Mike Bees

Well it *shouldn't* - remember it's all stock roadcar stuff and none of them seem to do it. Mike

Not entirely the death of List 1A tyres - the HSA and Midland Hillclimb championships still mandate them. Given a choice I'd do those championships (because of the level of competition) despite having to use rock-hard rubber. As I see it the only downside of allowing List 1B is that you'll have to have super-expensive super-short-lifed A24 ACB10s to have a chance (all other things being anywhere near equal). Given that Caterham no longer supply cars on ACB10s, and given their price, and given that it's a pain for people to have 2 sets of wheels/tyres which require different camber settings, I'd say there was a case for excluding cross-ply tyres from List 1B (there that ought to cause some howls of protest ). Mike

The overrun cut-off is in just a setting in the ECU - when it sees throttle shut and revs over a certain number (generally 1400-1600 rpm IME) it just doesn't fire the injectors. It's purely a fuel-saving device (although it will also stop overrun backfires on a badly mapped system). There's not really anything to go wrong. When you say 'dropped the clutch' do you mean disengaged the clutch (i.e. like taking it out of gear)? This sounds like a problem with the idle air control valve. As with another thread that's going on at the moment ('lumpy idle with SS cams') it'd be worth disconnecting the IACV and see if it modifies the behaviour. Disconnect it while the engine is warm and idling happily and it'll then stay in a position to give enough air for a happy idle (tho' not when the engine is cold since it needs to be further open then). Mike

Way back when mine was a standard 1.6kSS it didn't idle badly, and didn't show any reluctance to drive smoothly at low rpm either. Sticky or faulty IACV is a good bet with these symptoms - try disconnecting it and see if that cures it. I suppose it's possible you've got a cam out by a tooth? Mike

1500rpm is about right for the fuel overrun-cutoff - although it's usually only noticeable when you're in gear on the overrun and the engine picks up a bit when the revs drop to below the cut-off point. Mike

345cc/min isn't that large - quite a few peeps are using 330s. I've run mine with 380s with no appreciable deterioration in idle quality. Mike

"I intend to keep it somewhere safe and hope that I don't need it" - best thing to do with most starter motors it would seem 😬 Mike

Good idea. Especially if it's for particpants and their supporters rather than idle chat about which F1 team/driver people like/hate. Mike

At the sort of trailer sizes we're interested in here a 4-wheel trailer is intrinsically *more* stable than a 2-wheel trailer - they're also affected a lot less by crosswinds and the buffeting you get when you pass an HGV or coach. BUT this isn't the same as saying that all 2-wheel trailers are intrinsically unstable. The only 2-wheel car trailer I've ever used was small, light, and a complete nightmare and yes I do know how to load a trailer. I'm sure there are good 2-wheel trailers which are ideal for a light load. You'd need a *big* towcar to safely pull 800-1000kg or so of car and trailer without brakes. And however big the towcar, the trailer will still try to overtake by any route (e.g. sideways) under hard braking - this will be greatly reduced if the trailer is braked. Oh, this was more in reply to Owelly's post than Mike's (which slipped in while I was typing this). Mike Edited by - Mike Bees on 9 Mar 2005 07:42:17

Just spotted this here. Looks like an absolute bargain surely? I expect they'll have sold by now... Mike

4-wheel is still harder to move about than 2, because to get the front wheels off the ground (when laden) it puts a huge weight on the jockey wheel. Mike

We had to take *lots* of advance out of my map when the engine grew from 1600 to 1700 - it was pinking all over the place (where it hadn't been as a 1600). So be a bit wary about using *any* K-series map. Anyone's 1900 map ought to be safe enough though. The MOT test is done with no load IIRC - if you add 15 degrees of advance under any amount of load then I think you can expect it to pink & possibly self-destruct pretty quickly... Mike

I wouldn't have any qualms about buying a Woodford trailer. 4-wheel trailers are *much* more stable - that's not to say that all 2-wheel trailers are bad but I've never experienced a 4-wheel trailer going into 'ever-increasing oscillation mode' they just seem to automatically settle down however (reasonably) hard you provoke them. OTOH a 2-wheel trailer is a lot easier to move around by hand because you can spin it on the spot without putting a massive load on the jockey wheel. The flipside to this is that a 2-wheel trailer can/will try to turn/roll away on any non-level surface where a 4-wheel will only roll if it's pointing near to up/down the slope. Mike

At least at £85 vs. £250+VAT for the (currently advertised) Brise one I can afford to replace it a few times. Mind you I said that about the £40 Magnetti-Marelli-like one which I've just ditched... A few other possibilites: here here I tried a Cambridge Motorsport one some years back (when it was priced closer to the Brise one) but it wouldn't fit - at that time CM were supplying Caterham with a bespoke adaptor plate which they couldn't let me have, so it was a case of 'on my head be it' (they agreed they'd take it back if I couldn't make it fit). Since they're now advertising it as a Caterham K-series fit on their website one might expect it to fit. Don't really like the idea of a 2-bolt fixing though. Since the original cheapy Caterham-supplied unit for the K is a Sierra-type (Pinto?) Magnetti-Marelli unit with a separate adaptor, one wonders whether any of the other (Ford) units which Brise sell would work with the adaptor for the Magnetti-Marelli. Mike

I suspect this depends on your intended usage. For hard track work insufficient camber will result in the outside edge of the tyre wearing away very quickly. I also suspect Mark already knows this, so he's probably asking "what's the recommended rear camber setting for a CR500". Mike

Bugger ☹️

Thanks Luke. Mike

"Just cacked my sump" *eek* I imagine I'd do the same if I saw the price of a magnesium sump... Mike

I couldn't stomach spending £250 on a starter motor so I've just replaced mine with a good old bad old Magnetron. It's quite compact, geared, and it whizzes the engine over nicely at 0 deg. C. I'm sure someone will be along shortly to tell me why they were considered unreliable and are no longer supplied by Caterham. £85.00 Mike

I'm preparing to take the tank out to have a 3rd go at stopping it from leaking around the pump gasket (maybe a new tank will cure it...). I've got the boot floor out and am a bit unhappy about the state of the myriad of pipes to & from the tank and the filler - most of them have got some serious cracks in them. So I'm trying to figure out the plumbing. Standing behind the back of the car facing forwards: 1 Left hand side, front face of tank near the top - low pressure return from the fuel rail/regulator? 2 Near the centre, top of tank - some sort of breather which connects to the filler pipe, purpose? 3 Immediately to the left of the filler pipe, a short pipe which connects to the filler pipe, purpose? 4 Top right hand side of filler pipe, a small-bore connection from which a pipe runs forward into the tunnel - does this go to the charcol filter (if fitted)? And if you remove the charcol filter should this be blocked or just vent to the air? 2 and 3 appear to be breathers, but I'm not sure of the point of having 3 breathers (4 is presumably a breather as well). I'm going to replace the cracked pipes - is there a better quality (longer lasting) material to use than the standed rubber-like stuff? While I'm on, does the electrical connector to the fuel pump just pull off or is there a catch/clip that needs to be tweaked? It's a bit hard to see down there... Mike

Phew!!! You need to find out why though, the bolts shouldn't be in shear. I'd at least check that the flywheel is making a nice even contact with all of the area on the crank that it's supposed to. Mike

☹️ Oh dear. I was only 3/4 serious... Mike

Broken crank??? Well it would be if you'd hit 86000rpm... Mike

Consider adding the dry sump option - it's much cheaper to do it now rather than later and pretty much essential for track use (although Dave Jackson/Hellier have developed a baffle for the wet sump which appears to work). I'd be interested to know which LSD they're going to supply! Mike

If the car is to be used for tuition/hire than it sounds as though it'll get used long & hard and probably abused (whether by accident or not) along the way too. For those reasons a stock engine makes a lot of sense - if it gets trashed it's only a few hundred quid to replace it. I'd go with a 6-speed box though (or a BGH 5-speeder), it'll feel much more like a race car than with the stock 5-speeder. The medium-term future is clearly Duratech - probably not the cheapest secondhand scrappy option at the moment but they'll get cheaper. If you're thinking of racing it then you really need to consider what series you're interested in since that will drive the answers to all the other questions. Mike