Roger Ford

Julian has replied. New light unit is £62.40 inc postage and VAT, which seems reasonable, but he's suggested I send it to him with a view to repair.

I've emailed Julian, yes.

If the wire was broken in the display unit itself that wouldn't be a problem, but I think it's broken in the main lead. Which means shortening the lead, and resoldering all the wires and the earth. Not insurmountable, but quite a big job.

Don't suppose anyone's got the display unit from an ACES Sureshift shift light? Maybe because the control unit has died? I seem to have a broken wire in mine, and while I could rewire it, it's going to be a challenge to my soldering skills.

Ah, you're here too! Thanks. In case you're interested (unlikely, I know...) the reason I'm after the sensor as well is that those sensors are intended to measure temperature and pressure, but only the pressure part is connected. My one doesn't work properly for temperature (voltage is way lower than it should be). I'm not sure whether Caterham bought a batch of faulty sensors where the temperature part doesn't work, or whether I was just unlucky. So I thought I'd try another and see if it was the same. It may turn out to be useless, but if not I'm gloing to connect up an auxiliary display controlled by an Arduino to show temp, pressure, ambient temp and time. As fr the gauge, that's much simpler, the threaded mounts have both broken (who makes threaded studs out of plastic, for God's sake?) and it's held on with gaffer tape at the moment.

[Got one from FB marketplace]. I'm after a standard oil pressure gauge for a Sigm TiVCT engine. I assume it's the same as the fixed-cam Sigma version. Anyone got one knocking around, perhaps after converting to mechanical?

I also have one (assuming you mean the standard basic exhaust and not the upgraded version). Manifold plus exhaust in fair condition. No lambda sensor. Based in Twickenham. £85 total for both.

I can't imagine a battery in the engine bay would remain at below 0 degrees for very long, and if it's just started the car that's probably enough to raise the temperature to a safe level to receive charge from the alternator. Unless you're in the arctic circle at < -40 deg C. In which case a Li-Ion battery might not be the best choice. Or, indeed, a Caterham.

I did a bit of research into that "PbEq" value. It would appear that under certain, high-drain, conditions lead-acid batteries can only supply about 1/3rd of their rated capacity. Hence Li-Ion suppliers multiply their rating by 3 to give a "lead acid equivalent", or PbEq. That seems spurious for several reasons: - in a typical low-drain situation such as an immobiliser, it's going to much better than 1/3rd, probably better than 60% - as Aerobod mentions, Li-Ion won't supply all of their capacity either, though they do a lot better This slightly ranty article discusses Li-Ion capacity and has some good links.

Yes, the charger supplied by Jack is very basic - probably no more than a simple voltage tranformer - so it won't care whether the battery is switched on or off. It will simply supply a voltage, and then the battery management system in the LiIon battery will detect that and switch the battery back on to start charging. As a smart charger, the CTEK will need to know the state of the battery before attempting to charge it (and will probably be doing reverse polarity detection), hence the need for the reset button saying "turn on the voltage regardless of whether you see any voltage at the other end".

The JWM battery is presumably the 12 AH model. A Banner is (I think) 29 AH. LiIon is great for high output for starting, it's not so great for sustained low loads. Regardless of what Jack might say, AH is AH, and a 12AH battery is going to last less than half as long powering an immobiliser as a 29AH battery. That's why they're generally only recommended if you have a battery master switch. Unlike a Banner, a good LiIon battery will self-disconnect at a certain voltage so can never run right down and get damaged. A short charge should bring it back over the disconnection voltage and it will be good to go again.

It's still good to know what they all are - so that, for example, you can pull the fuel pump fuse if you want to turn the engine over to circulate oil without it starting.

Thanks JK.

Anyone got the fuse layout for a post 2014 (i.e. TiVCT) Sigma car? It doesn't seem to be on the wiring diagram (not that that's very accurate) or in the build handbook. Yes, I know I could pull each fuse in turn and see what stops working. I'd rather not if I can avoid it, especially as a number of the systems (e.g. wipers, screen wash) aren't present on my car. Thanks

I don't think there's a definitive answer on LSDs and rollers, just lots of opinions. Given that your average driver has no idea whether their car has an LSD or not (and I realise they're not fitted to the majority of cars) I think we'd hear more about it if they were wrecked as soon as they went on a MOT garage's rollers. But I always play safe and ask for it not to be done. My MOT station appears to use the "make up a number" test rather than a full road test, but they do like Caterhams.

Thanks Ian. I have no use for the fire extinguisher or side impact bar, so I'd be happy to pay £150 for the transponder and bracket. The rain light might be useful to keep as a spare but they're pretty reliable so probably not. Message me with your bank details and I'll do a transfer. Many thanks!

Can I have the "ex-race kit" bits please? Happy to pay postage. Edit: no can't do it. I feel honour-bound to point out that the transponder is worth at least £400, probably more. Very happy to pay £150 for it, but would suggest you stick it on ebay with a starting price of £300 and see what it fetches. Current transponders are rental-only and unreliable as hell. The old style ones are very sought after. Mine still works but has been patched up over the years with broken mounting lugs and an external power LED.

I've never had a problem with using a standard 21mm open-ended spanner on mine. Why are these needed? I know some people try to use 22mm spanners (which are more common that 21mm) and they're certainly likely to slip, but 21mm seems to work fine.

24mm? Mine is 21mm.

I never bothered, but if you really do want to undo the Apollo nut then you can hold the body with a strap wrench.

Unless you really love polishing (or don't mind the unpolished aluminium look) don't do it. It's a mammoth amount of work to keep it shiny. Of course if you're one of those weirdos who obsess about "detailing" and have a shelf full of product, you'll probably love it. Probably won't have any time to drive it, though. Check your browser bookmarks. If 10 or more of them are for car cleaning / polishing sites, then yes - it's for you. Otherwise it isn't.

might find that VAT becomes payable on a vehicle that is imported to the UK if VAT wasn't paid when new You'd certainly think so. Otherwise people could export cars (no VAT) then immediately reimport them as "secondhand" and avoid the VAT. I suspect we'd have heard of that wheeze if it was possible. And Lewis Hamilton would probably use it for all his road vehicles.

Reverse light isn't optional in MOT tests for cars first used from September 2009. Not sure if import tests will treat the car as a new car, or will defer to the rules based on the original date of use.

No way of telling whether it's there without dropping the sump. Well, I guess maybe you might be able to see it through the oil drain hole but that would still require draining the oil. hence me asking if it had to be done with oil change I don't think you did ask that!

There's a photo of the gasket mod on this thread. Basically just two holes drilled in the gasket and then the foam is discarded.