michaelw

I just keep missing the ones that come up in For Sale. They are both for a Vauxhall racer car chassis and preferably the cage should go under the hood, so I guess that would be a roadsport cage then. (As long as Rory has his). Michael. Edited by - michaelw on 9 Jan 2004 11:07:39

I have the Honeycomb floor and I had the problems mentioned. The lack of a foot stop for want of a better word, has been sorted on my car by riveting an L-shaped piece of aluminium across the cross member and this works very well. The bar I think you are referring to is the throttle stop and I cut mine off when I first got the car. I always meant to put another throttle stop on the car but have never got around to it although I wouldn't recommend not having one. This gives the room you need Incidentally if you are going to remove the floor and put a new one on Caterham have told me the lowered floor does not need the Honeycomb as it is stronger due to "having more shape". I am not sure about this but it might be worth considering if you are going to buy a new floor anyway. I think it may even help the throttle stop problem as well but I haven't got the floor yet so can't tell you. Michael.

I am pretty sure in my case the clonk wasn't the crack in the rack, but was probably caused by the rack being dry and in need of grease but I am not sure how the crack would have occured as I would have thought lack of lubrication wouldn't do this. The quick rack I bought was reasonably easy to fit but quite expensive I am afraid (£166 I think). Michael.

I had the same problem and bought a dehumidifier from B&Q for about £100 and no probs at all - must get around to plumbing it in though. It is very useful if the car is washed and put straight away as well. The only problem I may have is longevity though as it has been on for a year now and has started to sound a bit rough Michael.

Ammo, Anthony, the lengths of my manifold is as follows: 4 - 27" 2 - 12.5" 1 - 7" All these measurements are of the tubes if you see what I mean so as they overlap the total length of the system will be less than the above, but I am not sure what other reference points to use. I hope this tells you how much needs to be cut off Anthony assuming your system is the same length as mine was. As you say Ammo, it was the 2 part that was shortened as the 1 part was too short anyway. I sent the parts to you for shortening Ammo, as the mounting tubes need to be re-welded. Any other questions please let me know. Sorry for the delay in replying but I have been at a Seloc track day today - wet but fantastic fun. Michael. Edited by - michaelw on 1 Dec 2003 20:22:27

Anthony, my engine is a 2.0 VX built by SBD to "production spec" which I think is 180 BHP plus, running on twin 45 dellortos. I think I lost about 1/3 of the primaries but I am not sure. I went through the same thing when I thought about buying the silencer but as Ammo says if you can't use it on track days it is no use. Michael.

Ammo, yes I am very pleased and although I haven't had the car on a rolling road there doesn't appear to be any noticeable difference in performance in fact it even felt a bit quicker in the mid-range than the previous silencer. Although they are not the most expensive it was a bit more expensive than some others but it is very well made and no heavier than my last carbon silencer and you get what you pay for (mine was a special tapered silencer with a 3" to 2.5" ID). As far as noise in concerned, when I first had the silencer put on I had it tested twice at Goodwood at 4800 and it measured 95db. I have since done 2 trackdays at Goodwood and they insist on 5200 now and my car doesn't like that and coughs and pops etc and it now measures 100db but I am sure this isn't a true representation as the car certainly isn't any noisier. I think this proves how fickle the noise tests actually are although I would welcome any feedback. Michael.

I have a Raceco on SBD primaries so it can be done although the 2-1 part had to be shortened. I am very pleased with it although I haven't seen the BTB. Michael.

I have heard of people frying there Gel batteries using conditioners and the motorbike type aren't designed for large batteries apparently (too large a current draw apparently). Mind you saying that there is always someone who will break something like this and I always thought the charger delivered the current rather than the battery demanding a current but I'm no electrician. Michael.

Adam, no I have got that rail in front of the seat, but I also have another smaller rail that runs from the corner between the above rail and the chassis on the right side of the seat and runs back at about 45 degrees to the transmission tunnel. I think it was only on the Vauxhall race cars and that does stop the seat going lower. I did sit in a car with the lowered floor and roadsport cage and my head was still very close to the roll bar but I think the Tillett was very upright as mentioned elsewhere. But I have tilted mine back and my head now hits the FIA bar at the back. Michael.

Presumably the track day is the Seloc day. I should be there and will be interested in the your feedback on wide track as I am thinking of "going wide". The only problem being you may only be able to tell what it is like in snow or driving rain knowing the weather in December. Michael.

Has anybody fitted a lowered floor to an early car yet. I have an Vauxhall race chassis which has an extra cross member under the seat which I presume will have to come out. I have spoken to CC and they say that a new floor is coming out for the earlier cars but I guess you can't get away from the fact that the cross-member will be floating in mid-air when the floor is lowered. Michael.

Stu, Thanks very much for the tip have just done exactly that and I even used the screw that came with the mirror. I spent about 2 hours about a month ago trying to work out how to attach the Spa mirrors from the aeroscreen to the car so I could use them with the full screen as well and couldn't think of a way. Michael.

Thanks Hoopy that is exactly what I have done and got it crack detected at the same time. Its a good thing I did one of the teeth on the pinion has a crack along half of its root *eek* . I have now ordered another one. What concerns me is that the clonk was co-incidental and if I did not have that I wouldn't have noticed the crack . Oh well thats a lucky escape. Michael.

I bought a Caterham screen this year and love it although it is very expensive. But I have got the full screen back on now - too cold. But it is so easy to swap in literally about 10 mins I think I will take it to track days and swap it for the day. One thing nobody mentions and is obvious is the increase in visibilty you get not only from not having the screen and interior mirror (especially aroung Paddock at Brands) but also the mirrors don't vibrate. Michael.

Thanks guys. I have tried all of the above and it is still there so I have taken it off to be re-built and someone is crack checking it for me. This may be overkill but Fordwater at Goodwood focused the mind at well over a hundred and makes you realise how important steering or lack of it is. Michael.

Matt, Not sure about roadworthy, did a track day at Goodwood on Saturday and it got worse. So I may have to look at it sooner, so thanks for the advice. I hope the car is not too serious and will be back on the road soon. Michael. Edited by - michaelw on 9 Nov 2003 22:07:23

Matt, Thanks for that I think that could be another job for the winter. Not sure I can take the rack apart though. Michael.

I am getting a clicking/pinging noise from the steering of my quick rack when the steering is moved from side to side by about 45 degrees when statinary. It sounds loudest by the rack and someone has mentioned a cracked rack which scared me. Any ideas? Michael.

I have just jacked my car up to replace the disks and found that the top nut and lock nut on the adjustable damper body are loose. Is it safe to say that the distance of the nut from the top/bottom of the damper on both sides of the car should be the same. I haven't got access to corner weights. I was going to post saying how do you reduce understeer on a VX as I have been suffering from this more and more this year, but I was apprehensive about the replies I would invariably get (get a lighter engine etc, etc) I think I may now have found the problem. The offside top nut is about half an inch lower than the nearside. Michael. P.S. Sorry I don't know what this nut is called, it is the large nut that the road spring rests against on the adjustable platform dampers.

Ammo, Yes I am sure it was a 3" down to 2.75" or at least the silencer has a 3" entry and 2.75" exit so I guess it is. I am never sure whether having a noisier or quieter silencer makes it feel slower or quicker but it definatley felt a bit quicker to me. Michael.

I have had one of Ammo's 3" to 2.75" tapered silencers and am very pleased with it. With the SBD silencer I measured 104db but with a 7.25" Raceco silencer have got down to 95db. The manifold was shortened by Ammo, the car is running on carbs and I think should be about 180 - 190 bhp and I haven't noticed any drop in power in fact it may even have more power in the mid range although I have not had it dynoed it is purely from driving it which can very difficult to tell. Michael.

Yes thats right the SBD was 104db although it was much smaller diameter silencer and the outlet was 2.75" whereas it is now 2.5". The manifold etc are all the same except Raceco shortened the secondaries. The original manifold was a 4-2-1 SBD manifold which is very nicely made so I didn't want to chnage that (apart from money). The performance, as far as I can tell, is pretty much the same although it is very hard to tell. Michael. Edited by - michaelw on 19 Aug 2003 21:27:50

I think Redline in Caterham (01883 346515) are doing them at about £100 might be worth a look. Michael.

I can confirm Raceco is the way to go silencer wise as I have a 2.0 VX on carbs and the noise (tested at goodwood both times) came down from 104db (SBD) to 95db @ 5000 after I fitted there 2.5" and 7.25" silencer. I haven't had a drive-by and am hoping the induction will be OK now. Michael.