Chairman Roger

I think you are asking what a dry sump is and what is it for. In the simplest of terms the oil that you pour into a standard (ie non dry sumped) engine sits at the bottom of the engine in the sump (the bit that hits the speed bumps !) If you think of this sump as a saucer then as long as the car is moving at a constant velocity in one direction the oil wil stay somwhere in the centre of the saucer. Any violent change in velocity (for cornering or braking )will move the oil from the centre to the edge of the saucer. This is important because the pipe that feeds the engine oil pump to lubricate your engine picks up its oil in the centre of the saucer (in this simple explanation)so when the oil moves to the edge of the saucer the oil pump can't pick up any oil and.... well I think you know. In a dry sump arrangement you still have the saucer under your engine but the pipe for your engine oil pump does not pick up the oil from it. Instead there is another pump fitted (the dry sump pump) that pulls the oil from the sump as soon as it gets there (keeping the sump notionaly "dry"). This pump then passes it to the dry sump tank which is tall and narrow (think of a glass tumbler) This tank is always full because the dry sump pump passes the oil back to it at a faster rate that the oil arrives in the sump. The outlet for your "engine oil pump" now comes from the bottom of the "Glass tumbler" and because it is tall and narrow and always full the bottom outlet always has oil available With the high G forces that a Seven generates particularly on track with sticky tyres and big brakes I think you will see why a dry sump arrangement is sensible SVA (Single Vehicle Approval) All cars have to be type approved before they go on the road. For main line vehicles (BMW Rover Ford etc) the tests that they have to go through are very complex and expensive (crash testing for example).It was seen that the smaller specialist manufacturers could not possibly afford these tests so SVA was introduced. Without going into the regulations it does allow some common sense to be applied to our cars in order to get them on the road

In 1998 at the Golden Lotus Show at Donnington I spotted a sequential box based on the type 9 sierra case. It was being displayed by its Japanese manufacturer in pre production guise and was specificaly aimed at the Seven market (there are a few in Japan !)It looked good on the bench but I don't know if it was taken into production. If you want to contact them to see if there is a UK importer/Agent they are KAAZ Corporation 387-1 Gomyo Saidaiji Okayama 704 Japan The sales engineer I spoke with was Mr Koji Mitsuishi. Roger

I was concerned that the display might be water prone but on speaking with Julian (?) at ACES he tells me that they tested it by immersing it in a bucket of water ! I have had no problems at all with the unit - very good I think By the way mention that you are a 7 Club member and you will get a discount (£10.00 ish if I remember) Roger

Piers We recommend the Petty strut is used (for obvious reasons) but it is not mandatory for our sprint so it is up to you entirely. You will not be refused without it. See you at Curborough Roger

Phil Remove the Vecta anyway. Even if it is not the cause of your present problem (and I'll bet it is) it will let you down eventualy ! R

Phil Sounds like a classic Vecta problem. I had exactly the same on my VX and it finally dumped my on the roadside in France. The Vecta unit is a black cylindrical tube about 2" dia and 5" long (usually under the dash) which is stuffed full of electronics and then "potted" in resin. Because of differing rates of expansion between the various mediums used, fractures can occur inside the potted unit. When the unit warms up a connection is broken and when it cools the conection is remade. Remove the Vecta ! You can do it yourself if you are careful and look at which wires have been broken in to but it is not a quick job. Roger

Mike Yes the lower mounting for the Petty strut is a threaded bush which is hidden behind the side trim panel. Drill out a few pop rivets, peel the panel back and locate the bush. Then just a matter of drilling a hole in the correct place (measure twice drill once !) and re rivetting the panel. Why on earth Caterham don't drill it for you and supply a cover plate is beyond me.

Can't recall the exact ammount I removed but I would guesss it to be 20thou or more. I wondered at the time if the prv had grown at all due to exposure to heat/pressure/oil.

I fitted one that Swindon supplied but removed it when I had fluctuating (upwards) oil pressure. That problem turned out to be a dry connection to the sender and nothing to do with the prv but you know how it is, once doubt has been planted you are reluctant to take the risk. I then had occasion to replace the whole pump housing and took the opportunity to retry the Swindon prv. It was considerably tighter in the new housing than the old and I had to machine it to fit. This begs the question has there been a change in diameters of the prv which could have contributed to your problem ?

Try Steve Perks at SP Components (01527 894232). Steve does a lot of work for Caterham Cars on both boxes and axles. Roger

Mine dumped me on the roadside in France. I had to dewire it by telephone whilst the local garage owner looked on and offered advice. My French is marginaly better than my wiring expertise (both poor) so I was more than a little relieved when after about 2 hours it fired up. The problem was apparently caused by the potting resin which encapsulates the electronics expanding and contracting at a slightly different rate to the electronics that it surrounded thus setting up cracks in the circuits. Needless to say I have not replaced my Vecta. Roger

Rather embarrasingly I fitted the wrong filter just before a North Weald sprint. Barbara set off, braked for the first coner and the filter wore away on the ground. 1 lap later we had managed to ruin the big ends and stop the sprint for about an hour ! Replacement Unit supplied by Jim Whiting at North Weald was a T.J.(Tecalemit Jackson ?) unit , ref FB5300 and was listed to fit the following cars Renault 62 on R4,R4L,R4TL, R5L (4CV)854CC R6 (854CC) and was approx 2.5" long Roger

Whilst your mirror is off (and assuming all factory supplied mirrors are the same) break the arm from the mirror by twisting out the ball joint (yes it will fit back in). Trim some of the plastic surround of the ball joint, reassemble to the stalk and fit the mirror stalk to the screen 180 rotated. This will give better through the screen visibility and will still fit under a hood (if I remember correctly) Try it before you stick it !

Try Hydraulic brake stop switch: Lucas switch 2SH SPB401 Roger

Alan My Fuel injection pump draws 4.75amps at tickover if that helps