Rob Walker

Rob, Dave Jackson has a nicely designed tank that fits in the middle of the scuttle tray above the gearbox.

Dicky , Can I have first dibs on the exhaust on behalf of Rob Farrell if this is the standard caterham long primary 4to1 system. Cheers Rob Edited by - Rob Walker on 7 May 2006 08:25:17

Ammo, I think you may be on the wrong path. 250lbs front springs and 1/2" FARB are used to good effect on many sevens and in my experience have very little effect on ride quality especially if you have high quality dampers such as Nitrons. I would look at the rear end, if this is too soft then you get a lot of axle movement and if you have the simple radius arm location and not watts linkage the rear wheel steering occurs and you are constantly fighting the car on a bumpy road. What rear springs do you have? I would try something around 150+ . Tom Hoods car runs 250 & 150 and drives very nicely. Rob

Dave, We tried various cam timing settings to try and recover some losses. This worked but the best results were down 17bhp approx 7.5% at peak. Interestingly I am using 90mm trumpets inside the airbox and 18mm spacers outside. I do agree its nicer to drive without the noise, on track at Cadwell thrashing round all day I was able to concentrate on my driving and did not suffer the usual headache and ringing in my ears. So I will live with the losses however its always hard to give up hard earned power. Rob

My 1.8K was run at Emerald on Tuesday with and without the Bernard scouse airbox, the airbox has been modded to 102mm entry and has a very large K&N conical filter fitted. With the air box 213bhp without the airbox 230bhp and the engine lost around 12lb ft torque accross the range, the losses were progressive from 4000 rpm. Its a lot quieter but the losses are higher than I had expected. I am running with 90mm trumpets as supplied with the airbox. I think these are too close to the inner face of the airbox and are effecting the inlet pulse, fitting 75mm trumpets may yeld better results.

Oily, Now enough is enough, I am never going to get any further duratec orders if you continue getting results like this. Rob

If its a ZF plate diff then it doesn`t sound right to me. If you turn either drive shaft then the other should turn freely, If you put the car in gear or hold the prop/drive flange its normal to feel a small amount of backlash between the crown wheel and pinion. If you rotate one driveshaft the diff should not lock. However if you hold /lock one driveshaft and try to turn the other you should have a resistance 30lbs ft to 55lbs ft dependant on how the preload has been set up. You could talk to Phil Stewart he knows all about these diff`s 01959 525105.

14mm IIRC

Race is cast ali the standard is steel

Yes Phil but the problem is that Comma and others have withdrawn the propylene Glycol stuff, I think on environmental grounds. just try and find some of the old Coldstream coolant if you can.

Keith, I am currently fitting a car with Venturesheild. This is much the same as Armour fend but easier to install as it uses a water/soap mix as a sliding solvent to position the film. Williams use it on their F1 cars I am told.Demon Theives sell it or you can buy a complete roll direct. I have also used the film from a company called Oxford on my own car ,this is available from biker shops £16 for 300X500 sheet, very durable but hard to install. Cheerio Rob

Best of luck they can be difficult to fit. See you there on Wednesday ?

performance braking tel 01600 713117.

Rob, The Raceline TB`s have a machined groove and rubber "O" ring on the mating face to seal them to the head, I would be very surprised if this has failed.

Dave, Have we reached saturation levels for the blue suit? I`m informed sparco have sold 60 million so far in the UK.

I have used it for years. Excellent stuff.

Airlocked, no flow through the rad.

Moss (Bristol)will supply .

Mark& danny, I would try and press CC for a replacement and don`t fit it , sell on. There is clearly a problem with the manufacture/design of these rads. Rob

Alex, Thanks for the reply. I wondered if you had used standard rods and no drysump. Well that blows that theory. Do you know if VP2 uprated big end shells were used in the original build? 8300 should be no probem with an all steel bottom end. My 1.8 has been held at these revs for hours. Are you trusting Scholar with the reconstruction? good luck Rob

Mark if your leaks are from the point where the core joins the side tanks. I would not waste my time with a repair. I have had three of these rads fail in less thah one year. CC refunded my money and I bought a Radtec which is braced top and bottom between the tanks thus the core does not support the tanks and they last longer. hopefully

As a matter of interest what Piston and con rods were used in the two 1.9`s that failed? and were they drysumped? Rob

Angus, Sounds like you need the 1.6K/1.8K 96- onwards loom for EU2. I ordered one a month ago CC part no YSB104490 cost £180 plus vat. Be sure to ask for the injector sub loom mine came without. Supply/del was about a week as they mod the loom inhouse. Rob

Oily, Do you have any thoughts on what causes the excessive oil temperatures when cruising with the apollo fitted and no laminova ? Higher oil level in the sump " increased windage"or the positioning of the apollo tank directly in the exhausted hot air flow from the rad. I have seen 120C. Rob

Mak, Your original question has got lost in yet another debate on the benefits of fitting the apollo tank system. I have examined the Hellier baffle and IMO it must reduce the movement of oil in the sump during hard cornering etc. this can only reduce oil surge, how effective it is open to question. The foam baffle is only installed to reduce windage as the caterham wet sump is quite shallow. Angus, sorry if I rattled your cage, as you will have noted from my previous posts I am not a fan of the apollo tank system. I ran one on my first 7 for two years and had the following problems:- 1. no oil pressure on start up for 3 plus secs, dependant on how long the car had stood , how much oil had drained back into the sump. 2. 13-15 miles to reach operating temp for the oil. 3. when cruising oil temps would continue to rise 100c plus 4. difficult to re-fill the apollo following an oil change. 5. added weight and compexity/cost I am aware that I could have fitted a one way valve to stop the oil returning to the sump and a laminova to help control oil temps Plus points, 1. it did help de-aeriate the oil and stop the K tappet death rattle. 2. 7L of engine oil must be an advantage Would I fit the apollo on my car , NO. Rob