tomwood

It's this one you want: UFI 23 118 00 there are others that will fit as well but the UFI one is quite shallow so doesn't protrude to far out and is therefore less at risk of being hit. Opie oils used to do them but you could probably google it and find others that will also supply. Tom

Caterham Wet Sump available. This has come off my car as part of a dry sump install and is in good shape having been on the car less than 3000 miles. included: - Sump - Bolts - finger filter - dipstick / dipstick tube Everything needed basically I believe this is the same as you'd buy at raceline albeit branded as 'Caterham'. This is £630 on the Caterham Parts site, asking £250 for mine. its got a few scrapes from speed bumps but is still in excellent full working condition. Lots of pics available on request, please just BM me and I'll get back to you, Tom

Adrian, PM me, I've just switched to ZZS tyres as my tyres were flagged up at last MOT. To be fair the rears are shot but those are 8 inch width anyway but the 2 that came off the front still have a fair bit of life in them. PM me and we can see what we can do, I'm local to you which is handy! Tom

Hi Adam, Unfortunately with mine being the stock exhaust I'm not sure it's repackable unfortunately. I'm thinking a raceco might be the answer so I can do as you suggest. Tom

I've gone from the standard pads on standard calipers to the much discussed / recommended combination of Minex 1144 - MGB533 version up front and caterham blue dot rears available on the Caterham parts site at the rear. I can confirm that balance with this setup is good (better than the slightly over braked at the rear standard setup) and that overall performance is improved. It's not night and day different but is a worthwhile improvement for a relatively small outlay. The Mintex pads also have really good bite from cold which makes them good on road or track. Tom

Mine defo pops and bangs a lot on the overrun now. Quite agree on the Cat situation, decat pipe and probably a bigger exhaust can are next on the list as the car is now quite a lot louder. Tom

Adam, just updating to say that I've now had the work done on the car. Very pleased with the results. i have the full breakdown of the parts used by caterham on my invoice. Happy to share with you if you'd like it? it backups up pretty much what John and I have mentioned though already. Uprated valve springs were used but there is no mention of upgraded con-rod bolts in my case. Tom

Hi Mark, assuming these haven't already gone. I'd like them please pending some pics. i'll message you separately, Tom

Hi Adam, Glad to hear it. Good extra info from John about the valve springs as well. As it happens I dropped my own car into Caterham in Crawley on Saturday which has the engine in effectively 360 trim. It's in to be upgraded in one fell swoop to the 220hp level. Once i've picked it up in a week or so's time I will report back and find out what, if any, changes have been made with regards to valve springs and ARP bolts and the like as I never did ask them whether they'd me changing those. I suspect the valve springs must be getting upgraded as part of the Cams being changed. Whether the conrod bolts will also be changed i'm not entirely sure. I've no idea what flywheel was put onto my SuperSport R originally but its possible its the lightweight one that they were adding to what was the R400 model at the time. Regards​ Tom

Hi Adam, apologies if I've totally missed the point of your question but, assuming the kits you are referring to are as per what Caterham spec in their factory based cars then my own research into this suggests the 360 is effectively a crate 2.0 Duratec albeit mated to Caterhams own single (plastic) throttle body. Together with headers/exhaust that caterham use and an MBE ECU. This configuration produces 180hp. The 420 spec is basically the same except that the injectors are uprated and a different set of Cams is used. The ECU is either replaced or remapped, not entirely sure which, and then gets you to 210hp. You can find an 'upgrade' package on the caterham parts site to take a standard 360/R300 spec car to this level. There is then the option of adding roller barrel throttle bodies to the 420 spec. These are caterham branded but are, I believe, Titan items. These add another 10hp and some additional torque and replace the single plastic throttle body arrangement. Again the ECU is either swapped or remapped by caterham to support this config. Again there is a kit and price for this on the caterham parts site. This takes you to 220hp of thereabouts and then I guess your technically driving a 440 spec car although no such model officially exists in the standard caterham line up. i don't believe cranks are keyed by caterham for any of the aforementioned packages but I could be wrong. All the MBE Ecu's they supply on the factory cars are locked so I assume this is the same with the engine kits but can't be sure. The price to take a car currently at 360 spec level to 220hp in one hit is about £4500. It's £2100 for the 420 spec without the throttle bodies added. a dry sump kit which would be highly recommended if you plan to go on track with any of the above is currently £2700. The kit includes a caterham branded raceline dry sump, aluminium oil tank and associated pipe work. all of this assumes you already have a 360 spec car though and by the sounds of it you're after a price for the entire engine at one of these spec levels? If so, ignore the prices but the rest stands. regards Tom

Hi John, i didn't measure it afterwards actually but I did before I adjusted anything. The gap was initially well under 1mm, probably about .75mm I widened it a lot and then progressively moved it closer until it was lighting correctly. I would guess that the gap now is about 1mm as you suggest. for others completing this task, to be clear the sensor lights up at the end where the cable enters it and not on the very tip that hovers over the reluctor ring. Tom

Good news! Mine is now fixed. special thanks to JV for the hints/tips/WN etc In my case, the sensor was simply too close to the reluctor ring. A simple readjustment and it was all sorted. when I tested it originally the light on the end was permanently on regardless of wheel rotation, moved the sensor a bit further away and all is well. Tom

Hi John, sorry to be a pain but could I also trouble you for the WN please? My speedo has also died completely recently and with MOT due at end of the month I will be trying various things to try and bring it back to life! Thanks also to Andrew. £35 is a little more palatable than £60! Thanks, Tom

What a great set of pics they are too! Thanks for taking / sharing them. I might have to print a few of mine off for the garage wall. Tom

John, many thanks. BM sent in reply.

Thanks for the thoughts so far guys, I suspected opinions may be divided. when I said 'light use' what I should really have said is 'occasional'. The answers to Chris's questions mentions a lot of sense and if I'm honest, whilst not purporting to be any kind of driving god I'd have to answer as follows: 1) brands hatch, both configurations and Bedford autodrome thus far 2) exclusively CR500's so far, no slicks and don't intend to for the time being for reasons highlighted 3) I would have to say yes to this one, that's partly why I'm looking to upgrade the car after all. I'm not afraid to push in fairness 4) as said, but hopefully someone can confirm, I believe it's a raceline wet sump with a Cateham logo on it. They look identical externally. Unfortunately the pics on the caterham parts site don't show the internal design but the raceline website does and if I'm right then it's baffled internally to some extent via the compartments that are inside it. Back in 2013 when I built the car, the dry sum was an option on the SSR, it was standard fit back then on the R400. you're right, I should call raceline for their view really shouldn't I. anyone else got a view? Tom

Hi all, am interested to get peoples opinions on the wet sump currently fitted to my 2013 SuperSport R. Firstly, am I right in thinking its simply a rebranded raceline wet sump? I've used the car about 3-4 times on track with this setup with no problems. The car is currently in standard form but I'm looking at an upgrade to R400 cams + throttle bodies and am wondering if I'm asking for trouble leaving it on the wet sump setup as is my current preference. i know the k series without a dry sump was not recommended for track use but what is the current view with the Duratec cars? Is the wet sump arrangement on these better suited to light track use? Tom

I think it's probably worth saying that not all Bilstein setups will be alike. For starters the age and type will make a difference. Older worn out items will want swapping out just as you would on a conventional tin top. No doubt nitrons and the like will perform very well but a good, new Bilstein setup can also perform well. In not sure which Bilstein setup I have on my 2013 SuperSport but it performs well on road and track in my experience. I did blow up one of the dampers after 2000 miles though which needed replacing but I think I was just unlucky unfortunately. Tom

Hi Jonathan, No I never got round to trying it. To be fair I rarely go out in the dark so decided not to bother. The fan being on all the time is more of an annoyance than anything which is why I'm tempted to try the lower temp stat.

I keep meaning to do this to my 2013 Duratec as well. It's just annoying having the fan running near enough constantly. It also exacerbates another issue I have with mine which is that at idle the alternator doesn't really generate sufficent voltage to keep the battery topped up. With the headlights and fan running together I get a net loss overall and steadily run the battery flat. having said all that mine runs hot just like everyone else's and it's not done any harm. As said earlier they are designed to run pretty hot anyway from what I've read.

James/Shaun, Thanks for your help with this one. I can confirm that the booking has now gone through fine. Tom

Hi James, as you know from my previous messages I've been waiting patiently for the release of this one. Just went to book on the website and it says the event is full. Can you confirm, is that correct? regards Tom

My initial reaction was not enough negative camber as already suggested. I'm running -2.5 and the wear is pretty even on track so -1.5 may simply not be enough. have you checked the camber to make sure you really do have -1.5 on that side? how long were you out on track for before the tyre over heated like that?

Hi, have sent you a private message, Tom

That's great, many thanks for the update James, Tom