skeetsy

At just after 1:00pm I spotted a yellow seven heading clockwise towards Clackett Lane services. I was going the other way so I didn't get a good look but the sun was shining and it had the roof up!

Hi again Piers, I'm not sure if this will help you to identify the cams in your engine, but when you take the head off and the cam sprockets off the cam's you will find numbers stamped into the end of the camshsfts. As I said the engine I played with had L1 race cams, but it was a bit peaky! I would seriously speak to someone who knows how to build and tune twincams, since when you move to hotter cams there are a number of issues around machining engine components, spring seats, etc. and also uprating other components to ensure things don't go belly up! I sourced a lot of components from QED back in the late 80's and I always found them very helpful on the phone. Good luck with the rebuild All the best Richard

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If your Twincam was pushing out 117 Bhp then it sounds like it was a good one In terms of torque you should expect somewhere around 110 to 115 lb ft If you've got time on the rollers booked then hopefully the place you are going to will have various size chokes, jets, emulsion tubes, etc. to try and get the best from your Dellorto carbs but really (assuming they are the original ones) 117 Bhp is right at the top of the range for your engine without going for different cams so it should just be a case of making sure the fuel delivery and ignition are correct and away you go. Let us know how you get on 😬 All the best Richard. Edited by - skeetsy on 19 May 2011 22:01:00

Regarding the details of your twincam engine I will try to give you a bit of background as best I can but if others on Blatchat want to pick me up on details then it's always good to learn The Caterham 7 S3 was produced with the Lotus twincam engine between 1974 and 1983. Initially the engine used was the same MK 2 Lotus twincam which was found in the MK 2 Cortina, MK 1 Escort and later Elans, etc. however, supply of the original L engine block dried up and from 1978 the twincam engines were built up from an alternative 1600 crossflow block and these were generally known as "Tall block" twincams. In a Tall block engine build you start off with a standard crossflow block and remove several millimeters of material from the top of the block (this is called decking) a bit like skimming a cylinder head. however, when you have gone as far as possible without fear of breaking into oil and waterways you are still left with a cylinder block which is about 5mm taller than the old L block and as a result you need to lengthen the cam chain and add a spacer between the chain cover / water pump housing and the front portion of the cylinder head. I don't think the cams are different for this engine to the original sprint engine in an Elan, however, tall block Twincams were never fitted to Lotus cars from the factory. The crank and rods are standard crossflow 1600 items I believe but the block is bored to take the original twincam pistons and it is the longer stroke which gives the additional 50cc capacity. The original power figure would have been quoted as 126 Bhp, however, everyone will tell you that this was an 'optimistic' figure and the probable output was between 105 and 119 Bhp (manufacturing tolerances weren't great back then ) In terms of setting up your engine, cam timing is a very tricky job involving offset dowels (unless you have verniers fitted) and unless the engine has been apart it won't have changed from the time it was put together originally. The engine I played about with had L1 cams and was ferocious 😬 but was an early MK 1 engine, it gave about 140 Bhp and was fitted to a MK 2 Escort, which felt like a flying machine 😬 but even so your standard lump in a Caterham should be able to leave most things for dust If power is your aim (beyond just getting your engine running sweetly) then you will definitely need to consider a cam change, but before you go down that route (and all the expense entailed) your aim should be to get your twincam running well All the best Richard

Quoting PSJ: also when the car was in the garage I asked them to check the timing and they said it was 10degrees out ..but they didn't correct it as they said there wouldn't be much point of i was going to get it rebuilt, alot of work for little gains basically!?!? Piers. The photos of the distributor suggest that you have the correct cap (screwed in plug leads) and it seems to be a mechanical advance unit which is all good 10 degrees of ignition advance or retardation is quite a long way out and may explain some of the poor performance, if you own or have access to a timing strobe light it's pretty easy to get the timing sorted. as a basic setting you should aim for around 14 degrees before top dead centre (the strobe will show you where you are at the moment if you connect it to number one lead and shine it at the bottom pulley) then you just slacken off the clamp which holds the distributor in position and turn the distributor body one way or the other until the mark on the pulley lines up with the appropriate timing mark on the front casing. Then re-tighten the clamp and the job's a good-un. Hope this helps Richard.

Hi again, Do you think that the car has been running a little worse after the work? (Particularly after the fitment of a new distributor cap) I recall from experience that the type of distributor cap and plug leads can be pretty important to the running of a twincam. Does the cap you have have push on HT leads or does it have leads which come out of the cap and are screwed in place? Either way the cap should really be the angled type where the leads come off the side rather than the top. Because of the position of the distributor the push on HT lead type of distributor can cause some shorting of the spark to occur against the inlet manifold if the leads are squashed against it I've traced this through on a friends twincam escort years ago and we fixed the problem with a screw in lead cap plus good quality leads. Also if you do have a vacuum advance (although unlikely as I think these were mainly for the American market) then it would be better to source a mechanical advance distributor, but don't forget to blank the hole in the inlet manifold otherwise you'll lean out one cylinder. All the best Richard

Quoting TomB: Did the Europa ever have a Twink? Banks in Southport might be able to help? Might be worth a phone call. Yes the Europa was produced with a Twincam, more desirable but less common than the Renault engined variety!

Hi Piers, Nice car (I've been following your progress on the Pistonheads thread ) If you do fancy having a go at the rebuild yourself I can recommend Miles Wilkins book like this one but as it's out of print they do seem to sell for over £100! If your engine runs ok but won't accelerate well then it is likely to be either fueling or ignition related so this may be a distributor related problem not advancing the ignition correctly, or it will be down to the carbs misbehaving in some fashion. On the basis that someone knowledgeable (hopefully) has had a look at the carbs then it may well be worth having a look at the distributor - do you know if it is a vacuum advance or a mechanical advance distributor? (a vacuum advance dizzy will have a rubber pipe connecting from the side to the inlet manifold at some point) if it's a vacuum advance then the hose could be perished and leaking or collapsing or it could have come off! hope this helps a bit. Richard

Nothing to do with me but I wouldn't be giving out a link to this if it was for an S3

Hi Steve, did you disconnect the cable from the clutch release arm before taking the photos? if not then it will be a snapped cable. there will be a certain amount of free play in the clutch release arm in any case up to the point where the release bearing meets the pressure plate and without the cable connected it will move freely (i.e. it won't be under tension) All the best Richard. PS if you think it will help BM you're number and I'll give you a call.

Oh the cheek of it! There were actually four Westfields there last night and even a Dutton Couple of Ferraris, couple of E Type Jags, A fair few Triumphs (Mainly TR6's and Spitfires), Loads of MX5's a few TVR's, some BMW's, a Renault Spider, a Lotus Elise, a couple of Morgans, a Marlin and even a Dellow! Plus too much else to list. if it had stayed sunny it would have been a great night.

That was me I was the only Caterham there last night and it was until it started to rain But since it was 'Open top sports cars' last night I thought it would be rude not to attend! Plenty of people seemed to be taking pictures of my car though 😬

Regarding helicoil inserts, there is a video which shows the process To be honest I wouldn't want to consider attempting a helicoil repair on a brake caliper bleed nipple, the reason being that you have to drill the hole out and tap it to suit the insert, the main risk is that the sealing face of the bleed hole (i.e. where the taper on the bleed nipple sits) is likely to be damaged in the process and then you may never have an effective seal. Helicol kits aren't massively expensive examples here but you do need to make sure that you have the correct size to suit the nipple, if you have access to a machine shop with a drill press where you can set the depth accurately and you are confident then you could give it a go, but it would be a difficult job to get right, by comparison exhaust manifold bolt holes are a doddle to helicoil. Hope this helps a bit. All the best Richard

To be honest I can't tell you for certain as there is nothing in the manual to say that it does or doesn't cover the assembly of an SV chassis. Infact the manual just makes reference to Classic, Roadsport and Superlight variants (all of which could be either S3 or SV) and the manual is specifically for the de dion chassis with Rover K series (again this is applicable to both S3 and SV). My guess is that the figures would suit both, but that is just a guess. All the best Richard

PS those figures are the same for both standard and wide track suspension according to the book

Hi, I've just checked the build manual for my 2005 S3 Roadsport and this gives the following information for the front wheels:- Tracking : 0deg 20' +/- 0deg 10' Toe in Camber : 1deg 20' +/- 0 deg 15' (Negative) Castor : 4deg 00' +/- 1deg 00' (0deg 20' variation left to right) For the rear it just gives the following:- Camber : 1deg 30' +/- 0 deg 15' (Negative) Hope this is of help All the best Richard

another for MER bumper cleaning gel. I'll have to try theat Renovo stuff on the clear bits

Hi Tigger, That was me (Yellow with black stripes) and John (Prisoner) on our way back from the Stoneleigh show Spotted you flashing and did wave back but we both slowed down thinking that maybe there was a speed trap ahead! All the best, Richard

Just been browsing through the registration numbers which are still available from the DVLA and I was surprised that this hasn't been snapped up already! Surely it's the must have registration for anyone considering purchasing a new limited edition 'Team Lotus' Seven? Hopefully someone will grab a bargain

Spotted at 2:00pm heading out of Caterham on the Godstone Road - Looking good in the sunshine

Unfortunately I didn't get a very good look as the armco was hiding it but either someone has gone to town polishing the aluminium or it was a Robin Hood

Well if it is a spitfire based Locust as the general consensus seems to be then it won't be a 'fast one'! 😬

*arrowup* BTTT

Nothing to do with me, but I've just seen this on Pistonheads here Ok so it needs the SVA test and some other monies spent to get it on the road, but even so isn't £24K amazingly low money for a brand new 2.3 Duratec powered SV with LSD, dry sump and leather seats?