Garth

Try Stuart at Premier Power? Pretty sure he keys the Sigma cranks on his serious upgrades and he works on Duratecs to? An hour or so away from your area - not sure if he does the work himself?

Looks too small to me - perhaps this is why Caterham were selling them off cheap? They should take it back if it is not fit for purpose. Is it an S3 or SV? I have a spare hood floating around for an SV. I too have a half hood, but find I do still want the full hood on occasions! Garth

Diff ratio? Mine is a 3.62

Hi Chris I used to find first gear far to short on the standard box - felt I was snatching for second far to soon! So I changed my first and second gear ratios (3.36 to 2.75 and 1.81 to 1.75) when I got my BGH box. I now find first a bit of a pain in stop start traffic and if I am trying to get off the mark quickly I often slip the clutch too much and do end up with that lovely burning smell! However once moving I much prefer the longer ratios - especially on the track - which I do not spend enough time on! Have a Sigma with circa 200 bhp Good luck. Garth

Hi Mark Have not found the time to do anything further unfortunately. Richard made the first pair for me out of titanium. The holes for the hinges are quite tricky as they are very close to the edge and I suspect that the hinge locations on cars vary a little so it is probably going to be best to allow enough material so they can be individually drilled? Richard did a sample that looked like the 7 logo and I was hoping to get this right - need to make it my Jan project!? Not to far from you if you wanted to pop over when you are in the area sometime and see them in the flesh? Garth

Thanks Jim - will look into trying to get rid of the carbon!

Thanks Jim - I am consuming some oil - but been made a little more difficult to monitor as I have just had a laminova fitted - see recent separate post about this and engine temp - will check the gaps

Here are some pics - colour change on second pic is down to the different background - they all looked a similar colour in real life except the first pick where the top looked a bit oily! Plugs been in for about 5000 miles. Some sign of deposits?

Fitted an 82degC thermosat a while ago. Agree I am running too cool - getting the temp up is probably relatively straight forward - higher rated thermostat and/or blanking off a little of the radiator? Managing the oil quantity/level seems tricky now with the laminova? The oil specialist I was in contact with a while ago - Royal Purple Oils - said their oil should typically run between 82 and 104degC to facilitate evaporation of unburned fuel and water in the oil and to minimize oxidation of the oil.

Had a Laminova fitted before my Spanish trip this year. My Sigma water temp has been running lowish - 70degC - since my upgrade (196bhp on rolling road) a couple of years ago. Have a slightly larger radiator than the standard Sigma version (result of a leaking plastic top original!), but before the engine upgrade the water temp was much the same as before (steady 90ish). Even with low water temp I was getting high oil temperatures when pushing on track. Therefore plan was to bring the oil temp down and water temp up a little with the Laminova (and then experiment with blanking off some of the radiator to increase water temp more?). Laminova works well in bringing temps together at a fairly steady 75degC with the oil temp running slightly higher when pushing but not reaching much above 90degC. Only time the water temp gets close to 90 degC is in slow/stationary traffic! I now appear to be using a bit more oil (possibly due to change in grade - see separate post!), but main problem is judging the oil level as when the car has been stationary for a while the oil must be draining out of the Laminova (fitted in line with the top water rail going straight to the top of the radiator) which then shows up as being well overfull on the dipstick. However once engine turned over a bit the oil level shows far to low - barely showing on tip of dipstick! My first thought is that the Laminove should be fitted much lower so that oil remains in it? Concerned about the oil level being too high which I undestand can cause problems with pressure build up in the engine? Spent ages on the web searching for fitting guidelines on laminovas, but found very little and could not establish what their capacities were either to try and work out the likely oil volume changes?

Recently had my plugs out and noticed what appeared to be quite a build up of carbon on the top of the pistons. Water temp has been running quite cold since upgrades a couple of years ago - could this be contributing to it? Only use Shell V-Power or Tesco Momentum. Any advice much appreciated. Thanks. Garth

Recently had a Laminova fitted and refilled with 5W30 instead of the 10W40 recommended by the engine buiilder. Seems to have used more oil than normal over the summer so am going to keep a closer eye on it!

Hi Robert - sorry not been on Blatchat much recently so missed this - chaps name is Bryce. workshop number is 020 8783 0792. Works on his own so can be a little dificult to get hold of. Good luck. Garth

Robert I use a very good welder who is in Hampton - so not too far from you? - let me know if you would like his details. Garth

I have recently had these made as prototypes and they work very well - very stable - hope to refine the design a little to reduce the overall distance from the hinges but still allow the door to open fully without the mirror hitting the windscreen. The height is fantastic - can see clearly over the rear arches.

Double post - sorry!

Another thumbs up for Rapfix - bought the top section of the steering column with the male part of the quick release already welded to the column. It is then a simple swap for the top section of the existing column. Had mine for 5 years now and no sign of any movement of steering wheel on the shaft boss. Tried to find my original invoice to see who I got it from but failed in theat regard - good luck. Garth

The two Steves should have a standard Sigma map as they did my car a few years ago and I am sure they saved the original map just in case.....

Thanks Jonathan - have received your mail. Garth

Both defects are exactly the same - a good 'looking' weld (!) which is actually a poor weld as it has not penetrated the steel on the main lever. I suspect there are a few other cars out there with the same issue but it has not yet become evident - I spotted my problem by chance - the clutch was working but would have failed at some point once the pin and the hole in the main lever had worn more due to the 'bending' forces being appiled to the pin which should really only be working in 'shear'? It is generally more dificult to weld materials of different thicknesses and this is what they have got wrong here. Is it something worth notifying people about? If so how? Another thread on the forum?

Keep them coming Tim - we need the humour!!? Thanks JK - had not seen that post - funny thing is that Rattie was the first self build owner I met - he kindly invited me to see his build when I was still waiting for mine to come. Martyn - I tried to send you mail but not sure it went through - if you see this please drop me a line. Cheers Garth

A Dormouse would have meant I never use the car!!? CC's website says they have one in stock so will be on the phone to them first thing tomorrow morning and will hopefully be able to swap it over. Failing that, buy the new one and argue later and failing that do the welding locally! Thanks. Garth

the 'lug' at the top of the clutch pedal had sheared off the main lever. On closer inspection it was evident that it had been like this for a while as the pin connecting the clutch master cylinder to the top of the pedal are badly deformed! On removal it is clear that the weld between the lug and the main lever was basically rubbish - see picture below. Do you think it would be fair to ask CC to replace this FOC even though the item has been on the road for 5 years it is clearly a manufacturing defect? Need to get it sorted asap as off to Spain next Sunday! Could be a job for the local fabricator to sort out? Garth

I think I might still have mine - send me a personal mail on Monday to remind me to have a look! Garth

If you get stuck perhaps the rolling road people you comit to going to might be able to help you out?