Beej

Fantastic mental image of a toxic bonfire strapped to the passenger side of a seven! So where do I get beryllium whotsitsface mesh from?

what guage sheet? - why not stick with stainless for looks? I presume you would cut the end caps off leaving a 20mm or so margin of the old stainless sleeve, fasten the sheet with screws/captive nuts all round the ends and with a rigid bar seam to complete the tube? It seems too simple - if it was that easy we would all be manufacturing them and selling them for £350 a pop wouldn't we?

are you serious? ordinary loft insulation? So if caterham's standard silencers are just packed with steel wool, why not just adapt them so they are repackable and use your technique of wire wool and loft insulation.. its a lot cheaper than forking out for a new silencer?

I thought everyone might appreciate a quick update on this since it seems to be a fairly common problem. I decided to lower the seat/floorpan rather than modify or junk the roll cage. By removing the honeycomb ali floor panel (glued to the basic ali floorpan) and direct bolting the Tillet to the ali sheet I gained around 50 mm. Furthermore, by fitting the seat hard left up against the transmission tunnel and tilting it slightly by using more packing washers under the right hand bolt holes than the left, I have cleared the roll bar - even with a helmet on, even with the seat relatively upright. I've also saved some weight from junking the runners nd ali honeycomb but at the potential cost of lack of strength and protection in the floorpan. Of course, if only it was that easy. Some tips that might help if you go down this route... You will need to relieve some GRP from the left hand side of the seat base where it sits over the thin chassis cross (angled) member. You will need to cut out the ali floor pan around the central base portion of the seat because the bum part sits lower than the mounting points at the sides. The effect of this is that your bum sits about 25mm lower than the floorpan. To add strength, protection and a finished result, I made up a 25mm deep "baking tray" (as my wife called it) - 30cm by 21cm to cover the protruding seat base bulge. This was seam sealed and riveted to the floor pan and foam filled for good measure. The baking tray does not protrude any lower than the cross member of the side impact bar and the double skin foam filled section adds considerable rigidity to the floorpan - not as good as honeycomb but much lighter. The net effect is that I am much more comfortable in the car and feel much more connected. Even the aeroscreen actually works now! hope this helps Cheers.

Would sir like gullwing doors with that...? ooh yes please.. and air con, alcantara, sat nav, airbags, cup holders and (ideally) a hostess service *smile*

I am really grateful for all your comments and my conclusions are as follows:- There are design limitations with this style of roll cage trying to fit under the standard fit hood. Even if I sit on the floor I will still have inadequate headroom unless I change the rake of the seat back to a more laid back position. The problem with doing this is that, a) it hurts my back and b) I much prefer the car control achievable with a more upright driving position - for many people these are not issues but they are for me. I work on the basis that being comfortable is 90% of going faster. Changing the roll cage height could be done but its a relatively expensive option, is not aesthetically attractive and might affect the structural integrity of the roll cage. Dropping the floor pan isn't exactly easy or cheap either but it has the advantages of not spoiling the lines of the car, giving a more in-the-car feel and offering greater wind protection. So far as I can tell there is at least an inch to be gained without compromising the rideheight.. the bell housing/sump is still the lowest point (even on my dry sumped car). Of course, it might be different when I try and get over some speed humps! Bearing in mind how strong aluminium honeycomb seems to be I anticipate it might be possible to direct mount the Tillet (ie no runners) to a slightly lowered floor pan with the arse bulge area (technical term) cut away to gain even greater improvements. Just a thought. I'll let you know if it works!!

O Bugger - you have a very good point there and that was probably the cheapest option too. It also highlights that option 4 (drive with a permanent crick in the neck) is not an option either. Although I have no intention of racing - just track days - there is a part of me that says the only way I am ever going to know if I am any good is mix it with the big boys. I don't even know what series the car would be eligible for (if any) but it makes sense to allow for the possibility. How hard can it be to modify the strut so that it curves up and over rather than going straight? Don't answer that.. I just know its going to be a pain in the ****.

thanks guys.. the tillet seat (which is excellent BTW) sits on it lowest setting and would not be any lower without the runners. I guess the honeycomb floor pan adds a few mm to overall height but you still have the chassis cross members to deal with even if I ripped that out. So it sounds like I have to:- 1. modify the cage, or 2. modify the floor plan (£200 to cut and shut a cross member, sounds a tad pricey?),or 3. chuck the roll cage and fit a standard FIA bar

Help? I've just bought an ex Vx racer which has a full cage fitted - the type where the back is like a standard FIA roll bar and then there is a screen surround with straight bars linking the front (screen) hoop to the rear (head) hoop. Hope that makes sense. Thing is, I'm not particularly tall - 5'11"- but my helmet/head knocks on the link bar. I have a standard tillet seat fitted and, of course, I can scooch down in the seat but what's the point in having a proper race seat if you don't sit in it properly? Does anyone know if the brackets on the roll cage can be modified to gain an extra 1/2" of head room? Cheers.

Spotted.. that was me in the car with Keith. And yes it is an awesomely quick car. Dave, you got a bargain. See you on track sometime?

Gary, YHM. If you don't get it, post a note here and I'll call you. Cheers. Mark

Does anyone else have this problem? Everytime I accelerate - shall we say, err.. briskly - I get the mobile camera alert flash up on my road angel. Blackspot say they are aware of a problem and working on a fix but I am just curious to know how common the problem is. Its not fitted in a seven but it is in a quick enough car. Cheers (I realise this is probably on the wrong forum - sorry)

Guys, courtesy of caterham, I am currently sevenless (its a long story). I am considering a car which has a 240bhp Vauxhall XE fitted (its a very high spec ex racer and no prizes for guessing whose car I am talking about). Thing is, I need it to read 96dB static at 0.5m 45degrees @ 5000 rpm - cos Goodwood is my local track and they are SO strict. Next nearest is castle combe and they aren't exactly easy! I understand that Mr Wong has a very similar spec car with a RaceCo can. Can he, or anyone, tell me how realistic it is to hit 96dB. There is no point in me pursuing this car and wasting everyone's time unless I can hit this target. Cheers.

still for sale

Problem solved. Thank you all for your valued contributions. Caterham are giving me my money back. So, anyone got a road legal Vx racer for sale?

Actually, Count has got a point. The engine developed a misfire within 50 miles of leaving caterham 3 weeks ago.. they took it back, fixed it (after 3 weeks) and I collected it again on saturday. This time I managed about 30 miles before it stopped firing on 4. Oh and the speedo packed up, the temp guage tells big lies, the indicators flash the brake lights etc etc *mad* I don't care how famous the car is/was. I have had it with the car - I want my money back (picture lots of toys being thrown out of pram). And no I am not being unreasonably intolerant of minor niggles.. I drive a TVR everyday for goodness sake. A TVR being more reliable than a caterham.. thats a first!

No he's right.. and that way I could spend a shed load more money, keep replacing the head gasket and have no torque. 😬

good point.. I'll get my coat. 😳

Congrats for guessing right.. the Nelson Ledges car was/is basically a Vx racer but with the standard injection system retained. This means it has a bonnet without a hole in it but plenty of decals and stuff. I guess, at the end of the day, it isn't such a disaster to cut a hole - or get a second bonnet. It sounds like TB's are the way to go so I will have to keep an eye out for a second hand set. Which is the best ECU/software to go with? I need to do this anyway because the standard Bosch/Motronic ECU has a 6500 rev limit (I understand even the standard engine is good for 7500) and it has no shift light that I am aware of. I also suspect that some horses could be liberated just with some remapping - but I don't know anything about engine management systems. SUs, Strombergs, Webers, Holleys, no worries but little black boxes of electronics scare the bejeebies out of me!

Sorry - didn't mean to imply that putting a hole in the bonnet ruins caterhams (my last one had a nice pair of K&N's sticking out of the side) - it would spoil this particular car because the appearance of the car is quite well documented and the factory have asked me to retain the appearance of the car for posterity. Not being overly versed in how injection systems work I don't really understand why they have a plenum.. surely its just an empty box? Take it off and you get an even bigger empty box, don't you?

Can anyone tell me, is it possible to improve on the standard injection and intake system without cutting a hole in the bonnet? I know from the books that junking the standard plenum etc and replacing it with a pair of 48s liberates an extra 25bhp but you have to cut a hole for the air cleaner. I would rather keep injection, so will throttle bodies fit within the bonnet line? I cannot really put a hole in the bonnet because it would spoil the car. Cheers

Thank you Paul and I am impressed with the details you could work out from the book. The car was fitted with ACB10s when it was rebuilt at Caterham 3 years ago. I don't know what tyres were fitted previously but it stands to reason that they were Yokos - clearly I would prefer ACB10s given the choice but I am a fan of AO21s for wet weather. The minilite style wheels look identical to the ones in the picture on the front cover. I haven't looked closely at the pictures inside the book to see if they show the wheel style. None of this became an issue until I drove the car 2 weeks ago. I am the first person to have driven it on the road since it was brought back from the US. It lasted 24 hours before developing a major misfire. Since then it has been back at caterham having a whole bunch of stuff put right. For the doubting Thomases it is claimed that it was a stock Vx racer with a blue printed XE retaining the original factory injection system. It has a Quaife straight cut box with an o/d 5th (I thought at first it must have been a direct 5th because of the revs/subjective road speed- don't forget I didn't have a working speedo). All the other usual stuff applies - non adjustable dampers but with adjustable spring platforms, 250lb front springs, thick anti roll bar (don't ask me how thick cos they all look weedy compared to most other cars but thicker than the usual spaghetti), AP 4 pots at the front. It did have APs on the back but they have changed them to the standard set up so that there is a mechanical handbrake (the hydraulic one wouldn't get thru the MOT). Feels like a quicker rack but it could be my imagination - and obviously it has no screen, doors, trim, passenger seat etc. I am told it has a slippy diff in the Dedion but I am now starting to doubt anything I have been told. I'm not sure about the exhaust primaries - they look exactly like a normal competition set - ie 4 pipes exiting the engine bay and then merging to a single pipe shortly before the silencer. But then, I thought all caterhams did that? My previous 2 did! Am I having my plonker pulled?

Hmm.. one small problem, its not on carbs. It runs the standard Vx injection set up. This was apparently retained for reliability. Caterham reckon its a 175bhp engine (although it was advertised, by them, at 190bhp). The key here is, am I getting what I bargained for? They knew I wanted a track day car that could pull a decent top speed down the straights - by decent I mean 130 mph. I accept that I cannot expect them to pay for modifications that were never present in the original car and that for posterity I need to stay true to the original spirit of the car. But I still can't figure how with that rev limit, tyre size and final drive ratio they managed an AVERAGE 85mph, including stops for driver change, fuel etc over 24 hours? They must have been pulling 120mph+ down the straight? How can they do that when the gearing says 117 at 6500? I guess I will have to wait and see but on the face of it they will have to change either the rolling radius or the diff ratio? Which would you do?

Blimey, 18.06 mph per 1000 is not a lot - no wonder they still accelerate so hard in 5th! But 8200rpm? Never having owned any Vauxhall or Vauxhall engined car before (no mean feat when you have owned as many cars as I have) I asked caterham what the red line was and they said 6500rpm.. that probably explains why the shift light wasn't coming on. But then it doesn't explain why the engine cut at 6500 - unless it was just a serious misfire? Does the XE really rev that high.. safely?

Doh! I've done the sums now and it makes naff all difference. The rolling diameter of a 175/70/13 tyre is 71.09" and that of a 185/70/13 tyre is 72.82" = a difference of just 2.4%. In other words, all other factors being equal an increase in speed per 1000rpm of 2.4% = not a lot! May be thats why regular road HPC cars run 16" wheels?