrodes on the plugs all looked quite dark when I had a look at them. There's a really crap piccie of one of them here Cheers. An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Anyone got any tips on how to tempt plugs out of the cylinder head? I have an alloy cylinder head and am told that too much force can destroy the threads = catastrophe. Well, I have managed to get 1 of the 4 out with reasonable force, using a Halfords spark plug remover tool (the thing with the blue handle and spark plug socket on the end). The other 3 are not budging and I am tempted to just leave the buggers in there now. An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Sounds a bit like what happened to me this morning - everything fine then all of a sudden it sounded like World War III in my silencer and the carbs sounded like spitting lamas, not to mention having to coast home at a snail's pace. Turns out one of the cylinders was not firing because I managed to drench it's spark plug in water when washing it the previous night. Plus the HT lead was really loose on the plug. I would advise checking the spark plugs and the HT lead conections first - this is what was suggested to me. An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Well I decided to take a peek at the spark plugs and number 2 was up to it's neck (well, the nut you fasten it with) in water! I don't know if this meant that it wasn't firing and hence chucking all the unburned fuel into the exhaust, but after stuffing a bit of kitchen towel down there (ony the exposed part of the plug) to dry it up, the car seems to be running fine now. Do you think I should replace the spark plug now? It's also very easy to pull the number 4 HT lead off it's plug while removing/reattaching the bonnet........ Anyway, hoping to take it for a blat later to verify everything is OK. Thanks a lot for hinting at the spark plug. An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Thanks - I have just dried out the foam air filters in case they still had water in them...... I also checked that all of the HT leads were secured to the spark plugs firmly and one of them fell off the top of the spark plug with a mere brush of my hand! I am hoping that this is the culprit, but if not, how do I check that each plug is sparking correctly? An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Took the 7 out for a short drive just now. After about a minute, I seemed to lose power (really hesitant, jerky acceleration) and the exhaust started popping and banging whenever I went over 2,000 RPM - I even heard some 'spitting' noises coming from the carbs. I was able to drive home at 30mph in 4th gear and am now wondering what the problem could be? The exhaust has never popped or banged before, not even on the overrun. The only thing that has happened to the car since it's last run was that I washed the car - I used a hose pipe to gently rinse the car and tried to minimise contact with the engine, although some water did get onto the air filters. Could this be the problem? Water getting into the carbs? I also changed the battery yesterday, but don't think this could be the problem...... Thanks for your help! An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows. Dwight D. Eisenhower