mr_ed

You want the smallest master cylinder you can get. Wilwood do a 0.5 inch one. If its anything like my blackbird is, pushing the pushrod too far on the slave cylinder will just result in the springs on the clutch cover going coilbound. But you need a small m/c to give you a half decent amount of pedal travel. You can also redrill the clevis point closer to the pivot point on the pedal. I'd recommend adding a helper spring to give better pedal feel, and also a pedal stop. Cheers, Ed

Nod. The prop tube is only a couple of mm thick too. And if you start shaving it, you could quickly throw it off balance. Why not sandwich a small steel disk between the diff flange and the propshaft flange and run a moped caliper on it, presuming there is room in the tunnel. I was planning on doing this with the electric reverse ring-gear on my BEC, but have never been arsed...

Westfield rear disks are 240mm, for those in the same position as me. So I guess the caliper is slightly further out on a Westfield, which means if it fits under a 13inch wheel on a Caterham, it doesnt guaruntee that it fits on a Westfield. Although new kits from Westfield come with VAG calipers, although rumour has it the mounting holes are different from the rear uprights for the sierra calipers.

Good! What diameter are the caterham rear disks as shown in the photos above?

Are you sure that having a smaller piston means the rear bias will be greater?? I know it means the piston would move out faster (except it should already be in contact with the disk). But by reducing the size, havent you effectively reduced the gearing hence for a certain pedal pressure, the pressure on the disk will be less?

Sorry, forgot to say, that was with the TTS foam filter and jet kit. Not with an airbox. Had a dirty great flatspot in it between 6 and 7K which TTS put down to having a 4-1 exhaust, rather than a 4-2-1.

I got 132bhp at the wheels with a carbed blackbird engine, thru a quaife reverse box, and an escort axle. On the TTS rollers, a few years ago. Cheers, Ed

That looks very dodgey! Get some ali blocks made up instead of the swing bolts and use proper 12.8 bolts.

That sounds a bit bitter, but its not... I've strongly considered converting my car to some nice 2pot ali rear calipers, and swapping them back for MOTs, but it would render your insurance invalid, and the consequences of getting caught could be quite grave. For example if I crashed into a 50grand Range Rover, and was in hospital with broken arms, and my car was in a police pound/recovery company pound, then I would not get chance to refit the legal calipers before the insurance assessor saw the car. If he noticed, I could be left to pay my own claim (13k), but also that of the 50K range rover! Not forgetting any legal punishments. Decided it wasnt worth the risk... I once crashed my mini and had to beg a lift home to go and collect the catalytic convertor, and refit it in the carpark at work before the insurance company came to pickup the car! Edited by - mr_ed on 13 Oct 2004 12:04:09

Will you be able to do it in under an hour if you have an accident and the car is in a ditch somewhere with your insurance assessor on his way!?

What're they priced like?

Dans right, and as I'm sure he knows, this is so the roller bearings in the UJs do not wear in a single point. If you had the prop completely straight, the X in the UJ would not move, by rocking slightly it helps distribute the wear and allows the grease to circulate. This angle can be in any plane. It'll be a shame to lose us "technically gifted" resources when blatchat goes members only 😬

I'd say you almost certainly need a centre bearing, unless it is _right_ back in the passenger footwell, ie the prop is less than a metre long. The centre bearing to use is from a ford transit. Some people use the "old style", some people use the "new style". The new style has a larger rubber donut in it, and so is a bit more flexible. It is Omega shaped, whereas the old style has the mounts at quarter to 3. Theres a pic of the newstyle one here: http://www.westicles.net/orange/build/041201/ Regarding CV joints... I know of one car that uses them. The problem with them is that they're generally only rated for much lower RPM than present in a propshaft... because they're used in driveshafts, that run at 1/3-1/4 of the speed of a propshaft. This means they overheat and spit their grease out when used in propshafts. I think they absorb more power than UJs and require more maintenance. You can get some rated high enough, but big money. There are all sorts of propshaft couplings, like some CV disc based ones, but they all have design contraints such as maximum angle etc etc. If you've got a straight run back to the diff you'll have no problems at all.

Makes propshafts!!

As the UJ rotates, the angle of the cross piece in the centre of it changes, and it causes small accelerations and decelerations in the rate that the shaft is rotating at. This causes torsional vibrations. Some graphs etc. here: http://www.baileymorris.co.uk/technical4.asp