Rob Walker

Still for sale, brand new never fitted Ford focus genuine factory fit tow bar , with fitting instructions. £50 plus postage

Dave I find that cellulose paint thinners gets the black gung off once the head has been cleaned with Jizer.

Replacement of the K head gasket is easy and should take you about 4 hours. Be sure to use the uprated Mike Satur gasket available direct or from DVA Power. However oil in the coolant has proved not to be a simple head gasket job in all cases and no one knows for sure as yet what is causing the problem. A cracked block in the area around the oilway drilling which supplies the head is favourite which should be curable by sleeving the drilling. I

Is this the SLR race cage or the road sport which fits under the hood. If its the SLR cage can I have first refusal please. E-mail Walker.Amaoko@virgin.net tel 0117 9239941 Rob Edited by - Rob Walker on 3 Dec 2003 08:59:45

If you run with the watts linkage the ends of the flexible goodridge hoses will have to be modified to clear the rear facing radius arms. I used extended 45 degree offset banjo fittings on a friends Superlight R. You would be wise also to fit an adjustable brake proportioning valve into the rear circuit whilst you have it all drained of fluid.

Keith, The uprated rear brake kit comes with, tiny handbrake calipers that are mounted off the De Dion ear and work independant of the Two pot AP main rear calipers. The Kit is a pukka Caterham kit number MB02R. and costs £500 plus vat. The kit consists of two De Dion ears which you will have to specify what camber you want .25 for slicks & ACB and 2Degrees for radials, two uprated hub carriers and bearings, two uprated discs, two AP 2 pot calipers, two Air brake spot handrake calipers, plus all fixings and goodridge hoses. A set of standard road pads. I would advise you to get a credit on these and buy some Pagid RS 14 instead which will be more suitable for your use. Performance braking in Monmouth can supply these 01600 713117. IMO the up rated rear brake kit is a bit of a bargin. Rob

Tony , IIRC the hole is 22.15mm in diameter and the six speeder input shaft runs in the ford spigot bearing so you need the special Caterham bush to sleeve up the hole to take the ford spigot bearing which is 20.98-21.01mm OD. The depth of the 22.15mm section should be 20.3mm. I chopped 13mm offa my input shaft. Confused Yet????????/

Tony , I agree with Arnie, chopping off the input shaft is the best option. I cut mine off with an angle grinder and chamfered the end took a couple of minutes. It was only the old six speeders that had the long input shaft. I had no choice but to cut mine as I fitted a fully crossdrilled steel crank which had an oil drilling in the end journal, if I had or could have drilled deeper to accomadate the long input shaft I would have broken through into the drilling. Nitrided EN40B is pretty hard to drill is another reason.

Keith, This problem plagued me for four years and I have taken advise from everyone in the trade. I am not going to go through all the mods that I tried but advise you to throw away those nasty Seirra rear calipers and fit the uprated brakes along with a set of pagid rs14 pads all round and some high spec brake fluid . You won`t regret it. Rob

When building my latest trailer I was influenced by all these nonsense coments about how much more stable a twin axle trailer is so I built a twin axle minno clone, the axle manufacture even tried his best to talk some sense into me saying you do not need twin axles to carry a light car such the seven. I wished I had listened. IMO single axle with 13" wheels and good quality reinforced 8 ply tyres is the most cost effective and best option. There is a definate argument in favour of twin axles when applied to a caravan or high sided trailer. The caravan being a good example, very light and high sided any side wind and its blown all over the place. the four wheels help stability. Edited by - Rob Walker on 30 Nov 2003 21:46:28

No need to have a twin axle to carry a seven IMO. I have owned both single and twin axle trailers both have the advantages and dissadvantages. Single less drag easier to pull, less tyre scrub when making tight turns, cheaper, less to wear and maintainance. dissadvantage can sink into soft ground easier than a twin, its maximum loading will be limited by the rating of the two wheels/tyres typically 1000Kg per axle when using 8 ply tyres. The twin main advantage is its increased load carring capacity, It has not been my experience that the twin is any more stable even when getting a puncture as twins like the popular Minno run with 4ply unreinforced tyres when you get a puncture on one wheel the remaining wheel on that side is then overloaded which makes the trailer unsafe, obviously if 8 ply tyres were to be fitted all round this would avoid this problem. A twin can also unbalance the tow vehicle, having four trailer brakes being more effective than the rears on the tow vehicle.

The hole in the side skin is also the same for the VHPD 421 system.

Yup, buy the 421 collector pipe and cut the primaties to the length you want. You will also have to move the mounting tabs on the primaries to match the collector. I would advise you to sell your system unmolested and buy the system you want there is a very good market for the 4-1 systems it won`t cost you too much to swop and save yourself grief.

Dave, Rally Design sell the brackets that you need to mount the spot calipers onto the live axle, £17 IIRC.

No Bob its my original VVC ported to 32.5 mm IN and 28.5 mmEx. I am just about to start the Hush Hush head but shall be porting to the standard valve sizes. What you been up to then, come on spill the beans ???????????????//

Steve, I haven`t had any problems with them, Julian holloway also fitted a set at the same time as me we are both pleased with them. I think its all down to how you set them up on intial installation, as the calipers are shimmed to get the correct disc to caliper clearance and if you do not get the shimming correct, when you yank on the hand brake you distort the brackets and then the pads will drag on the discs for evermore. I recon a spring behind the actuator arm would also help with durability ensuring that the lever arm is returned to the off position after operation. You can off course back the wear adjustment cam as required when on track and readjust when your Mot is due

George Martin of Fluke Motor Sport was selling CF sheet at reasonable prices Tel 07990 505147. He had some luvely honeycombe that I did my boot floor in, looks the biz

Ammo, I recon my K is 4Kg lighter than a stock 1.8. This being down to 2.5Kg lighter crank and the removal of any superfluous alloy brackets/fixings. The 1.6K is probaby about the same weight as my engine as the crank is much lighter than the stock 1.8K I also run with a modified VVC head with all the VVC stuff junked, the VVC head casting is heavier than the stock 1.8 or VHPD head. My inlet cam is a solid steel billet type with large journals which must also be heavier than a stock VHPD cam. Then there is all the VVC blanking kit. Edited by - Rob Walker on 24 Nov 2003 18:46:37

dave, Cateraham sell a spot caliper to facilitate a working handbrake with the AP uprated rears. This caliper is purely mechnical and can be adjusted to siut any width of disc, I recon these are your simplest and cheapest solution, there about £45 each and the mounting brackets £20. The same calipers are available from rally Design. I have had them on my car all last season and can confirm that they work reasonably well.

Tony, I will have the rear light units off you. I have e-mailed you my details. Cheerio Rob

Ammo , My engine is fitted with a lightweight steel crank and rods , still 16Kg is alot lighter than the Duratec.Oh just read your post again your 87Kg did not include a flywheel add another 3.4Kg. Rob Edited by - Rob Walker on 23 Nov 2003 23:06:43 Edited by - Rob Walker on 23 Nov 2003 23:11:01

Ammo, Just weighed my K. Engine weighed fitted with the caterham steel lightweight flywheel, dry sump pan, oilfiter and housing and coil pack but no leads weighed 71kg. The following ancillaries weighed:- 4.5Kg for the uprated AP clutch and Cover. 2.5 Kg for the Dry sump scavenge pump, mounting and pipes 6 kg for the standard Alternator and fixing brackets 4.5Kg for a lightweight starter motor Rob Edited by - Rob Walker on 23 Nov 2003 22:55:45

steve, Caterham can supply you with small spot calipers that work with the conventional cable hand brake , these are also available from Rally Equip. I understand you can use a bike speedo provided you can show how its calibrated. You will also need lights,Center mirror and offside mirror. The correct exhaust system to meet with the 101dba '4500 rpm and emissions.

DVA or Piper

Simon, Yes the pins can be removed, and yes you can buy the pins, I got a couple off Emerald but I am sure they will tell where you can get them if they cannot supply. To get the pins out you need to make a tool, I used the thin SSteel strip out of an old wiper blade to make a thin strip with a slight bend/set on on one end this can be slid down the connector and release the locking tab on the pin, the pin will then pull out.