Crudders

Hi Rob, welcome to a great resource/community and good luck with your build. Just a few points to add: Rawlnuts are usually used as a repair solution once rear wings/bodywork have been damaged. A more common mod is to use nylon/polyamide M5 screws instead of the BZP steel screws supplied. Obviously they will not corrode, but they will also break in the event of an impact and you stand a good chance of your ali skin not being ripped to pieces. If you have access to a rivnut setter I would also recommend inserting rivnuts all the way round the wing - the holes 'accessible' within the boot area don't have them and the build manual instructs you to use nuts and washers. I used double sided carpet tape on my original build and would advise against it - it's incredibly powerful stuff and I found it impossible to remove the carpet without damaging it. You may think you won't want to remove the carpet but the time will come sooner or later. Try a tackifier adhesive which grips but does not set. Apply 'Schutzwachs' to ali exposed to the elements but not easily accessible once the car is built - under the boot floor, fuel tank, inside the tunnel etc. It's a protective non-setting clear wax that can be removed with a solvent when required. Available here (14th item down the page). Things may have changed since I built my car but I found insurance for the build period was little different in price to full 'on road' insurance. A site search will reveal plenty of threads on good Caterham insurers. As Guy says - know when to walk away! There will be times when you want to hurl your heaviest hammer at the car. Can't think of anything else offhand. Have fun Crudders (Edited because I went off half cocked) Edited by - Crudders on 4 Oct 2007 12:05:46

KAP - you can carry out a basic balance check by unscrewing one "progression drilling cover" as shown on this diagram here on each carb, nearest to the centre, and adjusting the idle screw (count the turns) until you can see a clear edge of the throttle plates through the middle of the progression holes. Any imbalance will be obvious and easily rectified with the balance screw. I always start off by balancing my carbs with this method and the airflow balancer doesn't usually call for a lot of extra adjustment. Another possibility - is the fuel pipe too close to the exhaust, causing fuel vaporisation? That could explain why cold running is OK? Crudders

I'm fairly sure the Caterham engines were either standard as they came from Ford @ 1598 or +090 @ 1691. A 1660 engine is a 1598 with a +060 overbore. So you have the option of going up to 1691 with +090 Hepolite cast pistons at about £100 a set or to 1700 or 1720 with Accralite (or other) forged pistons at around 4 to 5 times the price. IIRC 1760 is possible but risky on a 711M block. HTH, Crudders

Thanks Richard - mate is aware and will hopefully be in touch. He lives on the South London/Kent borders. He is a bit of a track day monster so Grubbster's tow bar may well be of interest if the car is, as it were.

Hi Richard - a mate is looking for a good tintop in this price range. What year is the car? And where are you located? Crudders

Jase - you mention a trickle charger but is it an intelligent type like the Optimate? I had a long neglected battery in the garage that I was going to throw out but amazingly the Optimate managed to restore it. I think it cycles through high voltage/low current supply and vice versa which desulfates the plates. Or it could be something esle altogether - it was a while back that I read the blurb. All I know is that it works Crudders

Worry ye not Michael, I have a wiring diagram of the same vintage as H5 URF. The only complex part is behind the dash really - everything else is pretty self-explanatory. The wrapping on my loom was in a dire state at the extremes, mainly due to oil contamination, but rewrapping with loom tape (available from Frosts), repairing some chafed cables in the tunnel and replacing corroded terminals etc. has restored it. A good quality ratchet crimper is a must - you're welcome to borrow mine. A new loom probably isn't essential but would certainly save you a lot of time. The advice above regarding templates for wing holes etc. is certainly top as I probably fretted more about drilling holes in the new skins than anything else. I also have lots of plastic crates and catering size coffee tubs for putting removed components in, although you may have to fight Chris for those And don't forget to shout when you need some additional spannering hands in the garage Of course if you don't want to take me up on this offer for fear of Brunero Syndrome contagion I quite understand 😳 Crudders

Bob - I had something similar on my first engine and that was definitely weak valve springs, cured by a head overhaul which included new double springs (everything else was put back to the same spec.). I may be talking out of my bottom but ISTR that some Lucas ignition systems had a rev limiting rotor arm - may be worth checking. As to how you go about identifying one, I'm sorry I haven't a clue. Crudders

Must go, someone has just texted me asking me to pay a visit to Techtalk, whatever that is Crudders

Hi Ian. I think I can picture the scene, although this part of my painfully slow rebuild was a while ago now 😳 If I recall correctly the star tabs are more or less redundant on the remote lever as they are designed to fold down over the end of the selector rod tube. I found that the nylon thread on my car was such a tight fit in the chassis mount that the base of the lever unscrewing itself wasn't a concern. It certainly never came undone in the previous 32,000 miles (and that's exactly 32,000 miles and no tenths before the crump, spookily ). It sounds like you've got it covered with wiring it in place Crudders

Leda seem to be back in business - from their website: <<<<<<<<<< We are are pleased to announce that Leda Suspension is back in business! Leda Suspension has been acquired from the administrators by epm: technology group on the 20th April 2007. epm: technology group who supplies F1, WRC and Touring cars, are pleased to have been able to complete this acquisition keeping Leda in the UK. Servicing key motorsport markets. We are now happy to receive units for service and repairs sent to us using the details below: Leda Suspension HBE Ltd 2 The Beeches George Dutton Business Park Moor Farm Road West Ashbourne Derbyshire DE6 1HD Tel: 01335 348 880 Fax: 01335 300 024 Email: sales@leda.com >>>>>>>>>> My live axle 7 has AVO front dampers from Freestyle but I haven't done any mileage on them yet so can't rate them against the previous Spax setup. Crudders

Well Brent, IIRC your car loving kit has cotton buds in it, so why not a razor? ric - now you mention it, I've done that too and it works well Crudders

My crossflow is in a somewhat lower state of tune than yours Colin, but I've never had any trouble with pinking, using decent Super Unleaded and Castrol Valvemaster lead replacement additive without hardened vave seat inserts. My Leon Turbo daily driver is pretty intolerant of poor fuel and it doesn't like Sainsbury juice at all, so maybe that's part of your problem. Stick to Shell V-Power or Tesco SUL, both of which are 99 Octane, and you're already 2 Octane points higher than the 'super' unleaded that all other stations sell. Certainly worth a try. Crudders

Brent - Frost do run razors here and run blockers here. I've not used either but they look as though they'd do the job. If the chip is on a flat rather than contoured surface a piece of very fine wet and dry wrapped around a small offcut of ply has served me well in the past. Crudders

This has been a pet hate of mine for some time too Kristoffer - a severe case of style over substance but to my eyes (and yours too, obviously) they also fall short on the style front. Our Clive is often kind enough to drive a group of us to other meets when the weather is pants in his current BMW daily driver (he runs a dealership). Some of them have had their ride and handling utterly destroyed by a bling set of wheels. The worst was an X3 with 20" or 21" rims that looked from a distance to have no rubber at all. The ride in the back seat of that wasn't too far removed from a pogo stick. And if you're unfortunate enough to find a serious pothole you'll very probably need a new wheel and/or tyre. WTF is the point? Have designers forgotten what wheels and tyres are for? Bang goes my next lift to an area meet . . . Crudders Crudders

Steering is unaffected these days as it happens Adam. In th'old days before Caterham had their own ali bodied racks made, the flared wing cars actually had better lock as the naked wheels were able to get closer to the side skin than cycle wing clad wheels could, IYSWIM. As others have said, of course there's no such thing as a bad or inferior Caterham - whatever you buy will put a smile on your face. I'd reiterate the point made about getting along to an area meeting or several as well - you can talk to owners of different types and probably go for a few rides too. Crudders

Haven't you opened enough worm cans for the moment? DOHC engines like the K and VX Red Top are relatively easy to upgrade by changing induction, cam timing, cams, engine management, etc., without necessarily changing the guts of the engine (although that's obviously advisable if the power is being hiked significantly). Getting a lot of power out of a crossflow is possible but very involved and heavy on the pocket - in typical Caterham Supersprint spec. it's already uprated way beyond standard Ford spec, which IIRC was never more than 84BHP. I have a Live Axle 7 with a crossflow and 4 speed box which suits me fine, but (unfortunately) it's not worth anything like your budget. If you could find something like Brent Chiswicks old car though, that would be a different matter - it started out the same spec as mine but ended up with an English axle, 5 speed box and Zetec engine putting out over 200BHP. A very nice car indeed that sold for around £12.5k IIRC. Zetec engines probably offer the best performance/reliability/cost balance in the 7, and quite a few crossflow cars have now been upgraded with kits from Raceline and others. Well worth considering IMO. Crudders P.S. To answer your question, I actually much prefer flared wings but have to admit to bowing to enormous peer pressure and rebuilding my car with cycle wings. The flared wings are still around though, and are not for sale

I had a Bravo HGT with the same engine about 10 years back, and it definitely liked to rev way beyond 5000 😬 Made a very nice noise when doing so too Is it possible that the engine management is detecting an air pressure abnormality and switching to 'limp home' mode? That seems to be a common problem with the VAG 20V engine when people start messing with Carlos Fandango induction and exhaust systems. Worth popping the old air box back on to see what happens, assuming it hasn't gone in the bin. Crudders

Ian - it's probably easier to make up an order over £35.00 to take advantage of Opie's free delivery, as I probably won't see you for a couple of weeks. How about some decent Castrol brake fluid? I can't answer your query on 5 speed gearbox oil I'm afraid. Phil Stewart @ Road and Race Transmissions will be able to tell you - 01959 525105. Crudders

Opie are currently offering Redline MTL @ £11.69 a US Quart (946ml) with club discount. Assuming you need 2 Quarts, if you add another £12.00 worth of gear to your order to take it over £35.00, they'll deliver FOC. A couple of litres of the stuff are destined for the clunky (TADTS) 6 speed box in my Leon. I'm told by those who know that the Quaife 4 speed in my 7 prefers good quality EP80. Crudders

Dave - Calibras were largely Cavalier based IIRC from mine, and a colleague has a 1994 Cavalier that's covered over 200,000 miles and refuses to die. I'm sure she wouldn't mind me taking a few snaps of her handles Let me know if I can help. Crudders

My recollection was unfortunately correct - the man from Bosal he say Cupra models excluded. Cock. 😔 Crudders

Chris - could I provisionally dib subject to confirming compatibility with Bosal - ISTR that there are issues with the Leon Cupra models. Cheers, Crudders

As far as I know Caterham only sell fully sealed silencers for the X/F models, while the Powerspeed silencers have removable ends so are repackable. As far as the headers are concerned I shouldn't think there's much in it - I'd be inclined to make price the deciding factor. IIRC Powerspeed told me that the Caterham headers were a tad oversize for most X/F states of tune found in 7s, and they have reduced the bore slightly in their version. I'm no exhaust expert but I do recall the Caterham 4-1 system being sold as a 'race exhaust' option when I built my kit, so there could be something in that. Crudders

If the split is near one end or t'other could you perhaps trim the outer sleeve to remove the damage (and cut down the inner pipe accordingly) and run a slightly shorter can? Crudders