Marius

God, what did I start here ?!? 😬 So, who´s gonna write the article for the special issue "Carbon Fibre" of Low Flying ??

Just seen this morning on their website, half-doors made from carbon/kevlar in black and silver. Personally I think I´ll stick with the leather ones for road use but might be of interest for the racers amongst us. Looks the dogs dangles though. Inside kevlar in case of a crash seems to make sense. See here

Mountune for Ford is like Swindon for VX´s. If the factory goes shopping there, it can´t be that bad...

Do they have some places left ? Thinking of entering my VX, too... 😬

Morning Arnie ! I had a SBD carbon can on my 2 litre 16v VX. At the tuner grand prix at Hockenheim back in 2003 it kind of "disintegrated"...... See a picture here We had 30°C outside temperature, the mixture was a bit too lean and the car had been trashed to 110% to get 4th place in the end. Happy with the result I didn´t mind the broken silencer but I replaced the carbon sleeve with a stainless steel one now. My engine did pop & bang, throwing 2 feet flames in the braking zone after the long start/finish straight. This combined with a lean mixture killed the can within 6 laps !!! No problems on the street though.

See you at Spa then, I´m already "dated" with Paul Gibb & Nick Dinsmore.

Monsieur Captain, when will you be at Spa ? Just around the corner, that´s why I´m asking....

It´s obviuosly not that difficult to extract good power figures (240 BHP) from the Duractec but have their already been some 280+/300BHP Duractecs out there ? You can buy a Vauxhall 16 V right off the shelf with that kind of power from Swindon, Spiess and Snobeck (just a question of money....). Does any tuner offer this kind of power for the Duratec ?

Can confirm that, GM changed them about 18 month back. No sealant needed, oil-pump bone dry since then. On the outside ! 😳 Roger, btw: my engine is back in since last week, already did the first hundred miles to run it in, no oil in water, no water in oil Looking forward to Le Sept now.

Picture of Jules ?!?

Steve´s workshop looks a bit "adventurous" and untidy but his work has always been top level. I think he´s thinking about moving to another premise, so he doesn´t invest much in his current workshop. Marius

I have SBD pulley fitted for three years and this is the only part which didn´t fail during that time.... Picture here Swindon recommends to use a dampened pulley (like the Vauxhall OE) to minimize high frequency vibrations from the crank. It is likely that the absence of a dampened pulley might (!) lead to a crankshaft failure. On the other hand I think it should not be a big problem if crank/clutch/pulley are being properly balanced. Joachims MOG Cat had run once (!) with an undampened pulley and the flywheel ripped off the crank. Might have been a coincidence of course but at least it made me think about it.

The sender has two wires which both go back to the Stack dash, so check these two first, but normaly these do not fail. Cleaning the contacts and checking them for tight fit might help, too. If that doesn´t help check all big black earth wires. And if the sender is broken, prepare to part with a nice sum of cash...

Caterham did offer some spacers to fit "old" (short) dampers to new chassis. They are available in 2 or 3 different sizes and should cure the problem. But your dampers would still be adjustable. I´m sure our belgian friend Stijn will be around this evening, you should get into touch with him. Marius

Quick update: James, Arnie - you were right.... After having "repaired" the head I took the car to Le Sept and it made about two laps at Le Mans before I had even more water in the oil / oil in the water. Engine has been completely dismantled last week and checked, it was the plug behind the water-pump. ☹️ So engine completely cleaned, new bearings everywhere, engine back together in about two days ready to pick up. Warranty case luckily. Thanks again for the advise. Marius

1. Fuel filter ? 2. more likely: loose wire on alternator, cuts out ignition if it touches earth (frame). Had this twice.

The first ones were dished which is pain in the ****. The newer ones (now also steel nuts) are not dished anymore, luckily. The dished side should never face towards the nuts´ head, as the dish damages the bottom flange of the head which results in the chrome finish coming off when tightening the bolts. Can only recommend to change the nuts to the new spec, much improved and easier to fit.

Get the R500. Anyone else a dilema ?

Another update: engine is back in with a new non-leaking-cylinder, car bolted together again. Will pick it up from MOG tomorrow afternoon and trailer it to my engine builder and I´ll take personaly care that he won´t touch anything else on friday than MY engine ! So head off and front pump cover off. God, life would be so boring without my caterham....

Thanks James, thanks Paul. Quick update: engine has been flushed already two times now with new fluid, header tank cleaned each time. It´s less Mayonaise now being flushed into the header tank so the hope is still there that it´s just been oil rests in the water gallery which have been thrown out now. I simply can´t imagine a porous head as it has been working fine before the rebuild. James, I´ll check that oil-pump thingy but didn´t realise that there´s a connection between the oil/water gallerys at this place. Engine is already out anyway - guess what - a leaking clutch cylinder. Brandnew item from Caterham, carefully fitted.... *mad* *mad* If it´s **** for me, it´s usually BIG **** Barbara (..or shall I say Babs.. 😬): will I get access to the circuits with an aluminium go-ped ?

Long story cut short..... My VX engine has been rebuild over winter time, some minor modifications, mainly a different dry sump set up and a different cam cover, but no internal modifications to the head. I also fitted a new (clean) water header tank. Engine fired up, running sweet and clean as ever, driven it for 15 miles. Inside the header tank there´s now a thin film of that white slimy cocktail which might indicate some oil in the water. Is it possible that rests of oil from the rebuild have run into some water rails and do now produce this slime ? I can´t imagine a head failure as the engine was in a perfect state before the block build and has been now slowly warmed up and driven calmy for some miles. What do you lot think ? Clean the header tank a third time (did already once) and watch out for more slime ? Any other possible sources for the slime ? How can I check if there´s water in the oil ? Or "just" a head gasket job ? Oh, forgot to mention that I´m going on Le Sept on Monday and need a QUICK solution.... Marius

It will take hours to measure it exactly and to measure it un-exactly doesn´t make sence at all. Buy it, it works VERY well. Gained 10% BHP for me with a set of cams. Marius

The owner of Rial-wheels just clocked a 2:37.something at Spa with an R400 on slicks. It will take a well setup VX at least 240 BHP to post the same time.

Don´t worry, it might grow if being fed properly.... 😬

Right, talked to DTA now and they advised to wire up tow coils in series (not parallel) onto one amplifier of the DTA. They said it would work in 9 times out of ten..... If it won´t work my DTA will go bang. A bit like Vegas.... Marius