MikeE

I've insured my Superlight with Eggar Lawson for the past year for £315. It's now renewal time so yesterday I give them a call. They quote me at..........£285, down by 10% (surely this isn't normal practice for an insurance company ). So this was a pleasant surprise but, one thing I don't like about my current EL policy is the limitation to Caterham/L7 club trackdays only or pay £25/day for 'reputable trackday companies' (e.g BookaTrack). So I'm all proud of myself and I tell the girlfriend, but she insists I call around as I might get a better deal (there's me thing yeah right!). So as instructed by the GF today I give Adrian Flux a call on the off chance they might be competitive, I explain the situation and say I'd really like unlimited track cover (as if!) and surprise surprise they come back with a quote of £256 including cover for an unlimited number of UK trackdays (with any organiser). The covers provided by IBEX and includes: 1. 3,000 miles per year (5,000 would be an extra £50), 2. £200 excess (rising to £2,000 for trackdays), 3. 90 days green card, 4. Legal protection, 5. Car covered whilst being trailered. So does this sound too good to be true 🤔 Does anyone have experience of this policy 🤔 cheers, Mike.

Had my standard (single exit pipe) tested at Goodwood and was well under the limit (apparently). Robmar - I fitted my Powerspeed 4-2-1 in January and would be interested to know the new noise level (actually I don't think it's any loader than before). So let me know if you find out soon. cheers, Mike

I treated myself to a new pair of Tillets when I picked the Superlight up from it's 12,000 mile service at the factory. So typically when I come to fit them on Sunday there's now fitting instructions I enventually managed to fit the passenger (fixed) seat yesterday but have the following questions: 1. Why do you get 3 thin and 5 thick spaces? (why the odd number?), 2. Do the thick spacers go at the front or the back? 3. Are you supposed to cant the seat to one side as well? (the passenger seat seems to be squashed against the side of the car more than the transmission tunnel) 4. I presume the spacers go between the seat and the ali fixing rail (not the ali fixing rail and the floor)? 5. Why does the pack say 'extra four thick spacers if FIA bar fitted'? 6. Are the seats handed (can't see anything to suggest they are, however they do have a label saying 'Blackbird' on them ). And finally I managed to strip two of the captive nuts in the fixing rail, I've had to replace these with bolts but am having reservations about leaving it like this, anyone got any ideas how much a replacement fixed seat fitting pack would be? thanks, Mike.

My Superlight needs a 12,000 mile (actually only done 9,000 in 30 months) service and I'm going to book it into Caterham. Does anyone know how much this'll cost (excluding extra items 😳) and if this needs to be done at Dartford or Caterham? thanks, Mike.

Having fitted an Apollo six months back I became the proud owner of a new Oil temperature guage. Having tracked the car since I noticed the oil was rising to 110-120C. Now I know it says in the handbook that the oil temp shouldn't rise above 100C and if it does an oil coller should be fitted. So I've just booked my SL for a service at Caterhma Dartford and mentioned this to the guy taking my call. I asked him how much they'd charge to supply and fit one of these Mocal oil/water intercooler things. Anyway he asked me what temperature I was seeing and then said that was normal and not a problem. He said they are now rating the oil/X-Power engines at upto 150C!!! and said that the manual was in error and should be ignored. So anyone care to express their opinion? Should I be worried about an oil temp of 120C when on track? cheers, Mike.

I just phone Caterham service and they're saying it's not uncommon for this seal to leak, they say it's a half hour job to sort the seal - so £26 plus parts. I've booked in for a 12,000 mile service on my October 2000 Superlight (8,000 miles so far) and they are quoting a base price of £425 inclusive but say they will probably find some other things which need fixing!!!!!! Having previously owned 3 TVRs I was looking forward to cheaper servicing costs, is this typical??? cheers, Mike.

It's a superlight so no carpets There's no grommet for accessing this plug, just a couple for the speedo drive and reverse light switch which are to the rear of the gearbox - the filler plugs at the front. Anyway it seems to me that there is a strutural cross-member in the way so you wouldn't be able to gain better access from the footwell anyway (an inspired piece of design really ) Thanks for the suggestions anyway. Edited by - MikeE on 17 Mar 2003 10:11:15

Following the advice I got from blatchatters last week I got the car up on axel stands and found the gearbox oil level plug. First off I could get the alen key in as there's only an inch or so's clearance. So I take a trip to a couple of car tool places and finally find the equivalent of a one inch lo ng alen key (10mm). So I get under the car again and find it just fits in. Put a 10mm ring spanner on it and.......can't shift the thing 1. So first off what tool do you usually use for this? 2. Is there another route to topping up the box (as this is the level plug AND the top up I assume). 3. I found the oil leak was comming from the speedo drive (a spindle hanging under the gearbox with wires coming out of it?). This seems to be a push fit with a circlip! There's no way of tightening it up so it's bound to leak! Is this correct? I wanted to top the box up as I'm off to North Weald next Monday for some hooning at a tuition day run by First Lotus. However as it happens I'm getting the Superlight serviced by Caterham next month. 4. It's a 12,000 mile service so will they top up the gearbox and diff as part of the service? cheers, Mike.

I need to source a couple of the poppers that are prefferably screwed (or rivetted) to the scuttle for the tonneu(sp?). Don't really want to drive over to Caterham or pay for delivery for 80p worth of parts. Is there anywhere else I can source them from?

Recently every time I've taken my SL out of the garage I've noticed a small redish tinged oil patch on the floor. I assume this is a minor leak from the gearbox (what with the oil b eing redish)? So assuming it is how do I: a. Check the oil level, b. Top it up? thanks, Mike.

Tom, You do NOT need to remove the water rail to remove the original manifold (at least i didn't on my 2000 1.6 K-series). However I did need to remove the two engine mounting bolts and shift the engine sideways by 1-2" in order to get the manifold off the studs given the lack of clearance with the (fixed) side chassis rail (and hence my concern about the water rail subsequently being very close to the removable chassis rail - I can't remember what the clearance was BEFORE I move the engine). You should also be able fit the new manifolds without removing the water rail. Having thought about it I would also recommend that you split the 1&2 pipes and the 3&4 pipes. This will make it much easier to feed them through the side skin and more importantly ease them into the collector. Ref. the side skin template, I'd use this as an initial guide but you WILL have to enlarge it in certain areas. You can only do this once you've managed to feed the primaries THROUGH this enlarged hole and offered them upto the block (i.e take a first cut and then enlarge it on a trial and error basis). If you have anymore questions just let me know. Mike Edited by - MikeE on 10 Feb 2003 16:07:49

Just fitted my 1.6 Superlight (year 2000) with a new Powerspeed 4-2-1 exhaust over the weekend and I have a problem with the number 3 primary just touching the chassis cross member (the diagonal one which is just behind the sideskin and passes just over the primary exit point in the outer skin). Now I'm going to call Powerspeed and let them know but a couple of points first. When I tried to remove the old Caterham manifold (the one which joins up inside the engine bay) I couldn't get it to clear the studs in the engine block as it hit the same cross member first. So I had to remove the two engine mounting bolts, raise the engine slightly and then slide it sideways an inch or two. Once the new exhaust was in place I reconnected the engine mounts. However when I refitted the other detachable cross member I noticed this was only just clearing the water rail by a 3-4mm and as mentioned before the number 3 primary was touching the outter diagonal chassis rail. Now given the above, is the problem with my number 3 primary OR is my engine slightly displaced to the near side? (hence the new AND original exhausts and water rail being very tight). Is it possible to move the engine over a cm or so or are the engine mounts fixed in one position only? Any advice greatfully recieved before I go and have a moan at Powerspeed. thanks, Mike. Edited by - MikeE on 10 Feb 2003 10:12:39

Andrew, As discussed on PistonHeads on Monday I'm interested in your trailer if you decide to split (does this put me at the head of the queue?). Mike.

Masha, that sounds rediculously cheap for a 4.5LW (which it would have to be on a W plate). I would have thought £30+ would be nearer the mark. Take a look here for some typical examples (and costs). Don't know if you know much about TVRs but, a bit of advice, don't by a Speed 6 Cerbera cheers, Mike.

If you're going away from the 7 concept then IMHO the only other worthy sportscar there is a Cerbera (of course you'll need to treat yourself to a 2000- 4.5 LW RR version to experience the true TVR effect!!). A reasonable 4.5LW RR is going to set you back at least £30K and as for running costs it'll be at least 4 times that of your 7 (ignore upgradeitis) - still a fantastic car though. cheers, Mike.

Just seen this on pistonheads here, so it looks like an official collaboration between MG and Judd. Does this mean it might become an option from Caterham?

Masha, If you go to the Caterham site you'll see they sell drivers and passengers seats, they are actually identical but the passenger seat comes with the (fixed) aluminium fixing kit, drivers has the steel runners. The Demon Tweeks price is for the Kevlar versions (i.e £470/seat same as the Caterham site).

I've just checked on the Caterham site and these seats are £269.23 INCLUDING VAT (and seat runners/fixing kit)!!! So two NEW seats + p&p would be no more than £550 all in! Edited by - MikeE on 13 Jan 2003 17:17:48

I thought they were only £270 each new?!?!?!?!

Richard, I haven't recieved mine yet but expect to hear from Dave @ Powerspeed soon. It's good to hear the quality is better than some of the 'drama queens' on here would have you believe. I'm planning to fit mine myself also, did you get any fitting instructions from Dave? I would be very interested in your experience and any tips for the rest of us. cheers, Mike.

????????? Surely the pushrod is unsprung mass???? The way I see it is that an increase in the unsprung mass is a negative effect because: when the wheel is forced upwards by an undulation in the road the wheel (and all the other unsprung components) have a momentum which the spring has to fight against to force the wheel back down onto the road. So if you increase the unsprung mass then the wheel will take longer to make contant with the road again (all other things being equal). So this new push rod is connected directly to the lower wishbone. When the wishbone rises so does this pushrod and thus this contributes to the momentum. Or am I missing the point completely?

Re unsprung weight that was my thought exactly. Surely all the usual unsprung components are still there (or are they lighter) but you now also have the weight of the new pushrod????

Joachim please understand that the vast majority of us on this site do NOT agree with the petty jibes that are being directed at yourself and your Country. Just a thought but where does one hire an Autoclave(sp) for this process? I shall have to ask my mate at MClaren how many there are in the Woking area 😳 Edited by - MikeE on 4 Dec 2002 19:31:37

Yet another TVR convert here. I've had a 4.0 Griffith and two Tuscan S6s . I sold the 2nd Tuscan (at a £15K loss ) last Feb and bought a Superlight in April. Like Andrew said I wonder why I didn't do it years ago. The only thing I regret now, I wish I'd bought a pure trackday car with more of the go fast bits on it rather than being tempted to upgrade either the bits or the whole car (I've already spent £1.4K on a spare set of wheels and ACB10s, a 4-2-1 exhaust and an Appolo tank). If you decide you want to (primarily) use it in anger on a track then I'd go for an ex-race SLR (or similar) and a trailor. Andrew - how did you like the ACB10s at Anglesey? I used mine for the first time at Lydden and all the advice about predictability was spot on although they didn't appear to be any grippier than my CR500s, having said that I'm not sure they were getting hot enough. Mike.

according to their site they'll do you a silver look finish as well