Gridgway

Yup, I think he is right. Having a MAM of 3500kg for the LR means you are stuffed. Graham

The tacho thing is tosh. There was a very interesting technical debate on the licence codes matter on the SP&L forum on pistonheads recently which seemed to conclude that all is not quite as it seems regarding the codes on licences. Worth a search to find. Just found it here Graham Edited by - Gridgway on 16 Oct 2008 23:04:44

That's very cruel Darren, I was hoping that the collective memory of the cement incident had been omitted from the blatchat oral history, but I see not! So yes I did go through 2 R500 engines (although not as many as others went through). Engine #1 - bolt came out the front of the crank and all the pulleys fell off at about 8k rpm, pistons hit valves, nasty mess. When Caterham took the engine out and split it from the gearbox, the flywheel bolts had fretted away and the flywheel came off in their hands! Whilst it was never officially confirmed as the cause, Caterham had changed the flywheel at the pbc to solve a ring-gear/starter problem. The resultant imbalance caused the vibration that did for the engine. Engine #2 - was the cement incident. I drove over a bag of cement in the road that had fallen off a lorry. The airbox scoop scooped up a scoop's worth of cement. It was a bit of a mess, so I contacted Minister. They said that cement was horrible abrasive stuff which got everywhere, so I should give them the engine to do a thorough check. That I did and they cleaned out the RBTBs and gave the engine a clean bill of health. I ran it for a couple of months (including a day at Goodwood). I then did a routine oil change and the old oil contained a very significant amount of gray sediment!!!! A pretty expensive and comprehensive rebuild then followed (along with a bit of a fight with Minister which I lost, but that's another story)! Graham

wow did they used to make computers with 256m memory? How does that work then? Graham 😬

so Nigel, that must be a record for blowing up an R500 engine even from the good old days! At least I got 450 miles out of mine before it went bang! Mind you it's upholding a good tradition!!! Tsk, tsk. Graham

I'm sure this is deja vue all over again, but you really don't need all these clever tricks! My Dad who was a car mechanic for a lot of years showed me how to do it with a centre punch. It's really easy and doesn't nadger the cover! Graham

My dad taught me to use a centre punch. Use it radially a little at a time going round and it soon comes off. Graham

It's hard to tell how big, big is! Looks a great watch though. GRaham

what a fab watch. open to offers? Graham

With a "my other car's a 7" sticker in the back. I was behind in a black Rover 25 (the closest I can get to a 7 atm)! Graham

Is there slight faffing required on the gearchange to get teh right angle of dangle, or did I imagine that? Graham

Can't find it Charles, do you have a reference no? Thanks Graham

I reckon stilsons (which I dont have) would work or larger pipe-grips that the ones I have. A adjustable wench of the right capacity is over £100. Not quite sure of the application of a mig welder, but might work I guess Graham

I am just putting up a beam trolley in the gge on the beam I had installed for lifting things. Unfortunately it has big nuts (circa 2.1/8" - 54mm) and needs 2 spanners to do up (one nut at each end of the threaded bar and then lock nuts). Anyone got any ideas what to use as I haven't got anything even close to that size? Thanks Graham

Is that like original R500 engines were sorted from Minister then? 😬 Graham

Good to hear of good service. But surely the golden rule is to expect a new car to er work. Not that you need to keep your eye on all the gauges all the time? Graham

owned by me from new in 2001. Fab piece of kit. Looking to clear £5000 (12k when new). Graham

so speaks another bloke addicted to caterham engine removal and replacement! I don't get all this agro from my porky! Graham

Morning Mark!

when I was in the good ol USofA many years ago there was a [clever word to mean a cross between a documentary and an advert] running on TV. It lasted for about 30 mins and was advertising an oil additive that once added meant you could drain the oil out of the engine and run it forever. You could also drain the coolant and it would run for ever. An astounding substance. Mind you even that absurdity is topped by some geezer I heard about who pulled his engine out 3 times to find an oil leak and didn't manage to spot the oil pi$$ing out of the front of the gearbox - what a muppet! Graham

My daughter's first car was an S1 106 Rallye, I loved driving it. Shame it had to go. Graham

Ahh, didn't know that Angus. There's "Rick the fabricator" in woking... Rick Parker RVJ 01483 747574 He's a race fabricator and a great guy, done lots of er fabricating for me, some radical owners I recommended, Peter C as well. He'd sort the job out. If you speak to him, mention my name. Graham

Cheesemans are in woking if that's any help. Graham

Thanks Mark. Chris and I are in "negotiations"! Graham

I am interested in the amp and full face intercoms. How much do you want for them? Thanks GRaham