JimmyRocks

Good afternoon all I am getting a full face crash helmet for fathers day. Can I check which standard is permissible. I have looked at the trackday document on here, but the standards required are quoted in a different format. The helmet I'm expecting is FIA 8859-2015. This sounds more than good enough to me. Is that correct? Would it also be suitable for sprinting? Thanks James

Hi Aliwes I missed the boat on this, but they look fantastic. Is there any interest in another order? Or the possibility that they can be ordered individually? thanks James

Thanks guys for all of your advice. Loads of helpful information. (Isn't BlatChat great) Clearly they are both good products and both have their advocates. I must say I liked the Thundersport fixing under the roll bar bolts, rather than using the poppers - looks like SBFS uses the same popper that the full hood attaches to behind the door, which seems to pop loose on mine quite freely. I think Geoff had me convinced from the outset. So I'm going to opt for the Thundersports version. Does anyone know if the mohair packs smaller than the viinyl? Oooh. Decisions, decisions.

A great day out on Sunday at the Silverstone Classic meeting, only marred a little by the weather at either end of the day, especially the drive there from Staffordshire which started in heavy rain. MrsRocks and I started the day grappling with the full hood, which seems to be just a few mm smaller all round than when I last fitted it a few years ago. It was finally fitted after about 20 minutes of cursing, but proved perfectly waterproof on the way down. Once parked up at Silverstone my neighbour (sorry, didn't get your name) was keen to extol the virtues of the half hood, especially the Thundersports version. I can see that either half hood carries the advantages of being fitted in seconds rather than minutes, the tensioning straps look much easier than that the awkward system in the full hood, they are less claustrophobic when up and take up less space when down. What about integrating with the standard doors? Someone has suggested that there is a gap between the SBFS's hood and the door. Does the TS hood fit with the door as the full hood does? Despite this the SBFS version sounds as if it may have the significant advantage of easy access zips as extras. Are these worthwhile? Probably my biggest fear when driving in the wet is spray - I've had a couple of occasions driving on busy dual carriageways without the hood, when it has come on to rain and the spray has not just coated the windscreen (which is manageable) but both sides of the lenses of my glasses too. I am hoping that the half hood reduces the risk of this greatly. Any further guidance would be very welcome.

Yesterday I hopped in the car at work and "click!" A sound swiftly followed by despair. A quick search this morning and up pops this - what a superbly informative and helpful article. Thank you.

Thanks everyone. That is a great help. It need replacing because the spindle of it has broken and will not engage with the drive sensor. The drive gear is the original that will have been in place when I initially had a cable driven speedo. Sounds as if the speedo can be recallibrated according to whichever drive gear I have, although adjusting the callibration seemed difficult when I first had the electronic speedo. Seems likely to be the 24 tooth gear then. And if not then the speedo may need recallibration.

Absolutely not! (That is a Bertie Wooster quote, by the way. If you can conjure up an image of Bertie working on the intricate parts of a Caterham then that is the level of stupidity I would apply.) I have someone doing it for me, but need to source the bits.

The speedo I have is one of these: https://caterhamparts.co.uk/gauges/220-speedo-mph-2005-onwards.html?search_query=speedo&results=28 I think. I have a speedo sensor: https://caterhamparts.co.uk/senders/1008-speed-sensor-gearbox.html?search_query=speedo+sender&results=98 the internals of the previous having munched themselves. But the spindle of the drive gear is broken also. From what Alastair B says its this one: http://www.burtonpower.com/24t-speedo-drive-gear-type-9-e-gearbox-gbt9302.html Does that make sense?

Thanks all. So mine is the 2005 onwards electronic speedo rather than cable.

Okay. So is it a given that I have a 3.92 diff? (My talents are limited to twisting the wheel and hooting the hooter)

Evening all. Does anyone know which speedo drive gear I need ie how many teeth/which colour. Ford mark 9 gearbox, 5 speed. Do I need more info to find out which?

I'm pretty much paralysed with the K-click at the moment. If I drive far enough to warm the engine up then it's not going to start back up again for at least 20 min. My plan is to make a heat shield using the Cirrus GIIIX as seen on the link above to Demon Tweaks. I thought a couple of brackets between the chassis members look easier to fashion than using the exhaust bolts. Should be able to protect the starter and wiring beneath this. Also planning to get some before and after temperature readings from the starter, hopefully to help show how well it works. Will post outcome (if it goes well anyway...)

Me me me!! Surely. On our way back from Le Mans. Yellow, no Ali though, reg is W168... We were certainly heading north on the M42 at about that time, camping gear strapped to the back and pretty much knackered. Epic trip to Le Mans and my first ever spotted!

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and suggestions It turns out to be my fingers disintegrating. Well, not mine, but the pressure plate fingers in the clutch. Apparently not in stock with Caterham, so shopping around for the parts.

Thanks guys. That make a lot of sense, but then it can't be downstream of the gearbox or it would be in proportion to road speed, not engine speed surely? and crocodiles? Aren't they great big, green reptiles, with lots of teeth?

John. Yes, it's proportional to engine speed, only on acceleration (deceleration in reverse) and usually at lowish revs (1-2500 rpm). No sound if I dip the clutch and also not reving the engine out of gear.

Bob. It's an electric, not cable speedo on mine.

SM25T - no. Only when moving off or already in motion.

Morning all. I'm looking for some direction with a funny noise. First of all you need to realise that I am a mechanical numpty. I love my car, but under the bonnet it's all cogs, springs and stuff like that. The guy that services it for me recons that the next step is to get engine and gearbox out! He may well be right. In recent weeks it has developed a ticking noise on acceleration, sounding a bit like pinking. I suspect that it is in the transmission somewhere. The noise is in proportion to engine speed, not road speed. If I reverse, then the noise is on deceleration not acceleration. I take it that this means that the noise is coming from transmission/clutch/gearbox. The engine is a K-series 1600, the gearbox is a five speed ?ford Sierra box. Is this a familiar problem to anyone? Any advice?

Thanks Steve. Obviously having bought a Caterham speedo, I'm keen to get they to work rather than having to abandon it and resort to an alternative.

I have a 13 year old Roadsport, with five speed gearbox and mechanical speedo. After several failures, mostly the nasty angle that takes the drive of the gearbox, but also two new speedos, I thought it would be better to upgrade to an electric speedo, but was in ignorance of the resulting difficulties. I have drive sensor, a Caterham electronic speedo and the 8 pin connector for the speedo. However there are two wiring diagrams, one from Caterham, and also one from Caerbont (who make the speedo), but the diagrams are different. The speedo doesn't work in either configuration. Caerbont have helpfully suggested swapping the wires around, but with eight of them there are a lot of possible combinations. Does anyone have any experience of fitting an electrical in place of mechanical speedo?

Blue with silver stripe, '04 plate, 1800 Roadsport. In the services on the M 74, heading back to Bristol from John O'Groats. I'll bet there was some beautiful footage on the bullet-cam. Hope the rest of the journey went smoothly. I was returning from Skye in the Passat - couldn't shoe-horn self, MrsRocks, 3 kids, 2 dogs and the luggage into the 7 somehow ☹️ James Yellow Roadsport 115, 5 speed.

Blue, 52 plate, Vx engined 1800. In the car park at the southern end of Dovedale. Hope you got home okay after our push-start Perfect day and perfect roads for it. Sadly I was consigned to the Passat estate as a result of passenger numbers.

Seems to be the speedo itself. It sticks, but then gives with a click and turns freely for a while until it sticks again

Thanks guys Not a kink in the cable, and bevel gears are well lubricated.