peter clarke

Odd. My last trip to Norway 2yrs ago found some real 7 roads, only issue was the incredible low speed limits. Thank goodness for detectors!!!!

With 285 huydraulic. 2.75 mm inlet 2.38 exhaust at tdc

Yes CO, had presumed original question was at fault

According to the rule book for 1997 which is the same as mine, below 0.5 at idle and 2000 rpm. Any decent garage will check it in a few minutes. My 1600 K makes around 180 and passes thanks to van Kronenburgs ecu, mapping and aref set up. When mine was standard 1600 SS it was just ok. In Belgium they are tough, no local friendly garage but a proper test station. A pain but good

Chris, living in Belgium I wanted a localish supplier and found John van Kronenburg in Holland, just outside Eindhoven. Having had some problems with DTA I switched totally to their system. It is for a K series which was very unusual for them, Duratects normal and really specialise in modifying BMW and Audies. Incredible facilities. I have had a couple of issues and they talked me through it and solved the problem on line. See their web site vankronenburg.nl and see what you think, I thoroughly recommend them; I have no financial interest in the company itself. In 7 years have always passed the technical control here which is very hard on emissions at idle and 2000 rpm. They don't believe in a special set up for this test, they just seem to do it right. Peter

180 ish, forged pistons, throttle bodies, 285 H cams, Daves head with standard seats and large valves with reprofiled tracts. Pulls like a train from below 2000 rpm with 4-2-1 exhaust. Torque just under 140. 13 inch wheels and light flywheel makes it all very drivable. Go toDVA

Never had a problem. In Belgium tiles are used alot in the house, living room, halls, study's as well as kitchens. In the garage they are ceramic 30 x 30 cm matt finish with a slight texture. Better than an epoxy floor for non slip. Surely you do not waste your oil, antifreeze, wd 40 etc by pouring on the floor ? Anyway if you do it is so easy to wipe off from tiles

Why paint? For large industrial use properly done it can be excellent but in your own garage??? My present garage, 6x6 meters is tiled. White tiles properly laid, which is quite easy giving a very flat floor, white makes it very nice to work in and very easy to clean, especially as it has two drains built in near the centre of the two car areas. It is also cheap as you can buy 2nd's rather than new tiles. Do they chip and crack? No cracks and I think there are 2 small chips which are almost unnoticeable. Probably from a dropped club hammer. Scratches? None, not even from the trolley jack. The surface is very hard and even things like set up epoxy glue can be scraped of quite easily. Garage also used for quite a lot of wood work, besides work on 2 other cars besides the Caterham. Now in use for 15 years. Must admit that I do have the luxury of the garage being part of the house and it is heated. Pervious garage half the size I also tiled and was still almost perfect after 10 years.

Thanks Elie, had not thought to ask and price seemed very good. Buy the way where are you , I am just outside Antwerp. Peter

Thanks for the info, tool ordered, Peter

Just about to do my rears. Any other useful info on pushing back the pistons. You say rotate them. Any particular direction any special tool? Any advice welcome Thanks Peter

Hi Chris, I would be very interested as now am using car only on the road and would like to soften up the damping, particularly on the rear. Seems to cost a fortune at Nitron to change it so have just been using progressive springs on the rear which work well. Amazed you have not had a lot of replies. Worked on most things but not dampers (well apart from the old friction type on my MG PB's!). So if you can do this would really welcome it. Peter

little bit scant on information. Lots of recommendations in the archives. I only use mine on the road now, 1.6 K series with approx 180 bhp, 13inch wheels with 185 60 front and 205 60 rear. use arb front and rear. Was on 225 lb inch front and 140 rear with Nitrons. Now use the original 3 stage Caterham springs-I think 100, 130, 200 lb inch from memory-on the rear and this I find good on the road. Gives some degree of comfort but still handles well on the road. I really need to change the valve setting of the dampers for road rather than track but have not been back to UK for a while to have this done. Tried the Caterham 21 progressive springs but found them too hard for touring.

Oilyhands without question

To put the record straight I have found out that the Nitron damper was NOT siezed. I initially put my old Bilsteins on when replaced the De Dion and later took springs off the Nitrons to check them. Both rear dampers I check out to be fine so presume that due to the damaged bottom damper mounting on the tube, being at a significant angle, this put a very high side load, bending force, on the damper and caused strong stiction so could not slide up and down so could not function correctly. Nitrons will go back on today as the unadjustable Billys are not to my liking!

Charlie, thanks for the additional information, it makes it more clear. I know all Sevens are a bit different but surprised you had problem taking the tube out, with mine it just need pushing up, a small twist and slide it out. Even if I had left the dampers in would not have been a problem. Second point noted, that is why I said that it is necessary to support the ends of the drive shafts, which is easily done. I can see your reasons if you have flexible brake pipes, but to remove the rigid ones and then have to bleed the brakes is a pain, so no point in doing it unless you have to! Peter

Seems to have been several sessions on De Dion tubes again so I thought I would post a note on my replacement (did it yesterday), as some advice in tech talk was to take off callipers and break pipes and drive shafts etc, which I felt was unnecessary, but made me a little concerned as to how long it would take, to say the least. There is a lot of good advice on here but also some is questionable. Car is a 1997 S3, damage to tube was the normal cracking/splitting around the bottom damper fixing. So: Jack rear up, put on stands, wheels off. Remove dampers completely. You need to undo the bottom anyway and removal makes access much easier. Loosen the 4 rear bolts to De Dion ears. Loosen bolts to link arms, detach ARB links first if you have them. Loosen bolt to A frame. Remove nut holding rear brake line to tube and cut off nylon ties holding brake pipe to tube. Push off the brake T piece Now you know that everything that needs to be undone is undone (sigh of relief), take bolts off, support ends of the drive shafts as they move out and drop (I used axle stands) and then rotate and slide the tube out. Take some well earned refreshment and then pop the new tube in and reverse the above procedure. If you want to replace the diff oil it is a good time to do it as access is easy. I also put rust protector in the tube before assembly. So how long did it take? Less that 4 hours and that includes cleaning all tools and putting them back plus cleaning the floor etc. Hope this is of help. Peter

Thanks Mark, about 6 years old. I will phone Guy but thought I would see if anyone else had the issue. had not come across it before.

Made a lot of short trips in the last few months so do not know when this started to happen. I noticed in a recent long trip that suspension was poor and tracked it down to the rear left suspension having virtually no movement at all. Adjusting the Nitron damper changed nothing, and the adjustment did not "click" anymore, just went round with almost no feel to the adjustment positions, So took both rears off and found the location for the rear left damper was partially torn off, not at the weld but the DeDion tube itself was partially torn away. S3 with 225 lb inch fronts and 140lb inch rears, set up about 6 years old and was always good until now. Anyone any similar experience?

Peter, any idea which Ceratec you use,as Liqui Moly who manufacture this product do a large range?

Yes universal joint grease. Found copper slip just dries out. The special grease sounds interesting. Did not ting chamfering edges helped.

found copper slip pretty useless, use UJ grease on back of pad and very carefully on ends. Lasts 6 months, although sometimes squeal when cold, a few hard dads and ok

As above. I use a wide band set up and use cat for the equivalent of your mot. Slight difference in location one before cat and my normal set up is just in front of silencer on the 4,2,1. Used the down pipe on 4 at one time but much more consistent result when set up as above. Also easy to swap pipes and don't need to relocate sensor.

ABS is as you say. Basically it is polystyrene which is stiff but brittle so polymerise with rubber to get impact then add acrylonitrile to in crease stiffness a bit and increase chemical resistance. Bit more complex than that to make. The additive package is key to weathering and these days can be good. This is the key to prevent degradation. Most long term exterior parts should be painted or otherwise protected to retain properties. Peter

Anton, I remember my original set up with 6 speed box and 3.91 diff was way off, about 15+ % from memory. This was back in 1997 when such things seemed less important; that was the reason for the comment. Yes I too have set things up with gps unit and know distances With regard to adjusting the then standard mechanical speedo and it's nasty unreliable drive from the gear box, don't think you can adjust this one.