Philip L Anderson

I did my Left-hand drive BDR conversion to dry sump 14 years ago. My tank is attached to the right-side (passengers) foot well. There are several dry sump oil pans on the market so that should not be a problem. Mine is a welded steel pan but a lot of them are aluminum these days. My oil tank is a Mocal (Eazyclean) 6.5”dia 14”high from Burton Power. I like this tank because it come apart for cleaning, and because the upper half with the oil inlet and bottom half with oil exit can independently rotated to facilitate oil line connections. This is critical as there is not much room for all the 12AN fittings and hoses. There are numerous manufactures of 6.5” oil tank brackets. I have a Moroso oil catch can located close to the left side foot well. There is no room to fit and plumb it on the left side. I had to make a simple bracket that attaches to the bottom chassis square tube and is stabilized by a hose clamp to a chassis cross member. Don’t know what connection you have for a valve cover, but Wilcox has a 90-degree fitting which will work better than a straight fitting. My oil pump is a X/Flow Titan Dry Sump Pump, 3/4” scavenge, 5 port used in connection with an oil cooler. The trick here is that the right side engine mount needs to accommodate the oil pump. It’s a 35-40 year old special Caterham part and I have no idea if you can find one. You can of course have something made. I found a front mount X/Flow oil pump in the Burton catalogue, but I don’t know anything about it. Maybe some other club members can help you sort this out.

I have a 5-speed Ford Type 9 gearbox with a Quaife close ratio straight-cut synchro gear set and a 200hp Cosworth BD. I have tried several different gear lubricants and found Red Line Fully Synthetic MTL works great. Been using it for about 10 years. Fill it up until the lubricant runs out the side fill hole. Changing gears at low RPM is okay, but since this is a performance gearbox its much smoother at 4,000rpm and higher.

I have used a variety small and large rivet nuts on my Seven as well as on my other vehicles and around the shop. Its not hard to do if you have a good tool. A spinning type is the best but it it requires a lot of working room which you probably don't have. The the type that looks similar to a pop rivet gun is works well and is much better in small spaces. For really tight space one can use a the nut and bolt type that uses a coupe of wrenches, but takes a little practice to set the nut properly.

The front pads are the Ferodo DSPF Performance brake pads that came with the brake kit. The rear caliper are Wilwood Dynalite calipers with unknown pads. The car has a custom fabricated live axle, long story. The car is used on the road an a occasional track day.

I have a 1999 Caterham with a Mountney Traditional 12" leather steering wheel. I would like to install a quick release boss that keeps the same wheel position. I have done some preliminary investigation and would undoubtedly need an adaptor etc, but has anyone installed a quick release on this old steering wheel?

I have a Caterham High Performance Front Brake Kit (4 pot) and AP Racing CP3627-101C (13/16") master cylinder that results in to much front brake. I am considering installing a brake bias valve. I would appreciate any recommendations and thoughts anyone might have.

I have been switching back and forth between a full windscreen and Brookland stanchion for several years. The stanchion is long and heavy with most of the weight at the ends. Unfortunately your stanchion has been bent in shipping or handling. It just needs to be gently bent back into shape. I would suggest putting tape on the car where the stanchion fits so you don't scratch the paint, and gently, a little bit at a time, bend it back into shape. If you take your time and watch your progress, you will be fine. If it flexes a bit lining up the bolt holes that's normal.

After my last BD rebuild I had a serious oil leak from one of the two hoses on the front left side of the engine. I tried several different metal hose clamps but without any luck. I then used Gates Power Grip Clamps and haven't had any problems for years. The Gates clamps are heat shrink tubes that supposedly get tighter with age.

Thanks for the quick reply. I have sent them an email.

A few years ago Low Flying had an article on the shop that did all Caterham 7 trimmings. Unfortunately I haven't had any luck finding the old article, nor the name of the shop. I have a 20 year old 7 with rather shabby seats that I would like to redo over the winter. The seats are black with custom (at the time) yellow piping. It would be much appreciated if someone could give me the name of the shop / contact. I live in the US and have a good interior shop that I have worked with before. They can replace the seat foam and install a new seat "kit" on the existing frames. I would also like new plastic seat bottoms, but could repair the existing ones.

Installed a Easy Clean tank, Titan oil pump, and a remote filter on my BDD 12 years ago. I clean the tank once a year and am always amazed at the "goop" inside. Not an easy job, and it can be messy at times, but well worth the effort. I like the tank and would recommend it. My installation is a little different but similar in concept to the one in auyt's photograph.

Cubie Z180 from Daniel Stern with 100W Halogen bulb. Not cheep, but the Cubie lens is amazing. Best upgrade ever.

Thanks for the help. Took the gear selector off and everything was gunked up with old dried out lubricant. Probably extra stiff due to the cold weather. Cleaned off everything I could get to. Selector works better than ever in all gears including reverse.

I have a Ford Type 9 gearbox with a Quaife close ratio gear set, and hydraulic clutch. I have had it in the Caterham for the past 11 years without any problems. The gearbox shifted fine in all gears yesterday, but today I can’t shift into reverse. Shifting between and running in all forward gears is still normal without any issues. The hydraulic clutch reservoir is full. I put in about 3 ounces of gearbox fluid before it ran out the side opening. Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated.

I have been running BD’s (street & track days) for 10+ years with a verity of different oils. Everybody has a favorite, but the most important thing is to use a quality oil of the correct weight, make sure there is enough in the sump, and change it every 3,000 miles or yearly. That said, I don’t have a catalytic converter, so I go for high zinc (ZDDP) oils. Zinc is the very best anti-wear additive. High zinc oils are not API certified (they destroy catalytic converters), so you won’t find them in your auto parts store. Don’t have any idea what may be available in the UK, but in the States, I have used oils by Joe Gibbs, Cen-pe-co, and for the past several years Brad Penn, Pen Grade 1 SAE 20W-50.