Slipper man

I have used Wheel Works in Crawley a number of times. Very good service (they totally strip the wheels and then powder coat them). The even straighten wheels if they are not "true".

The type of knocking that holes pistons is not normally audible. The car just seems to be holding back a bit. (Dont ask how I know!)

+1 for the scavenge pump. If it no longer "clucks" it is worn. No problem for road use but don't take it on track or you might have a terminal blow up. Don't ask how I discovered that....!

I remember when I asked Roger Swift (aka ECR) how often he changed the oil, he said "every time the engine comes out". Mind you, as it was a Vauxhall, that was quite often... For a standard production engine, which is durability tested to last 150,000 or more miles, the engine is likely to well outlast the car., so long as you are using the best quality oil. I would use the 10x rule and even on my R500 that meant an oil change only every 5 or six trackdays. In practice that meant I changed it at the end of every season (to ensure the oil in the car over winter was fresh and not contaminated with acids). On rebuild, the engine showed only the wear you would expect.

I have an alloy radiator for sale. It was original equipment on R500K in 2000, which was replaced with a triple pass item in 2002

Wheel works Crawley http://www.wheelworksuk.co.uk. They take them back to new condition. £60 per wheel though

Hopefully you have it now. BWCH will be grateful for the cheque. Do you mind if I put your address on the back so they can claim gift aid?

Alan - sorry I have been away last week. I have now replied. Keith

DON'T MOVE IT!! If it comes loose and it is in the other position the first you will know about it is a big BANG, followed by bits of pistons flying all over the place. Ask Richard Ince... It was undoubtedly moved for that reason. The car isn't all that sensitive to air temp it seems as I ran mine for quite a while not knowing that the wire to the sensor was broken, so the car thought it was 10 deg all the time.

I had exactly this problem on my R500. Your car isn't mine is it? Did you buy it from Sevens and Classics a couple of months ago? Mine was originally supplied with the "normal" fan switch, but Caterham did a free upgrade to all R500's of 2000/1 vintage to make the ECU control the fan at a much lower temperature. 74 degrees IIRC. When they did the change they left the original connectors lying around as they were redundant and connected the fan via a solenoid. When I rebuilt my car I reconnected the original terminals as they had a white plug that fitted and didn't notice the "spare" terminals on another wire at the bottom of the radiator. Result - radiator fan didn't come on. After much agonising I finally "found" the new connectors. Connected them to the fan plug and Hey Presto! All was as it should be. So, have a really good look around the back of the radiator to see if there are any connectors that don't appear to be used. IIRC (and I may well not) one of these was attached to a thick brown wore that came from the solenoid. What I can tell you is that if the car has had the ECU control upgrade (and it looks like it has) then the plug that fits the plug on the fan is not used and should not be connected.

I do have one - the enamel one... How much are you willling to pay Birmingham Children's Hospital Charity (I am a trustee) to secure it?!

Stu - yes. I have been trying to find a picture of mine but failed. It made no difference I could detect either on road or track and the other benefit of access to the front of the engine was the clincher for me (though I retained all the gubbins for when I sold the car) One upgrade Caterham did to mine was to move the inlet air temp sensor from inside the airbox to the inside of the diffuser. That way it is upstream of the air filter so if it comes loose it doesn't get swallowed by the engine with expensive consequences

With mine, following experience of one R500 inhaling a bag of cement that was lying on the M25 and another that had a drink from a puddle, I removed the scoop and the pipes altogether. It make no discernable difference to the noise level and gave much better engine access.

They are yours!

Get yourself a top-quality head to go with them!