Luegonigel

The bite point is pretty high up suggesting that the bearing is not far off contact and the extra pedal stroke doesn't do anything extra to stop the grinding getting into reverse. Europe recovery - done Wife to push - done Spare thrust bearing and spigot - bearing ordered

400 miles done over the weekend. Clutch cable adjusted up before I set off meaning that the pedal was about 20 mm above the brake pedal, this means about 6mm on the cable. Pedal too high to drive with comfortably, no difference to getting reverse. Sunday adjusted padal back to normal position, had a few problems with 4 down to third and reverse. At the end of the day did 110 miles from filling up on deserted roads across the Highlands, pulled up at home with everything hot, reverse worked perfect! It sounds like when you move the clutch pedal half way in the bearing hits the cover plate and spins up, definitely not a traditional squealing impending failure type noise. Big question is...will it need to come out before Le Mans Classic?

Link to photoshere As can be seen from the photos the inner race moves in and out of the outer race by about 1.5mm on my old bearing which failed after 22,000 miles...if indeed it did as it may have been the flywheel bearing. Other photos are of the cover plate and the top of the bearing which touches the cover plate. Strikes me as that is too much movement indicating wear inside the bearing. Does anyone have a new one to be able to compare how much movement that has. What state the currently fitted bearing is in I don't know. The spigot bearing wasn't checked to my knowledge. I read the pre-load article with interest and had not picked it up from previous trawls of Blatchat. Next run out is Sunday with 100+ classic cars so will adjust the cable before then and see how it goes.

Thanks chaps. The kit was supplied in about 2005, registered in 2009. There is no clutch stop. The car is wet sump. As well as the new bits for the clutch innards, a new cable was fitted also. I've seen a bit about the pre-load on the CRB written in the forums but am not sure how to achieve it other than adjusted the clutch pedal up behind my left ear. How do you do it? As you say the timing is not great with the LM Classic coming up. I'll try the adjusting of the pedal in the first instance.

I have an 1800 K series Roadsport SV with six speed gearbox. At around 22,000 miles started to have problems getting reverse and so had clutch and release bearing changed. Now 2,000 miles later the same thing is happening. When it is cold or even after being left to stand for 15mins, getting reverse is no problem. After driving for an hour or so, pulling up and reversing to park, reverse not possible without switching engine off and starting it in gear. Is the release bearing set too tight against the cover plate, heating up and seizing? Not enough oil in the gearbox? Too thin oil in the gearbox? (same from new, no idea what it is) Any other theories? Car only used for the road

Big group going West alongside Loch Earn. I was in mine coming back from Fort William, Glencoe, Crianlarich, Loch Lomond, Dukes Pass etc. fabulous scenery with the snow on the mountain tops. Hope you had/are having a great time.

Problem fixed thanks. Found the Caterham relay firing OK but the auxilliary one not. Took it off and found that the bolt which holds it on was corroded. It is the same bolt which goes through the ECU mounting and down into the top of the footwell. The bolt was corroded, as was the eye for the two earth leads which also goes at the bottom of the bolt. I presume these are earths for the ECU as they disappear into the loom. The car get driven all year around so is subject to salt and everything else which appears in Scotland over the winter.

Also noticed that the live cable off the cigarette lighter had come out of its crimp. This was therefore flopping about right next to the ECU. Could that have toasted the ECU? How do you check simply that the ECU is still alive?

Drove 5 miles in car, stop at traffic lights, pulled away up to about 50 mph, ignition light came on and engine stopped running. Wouldn't restart, ignition light comes on, relay clicks but starter motor doesn't move. - 12.6 v across the battery - car not used for a couple of weeks but kept on trickle charger - battery had gone flat couple of weeks ago when I forgot to switch the trickle charger on but seems to have resurrected itself - ECU, fuel pump fuses ok - it has the second relay fitted to overcome the Caterham click which has worked fine for the last 15,000 miles. Not sure whether the main relay and the new secondary relay are both working - can't seem to find any loose connectors - tried to bump start it but may not have got it going fast enough, sounded like it didn't want to run however - immobiliser lights working as normal, able to switch it on and off Any suggestions gratefully received.

Just had the same thing on my 1800 roadsport. Transpired it was the crb. the bearing was coming away from the carrier. clutch still fine but replaced anyway. Problem bleading air from cooling system afterwards. 3mm hole in thermostat fixed that. gearchange now fabulous. Lubricated gearlever at same time which also gave a big improvement.

Had the same on my K 1.8 this last week. Finished up drilling hole in thermostat, now works fine but runs 15 degrees cooler. Bleed tee also fitted durning the week but still had to resort to drilling the hole.

Conclusion of the story (hopefully):- adjusted pedal box end of cable so end was flush with inside of pedal box, this lengthened the cable by 10mm. No joy still grinding into reverse. Took 15mm out of the bellhousing end. 99% of the time, getting into reverse is now fine. 1% down to me not pressing the top of the gearknob down properly when going into reverse. Pedal now so high that I give myself a cauliflower ear with my left knee when changing gear. Screwed pedal box end back into the pedal box by 5mm, clutch pedal much better height and seems to go into reverse ok. Thanks for everyone's input.....so far!

With pedal box cover off the clutch pedal is about 30mm further forward towards the front of the car than brake pedal when measured at the rubber at the bottom of the pedal.

Story punctuated with a great run in the Sun Aberdeen to Fort William and back. The car is wet sump. On above run, all forward gears work without problem. Had to start engine with car in reverse to get reverse without lots of embarrasing graunching. Will take pedal box lid and bellhousing cover off this afternoon to see what's occurring.

which end is best to adjust and in what direction?

Problem, grinding gears getting into reverse gear, not all the time but when engine hot and getting more frequent. All forward gears appear fine. I'm assuming the clutch is dragging a bit and not releasing fully. 1800 k Series, 6 speed box, 20,000 miles. How do you adjust the clutch engagement? There seems to be adjustment at the pedal box at the end of the outer cable and the same at the bellhousing. Also in the pedal box?

In my sv I had one of the old heaters where the warm air outlet pointed down into the footwell. The matrix split last winter and Caterham sold me the current equivalent where the vents blow b directly backwards out of the dash. Not a lot of use for cold tootsies in Scotland. The CSR has the same heater but two tubes which are normally connected to the dash but could just as easily be directed to the footwell in my car. Has anyone got a CSR heater plate they don't require?

Thanks for the advice

Can anyone help me with what the alternator belt tension is supposed to be please? ?? mm up and down between the engine pully and the alternator at the top?

Phoned Caterham and got sent by return the three spade to four spade adapter harness, plus the other bits missing form the kit i.e. the pop rivets and the outstanding bolts. What was also dissapointing was that I wasn't offerred either an ally or a black adapter plate with the kit when I first phoned, just an ally one. Consequently I have a big ally back plate fastened into my black engine compartment. All in all....

I've just bought a new heater kit from Caterham. It is a different design to my old one. Fitting it mechanically was not too much hassle apart from no fastenings for the new back plate being included in the kit. The old heater must have split with all the cold weather although checking the antifreeze mix it seems to have been strong enough for the -15 deg C we have had. This happened on the first run of the year last week and my wife being treated to a "foot spa" on her side. The new heater motor must have three speeds and off whereas my old one has two speeds and off. The new one has:- Black Yellow - minimum Red - medium Orange - maximum The old one has:- Black Green/yellow Blue and white Any ideas on what should get connected to what please?

Anyone know a current source of the bleed tees for the heater. My matrix has given up the ghost and before I out the new one in I'd like to put the tee in. Old blatchat links to it on ebay seem to have gone dead with age.

Hi Dave, is this proposed route firmed up now or still in the planning stage? I live up in Aberdeen and am AR for Scotland, I would try and get some people to join in from up here if that was ok ?

I was in my blue with silver stripe roadsport going South and the yellow one was coming North just approaching the ski centre. I was fortunate enough to have done 1,000 miles around the North of Scotland in the dry over six days. Just one the way home to Aberdeen.

That was probably me. I had driven from Marseille on Sunday, stopped over in Calais, driven up from Dover to Collect my Caterham from Caterham Midlands post 12,000 service and new cams. Got home to Aberdeen at midnight. 4,000 miles done in a week between the BM and the Caterham.