Nick Green

£26 seems way too much for a DS belt. Last time I got a DS belt for a purple pump from Caterham it was a 3PK825 and was a struggle to fit. I bought the next one not from Caterham and got a 3PK835. Those extra 10mm make fitting much easier. This is all with the automatic tensioner, I'd better add. Sounds to me like they've sent you an alternator belt. Does it look like what is already fitted ? (re-reading your email, obviously not... and yes, peaks are ridges and the length is in mm.) I am told that race teams replace these belts after every race. Seems a tad excessive to me. I treat it as an annual service item, and change it every year. Which is probably still excessive. Edited by - nick green on 16 Oct 2002 11:17:20

The Unipart GMB number follows a similar format to the PK number: The first digit is the number of peaks and the subsequent number is the circumference of the belt.

The best thing to do is look on the belt itself. You should see something somewhere on it like: 5PK840, where 5PK means 5 peak (you count peaks not grooves with these belts) and the number following is the circumference of the belt in millimetres. Don't go looking for that number above though; I made it up! For the record, Dry sump belts for the purple scavenge pump are something like 3PK835. Caterham supply 3PK825, which is *just* too small and make it an 🙆🏻 to fit. Those extra 10mm make it an absolute doddle.

I found the same thing with my speedo. I take 5 mph or so off whatever speed I'm seeing. Costs me nowt

If your re-torquing of the bolts hasn't worked, try fitting an extra shim into the gap between each front A-frame bush and the chassis mount. This is what fixed it for me.

Another thing to try if all the above fail you, is an extra, slim shim in the front A-frame mounts. That fixed an annoying squeak on my car.

Tony, this is the fix Paul Richards has been trying out for the last couple of months. It's detailed in another thread somewhere. He tells me it hasn't let him down yet. I've fitted a relay in this manner in the last couple of days, so we'll see how it goes. Nick.

Are you sure £35 isn't for the gauge ? I had a to get an oil pressure sender about a year ago for my '99 car. ISTR something in the £10-£15 range ?

A couple of years ago, I bought a couple of pairs of these cone retainers from Prodrive in Banbury, who (at least then) were the importers for Bilstein. Don't have any record of the number though, sorry. sad.gif

Johnty, whether or not you are joking in your opening words, your solution is for one of the problems on the Magnetti Marelli starter with the solenoid on the top, right by the exhaust header. Paul's original comments refer to the Magneton starter. Mick Day explicitly states "Magneton". This is the starter with the solenoid on the bottom. F355GTS (IIRC) has also referred to differences in construction of these two starters. This is not a "one fix fits all" situation, as you seem to be implying. Edited by - nick green on 10 Jul 2002 14:12:49

Peterg, I am speaking from my experience, as no doubt you are. Perhaps I should expand a little: My car has a 1.8K (not VVC, I grant you) and a battery master switch. The big wire from the alternator (in the Caterham/Rover loom) definitely does not go on to the starter motor. When the engine is running and I take out the master key, the engine stops and I cannot re-start it. Whether that means the alternator is "isolated" is another matter. (Seeing as the battery discharged when I took out the key, when the car was delivered... now fixed.) What type of battery master key is fitted to your car ? Is it the one with four small contacts on the back, as well as the big starter lead ones ? I didn't fit the one on my car, Caterham did, so I can claim no expertise there. I do know that there is a different type of master key available, (nos 10 an 11 on page 177 of the DT catalogue, for instance) which seems to have only two contacts on it. If that is the case, I can see there is a logic to setting things up as you state. Mole does not state that he even *has* a battery master key, though, so we could be debating an irrelevant point in this particular case. If this is the case, then a standard Caterham set up does not connect the alternator to the starter motor. Still smile.gif Edited by - nick green on 28 May 2002 18:18:18

Hmmm. I think you'll find that the big wire from the alternator goes to the positive battery terminal, in order to charge the battery ? The starter motor takes its power feed straight from the battery. The alternator isn't generating any current when the starter is cranking (which is why the light is lit on the dash at this time), so it would make no sense to link the two together. Those two earth leads: the little one that bridges the engine mount, links the chassis, which provides earthing for just about all the circuits on the car, to the engine block. The one from the starter mounting bolt/bellhousing completes the circuit to the battery. Hope that helps smile.gif

You should have two thick black cables in the kit. They are both pretty short, but one is shorter than the other. The longer one goes from a starter motor mounting bolt, say, to the earth terminal on the battery. The shorter one effectively jumps the engine mount bracket on the off-side. One end should be secured by one of the bolts holding the engine mount to the block; the other end is held by one of the bolts holding the engine mount rubber to the chassis.

One of my car's wipers fell off about a year ago. When I got the replacements from Caterham, they were noticeably better assembled than the originals supplied in 1999, pre-bent into the correct shape to put the blade at the correct angle to the screen, and the right length too.

There isn't a hole by the filler on my car, and I don't think it would make the job easier if there were. I'd have to mess around in the depths of the foot well, whereas all I need to do now is put my specially shaped bit of flexi central heating tube down between the gbox and the footwell from the engine bay, and away I go. Once the floor panel is out of the boot, I use the pipe there too.

The build manual advice is to cut down a 10mm allen key and use that to open the filler. Personally, I use the short bit that I cut off. I can slide a 10mm ratchet spanner over it, or use an adjustable to start to undo. Much better than the allen key. You should also try and check the oil level with the car level. In order to do this, and gain access from underneath, I stick the whole car up on axle stands. I dare say if you have a pit or lift access, then on its wheels is level enough.

Standard SL springs are the same as all the standard Caterham-supplied springs: 150lb fronts, 90/180 rears (or thereabouts). Seems to be some dispute about the precise values on the rears, or whether they are really triple-rate...

Mike, you have mail. N.

If your starter is the solenoid-on-top variety, then it is repairable, by resoldering the actuator terminal on the solenoid, and then splatting some araldite on top, to make sure it doesn't vibrate apart again. If your starter is of the solenoid-underneath persuasion, then it's buggered, basically. Well, I mean there is no known "fix" as such. I know people who have run 25A ECU fuses with no apparent problem, and Caterham themselves fit a 30A fuse there now. Caterham also now supply the Magneton starter with heat shield material fitted to the solenoid. Dunno if it works, as I gave up on the Magneton and now have a Halfords (ie Lucas) HSM407 starter, with the 20A fuse still fitted. Over a year and no "click" moments. So far... For either starter, a bit of heat shield on the exhaust or starter can do no harm... Edited by - nick green on 2 Apr 2002 13:23:27

One of the interesting things about Roger Green's accident, was that he reported his crash helmet being damaged. I presume this was due to the helmet whacking the cage side bars where they passed by his head ? (Perhaps Roger could confirm this ?) I've seen other discussions, either here or on the se7ens list, where this has been cited as a reason for *not* fitting a roll cage on a predominantly road car, ie one you would not normally wear a helmet in, while not on a track. But then the obvious retort is that the cage is what helped to keep the passenger area of Roger's car so undamaged... You pays your money, I suppose smile.gif

Felix, I was checking the pads through the gaps in the calipers last night. They looked ok, but I'm going to whip them out anyway for a proper look. I have some new ones in the bits box, so I can make an immediate comparison. I first noticed the effect with the car less than 6 months old. It's still on it's original pads. Blat, so it might be the case that despite the bearings being properly adjusted, cornering forces can move things around enough to cause knock off then ? I have tended to dismiss this as I am by no means the fastest driver I know, and I haven't seen anyone else querying this before.

Cheers all, for responses so far. A few things for me to check out then. To add a little more info, the "occasional" bit should really read "when on track, when braking for a corner following a long sweeper". This can be after a long straight, so I don't think brake fade is an issue, as it is on first press of the pedal. I thought it was only following long lefts, but the other day, it was after a long-ish right. I was suspecting knock off for a while, but if all the bearings are wobble-free, that doesn't seem likely. This never happens on the road. Well, not yet at least.

Ok, cheers Oily. I stand corrected smile.gif Any idea could be causing the long brake pedal ? Possible numpty statement number 2: With the handbrake on, the pedal is rock solid. This kind of implied something to do with the rear brakes, as being the cause of the softness...

Is there any ?? This is on a De Dion axled car. I know the front bearings can be adjust to take up wear. It seems very reasonable to me that the rears can also be adjusted. Trying to get to the bottom of an occasional long brake pedal problem. I am aware that air in the system is a possible cause of this, but I'm also pretty sure that is not the case on my car. Ta very much.

I know a couple of people in my local (Bristol) L7C group, who have live axle cars and went to FIA bars. They can't fit their hoods either. Seems to be a feature of the FIA bar fitted to the live axle chassis. Sounds like the Oxted option is the best bet, if you want to keep the hood.