Alastair B

I run a 1999 1.6k with a 5 speed box but with DVA work to the head, verniers and 633 cams, kit 13A if I recall. I got my car from another buyer then got the performance mods done. I did not know till later it had a 3.62 ratio differential, whereas the 3.92 is normal. With the performance mods. and a powerspeed 4-2-1 exhaust the car is still quite quick for road work, 60mph comes up in 5.5 seconds but the higher speed cruising has the lower revs. This works for me, but is not usual. I guess I am losing a bit of sprinting capability for the trade of lower revolutions, each to their own.

For the rectangular tank, the level of the plastic seam, which is lower than the max. Mark is where the coolant level seems to sit the best with no operating problems or spill

Roulette Green is a Triumph colour, above code is consistent with Triumph colour code, nice one too! ebay has touch-up paints

Hilltop in Earl Shilton, they know their Caterham's as they used to all of Caterham MIdlands' owners cars when based off the A47

While you are finding out about the foam and checking the gasket for holes, you could also remove the oil pick-up pipe and 'petal' indent the flange to allow more oil to be picked up when flush to the bottom of the sump, another Oily recommended modification.

The cracking from the photos all seem to be starting from the same location in the apertures, could be a material issue such as porosity or contamination and/or coupled with the final machining finish which could have induced micro-cracks, then with load and vibration the cracks propagate, then as ligaments fail the load is transferred to the remaining ones and the problem deteriorates more rapidly.....just a wild theory

saw you as we were going through a village about 5 miles from Blenheim at about 10:15am.

Steve, mine is pretty tight between the fasteners but with one place where it is ‘petalled’a fraction. The silicon sealant is a good solution

Steve, well done on getting new brackets done. On a sample of 1.....mine doesn't blow in any direction, I like you would not expect it to either

I think you should try and assemble not loosely i.e try and see for real where it all is when the collectors are torqued down to the head and the can installed. This will give you the real situation and then the fix, if you need one will be more precise and easy to figure out.

Not had Uniroyals but did have Yoko 539 on my car when I got it, I was not pleased with the grip with the 539’s for fast road driving and quickly changed over to A021 which were much superior,night and day comparison.

To check position for cutting one at a time you do need to tighten down the nuts, I did this without the gasket being present. When torqued down they are rock solid. As previously said do one at a time and take your time, you will be amazed how much material you have to remove. I used a drill powered nibbles to take progressive crescents of material away and then used round file with a pushing cutting stroke and then finished with emery paper.

My cut out...preferred the curves joined by a straight line to keep a simpler shape

Steve, you may have read my post about fitting, search power speed exhaust fitting from google doing a site search method. The one thing I found difficult I wrote up later after a friend helped me, that was fitting the collector to the primaries. The right way is copied here...... ”Called in a friend, multiple Caterham owner and knows 4-2-1 systems well. His method worked a treat. Ensure no burrs by lightly emery the primaries lip edges. Aligned the primaries loose to get them to engage the collector. Then tightened the primary pipes securing nuts to create some resistance. Then by slowly holding the rear of the silencer articulate in a series of small up/down/side to side motions whilst pushing reasonably hard from the rear, the silencer 'crawls' forward onto the primaries...only took 10 minutes if that. Very appreciative of his help. i will post a picture of the side skin hole tomorrow

The coolant level looks a little high in the expansion tank IMO, the K series tends to operate without over pressurising etc. where the coolant level sits on or around the horizontal plastic seam. Just my 2p's worth, happy for others to contribute on this.

Black 24 tooth speedo drive has the ford FINIS code of 6011058, this is correct for a 5 speed gearbox, presuming it is the same part in a 6-speed then that might help you search the internet, but could be difficult to get this part. Another option is to get your speedo re-calibrated at JDO Instruments if you have an analogue speedo. Probably cost about the £120 mark.

I had a similar problem with a single binding calliper. I went for 2 x new callipers, on the basis the other one will probably fail sometime soon, they were 19 years old and not expensive in the whole scheme of things. Then you have 2 x zero-time 'new' callipers ready for another 19 years!

Sounds like a plan, good luck with the installation

Probably too late as you have invested in a new speedo unit. You can though get mechanical speedo's calibrated for turns per mile by specialist companies where wheel/tyre changes mean calibration is out , JDO instruments is one that I have used and they were good. Their website gives you the instructions you need to do and they will re-calibrate the speedo for you. This way you can keep the original look and branding of the original speedo. Wonder if you could still go around this route and get your money back on the Racetech speedo?

If it helps.......I noticed that some replacement wiper blades I fitted (from Demon Tweeks) where the 'u shaped' bracket on the blade was riveted to the blade arm narrowed down and was a snug fit to the blade itself, this meant the blade angle was tightly fixed to the orientation of installation. Whereas the old blade I had replaced had a wider 'u shaped' bracket, with parallel sides, where the rivet holds it to the blade and as such the blade was able to sit in a wider range of orientation when placed on the screen, e.g. parallel to the screen surround. In fact the blade would wobble slightly in its own bracket when held in the hand, all was OK when in use though. I think the CC replacement blades are like the latter but some other aftermarket ones are the former.

Ignore the double post and the incorrect info. The 6 speed is in effect a direct drive and results in the 1:1 gearing and cannot be changed as is linked to the box design. You probably already knew this.

Another thought IIRC you could get an overdrive higher gear put in as a replacement for your 6th gear so that you keep the sprint close ratios for gears 1 to 5 then select 6th for motorway cruising, this could be a 13% longer gear for example, again Road and Race will be able to advise. This way the box gets an overhaul if you are unsure of the provenance. I’m sure a gearbox aficionado will be along to confirm or otherwise this option as being practical.

Another thought IIRC you could get an overdrive higher gear put in as a replacement for your 6th gear so that you keep the sprint close ratios for gears 1 to 5 then select 6th for motorway cruising, this could be a 13% longer gear for example, again Road and Race will be able to advise. This way the box gets an overhaul if you are unsure of the provenance. I’m sure a gearbox aficionado will be along to confirm or otherwise this option as being practical.

The google site search function works well for me, takes seconds. I don't use the site search, as the google method is much better and I am OK with that as a solution as it finds everything I have ever asked of it.

Where's Jonathan when you need him? A quick google site search revealed this; https://www.lotus7.club/forum/techtalk/flaking-powder-coating Mentions Simoniz as an alternative for Arch