Nigel Riches

Before I evicted the old X flow donkey it always had an 82c stat, and the temp. ind. always sat at around 90 on the dial. The temp. stamped into the thermostat is the point at which it starts to open, the actual coolant temp. on a fully warmed engine will be 10 - 14 degrees higher. If this is of any interest.

Cheers Bob, if it needs an O2 probe, which it sounds like it does for target AFR, I'll have too splash some more cash, open garage door, throw in money. However it would be a step in the right direction. And having had a dig around 'tinternet, the Innovate stuff is much less eye watering out there than here in NZ. Still not heard back from the dyno outfit, seems to have gone dark on me.

You only really need it to get a working tune, then you can sell it on. Cheers Bob, sounds like a good scheme, get it running and flog the whole stupid thing, not just the gadget to tune it. Will look into these items, thanks.

Hello good 7 folk. The maps and such like are inherited from previous owners. I am a real numpty at this ECU engine tuning malarkey, and not confident or familiar with the dark and mysterious ways of laptops / P.Cs. Anyway, the old girl is now road legal, so time to get it too run better. So. I have balanced the TB's, at around 6Kg/hr, (thanks Oily hands) followed the words for TPS alignment, things did improve a bit, the map I have indicates that there was a 2 deg. retard to the ign. (why?), so I went to the Live Adj screen and added back 2 deg. Off down the road, bog, push clutch add more rpm, let up clutch some bogging and some spitting through the TB's and a lot of jerky kangarooing, until it gets above about 1500rpm. So, back to the shed, Live adj. screen click in a bit more fuel, I could hear the engine note change as fuel was added or removed, I set it to the point which gave the most even idle. However the bogging and spitting continues, so I am obviously not in the right area with this. I understand that the changes on the screen have to be applied to the ECU press "Enter" yes did that. The IAT sensor was set to "Custom" which according to the Live Adj screen and my thermocouple readout were at variance , so set back to "Default" this got the IAT signal back closer to the ambient, but no change to the running. There has been a lot of work to the cylinder head, not to improve the "Go" but to try and cure the coolant ejection problem, that is now cured, jettisoned the Raceline water rail, reworked back to Henry's way of cooling system. However the intake trumpets are now 90mm long, against the previous app. 35mm, would this have some bearing on this problem.? I am in way out of my depth here, a further problem is I don't have an O2 sensor hooked up, so am driving blind, but in the dim dark carb. days spitting back and bogging were fixed with a twist of the screws on the carb, or a different jet and a tweak to the dizzy, happy daze. Any assistance greatly appreciated, and apologies for the long tale of woe. All is not lost as there is a dyno 35km down the road, but the driver hasn't a lot of experience with the Emerald ECU, so could be a learning curve for both of us. Cheers. Nigel.

Did you bleed the rear brake line at the point where the hydraulic brake light switch is fitted, if you have this set up, this is about the highest point in the rear brake circuit, apart from the pipe from the M/C, so any air is likely trapped here. just to the left of the clutch pedal, a brass casting the brake pipe attaches to from the master cylinder.

Ian, YHM Thanks.

Thank you gentlemen, apparently Ian (Wrightpain) is onto it, but if the electrons get lost travelling to NZ it is good to know there is a back up position, again, thank you. Nigel.

Thank you gentlemen, much appreciated, I will have a read of the links Jonathon sent through, I have the Caterham assembly guide, in very old and not quite so old forms, purple book and loose leafed versions, don't recall info about axle dismantling etc, just how to install to the chassis, which bolts where. Thanks. Bash on. Nigel.

So, further to my previous post, is there anyone here who could post a link, or point me in the direction of a service manual for the axle in my 1982 car, primarily needing torque figures, and any sneaky little things that might not be obvious. I searched the main library in Christchurch and the was one manual, for use in the library only, not lent out. Cheers. Nigel.

Jonathon, thanks for your reply, I have the assembly guide, and am trying not have an exploded view. What I am needing is the old fashioned Haynes style publication about dismantling and reassembling the axle / differential, including, particularly, torque loading for the nuts and bolts, and any other devious underhand tricks that could be hidden I had a copy of this, which Stephen Hubbard sent to me, however in the intervening time, and with all the krap in the garage this is now AWOL, my bad space / time management. Never mind, bash on. I will post a new thread for the info, I know this will "bump" the thread but there hasn't been a large readership. Cheers. Nigel.

On my never ending trip in Caterham travels, I have installed a Ford Blackhead Zetec motor, which has a serious amount of power in standard trim, compared to the faithful old x flow donkey. Now I am looking at a diff replacement, as the original BMC item was never designed for 170 BHP, 144 lb/ft, many years back I bought through these pages a Quaife ATB with Jigsaw CWP at the standard 3.62:1, this is now lined up for installation. So kind gentlemen, fitting procedure would be, remove wheels, unbolt and park out of the way the propshaft, disconnect the hand brake linkage, disconnect the brake pipes, remove brake drums, remove brake shoes, unbolt back brake plates from axle tube, remove half shafts partially from axle tube, remove nuts from studs on diff housing, remove diff from housing, give everything a good clean to remove oil from contaminating new gaskets on assembly, and to quote the Haynes publications, "assembly is the reverse of disassembly, plus bleed the brakes". Anything else to take into consideration here? Ok the next weak link is the half shafts and... and... and... so it goes on. I would really like to drive this car after many years of pi$$ing about with it, so anything you might see, that I have not please post away. Many thanks. Nigel.

The hub is on a taper machined on the half shaft, I doubt you will shift it with any regular hand wound puller. You will need to remove the half shaft from the axle casing, and take the assembly to a engineering shop who have a suitable hydraulic press. The standard Caterham supplied ratio is 3.62:1, I think this was from the saloon, other ratios are out there. Use your fav search engine, there is swags of info about these on the web. Have fun. Nigel.

Hi Scott, I would imagine that as an ex Academy car the diff would be a lower ratio than the standard live axle at 3.6 : 1, that would help reduce the engine rpm / to speed equation. My car has the standard Marina diff (3.6 : 1) and at 70 MPH (112KMH), with a 0.87 (I think) fifth gear, on 185/70 -13 wheel tyre, is running about 3500 rpm. So definitely a reduction from your set up. Have yo run any figures through the online gear ratio calculators out there? A longer diff and larger tyres would lose some engine speed, and be a bit less hassle to install, you could then have a time of working out if the gearbox, bell housing, mounting position etc will come together, just a thought. Stick with it, chin up. Nigel.

Thanks Oily, seems like something to do later when it's not raining. . The bloke from the dyno outfit called yesterday and said that he has some experience with Emerald ECUs and as it is in a running state shouldn't be too far out of whack, so just need to get a W O F (MOT) and make a booking, things are moving forward again. just in time for the summer to fizzle out. Cheers. Nigel.

Thanks for the link, very helpful, I'll have a go after taking my next brave pill, as I am completely adrift with this stuff, so the nice easy step by step text is much appreciated. Fortunately the old Black head engine doesn't have an IACV, so one less thing to factor in. I had another play about this morning, there has been an improvement in starting but it is still on the low RPM side, until warmed up. Oh well, bash on, I hope it will start better after the wash and polish Cheers. Nigel.

Thanks for the note Bob. I don't have an O2 sensor, but it seemed to be running ok on the road test after the adjustments, not hesitating or stumbling, I have contacted an outfit in town, about a dyno run, but not got a reply yet. Emerald does have a logging function, but I am a real techno numpty, and stuff like that just doesn't seem to work like says on the label. Cheers anyway.

I spent a few hours in the garage today trying to get the poor idling sorted on the 2L Black top Zetec with Emerald ECU. I went right back to the very first steps IAW jenvey setup page, using a feeler guage under the butterfly plates set all to a gap of 0.05mm, with the cross link adjuster, all the air bleed screws were closed, and then I needed a tweak on the idle speed screw for the engine to run, a quick TPS realign and off it went. I did find that the airbleed screws ware quite contaminated at the tips, this I removed, and then reinstated them from the positions removed. I have an airflow of 5Kg/hr through each intake at approx 1000 rpm, the engine is definitely more stable, gone is the shuddering and stumbling, and on snatching the throttle open it doesn't "gasp" and nearly stall. So my question is; 5Kg/hr sound like a reasonable figure at idle, or do I need to revisit this, for more or less airflow. Any thoughts or directions gratefully received. Cheers. Nigel.

So, as far as I can understand, you have a 5 spd casing from a V6 motor, with a short first motion shaft and a four speed gear set, man this is a cocktail, which you want to install in place of the four speed G/B in your car? is that correct? Is the present G/B a 2260 type with integrated B/H? (standard Escort G/B) If it is, the five speed 'box wont line up with the G/B mounting, it is further back, the propshaft will need shortening and the gear lever will be in a new position. What do you hope to gain by this exercise? There are plenty of aftermarket gearbox outfits which could furnish better ratios, stronger synchros and bearings and that would be more of a plug and play solution, if you have a five speed case why not get a five speed gear set? This project seems like a lot of work for no gain. I went through something like this, but not as wild, and ended up getting the chassis (1982) modified at Arch for the five speed 'box, used the spacer plate and long first motion shaft and it all kind of clicked together. There are a lot of interweb pages about this stuff, the tribe at Westfield and other assorted makes have info about gearbox swaps, and sites like "Passion for Ford" and such like carry articles, going back to the dim darks before WWW, Cars and car conversions had good articles about it. I did ditch the 2260 G/B and fitted a type 2300, more commonly known as a 2000E G/B with Capri B/H, the mounting was a few mm out of line, a bit of quick filing had that sorted, but again the prop shaft needed shortening. Have fun, sounds like you are, and if you PM me I'll send you some elderly pages from Cars and Car conversions which has a lot of info about changing these gearboxes. Cheers. Nigel.

Nice one Neil, similar to mine years ago, but painted, cheers.

So the old stick on numbers onto the nose cone top won't work now?, Mr and Mrs. Killjoy certainly got a hand in this.

To all those who are asking about the time piece, get a life, driving a seven isn't about time, in a horological sense, it is all about removing, to a different place where the total purity of just driving a real live car is all that is important. I don't drive my car, I wear it, when it goes. Who cares about time when you're having fun.

When you get the new uprights and trunnions it's worth sealing the lower part of the trunnion, so the OIL not grease doesn't leak out. Old fashion EP80 or 90 keeps them happy for longer. No more failing the annual test with too much play in the trunnions.

I don't know , but there is a difference between jacking to remove a punctured tyre, and jacking to lift the entire front or rear of the vehicle. I feel that if you jack in the positions indicated, but only high enough for wheel removal, ok. But to lift the whole front or rear you need to position the jack to lift the entire weight at that end, no flexing the chassis to lift the un supported side. Perhaps I'm old and have had my car too long, but this stuff just seems common engineering sense. My 1982 car is lifted with a piece of 4x2 under the very forward lower front chassis tube, and a trolley jack, then stands placed as shown in #8, now for the rear, I use, and the local WOF (MOT) use the lower centre A frame differential mounting, this lifts the whole of the rear of the car, no twisting, but not necessarily good for the welded differential bracket, and my original one did break off, fortunately only at parking speed. Lift the ends, or lift the sides, don't lift the corners. You'll end up with a bent chassis.

In all my time working with commercial aviation, I have not seen a NACA duct with a flange around the periphery, all are mounted from underside, no boundary layer disruption. This piece of carbon jewellery is possibly semi useful if installed below skin, but then looses the bling effect, but what do you want to achieve here, form over function? Many years ago on the x flow motor, I made an airbox, and a remote intake with filter installed, not so much to lower temperatures, but reduce intake roar, 40DCOE's at max noise make plenty , and the intake for this was a hole on the bonnet top, previously used for a 2" SU carb to poke out, on the supercharged engine, and a aluminium box affair to draw air in, with K & N filter installed, It was fitted with the bonnet scoop used for the old 1600 GT engine installation, this goes back to the early '80s, fitted back to front, all seemed to run ok, infact from what I read the area just before the screen, where the inlet was, is possibly positive pressure when making progress. Now having parked the x flow for a zetec, temps are more of a problem, and the continuing story of my ongoing non mobility situation are chewing into the summer time, but not on this day Have fun with your car, there is so much which can be made.

YHM