Gridgway

Hi Rob, finally stopped vacillating. The Z3 got p'exed yesterday for a mini, so I don't need the winter tyres. Sorry to muck you around a bit. Have a bump tho'. Graham

On hot idle the guage often looks alarmingly low. Now of course if there is a OP problem, the guage will show this, but mainly it's a facet of the system and the poor OP sender. Graham

sorry for the hijack, but oi, where are you then PC? Graham

In conversation with Norman, he told me about Mr (jack-bulk-buy) Ma from China makes a lift. The reason it has so far been put on the back burner is that it needs pads to raise a 7 up as the lift is too high. I'm actually not too bothered about that as at the moment the main use for me would be on a 911. So I thought I would ask if anyone else is interested in a reasonably low cost solution. I'd be pretty happy with making pads for using mine I have posted Normans info about the lift below. I am looking for indication of interest. Post below, blatmail me or email on graham at ridgworld dot com. Graham ====================================================================== lift capacity 2500 kgs, min height 180mm carton size 2550 x 1000 x 180mm GW 400 kgs (NW 385kgs). This is a car lift made by our old friend Mr Ma (have a nice day). The opening price is CIF Felixstowe $1380.00 which at the exchange rate at 9th Nov. is £827. We will get this down if we have a reasonable quantity. It's a long drawn out dance negotiating prices with the Chinese but we reckon 20 lifts will get it to £750 each. Add on dock charges, transport and VAT and we should get them down to £950 delivered to collection points around the country. This lift sits on the floor and you drive the car over it. Then extend the 4 legs outwards to sit under the chassis (or body on non 7s).You will need a few planks of wood (or build concrete pads) to drive the 7 onto as the minimum height is 180mm. The lift is on steel wheels and is, therefore, mobile. Piccy Edited by - gridgway on 17 Nov 2009 14:24:31

I hope not that'd be a real come down for us GT3 owners! Mind you, I'd buy them but with the way I drive my GT3, I doubt I'll ever wear my discs out! Graham

Looks like a very nice car to me and I disagree with the perfect first Caterham sentiment I had one of almost identical spec as my 4th Caterham and I enjoyed it much more than my R500. Graham

There are a couple of schools of thought on the R500 engine... -fragile little barstewards, don't touch -I've used and abused mine for a million track days and still going strong. I'm a bit in the first camp. In 2001 (I think) there was the R500 engines go bang saga started by Richard Ince at the ring and with his race cars. Caterham eventually brought out the package of fixes. VDV (?) uprated mains, diddy apollo tank, ecu controlled fan, oil cooler. I think of those the main saviour was the new bearings. So if buying, you need to check that it is not pre-saga engine. That's pretty unlikely. Then you should check for a sensible and documented history of use versus refreshes. In terms of checking the health of a current engine, there is little that can be done that doesn't involve a strip, measure, rebuild. You can do a compression test and leakdown test and I don't think much more. So if it has low use post any previous rebuild, has the mods, has good compression and leakdown, you should be ok. Well as ok as you can be with an expensive engine made of cheese 😬 (2 R500 blow-ups) Graham

Good idea Neil. Unfortunately I have got a bit of a 911 "problem" at the moment! Mind you it's exactly the car I was looking for 3 years ago! If you have spare car space, I am sure I can fill it without too much bother! Graham

Hi Rob, sorry to vacillate, haven't quite decided what to do! Graham

Stunning car. I'd have it. Well apart from the fact I've got one! Good luck with the sale. Graham

The "weight" of your foot is acting on the long part at the bottom. So you will get circa twice that at the top (ratio of long part to short part). Graham

Rob, I looked at the wheels/tyres I have and I think yours may be the right size. Do you have a link to the PH ad for pics? Graham

Thanks Rob. I get on the plane in an hour and will be home bright n early in the morning so I can look at the sizes first thing. Graham

Rob, I might be interested. Would they fit a boggo 4cyl Z3? I can't go outside and look as I am in the Philippines at the moment. Graham

Dave, perhaps not many people share your friends desire to shout about "Rover Power" in their caterhams!! Graham

Professional? Yup, but AA? Graham

Do starter pinions and/or ring gears still break? Is the starter throwing and turning because it's not engaging with a suitable tooth on the ring gear or that the turny-cog-thing is broken? You could put it in gear and give it a shove to see if the engine moves round at all and start again. could the engine be siezed? 😳 Graham

I had yoko 032 205s on the front of my SLR when I had it. Worked ok. Graham

Are the two systems from the same sender? Or do you have independent confirmation of low pressure? Graham

Oi, that's my suggestion of two days ago Graham

Inc Vat if I read it correctly. Graham

what OP warning light have you got? What does the guage say? Graham

Seeing the unregistered BaT car sold on ebay, it set me wondering how hard it would be to IVA test a standard k-series 2003 car? Graham

If battery ok and earth ok, then try master switch, they can give problems. Graham

It was extremely hard not to bid at that price! Graham