The Pikey

All taken from a brand new and unrun 2.0 Duratec. Set of 16 valves. Same as R300, R400 and R500 Set of 16 valve springs Pair of Cams. same as R300 Oil pump. Same as wet sumped R300 & R400 Set of pistons, rings and rods. Same as R300 & R400 Not really sure of the value so any reasonable offers accepted. Jason

Thanks the the feedback and I'm glad it has helped. Jason

I could not get on with the Rapfix which they supply welded to caterham compatible column as it sits a good 10mm further towards the chest. I ended up grinding the weld off to split the two parts, machining the boss down and getting it re-welded back on. It's lovely now and a million times better quality than the std caterham offering. Jason

Regin I'd try a few Ford dealers to see if they have any old stock on the shelf. I managed to find 3 litres in Swansea only last week. Edited to say it was the LSD one I found in Swansea. I have recently bought the normal version on Ebay Jason Edited by - Jason Fletcher on 26 Apr 2012 15:39:03

Mic I initially thought exactly the same and I have to say that if anyone else had suggested it I would have immediately dismissed it as complete 80llox and would not to tried the different oils. I am now 100% sure he is correct after filling with fresh oil of the same type and it's back to being quiet again. I can’t stress enough how different the differential behaved with 4 oils I tried. OK the 80w140 was out of spec for the diff but the other 3 were in spec and all produced noticeably different results. Jason

Quoting zetec: Top bloke,ive secured 2ltrs of it from fords,collect & oil change this weekend to see what happens.many thanks Make sure they sell you the one of the part numbers I listed above as they may try and palm you off with an alternative which is a multi grade. Let us know how you get on. Jason

Over the last 2-3 years I have suffered from OCD regarding the Sierra diffs that are in our 7’s. I could not understand why some were quiet and some were not. OK there are poorly set up ones out there and these will obviously be carp but even ones set-up right could sound whiney or knock. I reconditioned the diff for a Caterham I have just completed and was chuffed to death when it was almost silent with no knocks or whines. The diff had the correct oil in which was old stock Ford branded 90 single grade. I also added friction modifier for the Titan LSD. Then after 160 miles to run the engine in I put the car on a rolling road for a day. Afterwards the diff had transformed into a whining grinding, knocking nasty thing. So later that week and convinced I had knackered the diff I took it out the car. I was expecting to see bearings knackered, pre loads lost or a chewed up pinion. But it was perfect, the backlash was within 3/4 of a thou of where I set it and the pinion and bearings looked perfect, so what had changed? I spoke to Phil at Road and Race and he said there was a chance the molecules in the oil had been squashed and the oil had passed it’s useable state. I was a little sceptical about this but as he’s the expert on these things I took it on board. Anyway, I put the diff back in the car. This time I decided to try a Motul semi synthetic 80w140 diff oil, it sounded worse than it did after the rolling road session. Not only did it whine and grind on over run but it clonked like hell as the plates released to the point where I thought I had made some mistake fitting the diff back in back in! I then drained the 80w140 out and as an experiment and to make sure all the 80w140 was out I filled it with the Caterham diff oil I had left over from a previous build. This was better, the LSD plates creaked on turn (no friction modifier added) but nothing like with the 80w140 but there was whines and grinding on over run. I then drained that out and while waiting for some more old stock Ford 90 grade oil to arrive I filled it with some Castrol B373 I had on the shelf, this is mineral based 90 grade oil which is supposed to be good with LSD’s. With the B373 there was no LSD clunking so it’s obviously ok for use without friction modifiers but there was a faint whine and a very slight grind on over run. So the B373 is better than the Caterham stuff but the diff was still not as quiet as it was using the Ford 90 grade oil before the rolling road session. Then yesterday I drained out the B373 and filled it with the 90 grade Ford old stock stuff that had since turned up and although as it was wet I only went on a short drive it was clear it was back to being almost silent again. I’m really glad I did these back to back tests and I’m now convinced that the type and brand of oil we use in these diffs is more important than we think. I also think that if you have a high powered car and you have a noisy diff then you may have oil that’s past it’s best and you might be pleasantly surprised if you changed it The Ford part number for the 90 grade oil is 1 197 783 There was also a LSD version made but this is like hens teeth now and the part number is 1 121 457 The above is not gospel, it’s just my findings and is wrote in the hope that it may be of help to someone. If I knew a fortnight ago what I know I would not have been taking my diff out for no reason. Oh and I can also refer back to it in a few years when I have forgot what I have learnt… Jason Edited by - jason fletcher on 26 Apr 2012 19:38:52

I'd find out if it's the regulator or diode pack that has melted and order the parts on EBay. I guess it's a Lucas or Lucas style alternator so if you type in Lucas diode pack or Lucas rectifier or Lucas regulator in the search I'm sure you will find the part you need. Jason

Quoting Roadru77er: Quoting The Pikey: Arch Motors fit the glass in the frame but it's an easy job to do yourself. Jason Could you explain what's involved please? need to do this aswell Unscrew the fixing screw on each side (leave the bottom ones in place) then remove the frame from the rubber. This can be an easy job or it can be a right bugger.Silicone spray or water with a splash of washing up liquid will help. You may find some wooden dowels fall out the top of the frame, these are to keep the screen from pushing too far up in the frame. So you know the new glass in fitted concentrically in the frame draw a line all the way around the glass about an inch in from the edge using a permanent marker. Fit the rubber on the new glass and bung it all back together making again using silicone spay or washing up liquid and making sure the line is equal distances from the frame. Jason

Arch Motors fit the glass in the frame but it's an easy job to do yourself. Jason

Thread here on the subject Jason

1/8 BSP is about 9.7mm J

Quoting juleslid: ps Jason, are you still enjoying that noisy exhaust I sold you? Sadly don't have the technology to connect up laptops to my motor! That exhaust was brilliant! It's on to another owner now though. Shame you don't have the leads to connect it up as that would have shown you in split second the Lambda or any other sensor for that matter was playing up! Jason

you really need to plug it in to a laptop using the correct lead to see whats going on. SBD sell them but like most SBD stuff it aint cheap. I'd be looking at the two temp senders for a start though. Jason Edited by - Jason Fletcher on 18 Apr 2012 21:51:48

Someone trying to reduce induction noise I think 😳

Anyone got a spare one of these for sale?

I got some kevlar off Ebay and glued it in with polyester resin. 4500 miles and not a star crack in sight. Jason

So the £425 is in addition to the IVA test fee? If so then stuff that, send it in for the free post build check and get the IVA done yourself. Just take a tool kit, Evo stick contact glue, a few different sizes of rubber hoses and a bag of tie wraps and be nice to the inspector Jason

Hi Pete YHBM re the tunnel cover thanks jason

Quoting A_redstone: Quoting Jason Fletcher: Can't comment on mapping other than saying Steve Greenald will be able to get into the ECU. If you are looking for a performance improvement then fitting a cat bypass pipe and a Powerspeed silencer made a massive difference to mine. It made the engine feel like it was getting held back with the standard cat and silencer. Jason That sounds interesting, I have a 125 and want to get all I can from it, where / can I get that done ? Caterham do the cat bypass and you need to contact Powerspeed about getting a silencer. I would think the power gain was from the cat bypass but the silencer just made it sound so so nice jason

Not sure on what engine or alternator mount you are using but if you happen to have it fitted to rubber mounts like the Raceline one for instance then you will need to fit a earth strap as D.J says. jason

Quoting tonino: DJ : no, alternator is not earthed (should it be?) mic: the feed from starter has been used for testing only. once solution find, will use a switched live. JF: the brown/yellow wire i have is connected to the tacho and has 11.4 V, so i guess it is my IG wire. if i follow you, i should find the wire that is connected to the other side of lamp and connect it to L port? No, the alternators I.G pin don't go to that, It goes to the white wire which is on pin 13 of the grey connector. If the brown/yellow is the lamp wire then the lamp will glow when you earth it. If it glows then that goes to the "L" terminal of the alternator, if it don't then thats not the lamp wire. jason

Just cams and throttle bodies should get you near your 220 bhp figure with a 2.0. Powertorque will sell you a tuner spec 2.0 engine for £1750 inc vat. The 2.3 will give you about 200 as it comes. Will the 2.3 go under the bonnet without having to fit a Raceline reduced height cam cover? Jason Edited by - Jason Fletcher on 13 Apr 2012 21:37:48

Can't comment on mapping other than saying Steve Greenald will be able to get into the ECU. If you are looking for a performance improvement then fitting a cat bypass pipe and a Powerspeed silencer made a massive difference to mine. It made the engine feel like it was getting held back with the standard cat and silencer. Jason

Try Caterham Midlands as theres a good chance they have stocks. jason