julians

Done some more digging and it does seem that the main reason to leave fuel tanks full is to stop condensation forming on the inside and contaminating the fuel, a secondary benefit is the fact that the tank wont corrode (not an issue with the ally tank I guess). It does appear to be recommended for petrol boats as well as deisels, but like I mentioned earlier you need to add a fuel stabiliser to stop the fuel going off. Dont know how a highly tuned car engine would run on fuel thats been mixed with a stabiliser though, maybe its best just to drain the tank and hope that you dont get much condensation.

With boats, they recomend that you leave the fuel tank full to the brim with fuel, and add some fuel stabiliser to stop it going off. Apparently doing this means theres less chance of corrosion forming inside the fuel tank, dont know whether this sort of advice is valid for cars too or not.

Could it be a slight air leak in the oil pick up pipe, which becomes exposed when the oil level drops in the sump due to increase revs and starts to suck air in as well as oil from the bottom of the pick up. I dont know what the arrangement is in the duratec sump, but if its anything like the raceline one for the zetec it might be possible for this to be the case.

My zetec has had the head skimmed by raceline to increase the compression ratio, but it was done by the previous owner so I cant say how much it was skimmed by. Perhaps Raceline could advise?

I had real trouble replacing mine, went through 3 of the buggers, in the end I gave up and took it to a ford dealership. They managed it eventually, but said they failed twice.

I'm assuming we're talking about replacing dampers with the purpose of making the car faster round a track as opposed to giveing a more comfortable ride on the road. Its all a bit subjective isnt it, unless you're doing back to back tests on a track with a stop watch. Personally I've always thought that AVO's were supposed to be a bit cheap and nasty, I've never used them myself on the caterham ( I had a set on a TVR cerbera which gave no problems at all, but I never tried that car on track) though so I guess that statement can be disregarded (its just what I've read/heard). I changed to the M1 bilsteins and spring rates as per the roadsports race cars from the standard fit M0 bilsteins, but at the same time I had a cage fitted and the car corner weighted and the geometry changed. After this the car was vastly improved in terms of handling/grip etc, but I cant attribute that to just the damper and spring change. I figured I didnt know enough about suspension setup to warrant going for some adjustable nitrons (I'd probably make the car slower) , so I went for what should be a pretty good setup for the car on track given that its the standard for the roadsports series and I guess in this respect the freestyle solution is also tried and tested and should work reasonably well. In summary - I havent a clue about suspension, and I dont talk from a position of any authority, so dont listen to anything I have to say about it, these are just my thoughts on the matter. Edited to add - I guess what makes one damper better than another is accuracy of damping (ie if the manufacturor says it is x then closer the damper is to x the better it is), consistent damping through a given temperature range, weight??, rebuildability, adjustability (with accuracy), probably more factors that I dont know about. Edited by - julians on 21 Oct 2005 11:10:19

I have the same situation as you (ie car kept in a block of garages with no power), if I leave the car for more than a couple of weeks the battery is dead. I've got around it by disconnecting the earth lead from the battery I've no idea what drains the battery on mine as it doesent have an immobiliser.

See my post in for sale, its an fia bar off my 1997 dedion, dont know if it'll fit your car or not.

Bilstein M0 dampers , the rear ones are missing the top spring platform as I had to reuse these on their replacements. Off my 1996 dedion, A bit tatty looking but good working order, only replaced because I went to M1 dampers. £offers Small front brakes - again off my 1996 dedion, good working order, replaced due to switch to 'big' brakes. £20 + postage Steering column upper section - again off my 1996 dedion, good working order, replaced due to switch to quick release steering wheel £offers - no idea what its worth Standard brake master cylinder - again off my 1996 dedion, good working order, replaced due to upgrade to large cylinder £offers - no idea of worth Edited by - julians on 4 Oct 2005 11:49:20

Preferably one designed to fit a roadsports cage, if one of those doesent become available then an FIA barred version will do. email jrs at swiftmark.co.uk

www.blinkmotorsport.com not done a caterham yet, but they do have plans (they've had plans for ages though).

testing123

test

26kg sounds a lot, putting it in zetec territory I would guess, but that doesent appear to stack up. What were the absolute/actual weights of each engine?

I have a 96 dedion and it has the rear ARB. I'd refit it and set it at its softest and see if its feels better or worse than without, then move it up a notch and repeat the experiment until you find something that works. Edited by - julians on 25 Apr 2005 15:00:46

Slomove, No problems with the plastic idler on my zetec after 5 years of use. Now I've said that I bet it fails on its next outing.

mines not new, its off a 97 dedion thats done about 20000 miles, but it was working fine when it was removed earlier this week.

Cant help you with a price, but I can sell you mine for half of whatever it costs new if you like.

I had the same thing when I emptied my catch tank for the first time in about a year (on a zetec engine), I put it down to condensation/other moisture forming over the period of a year and causing the milkyness, not from any engine related issues, not driven the car much since I emptied it though, so cant say for definate that its not a sign of impending doom. I did check the actual engine oil and that was the same colour as usual, so felt pretty confident that it wasnt an engine problem. How long has it been since you last emptied it? Was this period longer than you'd normally leave it before emptying.

I get between 6 and 8 bar at idle when cold, dropping to about 3 bar at idle when warm, around 4 - 5 bar at revs (3000rpm+). On a '94 vintage zetec

I have done without any ill effects, dont know whether this was a fluke or not.

Those two are hex head bolts (you know allen key type) on mine, needed quite a long allen key, but other than that no problems.

It can on mine, but I guess it might depend on the sump type I'm not sure. I have the raceline sump, and it comes off without splitting engine from gearbox.

No problems with the standard valve springs and the piper 285 cams in my engine (circa '94 vintage), but I dont rev to 7800, I rev to 7200 as peak power was at around 6500ish, I didnt see the point. Edited by - julians on 8 Apr 2005 17:02:20

I've got the piper 285 cams in my zetec, work nicely. Somewhere around 200bhp on raceline ported head and throttle bodies. Been in for 4 years or so and about 40 trackdays, engine still going strong. Edited by - julians on 7 Apr 2005 20:30:13