Ian Macquarie

Hi both, Thanks for your help. did not have much time for internet searches this morning. Current situation: Alternator tension strut braced against timing cover bolts and alternater adjusted to give sufficient tension on fan belt. A "radweld" type substance (not sure which one) added to radiator - The leak is now sealed - 160 miles covered today without loss of coolant. My dilema now is carry on like this - which has some risk or to try to effect a "propper repair" which could lead to further problems resulting in a non-running car. At the moment I think I prefer the former option - at least until it starts to leak again (if it does). I have managed to get some 5/16" bolts from an agricultural repair place which I could possibly use but have not sourced the 1/4" bolts which may also shear if I try to undo them. Now need to source cardboard for a make shift gasket - I should then have what I would need if I do need to try to replace the bolt before getting back home Ian

Hi, I'm in France with a sheared water pump bolt on my X/Flow. I belive that the water pump bolt, which also holds the alternator strut is 5/16" UNC - Could someone tell me what length I need and whether it is actually a bolt or a hex head set screw. - Just for completion, the length of the two 1/4" bolts may also be helpful. Any help appreciated. Thanks Ian

A long shot I know but does anyone have a set for sale? Ian

This is from the build manual for a 1990 Dedion - The wiring diagram title is.. Super Seven series 111 Jan 1988 Radiator Fan 15...... Empty.......................... R/H side lights & Instruments 7.5 Wipers 15.............Indicator / Hazards 10........L/H side lights 5 Heater 10.............Horn 20..........................Main Beam 15 Brake Lights 10......Heated Screen 10...............Dip Beam 15 Hope that helps Ian Edited to try to make it clearer - 3 columns 4 rows. Edited by - Ian Macquarie on 11 Jun 2012 23:19:35

I had this a few times. My solution was to cable tie the offending connector(s) in place. Getting the cable tie through the grill in the back of the alternator was not easy and you may consider it a bit of a bodge - but I havn't had problems since. Ian

I think the flow is in the oposite direction to how you describe it - out of the block at the inlet manifold and back to the engine just prior to the water pump. Agree with ECR unlikely to have caused a problem. You may find that water level keeps dropping for a while until air is all expelled from the heater - the design is not good from an air lock point of view. Ian

You should have blat mail - if not let me know on here Ian

Yes Please Chris, I'll have it. It looks as though I'll have to dispense with "dibs" and just re-sell it if it doesn't fit my 1990 car. Ian

When I first built my car (a 1990 De dion with the two diagonal links instead of the A-Frame and two Y16 bushes inserted into the De dion tube where they connected) I did the 1/2" bolt up to 40ftlb as per the general guide (there was no specific value in the Assembly Guide). When the car went in for the post build check they told me that I had overtightened the bolt and it should have been done up sufficiently to compress the rubber bushes but not completely so as to leave room for some angular twist as one side of the tube goes up and down. Since then I have never used a torque wrench here but tightened it by judgement - probably compressing the visible part of the bush by a couple of mm for each bush. There may be other ways of judging this, but certainly at the time, Caterham told me that I had it too tight when I used the normal guideline for 1/2" UNF bolt. I'd be interested to hear other views. Regards Ian

I'm reasonably sure that they are 1/2" UNF Ian

Details ar OK, payment and PM on their way to you. Ian

Yes Please - how do we go about arranging payment and delivery? Ian

Jon, Yes, front is secured with a bolt through the bushes, spacer and chassis. Manual says rear bolt is 1/2" X 3 1/2" bolt, washer and nyloc. "inserting the bolt from the rear with the washer under its head." Front bolt is 1/2" X 4", plain washer and nyloc. "Fit the bolt from the front with the washer under its head, securing with the nyloc nut from behind. Do not fully tighten at this stage. Ian

Alex, First, have you got Y9 and Y16 identified correctly? Of the two in front of me at the moment, the Y9 is longer and the metal insert is a straight tube (Y9 is moulded into the rubber) The Y16 is shorter and the metal insert covers one end face as well as the centre hole. On my 1990 Dedion the build manual instructions were to fit two half bushes and a spacer. The parts list has 4 Y16 and 2 Y9 - The Y9 are used at the end of the anti-roll bar on the 1990 setup. However last time I bought bushes from Caterham they initially gave me 4 Y9 for the lower wishbones (I changed them to Y16 to match the original build). I think they have have used both systems over time. Ian

Alex, Are the carbs moving relative to each other? I had this problem when I first had my car. I made a plate that fitted across the two carbs behind the air filters. This effectively meant that the two carbs had to stay in the same position relative to each other (though they were still flexibly mounted and could move up and down a bit, as they should.)- I rarely, if ever had to adjust the balance after that. Ian

I can't answer your question directly, but the banner website has this list of dimensions, details and terminal layouts which may help. http://www.bannerbatteries.com/banner/files/TypenlisteStarterbatterienGB.pdf Ian

but...(Actually I’m on the second! – and in danger of getting my posting record changed)... ”It measures torque in ftlb up the rev (of the RR machine) range as well as transmission losses in ftlb down the way. It adds the two together and produces a graph of torque up the side against a linear scale along the bottom. That produces the shape” I agree up to this point. “and magnitude” I disagree here “of the graph. The operator just adjusts the scale along the x-axis to suit the car.” When the operator adjusts the scale along the x-axis, he should also adjust the scale up the y axis, as the power is the product of torque and (rotational) speed. Ian

Graham, /bottle of wine warning The rolling road probably does measure torque – at its rollers. Unless it has an accurate value for the gearing ratio between engine and wheels (including road wheel to roller ratio) then it can not accurately calculate engine torque unless it measures engine speed directly using a sensor. However if it measures torque at its rollers and "knows" the speed of its rollers (which is likely) then it CAN calculate power accurately. // bottle of wine warning Ian

It’s a while since I looked seriously at my rolling road plots. However I seem to recall that when I was at the rolling road, the engine speed was not recorded by a sensor on the engine but was calculated by putting in a figure for mph per 1000 rpm (or something similar which had the same effect.) The rolling road can measure power accurately based on what it has to counteract (absorb) however it then calculates engine torque based on what speed it “thinks” the engine is running at. If it “knows” the power is a certain number and “thinks” the engine is at a low rpm it reports a high torque. On the other hand if it “knows” the same power and “thinks” the rpm is high, it will report a low torque. I notice that in your graph of expected torque and measured torque the measured torque peak is at 5900 and the expected torque peak is at 5100 rpm, If the “engine speed factor” mentioned above was adjusted to bring the torque peak down to 5100 rpm then the torque would rise to pretty much your expected figure. Ian

L7 FST, Whilst it is much easier to adjust ride height if you have dampers with threaded spring platforms, it is still possible to do it if you don't. My car was set up by adding shims between the spring and the platform. I'm not saying it's convenient - but it is possible to do (at least it was with my Spax dampers - I don't see why it wouldn't be with others). Ian

Brian, Thanks for your blatmail answering my questions. The engine is not quite as standard as I'd hoped which with my limited experience takes me outside my comfort zone. I will bow out and let someone else have it. Dave, it looks as though you may not have missed it after all. Ian

Brian, At £550 could I have first dibs please pending solving the problem of transport to Kent and the answers to some questions? Is the engine standard Caterham other than the ignition system? Have any other modifications been carried out? if so what? Has it ever been refreshed, rebuilt etc. - are all the bearings still standard size? Is the (Caterham?) inlet manifold included? Was the 108 BHP at the flywheel or wheels? Thanks Ian

The diagram in the Burton's catalog shows gudgeon pin centre to piston top. If you are only trying to identify whether you have the long rod or standard rod version (ie 44.75 vs 37.2 mm) I'd have thought it would be fairly easy even with a ruler. Mind you, I've never tried it! Ian

The Wiring diagram in my build manual shows a Dim/Dip Control. The diagram is dated 1988, though mine is a 1990 car and does not have it! Ian

Hello, When I fuel injected my X/flow I used Jenvey ("replacement for webers") throttle bodies, not webcon ones so there may be some differences however you may want to consider the following points:- As the throttle bodies bolt directly to the manifold, without plates, the existing studs need to be shortened or replaced. The butterflies are not in the same position on the throttle bodies and carbs - they are further away from the manifold with the throttle bodies. The throttle lever on the bodies may have its operating point in a different position to the one on the carbs. (In my case it was very close to the diagonal engine bay tube.) The throttle bodies did not have any screws in them suitable for fixing the standard Caterham bracket to. My solution was to build a custom bracket that I screwed to the manifold. This would not be a good plan with carbs as there is movement between the carb and manifold, however as the bodies are bolted ridgidly to the manifold, there is no relative movement and the system works well. You will need to find somewhere to fit a throttle cable return spring - you should not rely on the springs fitted to the throttle spindle. I hope these comments help Ian