wild bill

Having stuck my seven in to a lamp post due to inattention im now rebuilding. I've done the suspension before but cannot remember it being such an arseache. Lower wish bone widetrack the manual says no washer between front wishone and chassis (OK but seems weird) rear mount 4 washers between chassis leg and wishone and no mention of a washer between rear mount and bracket. Well i cannot get 4 washers in there for love or money. I understand the decision was taken to move the widetrach rearwards in order to lighten the steering which became heavy using the standard washer set up. As it currently sits it looks like the bracket will bend if the bolts are all tightened up but as i can't get the washers in it's currently academic. The car came back with no riv nuts fitted to secure the rear wings and the holes are too big for M5's so im going M6 through necessity. Is there a knack to riv nut fitting?i've got the tool but my 3 tests have been disastrous. Today i have achieved absolutely FA Puts on Penelope Pitstop voice "Haylp Haylp" Caterham manual is so lame too with a poor lack of explanation IMHO OK Update. I fitted the 4 washers first with the rear bolt then fitted the front bolt. It doesn't look right to me with no washers between wishbone and front chassis member or wishbone and rear bracket but that's what the manual says and nothing's torqued up yet. As for rivnuts, i kinda knew i needed to keep experimenting on some scrap metal and scrap washers and finally i got the tool tensioned and set correctly and the first rivnut is now in and works as it should. Tomorrow ill slowly tackle the rest and fit the rear wings. Then i'll move on to the remainder of the front suspension.

OK Following my hello to a lampost the car is now back from Arch and TSK but there's a fair amount of work to do. This includes riveting the interior panels back on. Someone said they were 3/32 rivets, is this correct or are they different to this? Caterham seem to sell 5/32 and i dont want to enlarge the holes needlessly Cheers

Hi Rob Many thanks. Hope all is good with you. I didn't add the extra litre so we did in fact dip at 4.5 and add an extra 0.5 and this seems to be correct. No overheat and all pressures etc look spot on. Whenever i change oil myself i always add back in what i've extracted and whilst this usually happens at service the guy forgot.....it happens. Cheers Ivan

I tried repeatedly to get raceline but it rung out each time. i'm going to have another go tomorrow then i'll post the answer.

Hmmm and also when draining the engine it's likely that some will remain in the cooler even with a flush so no wiser. It always used to be simple, fill oil when cold to dip mark max, now with modern engines comes check when hot, or check with engine hot but turned off fo 5 minutes or check when running at idle, next it'll be 'we don't know sir we advise you check it whilst you have a finger up your £$£%$$ FFS AAAARRRGGHHHHH LOL

So with all that except the heat exchanger 6 litres would be correct then. I'll stick another litre in tomorrow Thx all

Caterham say 6 plus litres, this seems alot but i assume correct. Anybody able to confirm as car currently being serviced. Standard 2.3 wet sump duratec

I had a feeling that wa the case. I'll head to a motor factors this am. Thanks all

Rubber....every time!

The top small heater hose has split. Its a 97 car which was a k series. Is there a part number for this hose and is it Caterham specific or can it be purchased from a decent motor factors? Any help appreciated

ooh i'm excited now. Thanks though it must be simple.

OK. I'm obviously stupid. My front arb dustcovers are split. Replacements have arrived. I've looked, i really have but nothing seems obvious as to how you replace. Do i have to take the entire front suspension apart surely not. Come on tec, give us a clue! yours very confused

My finger is also poised

Is this why the bike shop glued the tyres to the rims on my colnago? never worked out why they did that

Hi Paul Thx. The car was originally a 1.8 K supersport from 1997. The relays are as per the original car af far as i know although it now has emerald ecu and 2.3 duratec. Presumably i can take them out one at a time, turn the ignition and if i dont here the click on click off i'll be able to identify it? Cheers

I've just had to replace my fuel pump and decided to replace the relay as well however I can't work out which one if the our it is. Does the relay stop the pump from constant priming? Thx

Hi Rob Hope all is good with you. Car still epic and nicely loosened up. So cable runs across top of engine and into top of butterfly rather than looping round and coming up from under if I understand you correctly? It's blooming tight for space on the 2.3 which is why I think originally it looped around front of engine

I have a 2.3 duratec in S3 chassis. Fitted with jenvey throttlebodies. The throttle cable runs from pedal box through heat protection hose round back of coil and in under the tb's to the butterfly ( it used to run round front of engine but was altered to try to cure sticking) since the new route it has remained on/ off and only my getting used to it has meant it was ok for me. Oth people found it tricky. On way home this eve it suddenly became very stiff ( much worse than usual). The butterfly operates fine as does the pedal. I could replace the cable but they're expensive and I'd rather find a proper solution. Anyone have any ideas? I hate the current set up as I think it's poorly designed but then that's easy for me to say. Anyone have a similar issue? Car now on drive but is actually un drivable ( tbh dangerous)

That's known as 'the caterham leg' I've tried replacing the silicon in all the places which seem in need to no avail so I'd like an answer to this as well

Standard non adjustable dampers with progressive rear springs and standard fronts Bilsteins from 1997 S3 with wide track £150 all four not including delivery cost if required

Some tread left ideal for trackday hooning say £10 each buyer collects

I needed to check mine and took the boot floor out and there was a crimped tag with the diff ratio on it. I know that's not a guarantee but it is a start point.

Does anyone have a part number for the nippon denso alternator (it's from a Daihatsu Charade i think) that fits the 2.3 duratec Any ideas of supplier? Not keen on wood autos if possible

Ok drivers seat back has failed(plastic insert) so today I fibre glassed it back together. All should have been ok but now there is a horrible hard point inside which feels like it will break through the leather back. My choices are new S type seat, a trim pack from oxted, change to tillets, 2new seats(extravagant) If I order a new s seat it will differ significantly from the passenger seat What do I do? I am off to France on 19 sep so can't send seat to oxted Can't understand why seat should now have this protrusion as nothing was changed to the back of the seat, bloody mystified Edited by - Wild bill on 8 Sep 2012 20:44:20

This is i think Gus who used to have a superlight, then a GT3 then some Aston of some sort (DB9 i think) This fulvia is a regular visitor to Beckington Motors as Gus lives just down the road and it is a beautiful little car (ISTR a V4 engine which sounds glorious) He and i usually joke about not leaving it out in the rain too long in case it dissolves but its a really top looking example.