Mike Bees

They seem to have a rather random uncalibrated drive-by test at Combe too. I've been thrown off for 'failing' it, despite the assertion of many spectators on the day that my car was nowhere near the loudest. Mike

My basic understanding of how gearboxes work is that they are manned by tiny little red and green pixies. I suspect that some of the red ones have found their way forward into the bell-tank-housing and are trying to escape via the conning tower. Clever little blighters. Mike

If the ZF LSD supply is about to dry up then what are Caterham going to use instead as (a) the 'standard' off-the-shelf solution, and (b) (if different to (a)) for the race cars? Mike

Nice one Dave I'm sure there's > 250bhp in there waiting to be liberated... Mike

How much is a 'layer' Nig? Too much to have been created by oil vapour? Mike

Have fun with it! Mike

If it's the Quiafe ATB then it's all done by gears so no additive required. Mike

"ex P7DHC ☹️" ???

Thanks Ammo. I guess tumble & swirl help to promote good even cylinder filling. I've got some graphs of measured tumble & swirl for a stock K-series head somewhere... not that they make much sense to me. I wonder how it's measured? Anyway, I'll stop hijacking your thread now. Mike

"Two inlet ports per cylinder, one round and one square" - what are the techie reasons for this Ammo? Mike

As far as I can tell the 539 is just a minor rework (tread pattern) of the A520/A510. Both of those used to be as good as anything else in list 1A, until the S-02s came (and then went). I suspect the 720s are slightly better. Mike

Pending some investigations tomorrow my offer is withdrawn, so these are still up for grabs and a free BTTT. I may be back... Mike

Thanks Lawrence. Mike

Can anyone tell me how much tread you have to wear off to get to the wear markers on a new ACB10? And how much there is to go from the wear markers to completely smooth? Ta. Mike

Rears orig cost £260, 1/2 worn -> £130 Fronts orig cost £240, 1/3rd worn -> £160 Total: £290. I'll offer £300 including p&p. Mike

Hopefully Adam's car will turn out to be a Caterham version of this beast here. It's an impressive machine. Mike

And if it was changed then surely it was a damaged or otherwise defective belt... Edited by - Mike Bees on 8 Feb 2005 15:47:52

CC - could it just be that the engine is moving on its mounts enough to cause some chassis contact somewhere, e.g. between bellhousing or gearbox and a chassis member? Mike

"...1/4" fibreglass, I cut it to shape but couldn't get it to bend properly without putting stress fractures in it" - have you tried heating it up? Probably not the best material for the job though, since it'll probably flex/fracture when it scrapes over a speed bump. Mike

If they have to be one-piece ali then these at the bottom of this page here. If you're allowed ali 3-piece then MOG racing do some very nice ones here (also available from UK importer Fluke Motorsport here. No connection with any of the above, or anything at all really... Mike

Rotational inertia of the pulley is *much* less than that of the flywheel because it's so much smaller. Not much point in balancing the pulley on it's own since it's so poorly located that it's centre of rotation will almost certainly be different when mounted on the crank than when mounted on the balancing machine. Difficult to balance on it's own anyway since it actually mounts on the cam belt pulley which in turn mounts on the crank. Location of the front pulley is the thing which prevents the whole crank assembly from being balanced to the nth degree, since just unbolting it and bolting it back on can result in very measurable unbalance variations - so don't believe any BS from a balancing 'expert' telling you they can balance the whole assembly to a few gmm, 'cos it's just not repeatable. Rant over... Oh meant to say... the damper is the rubber insert which isolates the inner section of the pulley from the outer. The standard pulley does the alternator and dry sump (utilising the otherwise redundant power steering pump drive part of the pulley), whilst the cambelt is driven via a toothed pulley which is sandwiched between the front pulley and the crank. Another way of gearing down your alternator is to get a bigger pulley for it (and a longer belt). Mike Edited by - Mike Bees on 3 Feb 2005 13:49:50

But if you do unload a wheel such that it spins in the air then a big shock load is put through the transmission when it re-lands and regains traction. This is given as a reason for Suretrak-equipped race cars breaking their gearboxes when kerb-hopping (one reason why all the race cars switched back to a plate-type). Mike

"So a dry sump is recommended on a K to combat the problem in a Caterham installation?" Absolutely. This isn't news - it's always been the case if you're going to run on the track especially with grippy tyres. I'm not convinced that an Apollo on it's own is sufficient, I would dry sump every time (with any engine). Mike

I remember that when Roger King built my engine he stressed how important it was to measure the clearances with the head torqued down and cams/cam carrier in situ, i.e. how it would be when you turn the key. I get mine close with the head torqued down and the cams laying in place (no cam carrier), then bolt the cam carrier down/remeasure/remove cam carrier/adjust shims/repeat etc. Mike

Rob - an airbox is a separate issue to an air filter. Various options: 1) No airbox, backing plate mounted to TBs/horns with sausage-style air filter clipped to backing plate. 2) Airbox which encloses the above. 3) Airbox which encloses the horns with air filter at the entry to the airbox (or remote from the airbox via a pickup pipe). People usually fit airboxes for 2 reasons: 1) So they can pipe cold air (or have the airbox mouth outside the bonnet to pick up cold air - looks rather Carlos Fandango). 2) To pass drive-by noise tests (takes away most of the induction noise). Mike