Rob Walker

I have painted 3 cars and 2 motor cycles using Tekaloid coach enamel appied with 4" rollers and the finish was superb. I used their etch primer,then undercoat,next gloss top coat flatted down then body varnish.

I do not understand what all the concerne is about regarding the diff mounts. I have never had any problems and run cars with 280bhp/210lbs torque. My understanding of the problem is that on the C400 race cars they use a race chassis which is dervived from an early De Dion chassis which was a live axle chassis with diff mouts welded on. These chassis have been used in the race series to provide class uniformatey and provide a deformable transmission tunnel to reduce serious injury should a crash occur. This race chassis is known to be weaker around the diff mounts than the later high tunnel /handbrake in the tunnel chassis and hence the extra diff supports. So should the rest of us worry if we have the later type chassis , I think not. Rob

Titan Motorsport Manufacturing 01480 474402. You are correct number 4 big end is the last to be supplied so usually the first to become damaged in oil starvation . Don`t panic! I certaily would not start pulling the engine out at this stage. Sort out the scavenge problems and all may be well, if its not then think about looking further. What you have to understand is that the level of oil contained within the belltank can quickly fall if the scavenge is not working effectively as sufficient oil is not being removed from the engine and the oil pressure pump which is driven directly off the crank keeps supplying oil . It then depends on how you have run your pipework back to the block that determines what level the pressure pump will start to see intermittant oil supply . Also with a large volume of oil held within the block this quicky gets aireated which will also result in reduced oil pressure. If you are worried about the oil pressure gauge then fit a mechanical one for more reliable results. Rob Edited by - Rob Walker on 25 Oct 2008 18:37:54

Tony, Its sounds like your scavenge pump is not working properly and that excessive oil is being held within the engine and hence you are running low on oil after a couple of laps. Apart from the obvious, like checking all the pipwork is correct and not obstructed you could check that the drivebelt and tensioner are working correctly. It may also be prudent to send the pump back to Titan and have it overhauled. If there are no shiny metal paticles in the oil or the oil filter this is a good sign. however to be sure you could remove the big end cap from number 4 rod and have a look at the bearing. Good luck Rob Edited by - Rob Walker on 25 Oct 2008 12:17:24

Sounds like its a duffer, it should be sealed and can be mounted on its side.

I want a pair of good condition High viz doors for my 2004 series 3. Thanks Rob

Stu/Mic S47zz alias Mal owns a Lotus 7 series 4, therefore his idea of what is cool and good looking is very different to the rest of us. The car looks great to me and I am sure that the car has been built to Micks superb standards Rob

Lotus Boy, The caerbont labels on the side of the gauges is a bit of a give away. Also Think Automotive do not make gauges! Rob

Sandy, Racetech do a mechanical oil pressure gauge. Look at Merlins site www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk Rob

I bought a Mocal gauge and pipwork from Merlin at the weekend and was surprised to see that Mocal,Racetech and Smiths gauges are all made by the dreaded Caerbont who also make the Caterham gauges. I am staggered at the prices being quoted on here, Merlin retail the Mocal mech OP gauge at £28, the capilary pipe with fittings at £5.50 and a small brass Tee for £6 all plus vat. Merlin are supplied by Think Automotive,

Only snag is that you will have a small gauge deflection due to the current bleed through the resistor. You can substitute the variable resistor with fixed one once the value is known.

Chris, I have the ECU sensor and the caerbont gauge sensor mounted next to each other so they both see the same water temps but the CC caerbont & gauge reads at least 10C lower throughout the temp range. The gauge simply shows a deflection as current is drawn to earth through the sensor by appling a parallel resistor or extra current path to earth the gauge deflection can be adjusted, its that simple. Rob

Chris I have exactly the same problem with the later caterham /claerbont gauges. You have two options, have your emerald upgraded to K3 spec £30 , you can then calibrate your bosch ecu temp sensor so that it will agree with the VDO or you could put a variable resistor in parallel with the VDO sensor and adjust to agree with the emerald. To calibrate either dip them into boiling water should read 100C , note that you will have to earth the sender when doing this to get a reading. Rob Edited by - Rob Walker on 5 Oct 2008 09:55:49

I understand you wanting to keep things simple. However to acheive 270 bhp out of a 2L and if you have to meet emissions then this will be difficult with the large single injector. The high powered Duratecs that I have built have had 4 stock ford injectors on a modded ford fuel rail installed in the head and Pico 330`s on a jenvey fuel rail in the TB`s. This set up will allow you to meet SVA emissions test. If you have no such constraints then I would simply buy the massive green cosworth injectors and fuel rail advertised on the costworth web site, that is the set up CC use on the CSR and R500. To put it crudely injectors in the head will give you better emissions, installed in the TB`s just after the butterfly will give you more power.

I would have mig welded a bolt on to the nipple, then used a spanner on it. The heat soak from the welding also helps free the offending thread.

If the engine is running well ie not using loads of oil and displaying abnormally low oil pressure I would count my blessings and leave well alone. You are also running hydraulic cam followers so no maintenance required there. IMO you are a bit keen changing your oil at 1500-2000miles but that won`t hurt the engine either. The secret in making your K last is always warm up the engine gently before giving it revs, keep an eye on temps and coolant and oil levels and you will be surprised how long it will last. Rob

18 psi in the rears is too much for the road. I run 16 front and 15 rear on the road and 18 all round on track.

rover 214,216,218 and 416,418 from 1996 onwards, try a good scrappy. If you want the hi cap pump then get the whole bundle off a Rover Tomcat.

No your off the trail there. No engine has oil pressure before start up so how would the omex get around that problem. Sure that you have not disturbed the inertia switch, is the fuel pump running on start up for around 5 secs?

Kev, I always run with the overrun fueling cut off enabled. Reduces the fuel consumption. Rob

Danny, Almost full scale on the Caterham gauge, the sender would then give irratic and fluctuating readings at constant engine revs. I switched to a lower viscosity oil and made sure that the engine revs are kept below 3000rpm until the oil temp starts to rise. No other problems to date. I am aware that the CC/ clearbont senders are rated at up to 10 bar, however in my experience the senders seem to fail well below this pressure and it does not need to sustained to damage them. I also agree that on a K series water ingress is the main mode of failure being mounted low at the front of the block. The remote sender kit sorts this a treat!

Its possible that the sump is slightly overfilled and you are gatting some windage , this could cause high oil temps when cruising at 4000rpm or above. Yes I would recomend fitting both and oil cooler and an oil temp sensor into the sump pan. IMO 5W50 oil is too thick for the Duratec, I run 5W30. The thick oil was giving me far too much oil pressure on start up this was knackering the oil pressure senders in minutes.

Whats the oil temp like? do you have an oil cooler installed?

No , complete knock down is a full kit of parts to build the car yourself and a certificate of newness so that the completed car car be registered as new and given a current numberplate not a "Q ". Most caterhams are supplied a full knock down kits!

Julian, Put the primary on a bag of builders sand and tap the area you want deformed with a hide hammer. Done this several times it gives a smooth deformation of the pipe. Rob