tomwood

Thanks for that. Have watched it several times now. Yours does have some flex for sure but not to the same degree as mine I don't think. how old is your car? I'm wondering if mine has got progressively worse over time.

Thanks guys, this certainly looks like an option that could be worth considering then by the looks of it. Can't imagine relocating the battery to be all that difficult. Likewise the air box will be easy to remove. just so I'm clear, the throttle body is the bit between the plenum and the filter with the butterfly valve correct? ill have a look more closely at mine and see if it looks like those in the photos (thanks for those). I'll try and work out whether it would likely fit the alloy plenum. Hopefully it's a like for like swap. i think I'd probably be best calling Caterham first to see what they have to say about it. If they think for certain it's not normal then I'll need to start thinking of what option to take. John - are you happy for me to contact you as and when?

Hi John, thanks for the offer. Can I check, is your one this design with the air filter on the end? https://goo.gl/images/rxeeFB If so, i wonder if could route the existing pipework from the air filter into it rather than having the K&N type filter on the end. Might still foul the battery/heater but it might just work

Hi Steve that's a great idea. I'll put something in the sales section to see if there's a spare going. would very happily test and return one loaned to me as well if any one was willing to do so.

Ok just been back out to double check what's going on. As luck would have it the sun is now in a better position to make this clearer in these 2 videos: its seems as though at rest the plenum is the correct shape. When you start the car and leave at idle there is then a vacuum powerful enough to deform the plenum (sucking itself inwards from its rest position). You can see that here: and here's a better side on view at rest, at idle and then revving. It looks a lot like someone blowing into a paper bag! i guess you could brace it externally to stop it ballooning outwards but to overcome the vacuum issue you'd need bracing on the inside surely? i definitely don't want to be buying a new one if I can help it. Just looked on the Caterham Parts site and it's over £500 for a new one!

Very eagle eyed of you! Yes indeed some more testing has been done. heres a video of me cracking open the air box and here's me inspecting it: It's a bit dirty but nothing to write home about. I've seen a lot worse. Once it was removed I redid the test and, although this is not a great video, it behaved near enough identically to when the filter was still in it. I'd have to agree with a previous comment which is that it appears to expand once the air is sucked into it. It's almost like the plastic has deformed slightly in on itself when at rest. Could you tell me more about this bracing idea, sounds promising. also if anyone else has the same plenum, would be grateful to see if mine is a one-off or whether they all do this. with regards to it failing the MOT, it failed on 2 things, handbrake needs tightening slightly (easy) but the reason it didn't make it through is it had a blown rear damper. Not bad going for under 3000 miles! It's been sent away to Bilstein in the post to be refurbished. Apparently it's quite common for dirt on the damper shaft to burst the seal if and when you hit a particularly large bump in the road and the damper travels further than normal. I'm currently hunting for some damper socks to see if I can keep the dirt away. Passed the emission test no problem.

Well the filter has never been changed but then again the car has only done 2500 miles so I wouldn't expect it to need changing yet. Will certainly have a look at it. throttle bodies - like that suggestion, not sure I'll get it past SWMBO though, she's not as daft as I'd probably like her to be! im also sure I would have noticed this before if it was always like that. Starting to think this is getting worse. Could the plastic have become weaker over time? Car is only 3 years old and spends its life in the garage so isn't having a hard time. car was tracked 3 weeks ago and wasn't at all down on power and suspect I would have noticed of there was some sort of restriction.

Car was in for its first MOT today which it duly failed but whilst it was there, one of the guys testing it remarked at how much the input plenum flexes on my car under load. I went home and took a video of it. Must admit it does look quite bad. Does anyone else have this problem on their Duratec Car? im worried that over the course of time all that flexing is going to result in cracking and If any of it were to break off and get ingested it wouldn't be pretty. Is this a known issue? How worried should I be? What if anything could I do about it? Thanks, Tom

All booked with back on track for next week. Thanks again.

Can you get hold of any of the Fuchs product line over in the states? (Formerly Silkolene I believe). If so, lots of us are running the proper Ester synthetic Fuchs Titan Pro S 5w-40 with this engine with good experiences. to be fair though, there's nothing particularly special about the Ford engines so you could run any good make available to you as long as it meets the right specification. Amsoil are recognised to be good so I see no reason not to use them provided you can get one to the right spec.

Thanks Paul, the more options I've got the better. Thanks for sharing.

Which red warning light are we talking about here? I've got a red warning light flickering on on my Duratec on the speedo but it's related to the brakes. Think my fluid level might have been a little low in the reservoir so have topped up. If not then I've got a dodgy handbrake sensor or wiring somewhere. I'm convinced there's nothing up with the brakes though as this was happening on circuit a couple of weeks ago. I only ask as the light coming on was speed dependent in my case and was only showing at speed. If it's not this warning light then please ignore me. Tom

Out of curiosity is the 420r any louder than a 360R? I know the 420 uses racier Cams but does that actually make it any louder? The setup is essentially the same otherwise (assuming the 420r hasn't had the throttle bodies added).

Thanks for the input guys. I was thinking perhaps a call to Back on Track might be worthwhile but thought they may have been a lotus only specialist. Nice to hear they've got some Caterham experience. Will give them a shout. Failing that, I'll give the place in Petworth a shout that you mentioned John. thanks again, Tom

Hi John, I'm west of Guildford (Wood Street Village) so something south should be fine. What did you have in mind?

Hi All, mines due its first MOT next month and just wondering if anyone had any good ideas as to where I could take it that's close to Guildford? A search of the archives turned up Cranleigh Exhaust Centre as an option and some others in Redhill but they are a little far away. Would anyone happen to know of one a bit closer? Thanks Tom

Callum, please refer to days 7&8 of my build diary. I think the diagram may be just what you're after. http://caterhamssr.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/day-7-8-full-days.html?m=1 i was building a supersport R but I can't imagine it's any different on the newer 360R. I couldn't hack how terrible the manual was in this regard so put the diagram together for this very purpose! hope it helps. Tom

Cheers John, got your message, many thanks.

Sorry John, just noticed you said offside wheel. I'll take a look at that. is there any chance I might be able to trouble you for that CC guide you mention? Tom

Interesting. My 2013 Supersport has development similar issues after its long winter rest in the garage. Dial wavers around all over the place as it approaches 80. Also been cutting out completely intermittently. John, assuming mines the same, where is the sensor to be found and which rear wheel is it? thanks, Tom

How interesting. I'm having problems at the moment with a new banner battery that I've recently received. It's under 2 months old and already, according to my Ctek 5.0 charger, unable to take a charge. It keeps lighting the red warning light at stage 5 which, according to the manual, means battery won't take a charge. was about to call Tanya and ask for a return but may well try what you suggest with both batteries and see if I can bring either of them back to life again. unless of course the charger itself is a problem. I suppose it could be but seems unlikely. Tom

Sorry to hear you're selling up! It only seems like yesterday that you got it. best of luck with the sale, I'm sure you'll have no problems selling. Tom

Best pic I could find to give you an idea of how it would sit with the extensions added. https://carousel.dropbox.com/photos/cc/dHSdjTZx45k3327 tom

UremaW, I've got a supersport R the same as yours as you know. When I built mine I didn't get given the damper extensions either. I told Caterham to fit them when the car went back for the PBC. Yours should definitely have them, the car just looks plain wrong without them fitted and sits dangerously low at the front. Only a matter of time before you hit the sump on something. I think with the extensions fitted at the front you wouldn't notice the back being quite so high although I do agree, even with the extensions it is still raised a bit more than is ideal. Tom

Mark, I managed to find a post from the old forum where I was discussing my experiences: http://www.lotus7.club/forum/i-seem-have-dynamo-problem So in summary, at idle I get a little over 12v at the battery terminals which is probably enough to not deplete it but not enough to charge it up. like you, and I believe this is another Duratec trait, my fan is on a large proportion of the time. The moment I come to a standstill or crawl in traffic it comes straight on and it's enough to drain the battery slowly. Caterham suggest it's normal but I think there is probably only a couple of degrees difference between the thermostat opening temp and the fan cut in temp so it's bound to happen really. I'll have a look at that site and see whether a smaller pulley could be made to work. Mine revs to 7300 so not that high really. Tom