Fil M

Have mailed you back Smiffy ... if you get it sorted for the weekend with your new parts that would be great news and a problem solved. The sun being out is a nice bonus. Have fun

Hello Smiffy ... I have a k series with the caterham R upgrade (cams, barrells etc) . On the question of washing the car with the bonnett on. Provided you are carefull and do it when the engine is hot from use any ingress will evaporate. Have always done it this way with rain water from the butt and two buckets. I have the means to check the balance of the throttle bodies and the recommended setting for the TPS with a voltmeter thingy if you want to try it. I am happy to buzz around to do the checking/ show you the ropes. If all else fails give 'New Techniques' at Bishops Waltham a ring. Tom New is very familiar with Caterhams including K series. He owns a Caterham and is active in motor sport. They service, fix and modify / upgrade a few Caterhams in our area. Mine pops and bangs a bit on overrun at certain revs and gears and runs on a bit when cooking hot. Might be worth a blat out with me to seperate what is 'typical K' behaviour from other symptoms. BM me if I can help...cheers....

Hello Andy, Thanks for putting up the photos .. I would be interested in two please. Oh! and a pair of black mirrors if they are being added to the bulk buy option. At some point can you indicate what screw sizes are required Andy ...cheers Edited by - Fil M on 6 Nov 2013 07:51:42 Edited by - Fil M on 8 Nov 2013 09:30:29

Hit the shagpile today thanks Eugene. Fil

Thanks Eugene

Hello Eugene ... thanks for doing this ..... 2 please with two standard circlips and standard postage ... my first 'bulk buy'! I assume to do near side and offside you would need four? and im guessing that the nearside wear more quickly?

mine is a 1.8 k converted from a 1.6 ... same ecu and rb's. This set up is hard to get through but I am told can be if the barrells are set up as per the caterham recommended settings which can be found on BC. Lots of pops and bangs and smell of fuel is indicative of running rich...... copy this into your browser search bar and it will take you to the BC page with the info on it .... http://www.blatchat.com/T.asp?id=56472 you can do it yourself easily with a multimeter and vacuum gauage.

It seems I am the confused one ... sorry if i misled you ... I think I assumed the apollo tank was a swirl tower that caught the air bubbles and spun them out in a catchy swirly type of way

Definitely ask them if they 'tuned/tweaked' the roller barrell setup. If they did and did not do it to the Caterham specified settings it would cause a lack of zip if its set a bit 'lean'. The settings are on here if you root around .... print them off and take them in with you if they plan to re set them. If you cant find them shout me on blat mail

Whilst I dont have one myself because I have not tracked my 7 as yet I did research this a while back. The general view was that an 'appollo' aka catch tank is desireable particularly on a k series. The sump is shallow and the whole unit is canted over to fit under the bonnet. This gives rise to the risk of oil surge and frothing which may be part of the symptoms you described. I am no expert but would be happier with a catch tank

I wonder if the ACF 50 might not dissolve the electrical tape glue after a while and leave a sticky gooey mess? WD 40 does this to stickers when you use it to aid removal. Just a thought. I use ACF 50 but only run a rag with it on over leads.

Thanks for the shared day at Goodwood Dennis .... your seven is pictured in this months Lowflying ploughing its furrow on the home straight (i am sure you noticed!) .. a great day out in a cracking seven. Good luck with the sale .... and of course .... BTT

Hello Yellow peril .... I am in your county and have a K series 1800 on RBTBs with an MBE ECU (full R conversion by CC). To get the car through an mot on that setup requires it to be adjusted spot on with regard to the TPS resistance and the balance and draw of air on the throttle bodies as specified by CC. The throttle bodies do need checking now and then and it is very likely yours need a 'tweak'. Mine are checked at six months and before MOT and they generally need a tweak. If they are not spot on you will run rich.. Essentialy my car is an R300 under the bonnett. I adjust mine and have the tools to do it. If you want to use my kit or for me to dart over and bring it with me to show you how its done just blat mail me. I feel sure the adjusting of the RBTBs and TPS is your first place to check..... it only takes 5 minutes to check them and perhaps twenty minutes to adjust if needed. I too considered a re map etc due to MOT issues so have experienced the same problem with the same set up. If you want me to help please give the two steves a bell and ask them what level of air draw on the RTBS they set on your car in case it is different to those set by CC. CC state 5kg/hr on each pot or averaging 10kg/hr for each pair ..this is at an idle of 900-1100 rpm. The TPS should be .43-.45.. If they set it differently with their mapping we would need to check against their settings and not CCs to get her back to MOT standard

My front CC bonded plate started to come adrift the other day so after researching blatchat I remounted it with the 3M double sided tape option .... four days later on the M27 it came off again. It was on solid so I am puzzled as to why it came off .. I probably did not prepare the nose cone properly.. Anyway went to B n Q and bought their heavy duty velcro ... its back on and survived its test flight yesterday.

25nm is the torque for the plug. I re soften my washer by heating it to red hot with a blow torch and plunging into cold water. The PFTE route is sensible.... I know that if you try and refit the plug with the oil coming out at a fast rate it goes everywhere as soon as it hits your fingers!!!! Tried that on an old car a few years back for the same reasons. I got it back in ok but it was messy.

Definitely 'mechano for men'!! I too enjoy getting my spanners out. Mine is due her yearly service and i have all kinds of little 'jobs' to get done. A proportion of which probably don't need to be done. It's part of the fun of it for me too. As for oil changes .. I have never added an additive prior to a change. Does this really make a difference as opposed to flushing? Which is proven to be the best way?

I had the same symptom on my SV roadsport 2001 de dion and it was the rear most rod end on the right offside Watts linkage. I could not have discovered it by pulling it about in situ. I got a replacement very reasonably ........ Strandbearings@tiscali.co.uk Part number XM 4 T -1/4''x5/16'' UNF Rod end. They were £15 each a couple of years ago. Tel No. 01903 241621. I bought two ...one in my garage for the future ... I put the other on the car. You will find CC's prices way over for the same thing. Very very easy to replace...10 minute job..i did it without removing the whole linkage ... knocking sound disappeared straight away. Tom New our local '7' garage owner pointed out the cause and remedy straight away. If your in doubt for the cost alone its worth a try to see if it does the trick. If you need more info BM me. Good luck cheers

I use the Ao21R's and they certainly shift the water ... in fact go through a nearside puddle/pond and the windscreen is deluged. I have driven mine in some very heavy downpours and they have never given me any surpirses. They are very sure footed in the dry too ... I did a lot of checking around before I made them my choice for daily drives.

If the pump is for the garage dont forget to consider a cycle stirrup pump. I use one for the 'normal' car and the 7 and it works a treat for adjustments in pressure and top ups. Of course it requires a little physical effort but thats a bonus.

My oil guage (Caterham sender unit) was reading low so on service I got another one to see how long it will last (go mechanical next time maybe) ..it sounds like your sender unit is showing classic signs of giving up. The water temp senders are even worse!!!!

mine gives me the same problem Ozzy ...odometer works all of the time but the speedo needle boings around a bit after being stuck at zero for the first mile. It will stick on 60, drop straight back to 0 then boing back again. After a short while it behaves. If I give the wiring a little wiggle at the back it often kicks it into action. If I leave well alone it will suddenly begin to behave normally too. I am sure mine is an electronic sender ... definitely a problem with the unit rather than the cable/sender I think. Its been like it for a long time and havent bothered a lecky to check it out yet ....2001 K series

it is worth ensuring your TPS and roller barrells are set exactly to those recommended by Caterham. My 1800cc k series (full R conversion with Roller Barrells. MBE ECU etc) was running lumpy and rich and when given a pre test for MOT at a local garage was heading for a fail. I have found that two individual garages including a 7 friendly one set them up other than the Caterham recommended way. The tools needed are a vaccuum guage and volt meter. The settings are as per this blat chat page ... http://www.blatchat.com/T.asp?id=56472 enter this in your internet explorer search bar to get to the page... dont enter it on the blat chat or other net search engine (google,virgin etc) because it will fail to find it. Good luck PS ... with the right tools its very easy to do.

Hello Scott, If you have a K series the little brass temp sender in the water rail are notoriously prone to going Kaput. When they do they can over read more and more until it needs replacing (cheap and easy to do)..if your reading high (mine shows 90 at the mo cos the sender is beginning to fail) this could be the reason. Not sure about the definitive answer in terms of the temperature drop someone else who has done your upgrade may be able to help...i wont guess or it will muddy your water. If your car is a K then probably worth ordering a couple of senders and changing it for peace of mind (2 minute job). Any problems on that count or more info just shout.

Tom New of New Techniques at Bishops Waltham. He helps out a few Seveners in the Solent area and has worked on mine. He will see it through the MOT too. He owns a seven too.

I have a roadsport of similar age Scott and recently one of my front repeaters on the cycle wings kept failing to operate. On inspection I found the protective sleeve was hard brittle and cracked. At this point of weakness the live wire feeding around suspecsion arms and at a point where it articulates had broken. I would have a close inspection of the condition of these wire runs.. When you have sorted it grab a copy of Haynes 'Prctica l Electrical Systems'. Ready for next time! If you get really stuck shout a mobile motor sparky perhaps. Good luck