Nick Green

Also, IME, 5000 rpm is quite a high rev point to test at. 4000 or 4500 is more usual on track days. 500 revs can make quite a difference in that sort of area. Sprints tend to have 105 or 110 dBA limits.

Another source of the creaking can be the front A frame mounts. A very thin shim inserted on each mount cured it for me, when my 7's rear susp started creaking after 6 months or so.

No-one seems to have replied thus far, so I'll say it seems like a job for a helicoil to me. Try ringing round a few local engineering firms locally perhaps ? It will probably be a sump pan off job... Edited by - Nick Green on 6 Aug 2004 12:01:47

Andy, I'm with Mr Locust, re the symptoms you are describing. A failing CRB will squeal, like a slipping alternator belt, when pressure is on the clutch pedal. IME. I believe (as I haven't experienced it first hand) that when the CRB is getting near to destruction, you'll be able to feel vibration through the clutch pedal too.

Halfords sell Thule luggage straps. Put one of those right round the tyre and rack.

Hi Colin. I think the short answer to your question and list of possible symptoms is: leave it long enough and it is "all of the above". I have done a little delve through my email archive and come up with the following comments/observations from INA on one of John Vine's CRBs. The other was too knackered to be able to diagnose. John, I think you have posted this on BC before. If not, sorry! 😬 Observations: "Bearing face is polished and shows discolouration" "Signs of grease egress from bearing, at the interface between the bearing and the plastic housing" "Bearing can be moved in a radial direction around the plastic housing with relative ease" "Bearing still operates in a smooth, noise-free condition" Conclusions: "Failure can be attributed to insufficient bearing pre-load resulting in skidding between bearing contact face and the clutch cover. This would lead to heat generation (discoloured contact face) and subsequent grease loss due to the elevated operating temperatures" "We do not have any information on this application to verify the installation parameters for our bearing" "The bearing will operate more effectively when a pre-load of 80-120N is applied" "The ease with which the bearing can be moved in a radial action around the plastic housing can be attributed to the low pre-load. This feature is designed to locate the centre of the clutch and remain in this location for the remaining life of the clutch. It is not designed for repeated adjustment" The INA guy told John he felt the squealing when the pedal was pressed was most likely due to the metal housing rotating against the plastic carrier. He also added that the typical clutch operating force was 800-1600N, so a pre-load of 80-120N was insignificant in operating terms. And of course, once you start losing grease, it is only a matter of time before it all falls to bits. Hope this all helps! Edited by - Nick Green on 9 Jul 2004 15:59:58

Really ? The ones I've seen on 1.8s have a domed ally FPR, quite a large thing, requiring a different fuel rail from the 3 bar version. The parts must have changed subsequently then No doubt either will achieve the same end result.

The 1.8SS kit also has a higher pressure fuel regulator, which fits onto a different injector fuel rail. So the 1.6SS set up is the same as the 1.8SS, but with the fuel pressure bumped up.

Colin, I asked the guy at INA about riding the clutch pedal and what was the difference, and he said it was still not a good idea. Causes a different type of wear. The preload is enough to let the bearing grip the clutch fingers and spin properly, without over-doing it. The bearing is designed to take the constant revolutions on the specified preload, apparently. FWIW, after my car knackered the first CRB, I put it all back together and just removed the spring from the clutch pedal. With one or two other tweaks to stop the clutch cable sheath becoming dislodged, the release arm would happily fly clear of the clutch, and I could even stick my foot under the pedal and lift it, to make sure the CRB was clear. Then I learnt of the preload thing. At the time, others on this forum said CRBs running preload was normal and that the spinning up from zero revs of the CRB on each gear change was bad for it. Perhaps different CRBs are designed for different forces or something. My unpreloaded CRB has lasted longer than others running the standard Caterham set up. (But then other people have done my sort of total mileage and more, with no problems at all. This is a very inconsistent problem...) My car's first CRB lasted 9k or so miles. On the second/current CRB, I have done 5k with an unsprung/zero preload clutch pedal, and have done the same again, more or less, with the increased preload modification... am heading into unknown territory now... I haven't had the gearbox and engine apart in that time to check the grip of the bearing on the plastic mounting plate. It is stiff when new. The bearing is designed to centralise once, when the engine first starts after installation, and should then never need to move again. If you take the CRB out after n thousand miles, and the bearing moves easily on the plastic mounting, then you've had overheating/slippage. It is one of the symptoms. N. PS. Just re-read one or two bits of the thread. Colin, I can't claim that this pre-load is a cure to the CRB failure problems that *everyone* has been experiencing. However, it does look like an area where the way Caterham utilise a particular component, is not quite in line with what the manufacturers of that part recommend, and there is evidence to show the lack of sufficient preload, *could* be the cause for a number of the failures... More a case of trying to eliminate potential causes... PPS. I'll add a too, before anyone thinks I mean anything else. Edited by - Nick Green on 9 Jul 2004 14:07:56 Edited by - Nick Green on 9 Jul 2004 14:12:50

Having said that, not everyone suffers the problem, and I know one person who has tried my method and still had a CRB fail within a couple of thousand miles... However, INA *are* adamant that the bearing is designed to run with this preload, so who am I to argue ?

Colin, yes that's exactly it. If you have the spring in place in the pedal box which looks as if it is there to keep the clutch pedal down, then preload is already being applied to the CRB. One or two of us have been in touch with INA about this and it turns out a certain amount of preload is indeed required. The bearing is designed to be constantly in contact with the clutch fingers, with a certain amount of force required to avoid any slip between the bearing face and the clutch fingers. Ford and others use self adjustment mechanisms and what have you, to put this preload on.

As ever Dave, you are way ahead of me BTW, bit nervous of this "CRB man" label; just trying to make the CRB work properly, like everyone else. John Vine and I discussed ways of setting up these clutch springs. John went a more "scientific" way, while I went a more "empirical" way. My method is repeated below. I would say that the subtleties of when to take the reading off the spring balance, are possibly debatable with my method, so use at your own risk. I wanted to try and have some feeling of what force was actually being applied to the CRB. So there you go. BTW, if anyone sees anything wrong with the maths/theory, please do let me know! I'm always happy to be (politely!) corrected "80-120N (INA-recommended preloard for the CRB) translates (via division by 9.81 and multiplication by 2.2, I've been advised) to 18-27 lbs of pressure needing to be exerted by the CRB onto the clutch pressure plate. Allowing for the 2.25 lever ratio [of the clutch release arm] previously suggested (I cannot measure this on my car as it is still installed, but judging from photographs I have, it looks about right), that gives the force to be generated at the top of the release arm as 8-12 lbs... I put the clutch pedal spring back on to my car, fixed a cable tie around the release arm to allow more convenient hooking-on of the spring balance, and measured ~5lbs off the balance scale. I was having to pull the balance up at an angle of around 45 degrees to clear the bulkhead, so 5cos45 = ~3.5 lbs. Not enough, given our newly gained technical knowledge. On my clutch pedal, the hole in which the spring fixes, is halfway between the pivot bolt of the pedal and the point where the cable attaches. To cut the ramble down, I shortened the spring slightly and hooked it into the hole normally occupied by the R clip holding the clutch cable location pin in place on the pedal, to increase the spring's mechanical effectiveness. The force then measured was about 13 lbs, which tweaked as before, gives just over 9 lbs. The release lever was definitely putting up more resistance when moved directly by hand too." Edited by - Nick Green on 8 Jul 2004 11:16:43 Edited by - Nick Green on 8 Jul 2004 11:18:36 Edited by - Nick Green on 8 Jul 2004 11:19:33

Or you can undo the pipe going from the rear of the sump up to the scavenge pump and you'll find oil runs out of there (about 1.5l IME).

Brake fluid thing sounds a bit naughty. You should be able to just pull off the wiper arm from the spindle and reset it a bit lower...

The Caterham bearing is not unloaded, not if fitted as per Caterham's method. There is clearly a spring holding the CRB against the clutch fingers. The problem, according to INA, the manufacturer of the bearings, who have seen some of the Caterham-knackered CRBs, is a lack of pre-load, ie the spring is not strong enough. There is nothing wrong with the CRB itself. It does service in many older Fords and TVRs, as well as Caterhams. An empirical survey of various K-7 owners I know, would indicate that Simon isn't talking to the same people I am. Just about every K-ster I know has had a CRB squeal, including me.

I am after a standard K-series 5" diameter *catalyst* side exit silencer, the type with the long pipe out the front, which fits on to the standard short manifold (not required). Obviously, the newer/less miles it has on it, the better,from my POV, as is any evidence of it having passed a recent MOT... Proximity to North Wilts, or attendance at the Llandow track day on 27 March, also likely to aid a sale. If anyone has one they want to offload, please email me offline using the relevant icon above, with price/history details etc. Ta!

The forward-running Watts link arm fits in the upper radius arm mounting point. It is meant to do that. It has no effect on ride "comfort". Don't move the forward arm to the lower position. Might give you wierd behaviour. As others have said, raising the ride height has no effect on ride comfort either. And a Watts link car is less rear-ride height sensitive than a radius arm car. You should still be aiming to get the back-higher-than-front rake effect though. If improved ride comfort is waht you are after, then it is spring/damper/anti-roll bar changing time. The standard Caterham setup is pretty good from that POV already though.

Isn't DOT5 (ie silicon, not DOT 3,4 or 5.1 compatible) coloured purple ?? I've seen some that is, and am wondering if that is standard.

BTTT

Contemplating exhaust options at the moment... Just wondering if anyone has a serviceable (ie passes an MOT, not fused/melted innards) SLR catalyst can they want to offload. If so, details of age/mileage, location and price would be appreciated. Probably best to email me off line...

It is a 10 row cooler, I think, with made-up hoses, to connect it to a sandwich plate which fits on the oil filter housing. It is the same non-thermostatic sandwich plate that the apollo tank system uses. (If you are racing the car in the Caterham series, you won't be able to fit a thermostatic sandwich plate instead, as Caterham won't have sold it to you. You won't be able to use different hoses either.) The hoses pass through the alternator belt loop (again, like the apollo system) and the cooler is attached using large P clips to the lower chassis cross members, a couple of inches in front of the engine. This is not an ideal location (which would be in front of the radiator), but I would imagine there is airflow of some type there... Page 228 of the 2003 Demon Tweeks catalogue has dimensions... 235mm wide (finned portion) and 74mm deep for a 10 row cooler, 98mm for 13 row cooler. Edited by - Nick Green on 9 Jan 2004 10:47:45

My understanding is that the WL came as standard on all SLRs, with the bushes being present on all De Dion chassis from the same time the SLR was launched, which was about 98-ish.

Ring Caterham parts and see what they've got. I doubt a 1.6 Vx uses a catalyst, so depending on the manifold type you have, I expect Caterham will have something to suit.

In answer to 1), have you tried Demon Tweeks ? 01978 664466. Or how about BMTR in Birmingham 0121 331 1122 ? Or Bridge Tyres in Taunton, Somerset 01823 334494 ? 2) This would raise the ride height maybe 10mm... 3) Could give interesting handling ? ISTR it is not unusual for stocks of certain Yoko tyres to run low at this time of the year. The boat seems to come in in January-ish. That seems to be the time to get your stocks in.... Edited by - Nick Green on 2 Sep 2003 10:26:04

At what rpm ?