Mike Bees

40kg according to this: http://www.se7ens.net/archive/sevens.w3archive/200002/msg00185.html Mike

...but isn't your new box going to be somewhat lardier still? Mike

Ah - I read that as the dog box being 'at 32kg'. Ho hum. Mike Edited by - Mike Bees on 4 Dec 2000 09:23:02

The longer the better Tony (as far as mid-range torque is concerned). Mike

I found that the 4-pot AP fronts gave a much better feel than the Sierra 2-pots, although it's possible that this could have been achieved just through pad selection. The RoadSport race cars run the standard 2-pot fronts so they must be up to the job. Mike

Dave - "4 speed quaife dog box is approx 12 kg lighter than a 5/6 speed box at 32 kg" - 6 speed box is lighter still, 29.5kg with some (not much) oil in it. Mike

4.25". Specifying 'Ford' (or 'De Dion' if you're looking specifically for Caterham sourced wheels) will probably do. Mike

Sorry Julian, no idea if this is possible (or whether there would be any benefit if you've already got the Sierra-based rear calipers/disks). You will need a handbrake for an MOT though (unless you have a very friendly MOT place...) so you need rear calipers which can be cable-operated. Mike

I've used a Red Top 25 all year with no probs. Not done many road miles, but I suspect that trailering the car to a sprint every other weekend where it gets lots of starts and only a few minutes running is probably harder on the battery than road use. It's never needed any extra-curricular charging. Mike

Eh? All roadgoing Superlights come with the AP front brakes and a standard master cylinder. A front hub/upright assembly complete with AP caliper and vented disk (no pads) weighed 8.888kg (as near as dammit :) when I built my car. Mike

Tony - yes it is most definitely true. If you think about it it must be. E.g. you don't have to reprogram the ECU when you change a cars battery. E.g. when you buy a kit from Caterham the ECU loom connector is on the engine loom which is attached to the engine which is separate from the chassis - the ECU is sitting in the chassis not attached to anything. If the ECU is losing settings when it's power source is removed then it's faulty. Mike

Difficult to see from the picture, but they look like the split rim Superlight-R wheels. 'Best' option is to go straight for the Mike Barnby/R500 wheels. There was a set of 5 with brand new Avons going for offers over 1000ukp in the latest Low Flying... Mike

The ECU doesn't rely on the battery to keep it's settings. You should find that with the ignition switched off it's not seeing any battery power at all. Mike

The ECU won't reset the rev limit every time power is connected to it - otherwise you'd need to reprogram it every time you switch the ignition on. It would seem to be a helluva pain to have to carry your laptop around to reprogram the rev limit every time you want to use the car. Removing the ECU would be seem a better option, or something smaller like the fuel pump relay (if that's possible) or even just a fuse or two. Mike

Against them, I've heard that they move the load point to a more vulnerable part of the spine (closer to the skull?). Mike

What do you think of these foam "neck brace" things that people wear Simon? I hear mixed opinions. Mike

Alex - they work fine in a K-series smile.gif Mike

Given that Tony's engine is only mildly tweaked (a Supersport with bodies I think?) I would have thought that race plugs are a bit over the top - if they work then fine but they're quite pricy IIRC. Roadgoing VHPDs use Champion C6YCC, I've used these in my rather-more-tweaked engine and they've been fine. They're cheap. Mike

You wouldn't be able to fit an R500 exhaust can onto the SLR manifold (at least not without some butchery). It'll be much noiser too (which could be a problem depending which track days you pick). You could fit the complete R500 system although the engine won't be mapped for it, and it'll make more difference to the weight of your wallet than anything else. Mike

Ummmm.... Wondering what to say that will contribute usefully to the thread. Whether it's a K-series or a Vauxhall or a Zetec or whatever, it's a good generalisation to say that the higher the specific output (bhp per litre) the more often the engine will need rebuilding. To get high bhp per litre you need high rpm. It's rpm that wears things out. 100bhp per litre isn't particularly extreme and is achievable (on a modern 16 valver) without using extreme rpm. Specific engines have specific problems. K-series is prone to oil starvation if you don't dry sump it. Zetecs seem to be prone to similar problems with some 3rd party shallow sumps (quite a few kit cars have "done" their Zetec big ends). Vauxhalls have problems with porous heads. Standard parts for all 3 engines are relatively cheap. Tuning parts for Vx are probably cheaper then for K-series or Zetec. I suspect that tuning parts for K-series are cheaper than for Zetec given the quantity of production. Mike

Piece of plastic tube taped to a funnel. It helps a *lot* if you heat the oil first - it's much runnier! Mike

Andy, Not a bad idea to use a mineral oil for running in (it certainly won't do any harm), but I would try to find something that copes with cold better than a 20W, especially given that it's now winter. A 10W-40 would be much better. For an explanation of oil grades take a look at: http://www.brakehorsepower.com/speedtrap/engineoil_bible.html Mike

http://race-technology.com/WebPage/Products/CHARGERS/ChargersMain.html Mike

EB - Graham's car sports an all-steel 1700 xflow (possibly the best sounding one I've ever heard). It revs to well over 9000rpm. That real enough for you? smile.gif Mike

>> I think the person brave enough to pilot it should have a nice headstone chosen!<< Keys please [:0] 55k having it turbo-charged? They must have seen him coming! I saw the Tetra-Pak car being built in the factory. Len Unwin pointed it out to me and explained that they were going to make it *really* difficult to get the bonnet off, but eventually when you did all the fluids would splurge out it all directions... Mike