murph7355

Trust me, I like Italian cars. I like 'grales (especially of the Evo2 variety). Mark just prefers things of Teutonic persuasion. The sort with fat arses and/or that you can't tell which direction they're travelling in (which is probably something to do with being able to hide his driving style). Seriously nice car his though, and I can imagine him being gutted at selling it. You could do much worse than to take it off his hands and learn the sheer joy of English motoring. PS I'm sure Audi and Ford might have something to say about the competition car pedigree angle, but I'll let you off. Like I say, I like Italian cars. And pizza.

He doesn't like Italian cars. He thinks they're gay. I think that's because he's from Essex or something. This car should prove a good buy. He drives like a granny.

And to be pedantic, don't get *exactly* the same one as fitted to the R500. It's not as configurable. An 8130 road dash (think that's the correct number) looks the same in most respects, but you can adjust the warning levels that are used and a few other parameters that aren't (or weren't last year) available on the R500 dash. "Down" side is that it won't say Caterham on the dial. I think they're something like 800 quid in std. trim. Add 50 for a shift light, add 50 for fuel pressure etc etc.

I've never had a problem with the battery pack. Batteries last longer than a DV tape IME and not much hassle/cost in changing them. The 480 line one is the one to have. I have some superb footage from it. Not had a problem with light particularly either. The lenses screw off, so perhaps some sort of tinted filter might work. Problem is, on such a small lens this would likely reduce picture quality more. I'd think a decent enough sized hood would start to encroach on the image... The picture will never be quite as good as that from the DV lens. There's an additional connector involved, and not a particularly high quality one at that (the phono type recepticle that the cameras have). Plus you don't get any anti-shake or any of the other electronic jiggery pokery that the camera can apply to its own lens. If you have the 480 line one, have a chat with the chaps at RF. Plenty of people are using these on their cars with good results, so maybe you have a slightly duff unit?

Hear you (and have edited the post accordingly). Mine are a bugger to get in and were from day 1. I think it's more to do with the nut being spec'd too tightly to a "nude" hole size. Paint it or powder coat it, which I very much doubt lays down an even thickness of material, and you have problems.

PS Which means that Count is wrong.

I've had both and don't see the point in paying the extra for the Momo. I actually found the smaller of these to a bit too fat for my liking (and I have big hands before anyone says anything!). And the centre obscured more of the instruments than the Racetech version, especially with the head-butt pad attached. Currently using a suede Racetech one. Very nice to hold. The nap does go off after a while but can be brought back up. With suede palmed gloves you get exceptionally good grip on the wheel too, without having to clench (always the best way). Leather racetech was equally good to use but didn't feel quite as nice. I think the ones I use are 250mm, which is also an advantage over the Momo. The smaller wheels do give more knee clearance which is essential for some of us. Cost around the 40-50 quid mark I think. Quick release is also a very good thing. Going Racetech would give you some fundage to put towards this...

Asking a general query following the "For Sale" post on getting stainless nuts. I'm not in any way trying to undermine that thread or doubt what's been said there (I'm likely to buy some after all), but am just curious as a user (albeit not often at present) of these nuts... Q1 - how many people have heard (first hand) of failures of these nuts? Q2 - how many of any failures heard of are down to incorrect usage of said nuts? I know that the design is, to use a phrase, pants. They're a pain in the arse to use on painted/powder coated wheels and it seems like a massive exercise in pointlessness all round to have them like they are... But in over 17k miles of use, swapping wheels over quite regularly, I've not had a single failure. I *do* use a torque wrench to tighten the nuts up (55lbs ft) which I suspect might help, but would be very interested to hear from anyone who's heard of failures. Also think it might be a good thing to air on this forum, as if there's potential for incorrect tightening causing failures of a pretty important part of the car, people ought to make sure they do them up properly... Hoops - reading your post on the other thread it does sound like yours weren't done up properly. And if it was the stud that sheared, I wonder if that might have happened with normal wheels given the same set of circumstances...just a thought. Edited to get units and numbers right. Memory's not what it was since I eased up on the drinking. My driving hasn't improved either. Edited by - scuffnut on 18 Jun 2003 13:32:26

Didn't Lancia do just that - a crank driven supercharger and a turbo in one installation?

Ah. Wasn't aware of any R500 nuts failing in this way - have many actually happened? Is it also known if this is more common with these nuts or whether normal ones are also prone to such failures - serious questions, not meaning to come over as a doubting wilbur etc. Are the stainless ones stronger or are they simply not meant to rust (as I know the std ones do). Ta for checking it out though.

Can they do ali's ones? I talked to Compomotive about this a while ago and they said they would if I provided a "sample" nut. And then I never got round to it. Went through all the "will ali' ones be OK" stuff, and the std. ali' nuts (i.e. for normal wheels) work fine, so no reason to believe they wouldn't work in this application. Plus they are loads lighter...

Tyrone - YHM ref. the brakes. If you could bring the h/lamp seats along it'd be v. useful. Dan - mailed you yesterday. Stu - mailed you also. Jonathan - and you. Philip - lamps probably gone one way or another. Sorry. If anyone wants the seatbelts, they're still here! As is the FPR.

Some bits found at the back of my cupboard. 2x black headlamps. A couple of buts missing (the "stands" that they rest on the lamp brackets) and one's scratched. 2x standard door mirrors. The base on one is off the spring, but can be repaired. 2x std. inertia reel seatbelts. 1x std. K-series fuel pressure regulator. Set of std. R500 springs 1x FIA bar headrest 1x thin bench seat base (well used). 2x front brake calipers and discs None of it's worth anything particularly, so if you collect it and give something to NtL, that'd be fine. I'm based in central London. It'll all be binned in a week or two if no one wants it.

As the title notes. Bolt your camcorder, camera or anything else that'll take a similar sized bolt to your 7 and really bore your mates with tons of video footage. Clamp is in top knick except the knurled nut that held the ball joint tight disappearred at great velocity. So there's now a standard bolt holding that in. I think the cheapest you can get these for new is 65 notes (here about 2/3rds down the page, Superclamp but this one has a single ball head). So I guess offers around 35 would be just dandy (postage will probably be on top, unless I can disguise it as a letter and post it for 27p - I am a tight Northerner after all).

Why not leave the 7 alone as it's nice as is, and buy a second "weekend" car? You've got a saloon, and something for hooning around the lanes/tracks in. What about something with a tad more comfort but a good bit of verve for longer weekend jaunts? Classic of some description, or another quality sportscar if your funds allow?

4, 13"x6" (might actually be 6.5"s, but what's half an inch between friends) R500 mag wheels. Unpainted centres (saves massive amounts of weight ), plain ali rims, bolted in valves, no centre caps (available from Caterham if you want to buy some). Wheel nuts will be supplied (should you not already have R500 wheels). Used on Le Sept last year only and never got round to having them painted. Top condition, if a little dirty. Tyres are 21Rs but shagged. Would work on track for a few sessions though . Wheel rack to fit a Caterham roll bar (not SV) also for sale - great means of transporting wheels to and from a track day and very stable at high speeds... Best sensible offer secures (or they can stay in the cupboard). Will split. Buyer collects or pays postage. PS No Mark, I'm not offering you a discount or payment by installments.

With so much hand fettling involved in these things, is 10bhp such a discrepency? Again, looking at engines of similar specs to my own (a while ago), the differences in power were sometimes quite a bit more than this, and I guess the difference between "best" and "worst" could easily have been more like 20bhp (mine fell in neither camp). I was a bit mis' at first when I saw this, but now I don't really care too much. No matter how much I try and kid myself, my arse isn't so attuned that I can tell the difference between 200 and 210 peak power. And similarly I've been of the opinion for a while that anything over 200bhp doesn't make the car *that* much quicker, the overall characteristics of the engine and chassis being of significantly greater importance.

Could be talking out of my exhaust Nige, as ever, but I'm not convinced the shorter trumpets are the root cause - my car's OK on v.short trumpets and whilst not giving the power levels you're looking for, it gives slightly more than yours is now "showing" even with them (and 740 cams). I was under the impression it made more of a difference to the shape/positioning of curves rather than ultimate figures. Oddly my initial impression over the first few lines of your post was that you can never take rr figures as a full and final measure...and then it was noted that Emerald have a new RR...A 10% margin of error probably puts you right where you should be given a few more minor tweaks you could make. Of course the most important thing in your post is that it doesn't feel as srpitely as it did. If you know the shims aren't as good as they could be, then these'd be a good place to start. Might it also be worth a full remap - and perhaps check your throttle linkage. I know it sounds daft, but mine's quite heavy (I like it this way) which goes a long way to making a difference. The R500 I had was soooooo much lighter purely on the throttle pedal - I found it much harder to drive smoothly as a consequence.

YHM (and a slightly more appropriate plate than from the bigoted boat anchor pedlar ).

You can buy them from Caterham Dave. 20 quid or so for 4 including badges if memory serves.

Power - used to be of the opinion that you couldn't have too much. But am not now. Round a circuit, significantly more than 200bhp in a lightweight 7 will make very little difference to your lap times (for mere mortals), especially if the circuit has no long straights. Deploying the power is difficult unless the tyres are wide and sticky and this, IMO, spoils much of the fun you can have with a 7. You also can't really state that you don't have to use it...it never quite works this way and playing with half of your throttle travel is not easy. Modulating the much smaller angles required with your foot is an art form and at times impossible. I also found that there are few roads where you can seriously let rip with the throttle without causing the car to fishtail, skip about and generally spin its wheels. And when you get on a bumpy road, having your foot slip a mm or two can lead to some very dirty underwear. A 200bhp 7 is a wicked tool on road or track and will p*ss on pretty much anything out there. Especially with a committed driver who knows how to drive it. And they are perfectly capable of holding their own against the big mutha 7's (unless the aforementioned long straight's involved). I sometimes believe that some people would actually be quite a lot faster in a lower powered 7 than they are with higher powered derivatives. I think I'm getting old...but straight line power is definitely not all I thought it was. A 220bhp Duratec would be a very nice engine indeed.

And there's your 2.

Get a decent proof of purchase for the engine, have the engine number noted on it and tell them to get lost. I don't think I've ever been stopped and had the copper check engine numbers anyway, so very unlikely it'd ever happen at the side of the road and if you had a "producer" you could give the piece of paper over...

Quit wearing the bondage trousers. Would toothpaste not get the scratches out? I hear that it's good at this sort of thing. And if not at least your arse'd smell nice (unless you go for that Euthymol stuff). What about some Armourfend (once you have the scratches out)? Think FA did this to his if memory serves...

21Rs. No question. 48Rs are meant to be good but from the tread it's hard to see how they could be for a wet...