Gridgway
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Everything posted by Gridgway
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Differential costs are everywhere - look a the cost of bottled water versus the tap at home!
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Mrs Ridg is the expert in public charging as she's done loads more than me (that was my first time). It looks like her fav charger on the A303 is not a fast one and is 1/4 the cost. So the variety is huge based on speed and with the added "motorway premium". Also in the maths you should take account of the standing charge as well as the usage charge.
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NOW SOLD -1996 Roadsport Special edition number 19 of 30
Gridgway replied to Steve Wright's topic in For Sale
Excellent, thanks! -
I borrowed my wife's electric car and had to charge it. I used the fast charging at Leigh Delamere services. So basically it cost me £38 for "half a tank" which is about 125 miles at my motorway speeds. To compare, it costs £110 to fill up the VW Toerag when on fumes to go 600 miles. So that's roughly 18p per mile on diesel versus 30p per mile for electric. Now it's not quite a fair comparison as I don't fill up with Diesel in the motorway services. But how can it be that electric is (way) more expensive than diesel. And how come noone else is moaning on about it? In other words WTF? I'll be taking my nice cheap diesel in future!
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NOW SOLD -1996 Roadsport Special edition number 19 of 30
Gridgway replied to Steve Wright's topic in For Sale
Absolutely fab car and the 1400ss was the first caterham I ever drove - a test drive from the showroom on the hill. I got there early on a saturday morning as they were opening (pre-booked) and they just chucked me the keys and said see you later. Just a thought - is the 1400ss 130bhp when the 1600ss is supposed to be 135bhp? -
Yes I do think it might be a red herring!
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And thus the diagonal down from it must be further forward as well?
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Thanks, that's very interesting and a great picture! I just went into the garage and re-looked. As it happens I also have a twincam just sat there as well. With a very rough measure, the gubbins on the front of the BDR sits about 2cm further forward than the equivalent on the twincam. In my BDR installation there's about 1cm clearance between the aforementioned gubbins and the diagonal chassis member in front of the engine. So it wouldn't have fitted if the engine hadn't been located an inch further back in the chassis (sorry for the mix of units!). Makes me wonder (again) how a BDR normally fits!
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Thanks all, I'll investigate further and see what the delta is to remove.
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A quick update here. I've put the speedo drive (pictured above) loaned to me by Robert in with the gearbox on the bench. With my drive, after a day or two there's a distinct blob of oil on the end. With Robert's it's dry as a bone after 3 days. So it looks like I have found the issue. However, the diameter of both is pretty much identical. Very confusing. But on the basis that you can't get new drives, I suspect I'll have to live with the leak. Maybe it won't be as bad as it was with the old oil seal.
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I'm fitting my new bolt on upper link kit to my LA 7 - removing the use of the old arb to locate the top link. It uses the normal front arb arrangement with the balls on the end of the arb going into "sockets" on the new bolt on top links. The balls won't go in to their sockets though. I assume it's the powder coating that's the problem. The question is what to relieve? Sand the balls or the inside of the sockets? I think I remember in the past seeing front arb balls with a circumferential (is that a word?) flat ground around them to get round this problem. Or will the powder coat get worn off anyway in use, so then the balls would get loose if the diameter was reduced slightly. Thanks Graham
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Interesting. One of my outstanding jobs is to compare the distance between the engine mount holes on the chassis and the gearbox mount. I have a long cockpit LA Caterham to compare to. I'm still working on the assumption that the engine had to be moved back an inch to fit in for some reason. I must remember to do that to try and see what's what. They certainly went to a lot of effort to fabricate a new gearbox mount arrangement to get an extra inch!
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I have done this and I removed enough rivets to get the panel off behind (sharp drills, care and patience are required as described, but it's not a had thing to do). Then I could get a dolly inside and a nice curved face hammed on the outside. New rivnuts and I was good to go. Take care with re-riveting as the rivet gun can slip and scratch as it breaks the rivet mandrel off. I often cheat as I have an air riveter which is so easy!
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It may have been you Nick who recommended them to me in the first place. So here's the latest. I phoned Kev to buy a slimline hi torque starter for my BDR. The standard one that has the big lump on the side doesn't work in my BDR as the side lump (sorry for the non techy description) ends up hanging down too low. So he contacted Powerlite and worked out the appropriate one with them. Then he phoned me back and told me the model, but that Powerlite were out of stock and would be for some time. Fair enough I thought. But he had gone on ebay and found an ebay supplier for me to buy it from - which I then did. So I now have the perfect starter courtesy of Kev and he got nothing from it all, other than my recommendations on threads like this!
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Thanks, that looks great, the 1" hole was about what I was thinking. It's a bit more of a challenge doing it to a fully built car as access to the inside is very limited, but I'll get there!
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Thanks!
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Is it also possible to be the speedo drive oil seal? Perhaps you can trace where the gearbox is wet with oil to be sure if the source? In front of the drip or behind it.
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I can thoroughly recommend Burghfield Starter and Alternator Centre they are excellent
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Message sent!
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ooo, fab, thanks guys. Yes it looks like mine is a different iteration, maybe slightly newer to use the standard S3 arbs with the ping pong ball ends. Guy, I assume that's a rebuild? Is it possible to convert to lower spherical bush rather than trunnions? Sounds a step too far for me at the moment, but interesting to note. I've got new trunnions to fit which will have oil rather than grease in them! If it's possible to get dimensions of the oval cutout, the distance down from the top and the distance from the front that would be great.
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I thought I would look at the bolt on top link kit for my BDR that I got from Redline.... I'm not entirely sure about how it goes! Does the mounting bracket for the new top link sit behind the upright it bolts to or in front? I am now assuming behind as it the new top link isn't long enough otherwise. If so, is there a template anywhere for the hole to be cut in the aluminium? Then secondly, how is the new link attached to the old link, is there a rubber bush between the two as it doesn't slide fully in?:
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Interesting re the spinning John , I looked at it on the bench, turned the input shaft clockwise (looking from the front, that's right isn't it?) and decide the spiral was moving oil down. I'll look again!
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Thanks Robert, it'll be interesting to compare
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That sounds a great idea, but I can't see how as the recess is only big enough for one.
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Here's my drive. It's not at all obvious to me why there should be oil seepage with a new oil seal. The witness mark from the oil seal lip isn't particularly bad. In a week standing on the bench there is a small amount of visible oil dripped off and an obvious drip forming on the end of the drive so it definitely looks to be leaking between the drive spindle and the seal. I'll try Robert's spare (thanks!) and see if it makes a difference. I can measure the diameters as well to see if there's a difference, but I doubt it. I haven't worked out whether the spiral delivers oil down when the drive is turning or whether it takes oil back up. IF it delivers oil when spinning it'll definitely make the leak worse in use which is what I have seen.
