MusCat

On a chit-chat thread about what to carry on the way of tools and spares there is some talk of needing to carry an A-frame bush for live axles, as a new-ish owner of a live axle car this has made me a little paranoid. A few queries: I assume the talk is of the tapered bushes at the A-frame/differential connection - the parts catalogue would suggest you need 2 - is this correct? The bushes to the radius arms don't get a mention - are they less prone to failure? Tim

Should hope it sounds good for 235,000 quid - see here

I want to replace the Lotus badge a previous owner stuck on the nose cone of my Caterham with a more accurate Caterham badge. It’s a 1989 1700 Supersprint – Caterham have 2 badges on their website – a yellow/green Sprint one and a yellow/green 16 value one – neither of which appears right. Could someone confirm what were 1700 Supersprints fitted with? Thanks

Oh yes - another thing - having smaller wheels lowers the gearing of the car - increases acceleration and reduces top speed.

I’ve always used 60 profiles on a car that should have 70s so can’t tell you whether they are any better but there are the following things to think about. Clearance – my car lives up a dirt track, I have to be careful but it’s not a problem. If you don’t do anything to the speedo, this will read about 6%-7% fast (assuming 13" wheels)- at least this is the safe way around for scameras. Also the speedo will clock up the miles 6%-7% faster. This will cost more if you have limited mileage insurance if it sends you into the next band of mileage. Also I recently wasted a set of new-ish A021R 60’s very quickly (about 1,000 miles plus 2 track days) – asking on Blatchat, other have had the same experience, for some reason they don’t last as long as 70’s - about half as long. So you may find yourself buying them more often.

AA will attend/pick-up from non-competitive track-days, handling days, speed trials etc (they won't help you at competitive events), as far as I know they are the only ones who will (the RAC definately won't). I know to my advantage as they got me home from a MSE event at Upper Heyford. Tim

Nose cone on e-bay for £25 - definately not perfect http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=100921&item=4555062143&rd=1

I know there are a lot of factors but on average, roughly how long should Yoko A021s last, front and back, mainly road use with a bit of track use? I bought a car which came with A021s, the backs are now very close to illegal. I didn't note how much tread the tyres had when I bought the car so I have no idea how long they last, and therefore how often I'll need to fork out £70 a corner for new ones. I've got 13" wheels and was considering changing to A539s for everyday use, perhaps buying a another set of wheels and keeping the old A021s for the track. Good plan or not? Tim

Exactly the same thing happened to me and I ignored it - battery (and hence car) finally gave up half way through the academy day at Heyford a couple of weeks back - extremely annoying. Recon unit cost just over £25 plus vat. Wasted half the cost of a track day (£50) plus the hassle (and embarrassment) of getting the AA to get me home. I’d recommend you change the alternator, it only took me an hour and I’m a complete luddite when it comes to mechanics.

Replaced the alternator to a 1700 xflow at the weekend which has resulting in 2 queries: Firstly, does anyone know what tension is the belt supposed to be set at? Secondly, a squeal has developed a just over 3,000 rpm up to about 3,800 which was not there before. It is not belt slip, it sounds like an aerodynamic rather than mechanical noise, anyone got any ideas what might be wrong? Thanks Tim

Caterham sell them http://www.caterham.co.uk/onlinestores/index.htm

The reason they come off in the rain when you are in a hurry is that is when you have them up and are driving fast. It's not sod's law it's logical. They don't tend to fall off on sunny days when you're pottering around at 50mph 'cos they are in the boot (or what passes for a boot anyway) 😬.

The AutoCar roadtest in 1988 of a 1700 SS xflow said that AutoCar normally test convertables with hood-up as this is faster (less air distrubance over the roof than an open cockpit), with the Caterham they measured a 1mph difference 111mph hood up, 110mph hood down. Essentially the aerodynamics are so bad it makes no difference either way.

Do you mean a petty strut? Recently got one for a tenner (+vat) from James Whiting - they have them quite often as most people fitting FIA roll bars don't want them - see the used parts section of their web-site - http://www.jameswhiting.com/page5.html.

My suggestion for getting rich quick is to buy selected items from Caterham and sell on e-bay - live axle parts catolgue - £10 from Caterham (£5 if you but the CD), made £16.71 on e-bay .

It's on e-bay as well £200 cheaper http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2192&item=4542520072&rd=1 It's a 1600 - so not a supersprint if I remember right

Went through same process a few weeks ago. CC do the whole windscreen (glass and surround) for £250 (very easy to fit yourself) or unheated glass without surround for £68 (more awkward to fit I am told), CC do not do heated glass without surround, which is a bit annoying as it would save a few bob. After talking to James Whiting, I went for the expensive heated option rather than loose the heated screen. If you’ve got time and want to save money windscreens crop up for sale quite regularly. PS CC charge about £12 p&p for next day delivery.

Very nice looking ali/black J-reg x-flow on A40 going into London at 4.30pm-ish Sunday. Passed you in my every-day motor, but had enjoyed a blat earlier, on the first decent day for weeks. Roll on summer.

Still trying to work out what to do. The Caterham “headrest” (a sheet of metal) and steady bar for the FIA roll bar - can anyone help me with an image of this and also an approximate size of the sheet of metal?

caligarinet, Being a bit thick - did you get your smart drivers headrest from Caterham or elsewhere? Tim

I’ve got a 1989 long cockpit live axle with a FIA roll bar and no headrests on the seats (not bench seats). I am trying to work out the best way to avoid cracking my skull on the roll bar cross-brace in the event of a smack – looking at all the previous treads there appears to be with following options: 1. Padding to the bar tubing – cheap and cheerful but any good? 2. "Headrests" attached to the roll bar as provided by Caterham – I spoke to Caterham about these and they say the metal plates they provide have no padding and are designed for use with helmets (fine for track days but not much good the rest of the time). Do people add padding to the plates themselves and are they any better than bar padding when you’re not wearing a helmet? 3. Wearing a helmet all the time – seams a bit OTT. Any combination of 1, 2 or 3. 4. Can the seats be retrofitted with headrests? These would need to be removable to allow the tonneau to fit or I’ll be changing that as well. I suspect this is not possible. 5. Buy new seats with headrests – very expensive option. 6. Buy a newer Caterham with headrests – but I’ve only just got this one. Advice welcome!

I lost my driver’s side cycle wing at 80mph on the A41, struck the windscreen directly in front of me - made a mess of the windscreen but thankfully not my head. I was surprisingly calm about it – if I’d had an aeroscreen it would have hurt (a lot!) that's if I’d been lucky enough to still been around to notice. I mainly felt embarrassed - losing bits of your car isn’t very good form - I was in quite heavy traffic but everyone behind managed to avoid the wing before it ended up wedged on the central reservation. Following the advice on a previous tech-talk topic I stuck the new one on with Sikaflex 292 adhesive (made for gluing boats together), priming the bear metal and fibreglass surfaces with Sikaflex 206 G+P primer – not cheap the glue and primer with delivery cost nearly as much as the new wing. So far it’s been successful. Unfortunately Caterham “green” has changed over the years so the new wing doesn’t quite match the original. Also I now give my wings a tug periodically to make sure they are on solidly - don’t know if this helps but makes me feel better.