Mick Day

OK Bruce I'll mention a lightened flywheel - yes nice to have but not essential. However again the engine has to come out if you later decide you want one. A standard flywheel can be lightened by about 2 kg's, without weakening it, however only have it done by someone who knows what they are doing.

Standard 6 x 13" will be OK for 205/60/13.

Edited by - Mick Day on 14 Nov 2007 10:43:15

Bruce You may need to shorten your gearbox input shaft. I had to do this when I swapped my 1994 1.4 for a 1.6 back in 2000. It all depends on what spigot bearing arrangement there is in the R300 crank compared to your present crank. There is somewhere in the dim & distant Low Flying past (1996??) an article describing how Caterham had a Black & Decker drill in a jig for drilling the cranks of early K series to fit the standard input shaft of a Ford gearbox. Maybe someone has a copy? If it helps I do have some pics of my shortened input shaft (with a measure alongside) plus some comparison pics of other shafts (for a Rover clutch). Shortening the shaft is not difficult with an angle grinder. As far as the clutch is concerned I would personally change it, however have a look at the lining & see how far it's worn. The pressure plate will probably be OK but weigh up the inconvenience of having to take the engine out again if it's not.

They're probably both wrong! I get the same with my SPA & GEMS. It doesn't really matter.

New filter housing is a good idea as it allows for a banjo fixing onto the housing which is neater & keeps the hose out of the way. However when I did mine I used the existing housing, only moving to a new housing when I fitted the Pace dry sump system.

Colin £20 inc P & P Mick

I have a pair of 13" front wings in yellow. Have been used so some star cracks etc & were bolted in position.

Hi Roger The pipe returns to the tank, inside the tunnel, & is the fuel tank breather. There is a 1 way valve fitted close up to the tank. So remove the charcoal canister & either pull the breather pipe out or leave it in place as I did. If the pipe is removed fix up a tank breather as per these instructions here. There should be an electrical connector on the canister which goes to the ECU (this controls how & when the canister purges). Just wire-tye the cable to something suitable or if you want to be brave follow the wire back to the ECU & snip it off at this end. There should also be a pipe which runs from the canister to the inlet manifold/filter somewhere. Remove this & blank off at the manifold end & you're done. The idle bypass valve is the next thing to be junked. Mick Edited by - Mick Day on 2 Nov 2007 13:30:56

I used a length of bamboo. Ty wrap one end to the wiper motor bracket & the other end to the steering column.

I agree; I have a dual oil/water temp. gauge.

1/8 BSP is v v similar to 1/8 NPT. Do Think do 1/8 NPTto M12x1.5 adapter? Other option is to get a flexible hose ( 15cm in length?) made up, which fits to the M12x1.5 on the filter housing, & terminates with 1/8 BSP. This then allows you to mount the sender remotely away from vibration & possible damage. Think will do this for you as they've done for many a K series owner.

Thanks Kev: too much speed reading. AP discs quite expensive, over £100 a pop. However advice still holds but at this level I'd be looking at Pagid front & back. Still worth giving Performance Braking Ltd a ring.

Front discs & calipers come from Triumph Spitfire. Rear discs are the same but with Ford Sierra calipers. If not doing too many track days stay with the Spifire calipers & invest in some Mintex 1144 front pads; leave the rear pads as they are. When changing to new pads scour & clean the discs to remove the surface pad debris. Garnet paper is the favourite but I've used wire brushes along with any other abrasive paper I've got to hand. You need to be quite vicious when doing this; it's hard work so consider new discs as they're about £15 a pop. If you want to shell out a lot more money then invest in some Pagid pads front & rear. Maybe RS15 front & RS14 rear. New discs should be mandatory. If your track day habit bites then invest in some Alcon 4 pot front calipers from James Whiting. These retain the cheap front discs & work v well with Pagid pads. A good source for pads & advice is Performance Braking Ltd 01600 713117.

History of Hewland gearboxes here. No mention of Renault but plenty mention of VW.

Have a look here

*wavey*Hi Angus, welcome back to the fold. When your 1st car was built (& certainly my 1994 car) the floor would have been fixed with alloy rivets. It's well worth asking for a thicker floor fixed with steel rivets. I don't think CC are too keen on having the engine bay interior powder coated as some customers have complained about the side skins getting a little wrinkly. The black absorbes heat rather than reflecting it. I had both the above done when I rebuilt my car & haven't noticed any wrinkles. One additional advantage of the powder coating is that it puts an additional layer between the steel of the chassis & the aluminium. It's also easier to keep clean. Mick

here & here for chapter & verse.

Also check the rear A/R bar drop links as the joints wear & can cause odd noises.

*idea*Stu If only we'd had your info in 2000, it would have saved a lot time. Edited: whoops wrong name. Edited by - Mick Day on 28 Sep 2007 18:07:31

I had my 1994 1.4 converted in 2000. Difficult then as few people were willing to share things. I did it the hard way with a complete doner engine plus TB's & a new GEMS ECU. No sweat today but little things like different injection cycles & the need for a new coil floored us for a while. So any engine block will do but it'll need fettling to fit the starter motor plus a little fettling to clearance the Apollo tank hoses etc. *nono*You'll need a new coil that bolts to the side of the engine block. EDITED to say you don't need to change the coil if using the 1.4 ECU. Retain the 1.4 flywheel so you can use the original ECU. A 1.8 Rover flywheel will not fit the bellhousing. There are probably just as many 1.6's out there as 1.8's. My conversion was to a 1.6 but if doing today I'd go straight to a 1.8. Apart from a little bit more go you'll have the good basis for even more go when you decide to uprate. Mines now 1.9 with a DVA modified VVC head. By the way if you decide to go the VVC route, & run the VVC mechanism, you'll need the loom (& ECU) to run it. If you have a "standard" 1.4 head then just swap out the cams for your SS ones. The new engine may come with a fuel rail & injectors but I think the 1.4 injectors will be OK. You'll need the Caterham sump & oil pick-up. As you mention you'll need to enlarge the fixing holes. Cutting the bit off the end of the gearbox input shaft is not difficult (good excuse to buy an angle grinder). You'll also need to fit a spigot bearing & sleeve to the crank. Available for pence from CC. I could of moved my 1.4 on in 2000 & bought something else but hey my car is my car & like you said where's the fun in doing it the easy way. Edited by - Mick Day on 28 Sep 2007 16:33:18

Keith My notes say 4 turns = 1 deg. -1.5 to -2.5 deg camber for radials & -0.5 deg for crossplies is about right. Mick

And once all the oil has been pumped into the engine the resulting hydraulic lock may bend/break other components. Edited by - Mick Day on 19 Sep 2007 18:01:09

Shaun Interesting result. My spec from DVA is almost identical, except my TB's are on a manifold & it uses a GEMS ECU. The 2 Steve's got 227BHP & 164ft/lbs out of it. Agree with you on the drivability. When taking friends for a ride they're really impressed with the acceleration. Even more so when I tell them it's rare to change out of 6th!. Mick

Strange that as CC have a set in their parts counter display. Edited by - Mick Day on 14 Sep 2007 17:18:39