Slipper man

I have the R500 system, which looks the same as the one in the pictures and fits onto brackets already on the car. It has a modified R500 Titanium front box which feeds into a large rear box through which it passes twice (in other words, the rear box has two connected straight through silencers). The front box is repackable, the rear isn't. The exit, Graham, is on the left on mine. It is VERY quiet. Mine was recorded at Goodwood at 88dBA when I was there a few years back! With the standard sytem newishly packed it registered 106. I only ever use this system when I absolutely have to because subjectively it seems to kill the top end of the car's performance, and I assume the more I use it the less quiet it will be. Caterham told me it cuts 25BHP, which I can easily believe, but I have never put it on a rolling road to find out. If mine only loses 8 BHP I would be surprised, though the quietness may make it feel slower than it is I guess. To change systems over takes about 10 minutes and I always have it in the back of the truck just in case so at the next track day if you want to see it, ask me.

You don't need to be too paranoid about this. Provided there is no slack, all the numbers of washers in front and behind does is to adjust the castor. If you got this a long way out, I would still bet you would not be able to tell the difference. When you first start building these cars it all seems daunting, but even if you make some big mistakes, they will sort you out anyway at the post build check.

I presume not - that would have been an expensive engineering change for Caterham, apart from anything else

their effectiveness may well be height dependant - I am over 6'2"

I used to have them but thought they were virtually useless. Best thing is to find someone who has them and try them out. I fould the best solution in te end was to get a pair of Brooklands aeroscreens. They give no buffetting but are not too bad for wind protection and only take 15 minutes to fit, so you can change them if the weather looks bad. Not that you will - everyone I know who has them changes the screens only when the seasons change!

Rob, you are so full of use (full/less*) information. I didn't mention the fact that the whole thing does indeed look much more robust. The gauge of the steel is visibly thicker, and I am sure the damper mounts will not crack now. Not that the other one was cracked. It was just that it had about 5 deg of toe out and 3 deg of camber. On one side only, sadly.... *delete as appropriate

I have just bought a new De Dion Tube for the R500. To my surprise it is about 10mm wider than the old one. Does anyone know why this is? Is it to stop the tyres rubbing on the watts linkage arms? Will it cause any issues when I fit it?

Is it an analogue dial? It may be that you are not giving it enough time to show a reading. Certainly, at this time of year it will take a LONG tine to get to 92 deg - at tick over mine will not get above 80 or so.

I think it is quite important on circuit. Leaving it off is ikely to cause a lot of understeer on track. I am not a 'fiddler' on set up, but change the rear a/r bar settings quite often, and it does make a difference. Personally, I have more questions about the need for a front a/r bar - mine is always on its softest setting.

Dremels are only £30 at Machine MArt. If you get one you will wonder how you ever did without it! What's a chees wedge?

It would benefit, but it is a diff out job. If you don't do much track work, don't bother

I think you guys are too cynical about the desire for manufacturers to replace engines. If you stick to their recommendations you will have an engine that lasts longer than you will care about IMHO

Good point - it makes a big difference. The standard settings are for a big heavy car like a Sierra XR4 and make a Seven understeer, though mainly in tighter (i.e. slower) corners

Do not remove the diagnostic plug! You never know when you will need it to tell you what has gone wrong.

The first thing I would change is the CR500's. Mine understeered like a pig on them. 048R's transformed my car, and Dave J reckons Toyo's are even better. Either are half the cost too. I wouldn't change the rears to start with: I ran my R500 on 7" tyres all round for a while and never had any problems so I would be amazed if with 280 BHP you couldn't get by with the sizes you have.

My garage floor is pretty good. I had forgotten about the weight though. My car was pretty well set up - I had it flat floored from new, and the corner weights were re-checked a couple of years ago and were OK. My problem is that when changing the set up for radials I forgot how many turns of the knuckle was one degree. I think I did twice as many as I should have done...

I was pretty sure my camber settings are wrong, because the negative camber looks far too much to the naked eye. I don't have a camber gauge, so I thought I would try my o level trigonometry. The diameter of the wheel rim is about 355 mm. If that is my hypotenuse, being the line connecting the top and bottom of the rim, I want the angle between the verticle (taken from a spirit level) and the hypotenuse. The horizontal distance from the verticle to the top rim is 30 mm. My sine finction on the calculator gives 3 deg from this. In other words, at these very small angles, 1mm horizontal distance measured from the vertical with the spirit level placed against the lower edge of the wheel rim is 1/10 of a degree of camber. So all I need to do is set the distance at 15 mm and I have the correct 1.5 deg. Have I got that right? It seems too easy to be true!

What is the other end of the big black wire attached to. I agree - it looks like the earth. The connector pictured looks very like one that my car (2000) has that is spare.

Interesting - on an R500 it is ECU controlled at 84 deg on. Don't know when it goes off.

All the above is sensible, but i would reinforce the oil point. The by-products the oil gets contaminated with make it corrosive, so nice fresh oil before you lay it up is a good idea.

Nothing to add to the title really. I am told this is the stuff you need for cylinder head gaskets for pre war cars.

Probably not what you want to hear, but I don't think the Stack system is worth fitting. The analogue dial on my SLR were much easier to read at a glance that the R500 Stack system. It does have toys to play with, though like the max/min readouts. One instrument well worth having though is the shift light syatem. Personally I would stay analogue but install shift lights

I have the same issue with mine (race master cylinder, AP fronts, standard rear). The long pedal at the start s fixed by pulling the handbrake a few times before you start, but the pedal feel is never as good as I would like. I have bled the brakes many times and am sure it isn't air in the system. A friend has an early Superlight with apparantly identical brake setup and he has amazing pedal feel. I have tried changing rear pads, with no effect and don't know what to try next.

I was going to make the same point as ncm: on a Duratec the Cam belt pulley is also not keyed unless modified (as it always is in a 7 I believe) Great engines, eh? Yes, I know about the wheels before you say it

Am I the only person that takes a spare can with him when he gets a new car and lets it run out so that I know when the car is really empty? IIRC 33l was what I could get in.