redline - one satisfied customer

[Jam Mad]

well, as you may know, i recently had a problem with my x flow, that tony p and i diagnosed as a carb problem. i also like the idea of posting our experiences of various garages to help others make a choice.

 

i leave it up to your intelligence to work out that this is all my opinion, and only what i would relate were i in a pub, chatting to you.

 

anyway.. back to the story... off the car went to southern carbs, very pleasant chaps in wimbledon who are weber specialists. £49 of labour later, they assured me that it was actually a stuck inlet valve. this had been considered, but rejected by tony and i when we noticed fuel dribbling into the carb in question when it shouldn't. but anyway, here were the specialists telling me that it was an engine prob.

 

so, off to redline it went. who after a reasonable bill, £80 inside the rough estimate range that they had given me, have assured me that it was a carb problem, having replaced a venturi. they checked the engine block, and all looked fine.

 

so anyway, just thought i'd kick off the critique concept by saying, BIG THUMBS UP TO REDLINE, who will get my repeat business. i have also found ratrace ( mark in particular ) to be excellent, but they are just a little too far away from me, around the north end of london.

 

as for southern carbs, they'll be getting a letter from me asking for a refund. after i've spoken to the citizen's advice bureau, that is. grrr...

 

laters,

 

j

[Big Brother]

Make that TWO satisfied customers!

 

Owning an "older" (1979) Seven I have found Mick at Redline extremely knowledgable and helpful.

On several occasions when Caterham Cars have been unable to help (due to the age of the car and a lack of early S3 spares and knowlege), Redline have always come up trumps.

I can't recommend them enough...and their prices are VERY competitive.

 

 

 

Steve

www.Se7en-Up.co.uk id=limegreen>

 

[tony pashley]

Hi James -

Sorry I've not got back to you after your message - not a good week so far (but never mind).

So is the car ok now?

Hope so, 'cos that sounds a much easier fix (and comforting to know we weren't completely off-beam!).

 

I wonder if we misread or mis-described some of the symptoms - Nick (who knows almost everything there is to know) suggested a valve was a possibility, although he was on the other end of a phone line.

Did Southern Carbs actually have the car to look at?

 

I've always found Redline a pleasure to do business with.

 

[Harry Flatters]

I too have only had good experinces with REDLINE. Mick & John always helpful, I can't fault the quality of workmanship and they stick to their estimates!

 

Steve Mell

PTM 88

[tony pashley]

Sorry, that was a daft question - they wouldn't be charging you if they hadn't seen it...

[J.R.]

In the interests of fairness I should point out that Redline actually have more than one (or two) satisfied customers, myself included!

[EFA]

James,

 

Glad Mick and Johnny were able to help you.

 

 

 

Fat Arn

The NOW PROVEN R500 Eaterid=red>

See the Lotus Seven Club 4 Counties Area Website hereid=green>

 

[Violet Elizabeth]

Thumbs up from me too. They didn't just service the car...they thoroughly checked everything (turns out the brake pipe had been connected the wrong way round !). Such a different experience to mainstream car dealers !

[Fast Westie]

Me Too. Can you imagine it, there are some Caterham bits on my W*******d blush.gif

 

The car in front is a Westfie1d wink.gif

[James Arnold]

Whilst, I don't wish to damn, my experiences have not all been positive. Soon after buying my Xflow 7 I was concerned about the amount of gasses through the breather. Having no tame garage who was 7 literate, I phoned Redline. They suggested I should pop down one lunch time and they would caste a knowledgeable eye. So I drove down to Redline, to hear the mechanic declare confidently 'they all do that sir'

Well it transpired that my engine had a blown head gasket, bent valve and knackered piston rings. To be fair they didn't charge me...

I have not trusted them for any work since. Should I put this down to mechanic with a bad hair day and give them another chance?

 

From the other perspective I have never hear any praise for 'Steve' at Vulcan engineering. He managed to completely diagnose what was wrong with my engine from a phone call! I was so convinced he was wrong he agreed that I should pop over to his house that night with the head and he would show me. He was spot on; that guy sure knows his Xflows.

 

James

 

Edited by - James Arnold on 5 Dec 2001 14:20:50

[I.Mupferit]

I think to be fair to Redline, most X/flows do breath rather heavily from the crankcase. I used to have a 1700 and when hot there would often be oil fumes drifting out of the bonnet louvres whilst stationary, even from new. Yours obviously had other problems but I can easily see how that might be dismissed as 'They all do that Sir'

It is an often reported phenomenon on BlatChat. smile.gif

 

Brent

 

Edited by - BRENT CHISWICK on 5 Dec 2001 14:35:23

[Graham Sewell]

Agreed, my Supersprint fumes at the traffic lights as well - I put it down to an impatient car!

 

Cheers,

 

Graham

[EFA]

James,

 

I would suggest that if your car is a 1700SS then nobody knows that particular engine better than Peter Cooper (recently retired from Redline). He was responsible (when he worked for Caterham) to design a spec (including the 234 cam I understand) for an engine to replace the Lotus Twin Cam (supplies of which were running out)

 

I would inform you that even without Peter, the two remaining staff at Caterham have over 50 years joint experience working on Lotus and Caterham Sevens. This is something I think you would find hard to match.

 

I'm fairly certain the problem would have been apparent though more than just the usual breather emissions for this kind of problem - perhaps not during visual external diagnosis but certainly through driving..... I can however confirm that Vulcan do a good job on x-flows from when I had mine built by them.

 

 

 

 

 

Fat Arn

The NOW PROVEN R500 Eaterid=red>

See the Lotus Seven Club 4 Counties Area Website hereid=green>

 

[J.R.]

When I rebuilt an early De-dion with a later spec front 1/2 chassis from Arch Motors, I hadnt joined the club 7 did not know anyone with a Caterham (wish I'd known about this site then).

 

As I only had some book photos to refer to and had used

(un?)educated guesses as to how most of the bits went back together I booked it into Redline for a post build check.

 

It came to a reasonable £60 as quoted but what amazed me was how many things they found that were not quite right but would not have failed an MOT. It turns out that the car had been supplied from new with the wrong length trailing arms, the correct ones gave the correct angle for the De-dion tube) and the propshaft did not enter far enough into the gearbox tailshaft.

 

Finding the propshaft anomoly particularly impressed me as they do not have a ramp and had done the job using a trolley jack.

 

I know how difficult it is to get under and see that area, only a dedicated Caterham "anorak" would have done so.

[Jam Mad]

to continue the general discussion that i spawned... any ideas as to what sort of comeback, if any, i am entitled to from southern carbs ? an independently recommended 'weber specialist' they charged me £49 for an hour's labour, only to tell me in their 'expert' opinion that it wasn't a carb problem.

 

redline started in the engine, 'cos i had passed on this 'expert' opinion, only to find that tony p and i were right all along, it was a loose venturi in the carb.

 

now, without this turning into a load of arrowstar-type mudslinging, anyone know a precedent ? i feel that i should at least write to them and ask for half of the money back. otherwise, how they can justify being called 'weber specialists' is beyond me.

 

j

[adey]

"two remaining staff at Caterham have over 50 years joint experience working on Lotus and Caterham Sevens"

 

I've found that Caterham don't want to know about Lotuses - good thing that Redline do!

[Blatman]

Have a look here

Click the "buying a service" link..............

[oilyhands]

Jam, you would need another expert opinion, their diganosis of a sticky valve smelled like hot bovine crap to me, the first place to look when a carb 'sneezes' is at the carb itself, how they could miss a loose venturi is beyond me. Have you approached them with you grievance? the least they should do is apologise, if not for charging without fixing the problem, then for sending you down a potentially expensive path based on flimsy evidence.

 

Oily