Nick Green

Early yesterday evening.

When I needed to fit a replacement arm on my car a few years ago, I had a couple of small triangular bracing pieces welded over the obvious little holes that exist above and below the bearing holder. That was where the cracking was on the first arm. No pics I'm afraid but so far so good.

All breathers go separately to the catch tank. Could block one of the cam cover breathers up to be honest. Don't think it would make much difference in my engine's case. Just what I did when I first installed the engine yonks ago. I have also seen 1 pipe linking ds tank swirl tower to one cam cover breather and another pipe linking the other cam cover breather to the catch tank.

ISTR Peter Carmichael saying he ran his with open breathers in the end, as he believed the air moving through the engine would help to shift any oil. Supposed to stop the clucking too. And it doesn't really run in a vacuum as it is sucking air in past the seals anyway. My (now 16 yo) DS K engine came from Caterham with open breathers. I asked Len Unwin (tech guy at Caterham at the time) if I should blank them off or leave them open. He replied he'd seen engines in both configurations and they all seemed to work all right. Left my engine's breathers open; so far so good. So I think the short answer is it doesn't really matter that much either way. Go with what feels right to you. Perhaps the squeal is due to a seal splitting or something so the air is being constantly drawn in, giving a reed instrument-type effect, rather than "gulping" the air in and causing the clucking sound ? Hope that doesn't sound too gloomy!

Hi. Because this website has no "Category" applied to it, it is unable to pass through my work firewall. This was not a problem on the old website. Is it possible to put a "Category" on please ? Thanks, Nick.

As Mucus72 says, I doubt heat will be an issue. Certainly nothing has showed up so far. If you consider the heat soak that must build up in that area, with exhaust heat and so on, and that the heater only gets as hot as the coolant... Sounds like Mucus72 did a neater fitting job than me too <ahem> Re different metals, the original matrix has what look like copper loops on one end. I am no metallurgist so can't answer that question really. But there must be different materials in modern cars, which the coolant comes in to contact with. My heater has been fitted almost a year. Time will tell.

Try talking to Avon Motorsport in Melksham directly. www.avonmotorsport.com/contact-us They sell direct. BMTR might have stock now, but they will probably sell at the same price as Avon direct.

Those pics on the motorads web page are of my car. The "enthusiast" referred to is me. I cut out some plastic at the back too, which I told the guys at motorads, but which hasn't made it into the text on the webpage. Sorry I didn't spot this a little sooner to offer some reassurance.

Is that the alternative route to Compton Abbas Airfield hairpins you are talking about by any chance ? If so, I discovered them for the first time last weekend. Need to get the 7 down there now... If not, then something else!

Could be Four20. I'll get him to confirm...

Loose spark plug ? Can make quite a knocking din, I have recently found out... Ah. No. Just re-read. You took the plugs out and put them back in again ,so that rules that out. Sorry. Edited by - Nick Green on 3 Jun 2014 14:06:36

Framerate, I will have to admit, I didn't use boiling water. I stuck mine in the oven, on a low heat, till they started to go *just* soft enough... But you have to handle them carefully or it can all go very wobbly. However, this topic came up last year and another poster on that thread said he did his using boiling water, which sounded like a better way of doing it. Which is why I suggested it above, though in my case it is an untested method. Myles, this is about the wind deflectors which attach to the side of the windscreen in the sidescreen hinges. Nothing bolts on. WIMPS are something else again.

BD, If you bend the bottoms in by heating them in hot water, say, so that they stick out further than they do as standard, then you will find they work fine. Get the position right by fitting them, driving along and then moving them out till the turbulence stops/is acceptable. IME, you will also need half sidescreens too, as there is wind blast from the rear wings. I use SBFS ones. But I find with both of those on, a baseball cap can still be worn no problem at whatever speed. Edited by - Nick Green on 21 May 2014 08:45:03 Edited by - Nick Green on 21 May 2014 08:46:21

It fits into the sump pan through the hole in the side. The metal pipe which connects to the hose which runs up to the scavenge pump, fits on the outside...

Andy, Yes please. BM to follow. Nick

And another for Audicator too. It is expensive, but it is highly programmable, for rate of volume increase, number of flashes before any noise, whether it makes a noise when first turning the indicators on, etc. and I find the ability to cancel the noise by tapping the brake pedal very handy for my sanity. Added bonus is that it also let's you know if your brake light switch isn't working, as the noise won't cancel in that case. One more thing, you might find any L7C-advised discount code doesn't work. They can be time-limited. Get in touch with Audicator in that case. Edited by - Nick Green on 1 Apr 2014 09:58:41

That was probably Tim on his way home from the sprint at Combe on Saturday

Could be where primary pipes join the collector. Is there any exhaust paste or anything in there ? That can be where the air is getting in, as it is downsteam of the No4 primary 02 sensor, so you wouldn't see it on your kit ?

If you are having sticking butterfly issues with the plastic TB, try moving the jubilee clip that olds the air filter on, round by 45 or 90 degrees and do it up again. The jubilee clip doesn't tighten evenly.

Well that's my excuse for next season already sorted then!

No, no fluke: Right run at the right time. Take 'em any way you can get 'em Edited by - Nick Green on 23 Oct 2013 14:14:15

Quoting four20: fortunately my nearest rival this last coupla years taught me about braking into corners. he did it so well that i beat him last time out which sums up the great atmosphere in the paddock and keeps me getting up at dark o'clock to get to the track. Yeah, I won't be doing that again Or fluffing my gearchanges off the start line... (Driver excuse number...)

Glad we got there in the end! Everyone's got to start somewhere. I'll check out the pics at my leisure...

If there really is no plate on the bottom of the bell tank, try removing the hose joint at the bottom on the right hand side.

Maybe the blue plate on the bottom was replaced by a drain plug on the bottom at the side... That would have been a sensible move as the plate method is/was very messy. A plug can't be any worse than the plate! Is there oil in the tank still ? If there is, it should account for your missing oil. That quantity of oil can't be anywhere else in the system (if there is no evidence of escape). When refilling, most of the oil goes in the bellhousing tank, but 4l will practically fill it up. I stick a litre in through the engine cam cover filler, to put more in in one go, but on cranking the engine that oil (in the sump) will just get sucked out into the bellhousing tank. The main filling point is the bellhousing tank. Edited by - Nick Green on 17 Oct 2013 11:21:12