magnusfeuer

I've successfully managed to replace the stock submerged injection pump, that dies at approx 250 HP, with an externally mounted beefier pump. Anyone thinking about going the same route can have a look at the last post in the following thread. here (Yes, I am whoring our club site.) There are links to pictures in the post. /Magnus F.

Ken, If you want some Caterham time, give me a call. I'd be happy to let you have my car for a day. If you can live with the 5500 RPM rev limiter, that is. I am working so much right now so that the car is sitting in the garage unused, releasing a drip of oil in sadness every now and then. /Magnus F.

EFA: The bushes being overtightened, thus "pinched" in place is the only theory apart from a production problem that I can think of. How would a frozen rear joint affect the stresses on the arm? Is this a frozen joint even likely? /Magnus F.

Tony, I actually think it was the rear that failed first. If you look at the front tubing, it seems like it has been twisted off its bush. This would happen if the rear mount snapped and then the entire wishbone rotated as the rear end was pushed upward by the weight by the car. The rotating action then twisted off the front mounting. The crud inside the front mount was asphalt picked up during our skidding. /Magnus F.

Ok, I've spoken to the owner, who gave his permission to post the pictures: here Feel free to post comments by clicking on "Comment" under each picture. I have more pictures in a higher resolution. For those who wants it all, surf to: here and open the file in winzip. /Magnus F.

Gert, This was not Brad's car. I'll lie low with owner info until he has cleared things on his end. /Magnus F.

I was in the car when it happened. We were doing approx 30 mph when we braked moderatly ahead of a dip in the road. Before we hit the dip, at about 15mph, the left lower wishbone collapsed, and we skidded to a halt about 100 ft further down the road. The rear arm snapped straight off, leaving the bush in place in its frame mounting with a approx 1 cm of wishbone tubing protuding from the bush/wishbone weld. The front wishbone tubing encasing the front bush opened up and released from the bush, which was left in place on the front end of the car. I cannot tell if the front or the rear arm failed first. Once the failure was complete, the entire front wheel assembly rotated 180 degrees counterclockwise, probably due to the torque induced during braking, and snapped off the stock Bilstein shock. The rest of the car's travel to a full stop occured on the fender, marking our progress with a green streak on the road. The upper wishbone was left intact since the upper balljoint pivoted in the threading normally used to adjust camber. During the rotation, the lower wishbone said hello to the aluminium skin and more or less shredded it. There were no personal injuries, and we were extremely lucky since I had been test driving the car at speed on the highway just 30 minutes earlier. As far as I could see on site, the tubular framing was not warped. Since the (aluminum) oil pan took a part of the impact when the car went down, we must check that the pan is OK and that the engine mounts survived the shock. I'd like to emphasise that there was no extreme driving involved in this. We were driving in a residential area to pinpoint a weak spot in the mapping when the collapse occured. The tires were stock Avons (ZV1?) on Catehram's 16" wheels, which guarantees that no excessive forces were in play since they are quite slippery. After I have talked to Caterham USA, and if the owner agrees, I'll post pictures of the incident on the California Caterham Club site. Until then, I've removed the link I mailed yankeedoodoo from the site. /Magnus F. Edited by - magnusfeuer on 28 Feb 2005 03:17:51

Yes. The wideband oxygen (lambda) sensor lets me monitor the air/fuel ratio as I drive. It currently gives 0.88 at idle, which is maybe a tad rich, but should be OK. Transient fuelling is another issue. This is the ECU equivalent to the accelation pump on a carb. I've tried different settings to no avail. I am thinking that maybe advancing the ignition would help. /Magnus F.

Here is a mapping question from California. I have a Zetec that always had a lousy blip throttle response from idle. Higher up it is OK. I've added a supercharger, (www.californiacaterhamclub.com/gallery), but this problem existed before it was installed. When I blip the throttle I can hear a sharp intake of air through the throttle body, but it takes about 0.2 seconds for the engine to respond. I run a Pectel T6 (with a wide band O2 sensor) equipped with a home brewed map. The engine idles just fine and nice. I've played with transient fueling at different levels with different ramps, to no avail. The only way to get a better throttle response from idle is to run it so rich that it starts to smoke (Lambda at 0.80) and sound like a Harley. Not really an altenative. I haven't messed with this lately, so the details (such as idle valve management, etc) are a bit hazy. If this topic raises any interest, I'd be happy to dive into it again. Thanks! /Magnus F. magnus.feuer@californiacaterhamclub.com

I actually ordered my six speeder with a 3.38 ZD LSD after long discussions with Caterham USA. The reasoning behind this is that I want to lower the RPM on the highway, and that my supercharged Zetec has enough low-end torque to take on the lowered ratio. Dear God, let this prediction be true. /Magnus F.

The clutch may just have stuck, which may happen sometimes while a car is in storage. Try to driver around the block with the clutch down while braking and throttling at the same time. Unless you are very well equipped, some to and heal action may be the right thing to do here. The idea is to induce as much torque as possible into the clutch pack to encourage it to let go. If five minutes of this doesn't help, you have a mechanical problem. /Magnus F.

I am by no means a gearbox expert, but I have encountered the same problems as the original poster with the same box. Here is my theory: The large rev-drop between first and second gear on the standard T9-box, in combination with a standard flywheel makes the 1-2 gear change hellishly slow and heavy. The synch rings in the gearbox will have to work very hard to spin all the right parts up the speed in order to engage the second gear. This is due to the large ratio difference between 1 and 2 in combination with an engine that, due to its heavy flywheel, just does not want to rev down "to meet" the second gear. I've just ordered the ultimate solution to this problem: a Caterham six speeder with a 3.38 diff. /Magnus F.

Hello, A good while back now, I upgraded my 2002 SV from the stock Zetec ECU to a Pectel T6 unit (from Pi) together with a new harness. Everything went fine apart from the annoying fact that the tacho died. The control-lights (high beam, etc) are still operational, but that's it. The signal gets all its way to the tacho, so that problem is out of the way. When I remove the gauge and pop the rubber plug, I am not greeted with the expected 6 dip switches, but rather a single plastic protusion that has two metal leads in its sides. I've dabbed a bit with electornics, but cannot for my life figure out what this is. The connector has 8 pins arranged in a 4x2 pattern. Caerbont, who manufactured the unit according to a sticker on it, could not provide any help on their website. Three questions: 1. Is it possible to configure this tacho at all for different signals? 2. Does anyone have the pin configuration for the 8 pin connector? 3. What's up with the little plastic thingy under the rubber plug? Thanks! /Magnus F. Off for a high desert blat to celebrate 4:th of July!

If you are just visiting USA, you can bring your vehicle over for up to one year according to the DOT. If you are moving here, it depends on which state you are going to. Different states have different rules. /Magnus F.

Hmmm. Probably wrong then... I'll go back and check my numbers. /Magnus F.