Englishmaninwales

Powdercoat fell off ages ago, now only painted. In my ignorance I thought NDT was X-ray testing....Thanks for the replies Malcolm

Ian My de dion tube and ears. (the latter after seeing Dannyboy's broken dedion ear at Oulton). No visible cracks, but I wanted to make sure! Malcolm

*arrowup*

Anybody know of a crack testing firm in N Wales, Wirral, Cheshire area? (Metal crack testing as opposed to white powder testing 😬) Malcolm

Shortened mine with an angle grinder......easy if in the car, just be careful of all those red hot filings and the fuel lines. Malcolm

Maybe Caterham should be doing this? e.g. as they did with the R clips last year or the steering problem on the 21. That would, of course, get them to admit to the problems. Please understand this is not an anti Caterham posting, I'm just concerned about our safety. Malcolm

I racked my brains, but I must admit I cannot think of a use for a broken secondhand DeDion tube......... . Possibly for beating the car to death when it won't work? Any ideas? (and have a BTTT on me Malcolm

Removed my rear wings yesterday after 2 weeks of WD40 applications, and all the rivnuts held fast in the skin, except one. Either I'm lucky or the WD40 makes a difference *thumbup* Malcolm

Yesterday, starting my Winter overhaul of the rear suspension, I found the near side radius arm forward chassis bolt not only loose, but about 1/3 out. This was last checked for torque on the 13th October before a track day. Scared the cr@p out of me . Luckily, I have barely used the car since then. I did a search on blatchat, only to find this is a reasonably well known problem, particularily associated with the upper threaded bush. I also found the bolt was not marked 12.9, and was of a type changed by Caterham a few years ago (my car is a '94 chassis). It seems there have been a number of failures of this bolt. I was unaware of any of this prior to yesterday. There has recently been alot on Blatchat about the different DeDion tubes and the risk of failure for each type. I must admit that I owned the car for a year before I knew anything about these failures. Got me thinking.....as one does after a cold sweat..... maybe the collective knowledge of Blatchat could create a list of the well known critical failures and mandatory checks that a new (or even new-ish in my case) Caterham owner should be aware of, whether they service their own car or not. This could, dare I suggest, be a sticky on the Tech Talk forum...... Any views? No doubt there are good legal reasons against doing this.... Malcolm Edited by - englishmaninwales on 4 Dec 2005 22:47:24

Don't assume this is a head gasket failure.....This may be due to a leak from the water rail to head joint adjacent to the No4 primary. The coolant runs along the head gasket joint to the front of the engine and then drips off. This happens as a result of the water rail fixing bolts being too long and bottoming out. The joint then does not seal properly. Partly drain coolant remove bolts and water rail. Shorten the bolts and refit with a new gasket, and refill coolant. Happened to me, DVA gave me this tip just before I removed the cylinder head Malcolm

Or bump steer ?

Grant Please add my name to the ZF list Thanks Malcolm Hickey

Cut the screen to scuttle seal on the new screen AFTER fitting to the car. Malcolm

Hi Dave After much deliberation, the ZF. How your car fixing after its visit to those big green and white cushions at Trac Mon? Malcolm

Grant YHM Malcolm

*thumbup*Thanks for the respones. Any more views?

A nice starter car on eBay with 3hrs to go: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1997-CATERHAM-BLUE-1400cc_W0QQitemZ4587792777QQcategoryZ29750QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Looks in good shape, plenty of scope to upgrade! malcolm

Going to buy an LSD in the BB, but I just don't know .... Quaife or ZF? Help please!!!! Malcolm Unmodified 1800 Supersport

Dave, no joke, I'm a definite, I just don't know whether ZF or Quaife.....help! malcolm

Andy *thumbup* Malcolm

5mm.......

My son, Alastair has 2 Female Leopard Geckos complete with tank, lamp and heat pad. Free to a good home and instruction on care. Willing to deliver to N Wales, Cheshire and Shropshire. Malcolm

David YHM Malcolm

Richard said: 'I've done OK in class 2 this year..........' Understatement of the year, I think 😬 😬 Malcolm