Rob Walker

Flexible brake pipes are fitted along with the uprated AP two pot rears in order that you can bleed the air out successfully, as the caliper needs to be unbolted and rotated through 90 degrees to bleed in the upright position and with the bleed nipple at the highest point. Its also necessary to pack the pads with some material to simulate the disc thickness when bleeding or the piston will just move. I ran with both flexible and rigid rear brake lines on my standard rear brakes and it was my experience that the flexible line gave a vastly improved peddle feel with less travel. The rigid pipes are a poor engineered solution and act like a spring as the pads wear and the caliper slides, when you take your hoof off the brake peddle the tension stored up in the pipe unsettles the pads then when you next apply the brakes this movement has to be taken up again before you get disc to pad contact and hence the result peddle travel. All the latest De Dion tubes are drilled along the top in order to fix the brake pipes with a series of P clips.

Its been my experience that the standard piper verniers wear on the teeth of the pulleys. If I were ordering a new set I would consider fitting the uprated grey hard anodised outer pulleys. These are still a Piper product cost is about £20 more.

Sorry brain not working, I see your around Warrick. Still need your phone number please? Rob

Hi Barry, Thanks for your response. £75 sound good value to me, now where are you in the country, do you have a phone number that I can contact you on to discuss collection ? Cheers Rob

I am looking for a Caterham Aluminium Bellhousing for my K series for a wet sump installation, anyone got one spare after upgrading to the drysump/belltank please let me know. Many thanks. Rob

I was also told that Halfrauds fully synth was the same as Comma SynerG but I do not think this true from my own experience the halfrauds stuff is a different colour and seems to rapidly turn black when in use. SynerG in the same engine would be transparent after 3000miles. As the cost difference is small I would go for the Comma Edited by - Rob Walker on 29 Dec 2003 21:34:03

Ah well you can always upgrade to 1227 later when you get fed up of being blown into the weeds.

One other area not touched on is injector size and costs. If you go with the 285`s your stock injectors will be oK but fitting 1227 you will probaly need to increase the fuel pressure upto 4 bar using the stock injectors or fit some larger injectors.

If the rod and piston are being fitted as a complete assembley it does matter because the gudeon pin is an interference fit and is offset towards the thrust side. IIRC the pistons are marked to ensure that the assembley is installed the correct way around. Edited by - Rob Walker on 29 Dec 2003 18:59:17

You will need :- A set of shims to convert the hydraulic followers to solid £40 don`t know what you mean by adapters? You would probably be Ok with the single uprated valve springs but I would advise you exchange them for the doubles to be on the safe side. Yes the steel caps should fit the double springs just look and note the double step on the mating surface. Blank off the tappet oilways in the head with 5mm grub screws and fit an oil restrictor dowel in the feed up to the head 6mm is about right. Oily tells me he doesn`t bother blocking off the oil hole into the tappet anymore and I have found it very difficult to remove the centre shim bucket with the holes blocked off. Driveability is not a problem as the engine will produce around 100 lb ft of torque at 3000 rpm and peak power will be around 8000rpm and expect 210 - 220 bhp. Go for it you know it makes sense.

The registration process is separate to the SVA .

Try Rob Margel I think he has an FIA bar for sale.

Simon, Thanks for the response but I think the Elise mounting is quite different to that of the Caterham, I understand that the caterham starter is similar to the ford seirra and mounts off the bellhousing flange. Edited by - Rob Walker on 27 Dec 2003 19:38:19

anyone got a servicable starter motor for a K series that they want to sell, Magnatron, Magnetti Marrelli, Brise don`t mind which.

Bedazled, No your R300 is not fitted with vernier cam pulleys as standard. They allow you to accurately set your cam timing. Yes it could make quiet a difference * If your cam timing is way off optimum * as some engines have found to be when checked.

Simon, I had the same problem. Sent it back with a letter. The replacement was far from perfect and needed dressing with an oil stone to remove burrs and damage through incorrect handling. Rather crap bit of Kit IMO.

Heh Andy why not read what has been post to you? The whole idea has been to redress the brake bias from that off being too much to the rear. If you put the RS14 on the rears you will still ahe the same problem, only worse as much more heat will be generated and transmitted into the rear calipers. If you have money to burn and you want the correct engineering solution then go ahead and fit the RS14 pads all round and also fit an adjustable brake bias valve into the rear circuit. You can then reduce the effect of the rear brakes and the amount of heat that they will generate.

Sounds like the VX race primaries. Also identified by the pocketed joints at the collector and hook and spring clamping of these joints. IMO a very nicely engineered exhaust, shame my K isn`t made as well.

The uprated fronts will take a lot of the load off the rear brakes and will improve your braking by also giving you better balance. Trying a set of good pads up front and some high spec fluid may be all you need, don`t forget that the roadsports race with standard brakes. Its all too easy to just go on the upgrade route but that can lead to more problems.

Andy, I would use the standard Caterham rear pads, Pagid RS14 or if you are on a budget Pagid Blues on the front and fill with Castrol SRF.

You are thinking the wrong way round. With the standard brake set up the rears overbrake the fronts and are also the worst design having a flat single piston surface that efficiently transmitts the heat into the fluid, to compound this the rears are poorly ventilated. I would put some quality pads up front with a high coefficient of friction these will then restore proper brake balance if standard pads are used in the rear. Flush out the system and refill with high spec fluid. Fitting the uprated master cylinder will only mask your problem.

Its a feature that always worried me. Fitting a one way ball valve to the bleed off line to the cam cover apparently solves the problem, available from Think Automotive.

Put the base in the bag, the foam will not go under the base, even if it does you can sand it away with coarse sand paper. I would always mix small amounts as you can always add more if needed and would start off with a max of 1/4 pint of each component for something as small as a seat base. Temperature is also critical if you want good expansion ideally 15C plus.

IIRC its not possible to fit the gasket the wrong way.

also the crank pins/big ends are different the 1800 being 48mm the 1600 are 43mm