Shaun_E

If he wants a spare set of wheels anyway then it would make sense to go 13" for track use as the tyres will be cheaper than for 15" - keep the 15's for road use. A048R are a good tyre (I'm currently running them for road and track) but if it were only for dry track you could also use A032R. Yellow SL #32

Jackal, Do you mean use the 8mm one? Shaun Yellow SL #32

I ordered an 8mm lens as well so I'll be able to experiment. 😬 Yellow SL #32

I think 4.3mm is the standard size. I've looked at a couple of your videos and the viewing angle looks fine so I'll order the 4.3mm. Thanks, Shaun Yellow SL #32

I want to order a bullet cam lens today - what size does everybody use? RF Concepts offer 4.3mm, 2.9mm and 8mm. Also is the microphone in the kit usable - I know it's not that great from other posts but will it do to start with? Shaun Yellow SL #32

Jonny, All the info is here including Radtec website and phone number. Just call them, tell them you want a rad for a Caterham and mention the club bulk buy - total cost will be £202 delivered. The radiator is a straight swap for a Caterham one and the existing Caterham fan bolts straight to it. If you have an older car with a fan bolted to the crossmember then it should still fit. Shaun Yellow SL #32

The standard black Caterham radiator is highly unlikley to cope but the ali one might - keep an eye on your water temperature on track as the Laminova will be dumping heat from the oil into the cooling system. I found that not only did the oil temperature get to 120+ but the water temp was well over 100 as well. I fitted a Laminova and a Radtec radiator at the same time and now after a 20 minute track session (on a hot day) the oil will be less than 100 and the water in the high 90's - a great improvement and temperatures that I am a lot happier about. Shaun Yellow SL #32

Gavin, 5. should be the same height as 3. so the weather gear fits but I have no measurements. If you want to do trackdays but don't want to fit a full cage then the FIA bar is the one you want. You might be lucky and find a second hand one (3. in my list) otherwise you'll need to get one from Caterham (5. in my list). Unless you are very tall then you won't need the tall FIA bar(4. in my list but probably now the new design). Your head (with helmet) should be at least 5cm's below the roll bar. Thanks to the others for the corrections on the full cage designs - if you fancy a full cage then I'll duck out as I only have the standard FIA bar. Shaun Yellow SL #32

When I had my Apollo tank fitted the oil pressures dropped a bit so that sounds fairly normal. 80-100 sounds like a reasonable oil temperature. If you do trackdays you may find that you get high oil temperatures which is mainly due to the crank thrashing around in the oil in the sump. If you do get consistently high oil temperatures on track (i.e. over 120 then you may want to fit an oil cooler of some sort. Yellow SL #32

There are some more details and pictures on the Caterham website here - click on "online-guide" and then scroll down to "Safety" and click "more" Yellow SL #32

If there is no cross brace on the main hoop then you do not have an FIA bar. The rollbars available are: 1. Standard bar - hoop with 2 struts - waste of time probably 2. R500 bar - thicker main hoop but still not FIA approved 3. FIA bar - thicker still and with a cross brace for the main hoop. This is FIA approved and the minimum required for L7OC trackdays. It will also have a hole in the passenger side rear strut which the "petty strut" can be bolted to (other end attaches to passenger side chassis rail). 4. Tall FIA bar - as 3 but higher and standard weather gear won't go over it. 5. New FIA bar - bar has been redesigned (new supplier) and has 2 cross brace bars. 6. Roadsports cage - full roll cage as used in road going race series - weather gear can be used. 7. Superlight cage - full roll cage as used in the Superlight Racecars and identified by curved tubes in the top of the cage. Weather gear won't fit over this (I stand to be corrected on this as some calim it can be done. Hope this helps. Shaun Yellow SL #32

My '97 chassis is a complete mess with severe bubbling of the paint beside the footwells. I have kept the worst exposed areas safe with applications of POR15 but the hidden bits have finally got too bad. I will run the car for the summer and then take it apart this coming winter and have it completely stripped and re-coated. This was not something I expected to have to do on a seven year old car but at least I will know that the job has been done properly. I do run the car through the winter and in pretty much any conditions so I guess I am partly to blame. Once rebuilt I will make sure that the grot-traps are well waxoiled or dinitroled to prevent a reoccurrence of the problems. Shaun Yellow SL #32

This sounds a little bit like the problem Angus had with his K series - after much searching they found that the wire from the crankshaft sensor ran very close to the HT leads and that the interference was enough to upset the ECU. The full diagnosis is here. If you search back further, before Angus found the solution, there are lots of other suggestions as to what the problem could be. Sorry I can't offer any technical answers myself. Yellow SL #32

You'll need to put the car on axle stands for checking wheel bearing's, etc. Torque settings will be in the build manual. This can be downloaded from here if you have a recent K-series. If not you'll have to see if someone else can find them in the right manual. Yellow SL #32

Raceco seem pretty popular and their sliencer looks great in titanium - they do a very large silencer for noisy crossflows. See here. Other option is Techcraft which can be got from James Whiting. Yellow SL #32

Do a search for servicing and you should find a link to an Excel spreadsheet of the Caterham service schedule - I think it is on Mav's website. I can mail it to you if you email me through my profile. 6 months after I firt got my car (1997 Superlight) I had Caterham do a 24,000 mile service on it to be sure everything was OK. This year I have done the oil change myself and many of the things checked in the 6000 mile service are either checked in the MOT or could be done by yourself in a couple of hours - mostly checking and re-torquing stuff, very little replacement of things. The sump baffle is recommended to be changed every 2 years but given it's rumoured propensity to break up, you might want to do it every year. The fan triggering at too low a temperature is unusual in that they normally fail by not coming on soon enough. The problem is most likley the fan switch (brass plug with 2 wires in the top passenger side of the radiator) which can be bought from Caterham for about £10 - I'd replace this as a first course of action. Hope that helps, Shaun Yellow SL #32

When my seven was MOT'd in January they checked the washers and the condition of the wiper blades although I don't remember them checking the function of the wipers. I guess you've just been lucky. See here. Yellow SL #32 Edited by - Shaun_E on 30 Mar 2004 13:40:53

1) Only 2 rear view mirrors required. IIRC the drivers side is the required one and then one other of centre and passenger side. 2) Washers/wipers not required if no windscreen. If you leave windscreen on then they will check function of washer and wipers and also the condition of the wiper blades - no other checks so not difficult to pass - just make sure you have filled the washer bottle! 3) Not sure about this one but if it isn't there then it can't be tested - if you passed SVA then it should be OK Yellow SL #32

I have a Radtec radiator which I fitted at the same time as a Laminova oil cooler. The reasons were that I was getting both high oil temperature and high water temperature when on track (oil=130degrees, water over 100 😳). As the Laminova dumps heat into the cooling system, an uprated radiator was required. Many people recommended the Radtec and as there was a bulk buy at the time I went for it - price delivered was ~£200. I have been extremely pleased with the set-up and my oil temperature now peaks at approx ~95 degrees under hard track use and the water temperature stays under 100 as well. Fitting the Radtec was very easy - it is just a straight swap. You disconnect the fan, unbolt the old radiator, remove the fan from it, bolt fan to Radtec (you may need to bend the lugs a bit to make it line up), bolt Radtec to car and then re-connect fan. I would suggest buying a new fan switch from Caterham but you can swap the old one over - they are only £10 and have a reputation for fragility. The fan switch may seem difficult to get into the new radiator but this is easily overcome with a bit of brute force - careful not to cross the threads though. Hope this helps, Shaun Yellow SL #32

Best to measure them - mark the tyre with chalk (or get the valve at the bottom) and roll forward one complete revolution - measure the distance travelled. The stack manual will tell you how to enter that on the system - can be downloaded from their website if you haven't got it. Website is here Yellow SL #32 Edited by - Shaun_E on 29 Mar 2004 21:30:05

You can actually calibrate the fuel level sensor in some detail (i.e. at several set points) so it can be pretty accurate. The great thing about it for me is the ability to see both oil temperature and pressure easily in line of sight. Also you can set alarms for other settings e.g. water temp, oil temp, low oil pressure, etc. You can move all the switches closer to you so you can reach them with harnesses on. One downside is if you have leather seats then the top part of the rev counter may be obscured - but you cn just use shift lights instead 😬. Lower seats/tillets would probably be OK. Shaun Yellow SL #32

My car passed its MOT recently at a local garage. The tester was well aware of the requirement to be able to see the indicator from a position standing to the side and rear of the car. He stood in the relevant position while the indicator was operated, was happy that he could see it operating and passed the car. I believe that the position is very borderline and that it will depend on how reasonable (not how friendly) your tester is. You can of course take it to a Caterham friendly garage who will turn a blind eye but in reality they could legitimately pass it. Shaun Yellow SL #32

Dobuy, Sorry can't help with the details on an air/oil cooler but would second Oz7's suggestion of talking to Think Automotive - what they don't know about oil coolers probably isn't worth knowing. I sourced my Laminova from them and they are Mocal distributors. Ask for Matthew as he seems to be the resident Caterham expert - if you're a L7OC member then you'll get a pretty hefty discount too. It would certainly be best to place the oil cooler in the airflow as an air/oil cooler is much less efficient than a water/oil cooler and therefore needs all the help it can get. I have only ever seen them mounted in front of the radiator. In an SV perhaps you can minimise the amount of the radiator that is shielded by the oil cooler. It would also be best to have a thermostat to control flow to the cooler otherwise you risk overcooling the oil - maybe not so likley in Dubai but still a consideration. The other place to look for information is on some of the Caterham racing sites (grads, roadsports, etc.) as they can normally only fit Caterham parts so would know what works. Shaun Yellow SL #32 Edited by - Shaun_E on 19 Mar 2004 12:03:52

What radiator have you got installed? If you are running the standard Caterham radiator then fitting the Laminova could just move the problem to the coolant temperature. Oil at 90 degrees is not a problem but if you end up running temperatures well over 100 then you need to do something about cooling the oil - the oil is fine it's the engine oil seals that will suffer. There are 2 choices: 1. Fit a separate air/oil cooler - the problem in a Caterham is location and airflow as if placed in front of the radiator it will cut down the airflow to that. This is what the racers use. 2. Fit a Laminova water/oil cooler - this is a very good solution which I have fitted but the downside is the standard radiator may not be up to the job and coolant temperatures will be too high. Caterham don't seem too keen on this solution but then they supply the other one! Other advantage is that oil gets up to temperature more quickly - I guess not an issue for you . I fitted a Laminova and a Radtec radiator and that solved my track day temperature issues (water well over 100 and oil up to 120 😳). The radtec is a high flow alternative to the Caterham race radiator. Hope this helps. Shaun Yellow SL #32

The lower powered race series (Academy, Roadsports A & B) use 185/60 13" all round. The Superlight/R400 racers use 185 front and 205 rear. On these sizes a Caterham will out corner most road going cars. As has been said a Caterham will be half the weight of even a Miata. For trackdays most people start at around 18psi cold for soft tyres like Yokoham A032 and A048. The racers who have to use harder tyres because of the regulations seem to use a huge variety of pressure, mostly higher than those for the soft tyres. Some sprinters use up to 215 width at the back. Hope this helps. Shaun Yellow SL #32