Mole

There are previous threads on the subject which should answer your question (search on "speedo" or "speedometer"). You are right about wheel size as well. A lot of people seem to fit motorbike speedos which work off a sensor on one of the wheels and are calibrated for wheel size - this takes away all the confusion of diff ratios etc in measuring your actual speed. Also (as on a previous thread) it is possible to use a handheld GPS unit to get quite an accurate measurement of speed, but only over level ground - this would give you an idea of the accuracy of your indicated speed. SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying

One of my favourite topics - speedo accuracy . I think changing to a different ratio diff will change the relationship between your speedo reading and your actual speed. The change may be negligible and if you have an inaccurate speedo (as so many people seem to) then it might actually be an improvement ❗ Nb the relationship between actual and recorded mileage will also change. SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying

🤔 SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying

Quote: "the car in front is a Westfie1d" Good thing too - I wouldn't want it behind me if the brakes are pants 😬 😬 SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying

I had to go to my local main factor (i.e. the one that supplies the local Rover dealer). In fact the local Rover dealer's parts desk didn't even seem to know that the ready mixed stuff even existed - tried to convince me that I didn't know what I was talking about. (I wonder what they are putting in the K-series' that they service 😳). So beware - but the phone call to the dealer to tell them that they don't know what they're talking about is sooo gooood 😬 😬 SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying

Does anyone have a complete maintenance checklist ? I'm not looking for the service checklist that details what should be done at the various service intervals, but one that lists every ( 🤔 😳) component and fixing on the car that could/should be checked. Does anyone know if Caterham use such a list to do the post-build check? Just trying to avoid re-inventing the wheel, otherwise I'll have to create my own ☹️ SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying

Dave - there are several threads on coolant for K-series, the 3 or 4 year pre-mixed stuff seems to be recommended - Comma and Unipart both do one - do a search and you should get lots of threads on this.

Thanks all *thumbup* allen - may well contact Watchet - interestingly, the SCC web site lists local weighbridges but the list doesn't include anything in Watchet Do they really work Sunday afternoons - poor bu**ers ! 🤔 mav - 600kg is spot on according to the sales blurb, so perhaps all I need to do is stand on the bathroom scales clutching my emergency toolkit, hood, car jack etc and add the result to 600kg 😬 😬 If most commercial kit is only accurate to +/- 10 to 20 kg then this is probably going to be as accurate. I've also contacted the weights and measures guys at the county council to see what level of accuracy they expect when they do their testing of commercial bridges. SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying

Good thought Andy, but since buying the se7en my wallet is so empty it couldn't possibly be this 😳. I just look at it as no gain without pain - the gain is the se7en, the pain is in the left buttock and the wallet. 😬 Sorry chaps - this really isn't a discussion for Techtalk - should be on Chitchat but I just couldn't resist ❗ SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying

My ducting set-up is very simplistic - a length of 3" diameter ali ducting which can be stretched to a bit over a metre (cost about £10). I've attached this with cableties - the inlet is below the chassis near the right-hand engine mount (right-hand from the driver's pov). The outlet is on top of the pedal box facing the air filter. Had to squash the output end a bit because 3" dia only just fits under the bonnet line. The big disadvantage is that this arrangement only feeds cold air to one side of the filter. The temp sensor is on this side so the air going to the engine is likely to be warmer than actually indicated. I'm thinking of putting the sensor inside the filter to get a more accurate measurement. Miraz - I thought about putting something in the nosecone but I couldn't find ducting over a metre without paying a lot more , I didn't want a set-up that made removal/refitting of the nosecone more complex , I judged that the air flow under the car would probably be just as cool as that through the nose aperture and possibly cooler because there would be a shorter run of ducting through the engine bay . 3" ducting sitting below the chassis is still not as low as the sump and therefore not too vulnerable - nb 3" seems to be the largest size that can be routed without fouling the steering column etc. If anyone is interested, the air temp guage is a £14 job from Maplin (powered by a single AA battery and also has a digital clock) with remote sensors at about £3 a time (with a suitable switching arrangement you can fit as many as you like - I've fitted 2 - one by the air filter, the other externally to get ambient temp). I've made a neat little mount that grips onto the centre tunnel ahead of the gear stick - I'll post more details if anyone is interested? SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying

I have been experimenting with ducting "cold" external air to the area of the intake filter on my standard 1.8 k-series. I've also rigged up some temperature sensors to measure external temp and the temp close to the intake. It's early days, but in comparative testing, the ducting seems to reduce air temp at the intake by up to 10 degrees. My set up is very crude and it doesn't measure temp in the intake just close to, but subjectively, the engine seems to develop power better in the midrange and feels to accelerrate better - but this is just subjective. As per another thread, I am going to try an accelerometer to measure performance to get a more objective measure of the difference, but bearing in mind that the effects of the cold air ducting are probably relatively minor, I'm not hopeful of proving anything much - in fact I'm beginning to wonder why I'm doing it (apart from it being a good excuse for more blatting and more accelerrating 😳 😳. SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying

Thanks Hoopy and JAG I think I need to spend some time trying to digest what you've said . I'm following up the weighbridge route but I've just noticed that the MAC (copy) has a gross weight figure of 900kg - surely this can't be right - that's 300kg (i.e. 50%) more than the weight given in Caterham's sales blurb 😳? SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying

Strangely enough I seem to get a pain in my left buttock whenever I've been for a blat - could be something to do with my tin-top being automatic and my left leg not being used to doing anything ❗ I expect eating twelve bananas a day could result in quite a lot of physical exercise (short dashes esp) or is it just me that has this experience with too many bananas SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying

As far as I can tell, you enter the weight of the car into the accelerometer and it does the calculation for you - I presume it can calculate the power required to produce the measured accelaration of a "known" mass. This I can cope with conceptually, but since my last contact with this kind of calculation was for physics O level thirty years ago, I have no chance of working out what the equation is. I imagine it must be along the lines of: Power(in Bhp) = K(mass x acceleration) (where K is some constant). I'm not that interested in the equation per se, but I am interested in knowing how sensitive the answer is to error in the estimation of the mass. SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying

I am going to borrow an accelerometer (like the one in the DT catalogue) just for the fun of it. Apparently one of the measurements possible is bhp - to achieve this it is necessary to input the weight of the car. I have two questions: 1. My best guesstimate is ~ 700kg. The car is a roadsport SV with standard 1.8 k-series lump. Sales info says standard roadsport weighs in at 575kg, SV is 25 kg heavier and I estimate about 100 kg for me and other bits such as emergency tools etc. Does this sound about right - any suggestions of a simple way to get a more accurate weight. 2. For those who understand such things - how sensitive is the bhp calculation to the estimated weight of the car. I assume the calculation is something like power = mass * accelerration, so if my estimate of mass is (say) out by 10kg - how much difference will this make to the power figure? SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying

Thanks Peter - would you recommend copper or alloy or does it make little difference? SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying

I seem to remember having to tap the top joint in very gently with a rubber mallet to get it to seat properly and then it was OK. SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying

Not sure what the "yellow" instruments are, but on my standard Caterham speedo which has a small digital odometer and trip meter, you zeroise the trip by just holding down the small rubber button as Doh!Nut suggests. No question is silly if you don't know the answer ........ SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying Edited by - mole on 7 Oct 2002 11:00:30

Thanks chaps SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying

Actually more of a seep than a leak - since doing the first oil change @ 500 miles I have noticed that after each blat I get a very slight seepage of oil from around the plug in the sump. To be fair it is very very slight (about one drop!). There is no significant loss of oil (i.e. the level remains OK and there isn't oil anywhere on the underside of the car). When I did the oil change I re-used the original copper washer, which I noticed at the time was slightly dished. Have I possibly refitted it the wrong way round or is it recommended to use a new washer each time? I have a new washer to use for the next oil change but I would like to know if others have experienced this and what is the "proper" way of doing it? SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying Edited by - mole on 6 Oct 2002 17:32:45

I checked my speedo reading against a Garmin eTrex GPS this morning. Tested on a level road, at constant speeds ranging between 30 and 65 - speedo and GPS were within ~ 1mph of each other as far as I could judge. As Alex said earlier on the thread - handheld GPS units don't adjust for topography so the difference between GPS and speedo when going up and down hills was much greater - seemed to be up to about 3 - 4 mph (didn't take so much notice coz I knew it wouldn't be the same). I was quite surprised that it this much - I expect one could work it out from the angle of incline etc (but I really can't be bothered ❗). SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying

Charlie_p - you took the words out of my mouth *eek*. Can this really be a Caterham? SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying Edited by - mole on 3 Oct 2002 17:47:38

AAAhhhh Virus checker says the anti-cav instructions from Caterham contain a virus that can't be cleaned, so Hotmail won't let me send it as an attachment - looks like an evening to be spent sorting the PC rather than sorting SV52! Sorry angus, but looks as though Mike E can help anyway *thumbup*. Mike E - could you send me a copy of the Low Flying article please - I've been trying to track this down but no-one I know seems to have it and it pre-dates my earliest edition of LF. SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying

Angus - think the doc is on my PC at home - I'll try to e-mail it to you tonight SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying

The same happened to me so I rang Caterham and they e-mailed me a copy of the fitting instructions which I think I still have so I can e-mail them on to you if you still want them. Alternatively, the instructions are the same as the relevant section in the Assembly Guide (if you have one). The switch on my kit was like the indicator switch (On-Off-On) rather than the headlight switch (On-On) which is far more logical - can't see any point in having an "Off" position. BTW - has any noticed that Caterham have recently changed their flick switches from the nice metal shanked ones with squared off bezels to plastic shanked with rounded bezels and a sloppy actions - presumably to help keep their costs down? SV 52 CAT - the Mole is flying