Nick Green

From what I recall of other's recent experience, even at Gillingham, if you have an FIA bar fitted, because of the diagonal, the central rear view mirror will be ignored and only the side mirrors (of which there must then be two) will be used. You should still pass. However if you want to be *really* sure, then fit the FIA bar after the SVA test. By the time you've built the car, fitting the FIA bar will be easy.

The symptoms, cause (I think) and alternatives are outlined here Essentially, too much heat affects starters on Ks.

Nick's specialist subject again... Judging from the registration number, your starter is the good old Magneton jobby, with the solenoid on the bottom. It has reduction gears in it. The starter coil is not directly in line with the pinion. These reduction gears cause the little shriek when the engine catches. It's the one thing I miss since I haven't used my Mageneton starter.

Jas, 105db is pretty generous! smile.gif Unless your silencer is knackered, you should be all right.

Graham, I think there are some diagonals across the footwell floors, and the upper engine bay diagonals are welded rather than bolted in. There may be some other extra bracing, but I think that's the difference.

David, Your Clubsport should have Watts Link as standard, the same as an SLR. Easy to check: Look under the rear wheel arches. If you can see rods going backwards as well as forwards from the end of the axle, you've got Watts. If forwards only, you have standard suspension. As Andy says, Race chassis are different. Weather gear was an extra cost option on Clubsports, just like SLRs. Things like the lightened flywheel, 4-pot front calipers and LSD are common to both. The rear exhaust box your car should have is the CS exhaust, but I've seen that box on SLRs. In fact the only significant differences between a CS and a SLR are the wheels and the engine.

The Halfords code is also for a magnetti-marelli-equivalent Lucas starter, with the solenoid on the top. This is the one for which the fix I've suggested has been known to work. Halfords sell it as being for some Sierra models. The Magneton starter is the Skoda (as in "supplied to", not "manufactured by") starter that Caterham now supply. This has the solenoid on the bottom. It is also geared. I, and others, have had the same non-starting symptoms as on the top-sol starters, but with no quick fix so far devised, that I know of. I think the Edge one is supplied for the R500. I've been told by peeps at Caterham that it is a race car/F3000 starter. Anyone with an R500 want to confirm ?

Graham, I think I had something similar to what you describe on my DeDion car last year. Mr Unwin advised a re-shim of the front A-frame bushes, the ones on the chassis. A slim one each side fixed it for me...

Steve, Yes, for all K installations, apart from the R500, a Magneton starter is used. This is as supplied for the Octavia, but a different plate is fitted so that it will mate to the Caterham bellhousing (in other words, a Sierra pattern fitting plate is put on). This version is only obtainable from Caterham, I believe. I think, from previous times this has come up, that the Lucas code is STR543 ?? Perhaps Mike Bees or Luke Beaumont could confirm ? If that translates to other brands, avoid the Bosch one anyway, as it is too big. Just had a look back through the thread. You don't say whether your starter is a solenoid on top job or not. If it is (sol on top), it may well be repairable: Try resoldering the actuator wire joint, and encase in araldite. Edited by - nick green on 19 Jul 2001 15:07:43 Edited by - nick green on 19 Jul 2001 15:10:27

Knew I was too honest for my own good sad.gif

Starter Motors...cue Nick smile.gif Steve, You might find Halfords (or wherever) won't accept a Magneton starter in exchange (if that is what you have - solenoid on the bottom). The Halfords code is HSM407. Mine's lasted 4 months so far. If you have the older Magnetti Marelli type, the fix seems to be: remake the solder joint on the actuator terminal, and cover in araldite. Hope the above is of some assistance.

Ah! I've heard the Bosch ones are big. Almost got one for mine; lucky escape there then it turned out. Worth knowing, that Bosch is too big!! For the record, the Halfords one is a Lucas job (I thought that is what the LRS 543 was), and fits fine too. All's well that end's well, then.

timbar, In your 3rd para, you say that you see air still spewing out after 15 mins of idling... I think what you may have been seeing is simply a hot compressed liquid squirting out of a confined space. If you are having to mop up coolant afterwards, I think coolant is coming out. I noticed what you described when bleeding the cooling system on my car recently. To back up Andy Perry's comments, someone of the se7ens list said he bled the system by keeping the car flat and easing off the jubilee clip around the upper heater joint till coolant came out. Beware of doing this on a hot engine though; it *squirts* out. Better to do it while the engine is warming up. Basically, if the pipes to and from the heater are getting warm pretty quickly on starting from cold, and when squeezing them, you can see a reaction in the header tank, and when easing off the bleed screw in the rad, coolant comes out, then I'd say the system is bled. All the high points have been covered. Make sure the expansion tank cap has a white dot on it; these ones give the correct pressurisation of the system. You are, of course, free to ignore any advice/opinions in the above comments smile.gif Nick.

Luke, Sorry to read you are having all these problems! I can only say "It worked for me" sad.gif Had a little think about this, and while Caterham's Skoda-sourced geared starter certainly has no nose (it doesn't smell awful though), you'd still have the problem of aligning to the ring gear on the flywheel. Obviously, I haven't seen your bell housing, so I don't know how deep the hole is. I don't think getting another starter is necessarily going to help. Certainly not from Caterham, anyway. Edited by - nick green on 17 May 2001 18:40:43

I went off Interpro, as they took hours to get around to doing my car, even though they knew I was waiting in the reception area, and they wouldn't let me watch what they did, just presented me with the results. I would agree the bloke there seemed to know what he was doing.

I know 2 people with SLRs. Both have standard rads. I know of others with similar power Ks but not VHPDs. Those are on standard rads too. While one wouldn't wish to seem prescriptive on this, it looks like you'd be ok to me, anyway smile.gif As for the 22% rack, it's supposed to make the car "twitchier". This can be regarded as both a good and bad thing. Others who have upgraded don't seem to have regretted it. You'll get used to it, whatever, I reckon.

Ralph, Yes, 'tis true. Was at Circuit Motors last week. I was checking cam timings. I wasn't having anything like carbs set up, so didn't feel qualified to offer an opinion on that aspect. Glyn (the rollers man) seems to do a lot of classic car tuning, and runs an MGA himself. He strikes me as someone who would know what to do though. And you can watch him do it too. Give him a call on 01249 782596 and have a chat about what you want. I dare say you could ask to have a look when he's got someone else's car there... Nick (in Malmesbury) Edited by - nick green on 1 May 2001 11:52:10

Jim, The only time my temp gauge has gone high, it was after I'd been fiddling with something or other and I'd inadvertantly tensioned the little wire that goes to the temp sender in the water rail. Once I'd removed the tension and straightened the contact, the temp showed normal. Perhaps something is tensioning the wire when you lift off the power ? But then the engine doesn't move much, so probably b******s.

I found the way to fit these protectors was as follows: Get the fitting against the body right, by holding the protector in place, working out where cf needs removing on the inside edge and just cutting it with a pair of scissors. I've heard cf is supposed to blunt scissors, but mine are still alright. Then I cut the piping to fit, cutting in notches when it goes round corners. The I sprayed some spray glue on the back edges of the protector, and stuck the piping on. The sticking isn't brilliant, but it was good enough to do the job. Worked nicely for fitting the wings too. Then I attached the protector using masking tape; 2 or 3 pieces do the job. Then it was just a matter of drilling the hole and rivetting. I fitted them randomly, rather than starting at one end and working to the other. All done in an evening. Having said that, gravel rash still appeared quickly so skate tape is probably as good as anything smile.gif

TM, I would tend towards Dave J's thoughts, especially as these are exactly the same symptoms as happened to mine. On 2 motors. Be aware if attempting multiple turns of the ignition key, that the 20A ECU fuse eventually blows. The clicking solenoid means the ECU fuse is still intact. What starter motor do you have ? I am guessing from the age, which is the same as mine-ish, that it is the Magneton jobby with the solenoid on the bottom. If so I'd like to hear how you get on with getting a new one out of Caterham, as they never did get back to me, despite several calls. Hate to sound pessimistic, but if it is working ok now, don't be surprised if it fails again in the future. I have now gone for a solenoid on top one from Halfords: HSM 407. I've araldite-reinforced the actuator terminal too, which fixes the problem which occurs on this type of starter. Nick.

Dodgy earth perhaps ? I know mine decided to stop returning on switching off, at one point last year. Turned out the earth bolt wasn't tight. teaching to suck eggs>

I can vouch for the loctite solution too.

Just out of curiosity, does anybody out there have a decent set of 5 14" wheels, supplied as standard on the non-SL or SLR De Dion models, for sale ? This is a tentative idea of mine, but if you are tentatively interested in selling... smile.gif Please feel free to email me directly, if you wish (click on the little letter thing in the bar above) Edited by - nick green on 22 Mar 2001 15:44:15

Hi Dave. I had a good look at the terminal with a magnifying glass. Perhaps my eyes need testing, but I couldn't see anything wrong with it. If what you've got is the same as what I have now, the terminal design is quite different from the Magneton starter anyway. I'm in full 'Cut My Losses' mode on this subject, I'm afraid. Your starter has a problem with a known fix, whereas the Magneton starter has a similar problem with no known fix other than replacement. I've taken pre-emptive measures with the new starter. Time will tell if I've been wasting my money...

For those of you who may have been following my previous ramblings/questions about alternatives to the solenoid-underneath Skoda (Magneton really) starter that has been giving me gip recently, I have made progress... Turns out the 3-bolt fixing plate is boggo Ford Sierra. However there are at least 3 types of starter: Pre 89 manual, post 89 manual and automatic (don't know about year here). The pre-89 comes with a 60mm nose which just happens to fit very nicely into the hole in the dry sump bell housing, if the Caterham supplied spacer is used (65mm deep). This is what I have gone for. The post-89 version has a shorter nose, but I wasn't sure if the amount by which it was shorter was the same as the depth of the spacer plate... Both the above starters have the solenoid on top, but I have it on good opinion that a bit of reinforcing of the actuator terminal, and some form of heat shielding should do the job. Even if it doesn't, they are v. cheap (relatively) to replace, being about a third the cost of the Magneton thing. The Sierra automatic one sounds as if perhaps it could be better still, as it has a solenoid on the bottom again. Unfortunately, no-one had one in stock and I couldn't be bothered to wait. Don't know about nose length on this one either. So there. An alternative exists smile.gif