Alastair B

Mankee - when you say 'twist the lot together' can you describe that a bit more for me please? What is the 4-2-1 collector bit doing compared to the primaries - are you counter twisting both components, just the primaries, one pipe at a time etc? Thanks

My collector and 4-2-1 section is one fixed component. The primaries are 'wobbly' meaning attached to head but able to move by a few mm or so at the open end. I've got them aligned and engaged then yes using hammer on rear of silencer....but not tapping! Twisting and pushing one at a time - just can't see me getting the leverage/force to engage the primaries for the full travel; twisting will become very limited at the head end I think, but will think more about this idea. Does your system simply and easily push/pull apart? I will also call Powerspeed tomorrow and ask to speak to James

So after having to dismantle my new Powerspeed exhaust system and fettle the hole in the sideskin I am putting it back together. I have used Copper RTV as suggested on the primary to collector pipes. The primaries are 'wobbly' as instructed. Taking apart was not easy though, again loads of pipe friction. I am now really struggling to overcome the interference on the 4 pipes to collector, so to line up the center and rear mounts. I am using a rubber mallet and having to hit very hard the rear of the collector, it has been slow up to now but I still need another 15-20 mm of travel and further hits are not making progress at all. Any suggestions? Are they all like this? I'm off to do something different for a few hours at its driving me mad!

"Did you use copper RTV silicone to seal the joints?" No I didn't just brute force and clearly ignorance. I will look to get some, thanks

Took another look and followed up on John's advice.....#3 pipe ws touching the side skin. It is quite feasible this was putting in all that nasty vibration energy into the skin. The pipes weren't touching before the collector went on, so this part of the final assembly changed the position slightly. So all off and back to fettling the hole.

Will check for touching of pipe to side skin. I do think I might have to do a little more fine tuning to the opening. Vibration seemed to be a simple harmonic with the side skin being pushed in and out transversely across the width of the car. Some channel or such in the direction of front to back bonded across that part of the skin for say 20cm would probably add a lot of skin stiffness I will see what I can get my hands on and update when completed.

I have just finished installing a Powerspeed 4-2-1 exhaust on to my 1.6K which already had a DVA K13a head upgrade package with verniers. In the interest of sharing knowledge I wanted to post my findings from doing the installation myself and make some observations that other members might find useful. The installation of the exhaust was well within the capabilities of a reasonable confident home DIY’er with straightforward removal of battery, diagonal cross-brace, primary collector and exhaust. I was fortunate and Dave Andrews had already ground off the excess head stud length when the K13a package was installed so to facilitate easy existing collector removal. As such the engine mounts and canting the engine over was not required. My installation has at cylinder #4 not a stud/nut for the final fastener but a cap headed screw as the water rail was very tight ot the head at this position. As such I had to dremel grind some small chamfers to the header flange to fit the #4 pipe to the head. The header flanges are about 2mm thicker than the standard Caterham short primaries and this is the reason for the increased interference at this location. I informed Powerspeed of this and they had not experienced this before. So if you have a circa. '99 vintage car, check your #4 cylinder securing mechanism if you are to install yourself and have the ability to grind stainless steel. The challenging part was taking the ‘brave pill’ and setting about the cutting of the side skin. Powerspeed provide simple but effective instructions, follow-them and you will be fine. I used a drill powered nibbler that I bought from ebay for ~£20, did the job fine. Cut slowly and keep checking with installing the primaries one-by-one and securing tightly to the head to establish the final resting position. Finishing of the cutting was done with ‘joining up’ some curve cuts with straight line achieved with a dremel grinding disc and a fashioned straight line ‘guide’ which was a steel hack saw blade smooth side g-cramped to the skin. Then a round-edge file was used in ‘pushing’ mode to avoid smearing the Aluminum onto the outside of the side skin. Finally some fine emery paper used to smooth the final for. You will be amazed at how quickly even the emery cloth shapes the hole with Aluminum being so relatively soft. Then silencer installation to the 4 loose fitted primaries. I did not have available help at the time to support the collector, but I did have loads of bubble wrap from the Powerspeed packaging….and I mean loads! I used this as a convenient ‘pair of hands’ by resting the collector on a pile of it at just the right height. Then you set about ‘bashing’ in the can to the primaries with a rubber mallet. It is a tight fit, so you have to give it plenty of bashing, but it does progressively move as the interference on the primary to collector pipes takes-up until the middle and rear mounts line-up. So the result, took it out today and it is fantastic. The sound is deeper and much quieter than my ‘tired’ standard can, it could be driven without earplugs which is a novelty for me. The mid-range torque is the performance reason for such an exhaust and whilst not scientific I felt with my 5-speed box more rapid progress from say 4k rpm in a gear than before. When pulling higher revs the exhaust adds to the previous upgrades and seems more lively and urgent. Plus of course it looks the business! So to an observation and question; Q. The side skin panel above the primaries when at idle now vibrates with some stiffness being removed with the larger hole created and my rather lumpy idle, I was thinking about stiffness/change of natural resonance by adding with some ‘sticky lead tape’ or some such, thoughts on this or alternatives welcome.

Glad the tip to keep it simple with the coolant cap may have paid off. Best lesson learned here is whenever you get dragged into a 'doomsday' scenario, step-back and think through the physics of what is happening and tackle the simple and cheap solutions first, preferably one at a time so to establish what was root cause. Easier said than done though when it is your pride and joy, if so then refer to Blatchat to calm things down .

More often than not there is a simple explanation and it need not be a HGF. Have you tried replacing the expansion cap? If this were to be defective you would lose system pressure and cause coolant expansion, worth a try for a few quid.

Hi followed you from a few cars back as you left the shell filling station near Glenfield...looks like a SLR?

MTS - I would be interested in your new pressure sensor to original gauge conversion. Perhaps you could write it up for inclusion in a Low Flying article? Either way I have sent you a BM for the details.

Phil Please add a new order to your growing list; 1 x black pair with rubber fiting trim please. I will pay you now with paypal and mail you my details. Thanks

You were driving down Groby road and i was at the lights by Braunstone Motors -

I've also been watching with interest, my car came (1.6k) with 539's and to be honest if you compare to A021, there is no comparison. But I've only run these two tyre types so cannot comment on other lesser grip tyres. So if less lateral grip is OK then 539's with the upside that they will most likely not run out of tread anytime soon.

Was talking about this briefly with a multi ex-Caterham owner and he was describing to me the Watts linkage and how it prevents a small degree or rear-end 'passive steering' (if you like) that you get with the radius arm from the small amount of roll you get when cornering. So his conclusion was radius arm better.

Selling my wife's Fiesta on Autotrader, link here http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201510248114057?fuel-type=diesel&seller-type=private_adverts&quantity-of-doors=5&maximum-age=up_to_10_years_old&search-target=usedcars&engine-size-cars=1-4l_to_1-6l&radius=30&transmission=manual&postcode=le33ey&sort=default&make=ford&model=fiesta&page=1&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&logcode=p Advertised for £2,495 but happy to do a deal with the fine folks on BC for £2,300

I can recommend the Costco aluminium/steel low entry jack....about £90. You'll need to join Costco, there is one in Birmingham http://www.costco.co.uk/view/p/arcan-2000kg-aluminiumsteel-service-jack-model-hj2000eu-900930

robmar - thanks for the offer, I have come to an arrangement with raw, hopefully will be sorted soon. But good to know there is a back-up option.

HI Have BM'd you back Thanks Alastair

How would you describe the car's perfomance post installation e.g. can you appreciate the difference in mid-range torque after going from a 4-1 short primary to this 4-2-1? Also did this price include a Catalytic Converter?

Hi - does anyone have a submarine pipe - from water pump hose to radiator hose, mine doesn't have a flat bottom today (dry sump), but that appears to the only one Caterham parts suitable for my installation. Thanks

Hi, we flashed each other, moments after I had pulled out of the Desford Esso petrol station in my yellow caterham

In the interests of updating this archive, this is where I’ve got to…. I have established that my offside front does have an inboard sticking piston and so I will be replacing both fronts as a pair with refurbished calipers, pads are OK. My rears, I am not now convinced have a problem. Handbrake might have been a bit tight so loosened off a touch. The rear pistons move and relaxes slightly when pressure applied and released to brakes, sliders were lubricated, pads OK and so cleaned up/re-greased and reassembled. The rear wheels will come to a stop after hand turning after about 1/8th of a turn as the pads are in light contact with the disc and I think this is normal as I can’t seem to find anything wrong. Does this amount of friction on the rears seem normal?

Thanks, will reply when get back to home email account tonight (Thursday).

You have BM Thanks