ashaughnessy

The 75db depends on how it measured, surely? They might be measuring it from half a mile away. As for the exhaust - you've either got one already that you want to replace or you're thinking of some alternatives. What are the alternatives? If you don't have one and don't have any alternatives then the caterham item will certainly be quieter than nothing Anthony

Andy, this would no doubt be the template I used to make my cardboard strut ! Looked pretty good while the car wasn't moving. It even withstood the rain. Anthony

I'm assuming from the date of 1982 that its a crossflow. A supersprint normally runs at just under 80 degrees C. My car sticks pretty solidly to this temperature until I get stopped in traffic. After a short while it starts to creep up until at about perhaps 90 or 95 degrees the fan kicks in and cools it down to 85 or 90 and then it turns off and the temp starts to creep up again. It's quite happy doing this for quite a while. If it gets to 100 or further then you need to check your cooling system. Mine used to do this before I changed the cooling to a fully sealed system with header tank. I can't say what will happen if it does overheat, nor where the critical point is. Before the change to the sealed system I've had many incidents of it getting right up to the red (about 100 to 110). I don't think this did it any damage as when I eventually had the engine rebuilt there didn't seem to be any obvious signs of heat damage. The thing I worried about most when it overheated was hoses bursting. If it overheats while moving along at speed, then I'd switch off because it definitely shouldn't do that. Anthony

Why no reversing device? Is this a track-only car? Surely it would be a nightmare without reverse? Or am I missing something? Anthony

Many years ago, not long after I got my car, for my first sprint I made one out of cardboard. Painted it with black paint. It worked fine for lining up but got flattened during the lap. Was OK for the next lining up again though so it did the job. Then I bought a nice one from James Whiting and it's never been used Anthony

It's worth bearing in mind that any oil expelled from the engine bay (e.g. out of the crankcase breather if you have one) will make its way rearwards during driving and will end up all over the diff/a-frame. So it might be engine oil. Diff oil should smell distinctly different - put your finger in it and smell it. Engine oil won't smell strongly but diff oil probably will (the stuff I use always does). Also, if its from the engine bay you'll probably have oil on the underside of the floor pans as well. Anthony

I haven't seen an SBD inlet manifold but wouldn't it have to be pretty damn long to make the carbs foul on the wings ?

1) Apply some pressure. Are you pressing the drill into the job? It won't bite without any pressure. Don't use so much pressure that you buckle the floor though - just a firm pressure. 2) Use good quality drill bits - cheapo drill bits are pretty crap. 3) Don't use a fast speed - use quite a low RPM. A fast speed will drill a hole but it won't be so neat. 4) Use some lubricant - I don't know what is the "correct" lubricant for aluminium so I just use some 3-in-1 oil. The drill is supposed to cut the metal from the job in a nice long "peel", like peeling an apple almost. It never works out this way for me but I know I'm doing a good drilling job when I get long bits of swarf instead of dust. If you are doing the above then a 2mm hole in thin sheet ali should take about five seconds to drill. If not, you've got blunt bits or the drill is going backwards. You haven't got the hammer setting turned on have you? Anthony

Thanks for the info. As an aside, I have a low poundage torque wrench that I rarely get to use - does anyone know the correct torque setting for the rocker cover bolts? Usually I just nip them up, but as I have the torque wrench I might as well use it. Anthony

Delbert, is the knob behind the speedo anything to do with the nut behind the steering wheel? *smile* Sorry, I couldn't resist. Anthony

Graham - "on the rock" - that's what I remember! Thanks. Advance and retard - I've always been worried about turning the engine backwards - is it OK to turn it the wrong way? Anthony

I know how to check valve clearances using the rule of 9 - get valve number "n" so it is fully open and valve number "9 minus n" will be fully closed and can be checked. However I'm sure I was once taught an alternative method, one that wasn't so dependent on guessing whether the valve was in the fully open position. Can anyone tell me what this might have been? Anthony

I don't know what the at-the-wheels power figure is. I can't find the print-out !!! Don't know what I've done with it. The work was done by Dave Brooks in Crewe, at http://www.davebrooks-engines.co.uk I'm not sure about "limited work" - it cost me a fortune :-) A lot of it was specifically to raise the rev limit to get the most out of the extra breathing he put in. The end result is more power all the way through the rev range, which is really nice, thanks to good setup. Anthony

OK, sounds like it isn't a problem, just a different sound. Alan, you won't be getting 150 bhp if your redline is at 6000. My peak power is at about 6800. I had a fair bit of work done to get me an extra thousand safe revs though. The power comes from the breathing and the revs. You've got the right carbs, exhaust and cam but you'd have to know what's been done to your cylinder head (porting, valve sizes, etc) and what your safe rev limit is. I don't have steel internals (except forged pistons) but did have strengthening done on top of the standard supersprint spec. I've also heard the forged pistons are worth up to 8bhp on their own but presumably that's at high revs. Anthony

Might also be worth checking for any stones stuck in the tyre tread, which could cause a whine at speed - a very cheap thing to fix! I'm guessing that a gearbox whine might be likely to change note when you change gear, whereas a diff whine wouldn't ??? Suppose it depends on what part of the gearbox was whining. Anthony

Power is good - rolling road print out says 150 bhp (actually, 149 point something, but I'm saying 150 :-) with a nice smooth torque curve. Runs very well and pulls extremely well from low revs, better than it ever used to. Just sounds different. Your point about the length of the primaries is interesting. It's the caterham standard 4-1 side exit. I haven't measured the lengths so I don't know if they're the same but this would be an interesting explanation. I'll probably check the valve clearances and throttle balance a second time, just to make sure. Anthony

I've recently (within the past couple of weeks) had a new exhaust (4-1 side exit race to replace 4-2-1 rear exit) and new carbs (45DCOE to replace 40DCOE) and I'm just getting used to the new noise. It sounds a little like a subaru. It sounds like either the valve clearances are wrong or the throttle balance is out, and that one or two cylinders aren't either sucking, firing or blowing as well as the others. However, it's just come back from the engine builder and I've rechecked both those things myself so everything should be OK. So the question is - how does your crossflow sound? It used to sound smoother with the old setup. I'm not sure if my ears are being too sensitive. It sounds OK once you get above about 3500 to 4000 revs. It pulls cleanly. I've also checked the plugs for fouling but they seem OK. Haven't checked the distributor yet though. I did adjust the valve clearances *slightly* and also adjusted the throttle balancing screw *slightly* and I think it perhaps sounds a little better after that. Anthony

I've moved to a sealed system on mine - do you still have the original cooling system? I remember taking pains to make sure all the air was out of the system. I did things like jacking the car up both ends to tilt it, also squeezing the large hoses, etc. This often resulted in large quantities of air being dislodged. Oil - did you fill the new oil filter up before replacing it? I don't think it would hold 0.8 litres though. I guess oil would also be held inside the oil pump. Has the sump pan ever had a good bash? If it has a large dent in it that might account for half a litre. Anthony Edited by - ashaughnessy on 24 Apr 2006 14:23:04

Will the petrol pumps at Cadwell be operational on the track days on the 2nd and 3rd of May? Anthony

What's involved in replacing the rear crankshaft oil seal on a crossflow? Assuming I can split the engine and bell housing and move them apart sufficiently. Anthony

No, you don't need to fill the master cylinder reservoir to the brim - just to the normal level. The easybleed reservoir makes sure the level doesn't drop. The master cylinder reservoir expands with the pressure and when you let the pressure off and disconnect the easybleed you may well find the master cylinder reservoir is full to overflowing - a small piece of pipe will let you suck some out (just fill the pipe, don't suck it into your mouth!) Make sure you don't overtighten any of the caps on the easybleed - overtightening will lead to leaks. I've tried using an easybleed fed from a wheel off the seven (13 inch) and in the past from a 10 inch wheel off a mini - the mini wheel wasn't up to the job, leading me to believe that the biggest wheel you can lay your hands on will give best results (though don't exceed 20psi). Anthony

Thanks for the ideas. What problems am I likely to encounter if I don't fix it? Will I screw up my clutch? Is anything about to go pop? Or is it just an annoyance? I'm going on a track day in a couple of weeks and won't have time to fix it beforehand. Thanks Anthony

I've got oil leaking from somewhere in the region of between the bellhousing and the sump - the drips are dripping off the bottom lip of the bell housing. From the smell I think it is engine oil. I'm used to oil drips from my engine but this is a little bigger than usual. Where is it likely to be coming from? I can imagine it could be from the crankshaft oil seal or from the rear of the sump pan/block joint but I really don't know. What seems most likely? Thanks Anthony

Tyrone, good idea - you have mail. Anthony

After a lengthy running in period I took my rebuilt crossflow back to the engine builder for setting up. He'd rebuilt it with 244 cam. I had a 4-2-1 rear exit exhaust and 40DCOE carbs. He advised me to replace both the exhaust and the carbs with a caterham 4-1 side exit and 45DCOEs. He reckoned it would drive well with the old setup but I'd perhaps get an extra ten bhp with the new stuff. I thought it worthwhile because he'd done a lot of work on extra gas flowing and also strengthening to give me more revs and that might be wasted without the exhaust and carbs being upgraded to match. After the rolling road setup (last week) I haven't driven it in anger (all this rain !!!) but so far on part throttle through very heavy rush hour traffic and down busy motorways it pulls very very cleanly but when on a constant throttle it pops and bangs and spits a LOT. Anthony