Mick Day

The R500 dry sump system has a relatively small oil tank & in some circumstances it may run low on oil. There were also concerns it would not properly de-airate the oil. Hence the small Apollo to remove air & add oil capacity. Edited by - Mick Day on 6 Nov 2009 09:33:13

The clue is the "R" in the plug designation. here

I think you should check the effectiveness of your scavenge pump. The oil level is checked at tick-over however at higher revs it could be that not enough oil is being returned to the oil tank. This is then exacerbated when braking when the oil moves to the front of the tank exposing the pick-up.

Hi Paul Glad to hear that you have had the same success as me. My little Magneton fires the engine whether hot or cold again & again & again & again. However I will temper that with the following: 1. I've taken the MFU out of the equation. 2. Every 3 years or so I replace the wiring to the starter. 3. Use a good quality relay of at least 30 amps. Replace every 3 years. 4. If you have a master cut-out switch throw it away as they are another source of problems. Seriously the standard mechanical master cut-out switch can be reliable but it does need replacing on a regular basis. Maybe worth investing in one of the electronic ones??

This happened to me at the end of a Dijon track day during a Le-Sept many years ago. It was a hot day in summer & the car had been driven to the track. It taught me that an impaired earth will prevent ALL electrics. If you have one then put a multi-meter across the battery & measure the voltage. Next measure the voltage from the +ve terminal of the battery to bare metal on the engine. Finally measure the voltage from the +ve terminal of the battery to bare metal on the chassis. The voltages should be the same. If not you will have an earth problem. And perversly even with the voltages being the same you may still have poor engine/chassis earths................. .........So unbolt the engine earths & ensure there is bright metal contact from battery to engine & engine to chassis. 3 to check in total.

1st thing is check your earth connections to the engine & report back.

Oliver Your 1st paragraph is only true if designing/building an engine from scratch. The minor maintenance of a distributor cap/rotor arm is small beer in the scheme of things. However if building a new engine & your ECU supports wasted spark.......

Always a good idea to look in the for sale section 1st: here

1 quart (US) = 0.95 litres. So whether it's a dry fill or a change you'll need 2 bottles.

Take out the filler plug, place a suitable container under the drain plug & remove the drain plug. Measure what comes out then you will know how much needs to go back in. For a completely dry fill you may require up to 2 litres. I have never managed this with my 6 speed but others tell me they have. For an oil change you will probably need about 1.25 litres.

70w80 GL4 spec oil. A lot of us use Redline MTL in the 6 speed.

Stuart The drain plug on the Apollo should have a bonded (Dowty washer) seal as illustrated here. Can't remember the exact size but I'm sure Darren at CC will be able to advise. Mick

Just as Harry has said there is plenty of ventilation around the front discs to make the vented fronts overkill. On the subject of cross-drilled discs: many Porsche discs are drilled & many an owner has had to replace disks well before their sell-by-date because of cracks around the holes.

If you give Think Auto a ring they will probably be able to tell you.

It might be worth while changing your expansion bottle cap. They do fail & release at a lower pressure.

Just measured mine! ....... 64mm. Mine also says Kyosho underneath, made in China! Uses 3 in 1 oil: or should I use Singer sewing machine oil?

And they're still sitting in my garage.

Yep have both old, used, unbroken, nearside & offside mounts in my garage.

I've got one......I think - from a 1994 K series. Horsham. Mobile 07860-893545 I'll pop out to the garage to check

2 bar at idle & 4 bar when driving.

You didn't mention the circlip that holds the bearing in place. I assume you had to remove & replace it?

Please, please, please check with CC what warning lights you have. Although modern Fords may have oil level warning lights (probably only tell you when the level is well low)I would not have thought this would have been carried over to a Caterham installation. If you've broken an engine mount by whacking the sump then I would want to check all is OK inside. On a K series OP & WL sensors are rather vulnerable but not to sure where they are fitted on a Ford.

Another source of leaking is the inlet manifold gasket. Useful info on Angus & Tessa's site: here

“Show me a person who has never made a mistake and I'll show you someone who has never achieved much” Attributed to Joan Collins.

Having had a few WL sensors fail I'd be more inclined to check that 1st before thinking oil pump failure or blocked pick-up. However I have seen this happen when a Zetec sump was grounded pushing into the pick-up & partially blocking the flow. Wouldn't do any harm to drop the sump & check. However is it possible to temporarily fit a manual OP gauge just to check? A local garage should be able to do a quick check for piece of mind. Another thought is have you fitted the correct filter? Some OEM filters have valves inside but some pattern filters don't.