Rob Walker

I always final finish my shims on an oilstone rubbing the shim in a figure of 8 to take off the last two thou. It has been my experience that the head distorts when torqued down onto the block so I shim my heads after torquing.

Please remember me if your selling the MB`s Rob

Very dissappointed with the Caterham Race triple pass rads. I have had three and they all started leaking within six months of use. IMO they are not engineered properly as the side tanks are only held by the core there is no bracing between the tanks and with use the seal fails between the side tanks and the core. The Radtec is nicely made. Edited by - Rob Walker on 23 Jan 2005 09:34:50

2L Vauxhall Calibre Turbo

Timbo, Always happy to talk. However I know nothing, I am new to Duratec and just finding my way with a little help from Ammo & Mic attree and a lot of research.

Peter I do not have any data on the pressure only the volume at a nominal 3Bar, standard pump 19 grams per sec , JPE pump 27 grams per second

Up to 200 bhp standard pump over that you need the JPE /R500 pump

Tiddy, The new car I am currently building has the lowered floor. Lovely job IMO it is made from NS4 Ali and would guess its 2mm thick it is also runs the complete floor pan of the car tapering all the way from the peddle box bulkhead to the rear bulkhead behind the seats so no crossbracing is affected. I would not advise you to use 1mm ali for obvious reasons.

The AP R500 clutch is only rated at 127lb ft torque. However my 1.8K produces 162 lb ft torque and the clutch has lasted two seasons so far. Others with similar power outputs have found the clutch to be durable.

I advise you check your pricing the roadsport cage is cheaper the the hooped cage. Doubt you will sell at 550-500.

Hamish. I am looking for a set of MB mag wheels are you selling?????????? Rob

Hi, I am very interested in the MB R500 wheels, can I have first refusal on these please. My phone numbers are 0117 92399941 & 07963 834138. Rob

Its fastened using a U bolt. Available from ant B&Q or you could buy a exhaust clamp from a motor factor throw away the bits not needed retaining the U bolt. Cost about £1.50

Rich , You are correct your car has two looms, a specific engine /ECU loom and a general Caterham loom which again differs on year and spec. They separate in the engine bay at the large grey connector.

Sounds like your clutch friction plate has broken up. When this happens broken bits of the friction lining get jammed between the remaning friction linning and the clutch cover, the result is when you depress the clutch peddle pressure is not released from the friction plate and you cannot engauge or disengauge gears. If the gearbox had seized you would have noticed something break big time and probably lost all drive.

F355GTS, If an owner never trys to repair his own engines he will never gain the skills or discover that its not that difficult. Head Gasket worriers should purchase a Haynes manual on the Rover 200 it will guide them through the repairs. Get stuck in and have a go save yourself some dough! I have run with the K series in my sevens since 1997 the cars have been used on track and road. My current engine is a home built all steel 1.8K producing more power than an R500 I have never had any problems with head gaskets. Rob Edited by - Rob Walker on 31 Dec 2004 09:42:26

MarkD, Unless you have a steel crank fitted I hope you meant 7600 rpm. At 8600 the 1.8kSS would last a couple of minutes at the most.

Cut 16mm off the end with an angle grinder

Makes me laugh all this worry about K head gasket failure. If it fails so what its not the end of the world the gasket costs less than £30 and takes less than 4 hours to change. At the worst if you carried on running and warped the head a skim should fix the problem again under £30. If all else fails you can get a replacement engiine for peanuts from a breaker. So what is there to be worried about, I recon we should all count our blessings for such a cheap powerplant that can be made powerfull easily and is reliable. There is no doubt that the Duratec will yeald more power, I am currently building a complete new car with a tuned 2.3L installed but a word of warning the Duratec is not a cheap option and will be outside most peoples budgets , especially those who are worried about a £30 head gasket.

East to test if the seal has crapped out. Bleed the system and top up takin note of the level, then keep pressing the clutch peddle repeatedly and the fuild will dissappear into the bellhousing and eventually drip out onto the floor. The fix is to get a replacement latest version of the Caterham / Titan slave cylinder, replace the duff one wash out the master cylinder and line with meths then refill with Dot 4 Silicon Fluid, your problems should be over for at least a season. ECR has tried numerous times replacing the seals and tested it on his bench before installation and it failed after minutes of use. I really felt sorry for him on le Sept and then again at Mallory. The proper engineering solution is to replce the belltank with a conventional bellhousing as per Chellspeeds car and get a stand alone dry sump tank.

Steve, Yes that should do the job, bit more than £20 though sorry! I doubt that the Draper unit is a regulated output, therefore its charge rate is purely dependant on the internal resitance of the battery. As you say should be OK for short charges, just don`t forget and leave it on overnight or your battery will be overcharged.

Cristian, If you have the Caterham Belltank with integral slave cylinder I would bet on the slave cylinder seals failed. The integral slave cylinder gets very hot in use same as engine temps. When you leave the car after use the seal bonds to the bore within the slave cylinder, the next time you press the clutch peddle bits of the seal are ripped off and the seal eventually fails. Ask poor old Roger Swift he has had loads of problems with this over the last two seasons. I found that filling a newly fitted slave cylinder/system with Silicon Brake fluid vastly improved the life of the seals. My rational for this was that the silicon would act a high temp lubricant preventing the seals from sticking in the bore after use. It seems to work as far as I know the car that I worked on is still going strong. Edited by - Rob Walker on 23 Dec 2004 14:04:18

Unless its a regulated stepped charger you run the risk of spoiling your battery. Gel batteries must not be overcharged or " gassed ". A regulated charger starters at 14.3v first stage down to 12.8v preventing any overcharging. I bought the pukka charger for about £50 but I have recently seen regulated stepped chargers designed for the gel batteries in Maplin for £20.

I am looking for a set of Barnby Mag Wheels 6.5" fronts and 8.5" rears, must be in good condition.

Sold for £410 in the last 5secs. Something not right about the description, I doubt that they were Magnesium centered if they were Image as Image don`t do mag centres. Image boss told me at length IHO that billet is stronger and lighter so no point.