Rob Walker

Silver 4 door saloon e46 facelift model 150bhp, 2 owners, 130k miles, fsh oil changed every 5k miles, has tow bar. Good highly economical reliable car that I have owned for 8 years. Had the following replaced, Turbo, cat, brake discs,clutch. Selling with NO known faults £2,250 ono Tel 01275 371255 and 07963 834138 Rob Edited by - Rob walker on 27 Jun 2013 15:52:12

Paul I still have a new 2.3l duratec in my garage.

2.5 Duratec is too tall in standard trim, its the variable cam actuator that protrudes off the cam cover that is the problem. I know that people are looking into how to overcome this problem as yet its not solved. Both the bore and stroke are bigger than the 2.3 the bore is up from 87.5 to 100mm and the stroke is 97mm?? I think. I am told Mountune have got 330bhp 220lb ft out of their NA 2.5l duratec peak power at 7500rpm. The biggest problem is what gearbox would be suitable to cope with this power apart from the megga expensive sequentials which are very noisy, and sound horrible on downshifts.

It looks the same as MOG half door to me

Adam, To make things easy for yourself, leave the rubber engine mounts on the engine mount brackets only remove the bolts that attach the mounts through the chassis you can then slide the whole engine forward using a hoist or trolley jack. The gap achievable is about 50mm enough to apply the ford sealant, be sure to drain the sump first. Good luck Rob

R U shure its the rear crank seal as I have never heard of them giving trouble. Is it not possible its the sump to block seal. I have had this problem several times and it gives the same symptom as RCS. If in doubt no need to take the engine out it is possible to slide the engine far enough forward splitting the engine from the bell housing to allow access to clean up/degrease the area an apply fords black rtv sealant along the affected joint. then pull the engine back before the sealant cures thus sandwiching the sealant between the block-sump&bellhousing.

You could fit a Accusump, accumulator, they work well on the exiges I have experience of them on a Cobra as well. I would also fit a mechanical oil pressure gauge and really scare yourself, the electrical gauges are damped and do not show the full pressure drop.

Probably more to do with the fact that you are now running a coil pack and not the single coil/dizzy. The coil pack requires two inputs and +12v from your ecu. The tacho will now have to be driven directly from the ecu pin 12 on an emerald and not off the coil. You cant have it easy all the time. Rob

a saucer of antifreeze. they love it and it kills them .

I have two comments. Firstly most Caterhams will never see 80-90c oil temp on road use apart from a hot day if we ever get one or driving like a mad man. I drive my car keeping a careful eye on revs until I see at least 50c oil temp then start using more revs. Second whilst I agree with RJ on thermal expansion of ali vs steel you must consider that the K engine is a sandwich construction and held together with STRETCH bolts as the engine expands the expansion is accommodated by the bolts stretching and maintaining roughly the same clamping forces on the block and head gasket. The other reason for not goosing the car from cold is that all modern fuel injected engines run fuel enrichment from start up cold until at least 60C water temp. Rob Edited by - Rob Walker on 4 May 2013 09:23:28

I found the 21s to be a good safe road tyre. The RE720s nearly got me killed,on two occasions with insufficient grip to slow the car down quickly in an emergency. Its no good having big brakes if you have no grip.

For those interested , I answer my own question, the fuel level equalises between the baffled compartments through the tube that is connected to the return fuel from the engine and the RHS pump compartment, the joint between the two different diameter pipes is left open at the lowest point against the bottom folded edge of the tank, thus fuel can flow up the tube from both the LHS and Middle compartments into the RHS compartment that houses the fuel pump and a check flap prevents the fuel going the other way under hard cornering. The internal baffle plates look as if they have been MIG welded in. Presumably after the tank had been formed and access was restricted. All external welds look TIG welded .

I presume that to gain access and weld the baffle back into place this will necessitate cutting an access hole into the top panel that can be welded up after carrying out the repair? Looking into the tank and ignoring the loose baffle problem I cannot understand how this design of tank works. The pump is in the rhs in its own baffled compartment and picks up from the bottom folded edge of the tank. This ok but what confuses me is that this 2004 tank differs from my previous tank in my 1997 car in that there is no tube along the bottom of the tank linking the baffled compartments with little flaps ensuring that the fuel can only flow in the direction towards the pump. In this tank the tube is about 30mm up from the bottom folded edge and is connected to the fuel return coming into the top of the tank.( surely this is not correct as this will feed bubbles directly towards the pump?) Also I cannot understand how the petrol held captive between the lhs baffle and the centre compartment gets past the rhs baffle that blocks off 3/4 of the height of the tank and is fully seem welded on all three sides. Its not hard to understand how the lhs baffle broke loose as it was only tack welded once on each side and I presume as the car goes over a bump the tank simply flexed until the metal around the welds work hardened and the baffle came adrift, poor design. I was pleased to see that the thin gauge metal on the rhs of the tank that pump mounts has been increased as this used to give loads of problems with distortion when the fuel pump seal was tightened if extreme care was not taken. Cheerio Rob Edited by - Rob Walker on 27 Apr 2013 18:19:34

just preparing for the fish and chip run tomoz and noticed fuel dripping from my fuel tank, closer examination revealed that the left hand internal baffle had come adrift tearing a crack at the weld point in the bottom of the tank. Has anyone else had similar and how did ya fix it.? Cheers Rob Edited by - rob walker on 27 Apr 2013 18:14:52

lowered drivers floor is the only real solution

Dave you have the wrong plugs fitted, should be BR7EFS and these seal on a taper which just needs nipping up.

John Vicker / Millwood supplied one of our local owners recently.

What happens when you get stones/road grit hitting the wrapped panels? Does it cut through and then allow water under the wrap?

I prefer the feel of my blackberry keyboard, I have hands like shovels. The phone will operate on Orange T mobile and Virgin. If you want to use other networks you can get the phone unlocked for £15. As I posted the phone comes along with a pay as you go simm with £10 credit on the orange network. Rob

I have a brand new sony experia tipo st21i touch screen smart phone, its been out of the box for me to play with it, it comes with £10 pay as you go orange credit and also has a new leatherette flip up case. I want £65 for it including p&p Rob

without an oil temp gauge everything is guesswork. However I still think that you would be safer taping up the oil cooler and monitor water temps and oil pressure. If the water is getting too hot say above 100C chances are so is the oil also you should have noted a reduction in oil pressure. If this occurs I would come off track and remove the blanking off the oil cooler. In view of the weather I would be surprised if you have sufficient grip available to work the engine hrd enough to get normal running temps. Rob

Shaun, I use rover K cable chop off the end at the TBS and jenvey sell what they call a trunnion £4 that connects the inner of the cable to the raceline TBS. You will have to also fabricate a stay plate that will hold the outer of the cable which I fix to the two fuel mount on the head casting. Simples Forgot to add to mail email yesterday i would consider fitting an increased diameter water pump pulley-Ammo has some for sale currently. Rob

following problems with my ali rad I was advised by Radtec not to use the latest longlife anifreeze the stuff with OAT in ( organic acid technolgy) They claim it corrodes the ali. The engine block and rad were black inside after using this stuff and where some coolant had leaked out it has corroded the ali body side skin on my car.

Hi Geoff, What colour of fuel injectors have you been supplied with ?

Any ACEA A3 spec 5w40 or 5w50 will do the job. Any Pennzoil Platinum out your way or Amsoil. Rob