Paul Deslandes

Hi Graham mine is the original Caterham manifold that had Weber 45s on until I swapped them for Jenvey 48 TBs. You can see how the forward hole at left is a bit lower than the rear hole, making the filter parallel to the chassis rail. The manifold is swept upwards to horizontal to allow the inlet chokes to sit above the chassis rail/bonnet edge, albeit at a slope. View from the front. I cut away the bonnet almost down to the bottom edge, plus a lot more to accept the sausage filter. Incidentally, the Caterham manifold had very poor gas flow characteristics in original form and when I had my cylinder head gas flowed they flowed the manifold at the same time. They said that the manifold was the limiting factor and, by doing both head and manifold, including bigger valves, raised the flow rate from 108 to 138 cu.ft/min, allowing the engine to develop 245bhp in present form (torque = 194lb.ft) Awesome to drive!. I hope this is of some help. Paul

Hi Graham, It's so long since I ditched the Webers and went Jenvey TBs with a sausage filter that I can't remember whether the original K&N front and rear filters were different but I don't think they were. The Caterham manifold is offset/cranked upwards equally on all four ports leaving the head face and carb face parallel, so no difference front to rear. When I fitted the Jenveys and sausage filter I did have to offset the holes along the filter plate so that the edge of the filter was parallel with the chassis rail as the engine slopes down at the front. You could try raising just the induction side of the engine with a spacer/washers between the engine bracket and the mount. I doubt it would put appreciable strain on the gearbox box mount. Paul

Ian Not having any experience of the K series I don't know whether they are amenable to this thought, but my view is that a road car is more fun if it has loads of torque through the rev range rather than just top end bhp. 'Power sells engines, torque wins races', as they say. It may be that an engine that has to be revved to the redline is more exciting to drive but bags of torque at the bottom end can be a lot of fun, albeit at the expense of top end power. Depending on your existing exhaust system, switching from a 4 into 1 to a 4 into 2 into 1 system can go a long way to moving the torque curve down the rev range, which is what I did with my 2 litre Vx and which pulls like a train from about 2500 rpm. Just my bit of food for thought. Paul

Depending on the year of your car, if the fan is wired directly to the radiator fan thermostat switch, these switches can become intermittent and then fail completely. The solution is to add a relay to the circuit so that the switch contacts don't arc when the fan switches on and off. I got through several switches years ago but since adding the relay this one has lasted >20 years. I'm sure JK can find the original thread with the wiring diagram if he hasn't already.................. Paul

James if I read your measurements correctly, the direction of travel is the same as I had on my S3, the car going toe out on bump (compression) and toe in on droop. A large part of my problem was that the car had been incorrectly repaired after a shunt and the rack lower clamp halves were missing Replacing these and adding another, I think, 3mm cured the BS completely. My Low Flying article dealt mostly with the laborious measurement process but the measurements might be of interest. http://www.fastgrandad.co.uk/documents/Measuring%20and%20Correcting%20Bump%20Steer%20on%20a%20Caterham%207.pdf Paul

Thanks Oily, that's really helpful and I'll pass that on to Chris who's fitted a Caterham sourced K series into an MG Midget. I suggested he contact you but don't know whether he has. Keep safe all Paul

Thanks Phil I think that chimes with what my chum said. Maybe he needs to keep trying by email and on the phone. Paul

Has anyone had contact with Emerald in the last week or so? A chum of mine has ordered an ECU from them for a K Series but cannot get a response from the company. Thanks Paul

Can't look at my car at the moment but I seem to remember that the web on the back of the diff had to be trimmed as supplied by CC. Maybe yours wasn't ground/cut off enough. In the manual it says remove exactly 3/4" and no more but I don't know what that should leave. Paul

Maybe someone could answer B O's question about whether the car needs an arb. If you're oversteering you could first try adjusting the rear arb if you have one. When hill climbing/sprinting my 2 litre Vx (very heavy) engined car I had a Freestyle adjustable arb that I set to minimum stiffness when dry and disconnect completely in the wet, otherwise it understeered like a pig (no disrespect to any pigs reading this!) Whether the same is true with the Duratec engine I don't know but I wouldn't be tempted to go too stiff with a fixed bar without talking to someone who knows as it could be an expensive experiment otherwise. You might also talk to Bruce at Arch about getting one made as I believe he used to make the adjustable bar for Freestyle. Paul

It's certainly a security risk when my wife's Irish Cobb gets out as he has form for going up to open car windows and sticking his head in to say good morning to the terrified occupant. I'll give Tayna a ring. Paul

That was my understanding too Ian so I think it may just be a randomly faulty battery. Fortunately we have a spare solar charged energiser to keep the fence active. I'll get on to Tayna and see what they say about a warranty return. Paul

Hi JK The cells are sealed, or at least have no removable tops, so can't check levels or add magic tablets. The battery is only a couple of months old and I don't think it was left that long between charges so it may just be a random failure covered by warranty. The problem is getting it back to Tayna. The energiser takes very little current and can work at less than 9 volts so we could just use the battery as-is. I'm just curious as to why the voltage has settled at 13 volts. I'll put a load on it tomorrow and see what it does. Paul

I have a 12V leisure battery that's used to power an electric fence energiser. It had been left without a recharge for a little too long with the result that when recharged it appeared to have one cell with a short circuit as the fully charged voltage was around 12 volts. In for a penny, I stuck it on various chargers, some smarter than others, to see if any of them might bring it back to life. After 48 hours on an Accumate, the voltage, some while after disconnecting the charger, has risen to just over 13 volts whereas a normal battery would be 13.8 volts. So it would seem to have recovered a bit but not fully. I'm assuming that a leisure battery has the same characteristics as a regular cranking battery as the basic chemistry is the same - or perhaps not. Can anyone explain why I'm seeing this voltage? Thanks Paul

I have a corded version which is great although there are times when the independence of a cordless version might be more convenient. I do find the stiffness of the power cable a bit of a hindrance at times. If you need to get into tight spaces, the flexible drive is really useful. Lidl occasionally have sets of about 40 cutting and grinding accessories which can be really useful and very cheap. Paul

James According to 1995 build manual: Disk to hub = 22 - 27lbft Caliper bolts = 40 - 45lbft Paul

Yes, they're in Redwongs Way Huntingdon Website is one page of contact info [Arch Motor & Manufacturing Co. Limited - call us on 01480 459661]

The problem with picking up induction air from below the nosecone is that it collects and rapidly gets clogged with muck from the road. I had experience of this a year or two ago when a member was struggling with an R300 that would not rev above about 3000rpm under load. On investigation, the cone type airfilter which was enclosed within the trunking, was full of leaves, grit, oil and all manner of carp and completely starved the engine of air. Once the filter was removed his comment was "I now know what driving an R300 feels like"! If you have no other reasonable option, just ensure that you frequently check the filter. Paul

A cracked alternator fan can make a terrible rattle, until it lets go and makes its way out through the bonnet. Just remember to duck..... I found mine before it flew apart.. Paul

The Webber cold start device has been described as 'the spawn of the devil' and should be disconnected and never used because, as you have found, they invariably either stick and cause the engine to run very rich, or leak. As you suggest, the best thing is to remove them entirely as even with the blanking plates fitted the little pistons can still pop up and cause problems. There are a number of online threads about how to do it with DIY or proprietary kits. Google 'Weber cold start device removal'. I have done it but it was so long ago I can't remember the details! Paul

This is posted on behalf of Philip, a new member who is not yet able to post on here himself. I wonder if someone can possibly can help me here to correctly identify the engine in a 1992 Q plate Caterham. The engine in the car looks like a Kent X-flow with twin weber 40's. The block has the serial number EE KD2115/17 EE stamped on the boss, as picture below, at cylinder head level. The KD tells me that it's a Ford block cast in 1989, but the EE letters before and after have been added by whoever built the engine (I guess). Do you perhaps have any idea who 'EE' might refer to? I'm just trying to establish that it's a genuine 1700 super sprint engine, and not just a standard block with a Caterham rocker cover added on top. This might be one for you Roger. Thanks in advance Paul

They just need to be tight enough. It's not like a cylinder head that needs a specific torque, although I would check them from time to time. If you have the stainless steel door sill caps you may need to shorten them to clear the front mount. I bought a second set that I shortened and can change over when I revert to the FIA bar. If riveted in, replace with black self tapper screws Paul

Hi Tom in many ways crimped joints are better than soldered as they are less prone to fatigue failure due to vibration, so doing as you describe is a good option. Either standard loom cable or thin wall are okay but I like the latter because the insulation is tougher and when in a bundle it ends up less bulky. In terms of making joints and terminations they are equally easy to use as the inner conductor is the same size for any given current rating. Depending on what VWP sell, the thin wall conductors may also be tinned rather than bare so less likely to corrode over time. You pays your money and makes your choice, but either will do a good job and be a lot better than the 'current' arrangement. One trick to avoid nicking/damaging the conductors is to use the end of a hot soldering iron to melt the insulation to strip it. Just use the tip as you would a knife to cut around the wire, obviously avoiding breathing the plastic fumes. You used to be able to buy hot wire strippers but I haven't seen them for years and an iron does the same job. Normal cable is more easily stripped this way than thin wall as it has a lower melting point. Paul

I would use thin wall as the insulation is much tougher (and lighter), and wrap with non adhesive loom tape. To join to the original loom I would solder the wires together, covering each joint with heat shrink and, again, wrap with loom tape. Soldering is not ideal but it beats a multi-pole connector or lots of individual connectors, crimped or otherwise. Don't use standard electrical insulating tape as you'll end up with a horrible sticky mess after a time due to the adhesive reacting with the pvc insulation. Those chocolate block connectors actually do a great job but they do look horrible and let the damp creep up inside the insulation. I take it that you have the wiring diagram, if not I can post a link. Best of luck Paul

There you go!