Steve J

Didn't know I had to have a bad day to become an Acolytey-thingy

Marius, 90degC is the standard temperature used for engines on test cells, measure at the outlet from the head, so don't worry about that at all.

Ooops, sorry, I didn't know. Unfortunately, I haven't got a Caterham. Booh, hoo! Sob! But the HP sauce is still a good idea...just imagine if you have a head on, it'll tatse gorgeous!!!!

This may seem a bit bizarre, but I remember reading in the Sun once (if it's in the Sun, it's got to be true) that some bloke polished up all the chrome parts of his 'old-timer' with HP sauce. Apparantly it works really well, as the main ingredient is vinegar!!! Hope this helps.

Well said Tim! We all hear about huge power gains and rolling road figures, but I've never heard which correction factor was used, or to which atmospheric conditions the figures have been corrected to. So whatch out before you part with all your hard earned dosh!

Pierre, Thanks for that, I can rest at ease, knowing that all hope is not lost!!!! But I think I'll look into it all the same. As for your english, I don't think you've got anything to worry about there!!!! I'm originally from England, but have been living in Germany 'on and off' for the past 5 years (I spent 18 months in England in the middle), and there's something new to learn in the language everyday! Rome wasn't built in a day. I can't speak french though. Do you also stick the verb at the end of the sentance? Dirves me mad! Yours with sweet flared-winged dreams, Steve J

Dear Mr Administartor Why does the pound sign appear as a strange string of bizarre letters? Is this the new sign for the Euro? I can't remember buying anything in £. And when I tried to use characters from the keypad, I hap the same problem, for instance, ALT + 0252 should show a 'u' with an Umlaut over it. And why is it that when I type a message, my spellling is absolutly perfect on my screen, but appears with an incrtedibal amount of spelling mistakes in the Blat Chet Forum?

Pierre, I've just read with horror about what you wrote about the German TÃœV. I live in STuttgart now, and hope to buy a Caterham sometime next year. But I've been dreaming all this time about flared wings!!! This is a disaster. Does anyone know if you can buy a left hand drive Caterham from Caterham Cars in England? If I 'exported' it from ENgland to Germany, would it still have to have cycle wings to pass the German TÃœV? Das gibt's doch gar nicht!

Pierre At the risk of sounding like a boring old bookworm who has nothing better to do than read conversion charts (which I am until I eventually have enough dosh to buy a Caterham!!), PS means Pferdstarke. It's the universal unit over 'ere in the Land of the Sausage (Germany). Translated, Pferd = horse, starke = strength. The conversion is 1PS = 0.98632bhp (don't you just hate people who know all the numbers after the decimal stop!) There are actually more numbers after the full stop, but there not in the Bosch Handbook. In France, they use ch (cheval vapeur) and 1ch = 1PS. Yours in the hope of moving from 'Novice' to 'Boring Git' as soon as possible, Steve J

Mmmmmmm.... ....if MEMS is not user-programmable, how the hell do Rover calibrate all their maps??? Of course it's 'user-programmable'. All control systems are user-programmable, otherwise there wouldn't be much point in having them!!!! It's just that car manufacturers are a bit twitchy about who the user is....can't have all Metro owners 'tweaking' ignition maps to run an ignition angle 5degrees advanced of the det limit just to get to the supermarket 2 minutes quicker. And also, the software required to program an ECU is usually kept in-house. I've actually wondered how these specialist tuning places manage it. And do they put the engine on a test cell and check things like detonation at high loads, spark plug durability, piston ring durability, etc, when they've managed to get another x amount of power out of an ortherwise well calibrated engine? I'd be interested to know.

This topic is going to burn for ages (ha, ha, ha).... ...firstly, the piston isn't moved down the cylinder by the flame front, its moved down the cyclinder by the extremely high in-cylinder pressures as a result of combustion. Secondly, the 'pinking' noise heard when detonation occurs isn't created by flames fronts hitting each other... When ignition in a cylinder occurs, a flame propogates from the source of ignition (hopefully the spark plug - if not then you've got problems or a diesel). As the flame approaches the edges of the combustion chamber, the pressure/temperature in the cylinder have already risen dramatically. If the pressure and temperature are high enough (usually by high engine loads), the remaining 'pockets' of charge will self ignite. The high temperature and pressure cause these pockets to burn extremely rapidly, and they burn almost as if they were burning under constant volume conditions, with the existing flame front and the cylinder walls and/or piston acting as the boundaries of combustion, the relative rate of volumetric expansion is small, therefore an extremely high pressure is produced. This high pressure wave causes vibration in the cylinder walls, etc and is heard as the 'pinking' noise. Detonation also occurs in Renault 11 1.4l engines when driven under light engine loads at 70mph heading south on the Autobahn about 35 miles north of Wurzburg in Germany, especially if a hose gives up the ghost and the cylinder head gasket blows. I should know, I have successfuully carried out the above experiment. It's usually followed by dents forming in the front near-side wing. Round in nature. About the size of a fist....

Give Caterham a ring and they'll send you a brochure and price list. The telephone number is on their website.