SimonRHC

Good Morning, Does anyone know a good "Production Car" colour match from a standard rattle can / touch up paint pot for the KN Alloy, 8 spoke - R500D style wheels? Merc do a million shades of grey surely one must be a good match! When ever i ask on forums people say take it to a paint shop and get it scanned. I don't want to do that, i don't want to leave the house and I don't want to have to talk / barter with people. I'm just after a little pot of touch up paint from ebay that is a good match for the standard KN paint. Has anyone one discovered a good match? Thanks, Simon

Description Caterham Roadsport 1.6 K-series, 6 speed, 1998 Caterham Roadsport 1.6 K-series, 6 speed, 1998 Overview: Caterham Roadsport 1998. Green and Yellow Classic Team Lotus colours. 45,561 Miles. First Registered April 1998 DeDion rear suspension. “Anti-Dive” Chassis Geometry. Engine: 1600cc Rover K-series. Supersport cams. Emerald programmable ECU with 165hp Map. Jenvey Direct to Head throttle bodies. Large fuel injectors (Biscuit colour). ITG Dome filter. Raceco Titanium re-packable Exhaust. Lightweight front pulley. Vernier Cam pulleys. Apollo oil reservoir tank. Laminova water to oil heat exchanger. Radtech aluminium Radiator. Samco silicone hoses with Mikalor stainless steel hose clips . DVA "Dave Andrews" midlife rebuild & Head gasket change. Gearbox: Caterham 6 Speed Manual. AP Suretraq Limited Slip Differential with 3.92 Ratio. R500 lightened flywheel. R500 lightweight clutch. Quaife quick-shift gear lever linkage with rose joint and adjustable fulcrum position. Burton Power Bronze Gear selector saddle. Aluminium Caterham Gear knob (and handbrake cover). Exterior: Adjustable Avo Dampers. KN 15” Alloys with Avon CR500 tyres. Front and Rear Anti Roll Bars. Soft bits for Sevens Half Hood. Exposed Carbon like Plastic Front Wings. Carbon Stone guards. Body Colour Filler Cap. FIA Tall Roll Bar for extra protection. 5 ¾” chrome headlights. Softbits for Sevens - half hood. Full doors. 7 Grill and fine mesh backer. Interior: Heated Windscreen. Programmable Shift Light. Quick release Momo Leather steering wheel. Quick rack steering. Heater & Fan. Tillet Seats. Caterham Immobiliser. Drivers 6-point Luke Harness. Passenger 4-point Luke Harness. Starter Button. Low pressure oil warning light. Interior and boot carpet.

The hybrid question is interesting. I've been trying to find the rules about how far a car has to drive on electric to be classified as a hybred. It could give small manufacturers and ICE a stay of execution until 2035. Hi-caps and a motor-in-flywheel. I think Lamborghini are onto something... Any one know how far?

The hybrid question is interesting. I've been trying to find the rules about how far a car has to drive on electric to be classified as a hybred. It could give small manufacturers and ICE a stay of execution until 2035. Hi-caps and a motor-in-flywheel. I think Lamborghini are onto something... Any one know how far?

Yeah, I changed the plate. It only cost £80. Sorry, i hope to keep this R1 for a long time. Maybe I'll hit 70 years young and decide i want to spend 6 months touring. I guess by then it will have made me deaf so it won't matter...

Hi Charlie, I'm 4 weeks into owning the BEC you made in 2005 and I love it. It's my 3rd Caterham since Christmas eve 1999 and I've never been without one and hopefully never will. It's an insane proposition and quite hard to drive smoothly but that is exactly what I'd want to put my final gallon of dinosaur juice into. I thought the headcase 998cc engine would be the most endearing aspect but in the cold light of day i think it's the feeling of amazing lightness when chucking it about. I can understand why they weren't very popular being "more than Marmite". Every trip feels like a pugilistic punch in the face but in this cotton wool world i take that as a privilege not a chore. All the best, Simon

Hi Phil, I forgot to say that I'm in Horspath, Oxford. Cheers Simon

Passed! I found some nearly new drums (no wear lip) and re-bled the system. what ever made the difference has fixed it. thanks for you comments Simon

Blimey, that sounds drastic. I've never heard of that before. I'd imagine that there's much reduced spline meshing and a gap for stuff to get into the drum assy? does the seal still have a ground surface to run on? Cheers Simon

The bearings are tight on the half shafts. I think that the play is the outer race of the wheel bearing in the axle casing. Another good point about the brake shoe running on the unworn surface of the drum. I'll investigate more tomorrow. Cheers Simon

Thanks Jim, sounds like a good plan swapping the shoes side to side. They might have a non constant diameter. They are about 50000 miles old and I didn't know that you could adjust them at the fulcrum. I'm guessing that the friction material is not an even depth around the circumference but the noise started before I adjusted them. I'm going to bleed the brakes one last time and then try it. Cheers Simon

There is no shoulder on the Live-Axle half shafts. The half shaft is straight like a Land Rover one and the bearing is pressed on where the shaft diameter changes slightly. Turning some of the half shaft away and then pressing on tubes with shoulders was a mod that many live axles (not just Caterham's) had done back in the day but it's all such a long time ago now. It might be what the Redline up-rated half shafts are... The racers used to just tack weld the bearing onto the half shaft to stop it coming adrift! I had seen some where the plans for the bearing seat diameter to be ground back and a shoulder pressed on. I'd heard that the Wheel bearings are pressed on with 8000 kgf but they still come loose on the half shaft. Having a shoulder fitted to the half shaft and something like a 70 thou shim fitted on the other side of the wheel bearing stops the bearing coming loose on the half shaft.

I have just fitted a nice Quaife limited slip diff and I’m keen to investigate having my spare half shafts ground back and some shoulders pressed on to retain the wheel bearings (plus shims at the hubs). A few months ago I found a post or a link to a diagram with all the measurements / fits. Does anyone recall that and know where that is? Simon

Hi Jonathan. The old pads looked ok. Even if the car passes its MOT (the braking force is ok) the the constant squeak-squeak-squeak turns heads and is getting on my nerves! I've worked my way through the logical things but this has foxed me. Simon

I have a live axle seven with drums fitted on the rear. When the drums get warm I start getting an intermittent squeak as the left hand rear wheel rotates. I can stop it by gently left foot braking or putting a click on the hand brake. It also seems to stop temporarily when I turn right. I assumed that this is because the drum is slightly warped and the heat is accentuating it being out of shape. I have changed the left rear drum but it still persists. I have swapped the drums side to side but it still persists, all be it greatly reduced. Why would it be side related not drum related unless it was the fluid? There is no bleed nipple on the right hand side. I’m assuming that the rear is bled from just the left and that you don’t have to loosen the pipe coupling on the right hand side to bleed it? I had tweaked the shoe adjusters to improve the pedal feel but now I have slackened them right off. I have been bleeding the brakes because I did wonder if a small amount of air/moisture in the system might get hot and just creep the shoes out so that they are slightly kissing the drum. There is about 0.5mm of float in the half-shafts where I think they are sliding in the axle casing (this need shimming at some point). I did wonder if the float was allowing the sides of the shoes to touch the vertical face of the drum but there are no witness marks. What about getting someone to press the brake pedal whilst the drums are being tightened up so that they are centralised as they are tightened? Maybe they’re not going on concentrically? I definitely think that it’s a heat related but where and with what? Any ideas, I’m starting to panic! Simon

I Have the same problem with my live axel. Drip-drip-drip. i looked into doing what you are proposing. my 1600vx build manual suggests fitting a metal washer between the rubber bushes. this makes a kind of scrap-heap-challenge rose joint. the axel can still rotate over bumps but the bushes are protected from being crushed during acceleration by the washer. Over Christmas i contacted Redline and went the whole hog (~£120 inc vat) and bought a new a-frame with a rose joint fitted and it is AMAZING. So pleased with it. And now the drip lubricates the rose joint...

Just fitted, after quite a few naughty words, a rose jointed Live Axel A-frame (£219 from Redline) and what an improvement, it is brilliant. It feels like the back axel is being told what to do rather them petuantly doing it's own thing. V happy.

Anyone else tried a Kent AST-16 cam? They are completely amazing. Need to use some thicker oil mind-you. Mate's running 20w60 ok.

Six and a half years later and we're best mates! All because of a window sticker and a silly little car. We'll never agree about Ferrari's though!

Two tanks full of Redex infused 4 star completely cured the problem. And i though it was an old-wives tale!

vx1800 head gasket kit: 72179 Alternatives: 702.286 90397692

Hi, I've been helping my mate Steve upgrade his vx1600 and it's involved some head scratching. The current spec is vx1800 (he found in a scrappy on eBay). piper cross dome filter. Kent AST-16 cam with venire pulley. Blydenstein big valve head conversion. The engine seems to run quite hot but I think he's got it booked in for some carb tweaking. it's completely changed the car. it runs smoothly with a big kick at 5k. there's a bit of a strange resonance issue from 2.2k to 2.6k. more info to follow after our next pub trip.

I have just put my brand new, un used Kent Cam power pulley CA82 on eBay. This probably isn't in the right section on blatchat but it's most applicable to you guys.

Hello, I was playing with a vx1800 the other day. I made a note of the part numbers. The owner believes that it was bored out from new "by Caterham". So far: CAM shaft = GM847 Cam pulley = Kent Cams CA82 Cylinder Head Gasket Set = 72179 (Alternatives 702.286) 90397692 (available on eBay). I think that it's running standard diameter valves. 39mm inlet, 32mm exhaust. The big end caps have all been balanced by drilling.