Shaun_E

It should be long enough to drop though the hole in boot floor - mines about 12" long too. Lots of people get petrol coming out of the breather on hard cornering (especially on track). The racers use a very long pipe which they run up the roll bar upright and then back down to the hole in the floor. This prevents petrol from escaping under cornering but also reduces the likelihood of petrol spilling in the event of a roll over.

Yellow SL #32

Edited by - Shaun_E on 7 Oct 2004 10:42:02

Cheers Oliver.

Yellow SL #32

Mark,

Thanks a lot - that all makes sense. If I have to take the hubs off for some other reason then I'll take you up on your offer.

Shaun

Yellow SL #32

In the process of stripping my car and will soon be taking the rear suspension off. My question is: will I need the 41mm socket for the hub nut or can I take the whole rear axle off without removing the hubs?

Reason for asking is that I haven't been able to source the socket.

Yellow SL #32

My old Saab 900 (1983 vintage) had a handbrake that operated on the front wheels.

Yellow SL #32

Peter - thanks for the offer. If I need some I'll let you know.

Cheers,

Shaun

Yellow SL #32

Have spoken to Stack who will repair for me (£50) or replace complete sensor and wiring (£105), neither of which I really want to do. They were kind enough to tell me which wires go in which pin position. The pins are 1 and 4 which have a capacitor across them so I could solder the wires to the legs of the capacitor. This would be an OK solution but not perfect.

I have checked on RS web site and found the connectors and the pins so will order them and give it a try.

Yellow SL #32

Thanks Will try them if Stack no help.

Yellow SL #32

Peter - thanks for the good news. I guess the capacitor is for noise suppression. I'll call Stack tomorrow and get them to send me some spares.

Cheers,

Shaun

Yellow SL #32

While pulling my car to pieces I have inadvertantly pulled the wire out of the connector for the wheel speed sensor. The connector is near the dashboard end of the cable and comes apart one way as a four pin plug. Unfortunatley I pulled the other side of the connector and the cable came out revealing a small capacitor and 2 blanking pins at the back of the connector and a pair of wires (1 white, 1 black). I will contact Stack tomorrow, but if anyone has any ideas on how I could fix this then please let me know.

Shaun

Yellow SL #32

Steve,

Thanks - will keep trying.

Shaun

Yellow SL #32

Trying to unplug all the wiring to get engine out and I can't separate the grey 14 pin connector on the RHS of the engine (drivers side). I can see one catch on it which can be held open but I still can't seem to get it apart.

Yellow SL #32

I put mine in front of the passenger seat as I thought it would be easier to reach. Most cars I have seen have them there. Mine is mounted across the car so has very little impact on the passenger either when getting in or once seated. Others mount them running fore-aft so that the passenger needs to have their legs either side - this might be necessary for larger extinguishers.

Yellow SL #32

There are 2 sizes of cycle wing 13"/14" and 15"/16". I am sure I saw a thread on here recently that even gave the radius of them. The rolling radius of 15" rims with low profile rubber and 13" with higher profile (185/70) is similar so you could swap between them if so desired.

My cycle wings with 13" wheels running 185/60 tyres fit very close to the tyres such that it is actually quite difficult to remove the wheel - a slightly taller tyre would probably not fit under them.

For maximium flexibility you could get the 15"/16" cycle wings but it might look a bit silly if you were to run the 13" wheels with lower profile tyres such as the 185/60 or the CR500 in 175/55.

I won't comment on tyres too much as I have only ever run A021Rs and now A048Rs. The 21s were great as an all round tyre but overheated on a dry track. I really like the 48s - have had no problems on the road and they were great at Brands last week. Also reasonably priced at £67 each.

Yellow SL #32

If you search this site for any of:

Powerspeed

Exhausts By Design (EBD)

Hayward and Scott

You will find discussions as to their various merits.

Yellow SL #32

Julian/Mark,

I am budgeting around £2500 for the job at Arch. For this I have to remove everything from the car except the panels. I could save moeny and drill out all the rivets to take the panels off but Arch can do this much more easily than I can and it's not a lot more money.

Arch will remove the panels and then sand/shot blast the chassis to remove all the old powder coat and rust. They then dip the chassis (zinc something or other I believe) and then powder coat. They will then supply and fit all new panels.

I am having the car painted at TSK - this will vary with what you are having painted and what paint/colour.

I then have to put everything back on the car. This is quite a task as a kit has a lot of stuff already fitted but I will be re-fitting everything so it's a fair bit more work.

This is not a job for the fainthearted and I'm pretty apprehensive about it but although I could probably get away with just having the side panels replaced, I want to do a proper job and ensure tha car is as good as new.

Shaun

Yellow SL #32

It'll cost a bit more than £1500 now but that's exactly what I'm doing starting this weekend! Once complete the car should be as good as new.

Yellow SL #32

Peter - thanks for that. I know the stippled stuff - my interior side panels are done in that.

Yellow SL #32

Wahey,

Let me know which panels you want and if they are OK I'll keep them for you. My main reason for the rebuild is due to corrosion so the side panels are pretty tatty along the bottom edge. The rear panel is in reasonable nick. All the interior panels are OK but the rear bulkhead has a few dents in it.

The panels should be available sometime end of November/early December.

Shaun

Yellow SL #32

I am having my car re-panelled this winter and want to take the opportunity to have some of the panels powdercoated. I would like recommendations on which to have done. There will be no carpets. So far have decided on:

Interior sides

tunnel sides

Rear bulkhead

Not sure whether to have the floor done and not convinced about engine bay. If I did the engine bay should I have it all done or just certain panels.

Shaun

Yellow SL #32

Radtec? I've got one in my K-series car, and know of others using with crossflow and Zetec so should do the job. Looks nice, is direct replacement for Caterham's own and is much better than the standard Caterham one. Costs about £200 if you mention L7OC bulk buy. I guess this would be OK for a BEC - probably overkill. They can also do custom radiators.

Yellow SL #32

The 12k service is basically an oil change and a spanner check. Here is the service schedule. I had my first service done at Caterham but that was the full 24,000 mile one and I'd only had the car 6 months. I now do my own servicing. If you have any intention of selling the car in the near future then a full Caterham service history might make it easier to sell, especially to a non-tinkerer.

Yellow SL #32

V7,

Thanks for that comprehensive reply - just what I needed. I'm in a similar position in that this is the first time I will have had the gearbox out and it too is somewhere between 25k and 30k miles. My engine is only a 135bhp supersport but I do use the car on track and cannot claim to be hugely mechanically sympathetic although I do try 😳. Recently, gearchanges have been a little stiffer than they used to be so I think that a strip down and rebuild would be a good idea.

Are there any "must have" upgrades or will I be best just having any worn bits replaced? I will give Phil a call - I guess once I have the gearbox out.

Cheers,

Shaun

Yellow SL #32

'Fraid not - they charged me for the caliper. They said the nipple was too rusted to be removed.

Yellow SL #32

Or take it to Caterham who will snap the bleed nipple off for you and then replace the caliper ☹️. To be fair I'm sure I would have done the same but it was still a bit of a bummer.

Yellow SL #32

Edited by - Shaun_E on 23 Sep 2004 11:55:06