Fil M

A big thankyou Andrew, Yours sounds exactly the same as mine! ... except of course yours is as trim as a 60's chick . It seems mine is perfectly set and I need'nt have been concerned. Still I did learn a lot about the merits of rolling roads and mapping and where to go in the future. Thanks to you both ... and a few others I have discussed it with over the last few months. Fil

Thankyou Steve. She has the whole R upgrade with a claimed 160bhp running on a R500 mbe ECU. I am happy with how she performs but felt she was rich but now the good weather is here and my runs are now much longer and less 'manic' things seem to have settled out much better. If she is similar to most owners current experience I know then that I was premature in questioning her set up. Happy to hear from any others out there Cheers Fil

Hello fellow owners , After lots of measuring and checking and thinking my little red 7 may have run too rich and juicy I have totted up the various miles .... how does it compare to you? Big heavy right foot, going for it, tally ho and yahooo driving 22mpg 😳 General mixed but moderate country lane type miles little tallyho 28 mpg Distance driving with motorway, open A roads, no tallyho, steady accel 33.5 mpg If this is pretty typical it could save me spending lots of dosh for little improvement. She runs and behaves nicely as she is. Are yours much the same chaps.

Whilst I do like to support the peeps at CC by buying their products I did add a caveat ...'if it works *smile*' If the one they do is twice the price and doesnt work very well theres no point buying. If it works well I can then choose who to give my money to. Didnt really want to aggravate anyone over it. Sorry if I did. I havent got a Dremmell. Would a very hungry Hamster be able to nibble the bit off? would be cheaper than a Dremmell

Great topic. I shall go for fitment of verniers first and then a re map. I know my car could do with improvement at low revs, pulling away especially when cold. My mpg averages 22-23mpg blatting with big divers boot on right foot. On the Wight blat bimbling around I got 28mpg. From the red line to full tank i get about 160 miles using lots of right foot. She is a 1.8 K series SV with roller barrells. I have read pretty much every thread on re mapping and the Steves get lots of big *thumbup* My wallet is steadily filling up ready for my improvements with DVA and the Steves . Great to hear yours was so worthwhile .. cheers Mark I look forward to mine even more. I will post any improvements when its done. Fil

What a timely question Rullingen I am in exactly the same position and not sure whether to go Caterham cap only or Seven speeds offering. The filling issue is the crux. Mine is a fuel injected 2001 K series SV with original cap. She fills up ok if i take care. I would be very interested in what direction you go. As things stand I was going to ring Caterham to see what their cap or cap/pipe offers for the cost and if the refilling issue is resolved. I like to buy Caterham where poss as it supports the future of the car...so long as the kit works.

How about writing it down Ammo and selling the information that way? With your experience it would be like writing a book but in pamphlet form. If someone rings you can offer the info that way .. perhaps promote it on a web site? That way one way or another your knowledge pays you back and ultimately is left behind for others to benefit from. You can also keep the communication succinct and to the point. You need never keep repeating yourself answering the common questions. I would pay for such a book or information hand out.

there is definitely one dump valve when i am in the car and if i get the corner set up wrong it starts to fire up....rich emissions followed by some 'fluff frp frrrrp' noises 😬

Blat mailed you Longy re the hood. SWMBO has been out today with the doors off for the first time. No rattles or clonks but she did say 'Whats that swishy, whooshy, howly, blasty thing going on my dearest' I asked her to remain calm and to keep carrying on in a proper British fashion and that the swishy whooshy will carry on for at least and hour after we get out

yep ... your right .. if its the New Forest the limits 40mph! To keep the ponies safe. But if its not!!! Driving very slowly over grids prolongs the agony. If you zip over it just goes BRRR! If you go too slow it goes,,,,krunch,clang,thwak,twang, Bish, Bosh, Wallop and Doink. Also SWMBO says something like ' what the rattle, tinkle, clonk was that dearest hubby? As we all know it is best to get most things over with quickly where SWMBO is concerned or you get a Dong wallop thwack around your earole before you have finished!!

Good morning Red Light, Mine is ten years old and if i go over a sharp bump I get clonks and boings from the boot area. If I am just on the throttle or just on coasting the diff clonks and 'percolates'. At certain revs i get a vibration noise from the front offside of the cockpit. Then i get out and climb into the family Astra estate and suddently i'm in a silent inner world of 'marmallowness' where everything is soft and undefined like just waking up... but more boring!! Im still searching for the noises in the 7.. Ive got used to them now but SWMBO still throws a look after we cross a cattle grid at 60! 😬 😳

I have 2001 K series SV and my speedo over the winter was erratic for the first half mile and hten settle down. It alsways recorded the mileage correctly though and the needle blipped to a new false reading if I tapped it sometimes. It read either zero or 60! Now the weather has warmed up it behaves ok. It doesnt help you any but at lest you now know you arent the only one with an erractic speedo problem Fil

Thanks Grubbster and Piers, I was going to wait for a couple of upgrades and follow it with a RR session and deal with it in one hit but I am now wary of running it rich for a prolonged period now I have seen the black pipe! The trip to Caterham sounds the best interim route. She is due a service and MOT in June so it looks like I shall give her the service and run her to Caterham to have the issue looked at and follow it with the MOT. Cheers chaps. See you on the IOW?

Hello All, My K series 1800 with roller barrells is running rich I am sure. She pops and *arts on over run now and then, has a black sooty exhaust after a bimble around town and the mpg is not that great. In all other respects she ticks over more or less ok at 12-1400 rpm. Starts fine. Goes like a lottle rocket with a lovely smooth pull of power. Engine goes to sleep on turn off with no over running. Short of a rolling road what can I do about it? Are there any quick fix adjustments? I intend to give the air filter a clean. The MOT is due in a few weeks and i dont want it failing on emissions. Two and a half thousand miles and ten months ago she was serviced and had the throttle bodies balanced and the running checked due to an emissions failure so she has not done much mileage since that adjustment. What would you do? or am i being picky? If she had carbs I would be out there with my screww driver! She is on an MBE ECU (R500).

My sv k series road sport has an oil catch tank too that is linked to the 'rocker cover'. During the winter I noticed it had water in it and a smidge of oil. Mainly water though. It was clear. A good few inches deep! I have not lost water from anywhere at all. I emptied it and have since found some more in it. Not as much this time. I am quite sure its condensation from the top of the engine. My car has definitely not lost water from its systems. So if you arent losing water from the cooling system etc you too have discovered a way to make water. I hope that takes the worry away.

I fitted a third break light and with a bit of squinting in the dark and with a torch under the car providing light I discovered a gap in the boot floor with just enough room to pass a cable ... I eased the carpet up at the edges ... saved lifting the boot floor ....you never know! It was winter and no light in the garage hence the torch .. and the discovery. Fil

The furring of the rails as an issue might be dependant on whether you live in a hard or soft water area. Also a kettle is filled and refilled repeatedly to get significant deposits whereas a cars coolant system is not. Some coolants are for Aluminium engines which the K is. May be an idea to see what comes out when you drain it and how much. Perhaps it would be an idea to fill it with plain water and run the engine up to temp and check to see if there is a leak etc. At least you are only going to lose water and not your newly purchased anti freeze. Hope it goes ok Fil

My stainless steel ones go well with the other shiney bits on the car.After doing a good few miles this winter they did get grit straffed but with spit and polish they come up nicely even with a ding here and there. They do not protect the whole wing so they do suffer 'gravel rash' .I have now fitted a layer of my own armour fend ...... insulating tape!!!! gasp horror!! its red like the car, a near perfect match and looks fine....I think so anyway. A clean shiny Spitfire is a joy to see. One with dings, dents and signs of action is even better though. If your undecided ... I would go for shiny with the odd ding.

The resin centre on the temperature sender does not turn in the housing when brand new. I replaced a faulty one recently that turned. The new replacement one was solid and would not turn. I think constant expansion and contraction due to heat is what causes it. Grubbster helped me out with a couple of used ones to use as a tester against my suspected faulty one. I put in the used one that had a solid centre. It worked fine. A while later it went on the blink and I found the centre had loosened and begun to turn. Under these conditions the water temp guage read high on both faulty sensors. I am waiting to see how many miles reslut in a further failure. Oil sender is next on my list!!!!

Hello everyone, After my recent post re how to repair a boot cover I have at last got it fixed. The problem was the popper had pulled out of its hole and split the vinyl either side of it. I tried evo stick with no luck. The local shoe repair man didnt fancy a go. One option was to replace it completely (£90+) with a CC or SBFS's one. In the end I checked out yellow pages and found a vehicle upholstery firm. They fixed it on the spot with a sewn and glued patch that was so well done my wife had trouble finding it! It was visible but very very neat and tidy. £20! Thanks to Stuart and Graham of Richmond & James at Waterlooville PO7 7TH. If you have a vinyl repair go to a vehicle upholsterer near you.

Thanks for that thought Myles. I have been hammering the keys of the calculator and on my last fill up I used 31ltrs covering 164mils (24mpg) that left me 44 miles of fuel in the SV's tank in the 'red zone'. I now know fairly accurately my 'reserve' mileage on the red as a result. That consumtion is mainly with two up and blatting around locally .. not steady long distance runs on the open road with more 5th gear use. It may be that a proper open road tour will improve the mpg. I worked out how long in fuel saving cost it would take to re coup the cost of re mapping the car on a rolling road. Based on a 6mpg improvement ... a litttle over two years!!! So the mapping has to go hand in hand with an upgrade (verniers/exhaust) to be fully viable so I can afford to bide my time. Being a newish owner I am exploring the touring aspect this year. I have been on track in another 7 but the open road calls loudest at the moment. Its fun learning and seeing everyone elses experience in their own individual cars. Thanks again Fil

Thanks for the last two comments, I am tempted to go straight for a re map but know that if then go and get the upgrades it will to some extent throw all that detailed effort ... and expense ... out of the proverbial window. In the meantime I will track my fuel use and type of mileage so that a clear comparison can be made between before and after. that info could be of use to another 7er in the future. Thanks all. Fil

Thanks for the advice and the blat yesterday Dennis. JKM cannot map an MBE ECU which is a shame. I have contacted the Road and Track team and they can help. In view of my considering an exhaust upgrade and verniers in the future I have decided to leave the mapping until last. It would not make sense to have it done and then make changes. So for now I will wait it out until the time is right to do the whole lot in the right order. That way I can sort my mpg and get more performance at the same time. Thanks All Fil

Not sure if this helps in any way..... The old Mk3 Ford Escort had a common problem of pulling up in traffic or junctions and then the engine just pettered out and died. It was always the oil breather hoses that were gunked up that was the cause and not the fuel or ignition systems. I could be completely up the wrong tree At the time I thought it was the auto choke sticking on a rich mix but it wasnt. Maybe a gungy breather? Fil

Forgot to mention mine is an SV 'roadmaster' too. I have e mailed an enquiry to Mr Andrews to see what it would cost to vernier and map. Not sure how much more spec yours has got Sigmamark so its hard to compare. On a tank i am getting about 151 miles .. full to start of red on the guage (31 litres). There is no real open road on that ie no wide fast A roads or dual carriageway where you can consume miles in 5th gear for an hour at a time. Thanks for the responses so far peeps. Much appreciated. Fil