Rob Walker

Nig the big red SAAB`s are 380cc/m at 3 bar. Edited by - Rob walker on 11 Nov 2002 17:33:59

Try covering the floor with torch on roofing felt. This will bond to the concrete floor and provide a waterproof layer, you can then cover this with ceramic floor tiles or thin plywood or hardboard to give you a durable finish. I think a dehumidifier is a waste of time sure it will remove some moisture out of the air but unless the garage is sealed you will be trying to dehumidifing the whole atmostphere. If the garage is reasonably insulated then an electric tube heater will help to keep the humidity down and not cost you the earth to run. IMO air vents are a bad idea, your car will get cold on a cold day and then on a warmer damp day the damp air will condense on the cold car, I ruined my Lotus Esprit by using such a garage everthing rotted very quickly.

I have the Pagids fitted in the standard rear calipers U1163-RS14. Try Performance braking on 01600 713117 they will supply you with the correct pads.

Hope you remembered to fit the release bearing???? If you did then all should be OK as I agree with Paulyb its not possible to fit the clutch arm the wrong way round.

Sorry Graham you are not correct either the uprated fronts are made by ALCON not AP, I agree with you on the fronts Herald/Spitfire/GT6 and they are the same front and rear.

Bob, Could you enlighten me as how the regs have been amended re emission testing on Post SVA`d cars. I presume the pre SVA `d cars are still only liable to the 1975 visual smoke test if amature built? Cheers Rob

Halfords 4 year undiluted is the same as Comma Coldstream.

The purple pump is still available and cheaper then the gold pump. The gold pump is a higher capacity pump and is driven by a smaller pulley so runs at higher rpm than the purple pump relative to crank revs.

The other consideration is the depth of the nitriding.

Richard, Do you know what configuration of main bearings your engine was running BEFORE it failed. The reason I ask is that its possible to assemble the engine with the standard Rover main bearing configuration of 5 plain shells on the bottom and plain on the top on number 1 and 5 main with grooved shells fitted to number 2 3 & 4 main on the top. IMO and that of the crank manufacturer this is the incorrect bearing set up for the fully crossdrilled crank as this effectively blocks off the oil feeds from number 1main to 1 BE and 5 main to 4 BE. I run with all plain shells on the bottom of 1234&5 mains and all grooved on the top and the Vandervell VP2 BE shells.

I am glad you cleared that one up Graham. Could you enlighten us what the recomended maintenace schedule for the R500 is and what parts are replaced and when , I for one would be interested.

IMO some R500 owners and prospective new owners are not understanding what a top end refresh is. A refresh is a head off job , lap in the valves, clean and reassembly fit new valve springs, reshim the cams/followers. As this work is confined to the top end of the engine and with the exception of the new valve springs will do little to extend the life of the whole engine from a engine failure point of view, its aim is to maintain performance through maintaining compression and ensuring that valve clearances are maintained. Most R500 engine failures are failures due to problems with lubrication causing con rod failure, this can be down to incorrect assembly, worn big end or main bearings, owners not keeping their oil topped up , over revving on downshifts, working the engine hard before the oil and water are at normal operating temp etc etc.

Nig, fettle the dissy drive plug so that its a sliding fit into the end of the cam. This is easy done by fitting the dissy plug into the chuck of a drill and reduce using a file and emery cloth. Then time up your cams, transfer / mark the position of number one HT post onto the dissy back plate. Next set the engine to 16 DBTDC using the marks on the front of the timing belt cover. The dissy plug can then be slid into the end of the cam with the rotor arm aligned so that its centre is central on the mark for number 1 ht post. Some epoxy on the plug will hold it in this position. Its also important to set the plug into the cam at the correct depth, this is easy, simply measure the Ht cap, the rotor arm needs to be positioned to be mid way in the cut outs on the HT posts. Failure to get the depth correct will result in breaking off the carbon brush. As Dave J posted we have had lots problems driving in the dissy plug without fettling. The problem is not that the rubber bush flexs its that the rotor arm only sweeps 54 degrees so its positioning is critical when you consider that you are running 45 degrees advance on your map. Incorrect positioning will result is the rotor arm leaving the HT post before the spark is delivered, this then causes an arc and a lot of RF intereference, the M3d does not like this. Misfires, Burn`t ht Caps, Corrupted Software. Get it right or you will have problems. Rob

File a SMALL chamfer on all the leading edges of the friction material. Its normally the rears that have this problem though ?

I am of the opinion that there is little to be gained in up sizing the exhaust valves from the stock 27.3 to 28.5 mm. If you consider that Dave Jacksons 1.6 has 26mm exhaust valves and produces a healthy 210 bhp and this is a ported stock 1.6 head and his power is still climbing at 8000 rpm. Dave wisely bottled out of giving more revs to see what the engine peaked at as he is running a standard bottom end. My own engine all steel 1.8 is peaking at 162lb ft @ 6200 & 230 bhp at 8000 which puzzles me as its fitted with 1227 / R500 cams and the R500 power goes on climbing to 8500 rpm ? I am tempted to fit some wilder cams this winter and see what happens ! Rob

Fit some high friction pads all round such as Pagid RS 14 this will improve bite and the coefficient of friction increases from 0.45 cold to 0.60 at 700C with a mid optimum of 0.55 at 300C. I am told that High ratio peddles are available from Caterham as a last resort. Were you experiencing excessive and spongy peddle at Donnington? It was plagueing me all day, I bled the brakes went out again and the problem returned after a few laps I have uprated fronts , standard rears,big MS, Pagid RS14, New Castrol SRF fluid. I am puzzled why this problem persists? Rob

Hi Julian, You haven`t posted what type of LSD you have fitted. If its a Suretrack torque biasing gear type then any Hypoy EP 80 should be ok but if its a ZF plate type then a specific LS oil is recomended, I use Castrol Hypoy LS and B373 was also recomended to me. I have had no oil spewing out to date. Rob Edited by - Rob walker on 27 Sep 2002 08:50:00

Mathew. AFAIK the EU3 head is the same as the EU2 appart from the HT coils being mounted on top of the cam cover necessitating a revised plastic HT cover, The injectors have also been changed to a lower capacity. I do not think that the cat is responsible as this works well on the VHPD , owners have only gained 2bhp by removeing it in favour of the bypass pipe/collector. You did not say what cams were fitted? If they were the piper 270 fast road cams then 144 bhp out of a stock 1.6 isn`t too bad. Time for a bit of porting ?????????????? Rob

My insurance renewal dropped on the mat today and I was initially pleased at the premium which was £325 up a mere £14 however the sting in the tail was the latest excess as applied to track day cover. This excess has gradually increased over the past 5 years starting from £1000 and last year £1000 or 25% of the claim whichever is the greater. The new excess now applied this LINKIT policy is £1000 or 25% of the insured value of the vehicle. Now this renders the trackday cover useless IMO. The average Caterham will be insured for 20K and this means that in addition to your normal road excess the first £5000 will be excess payable. This effectively rules out it ever being viable to make a claim for a repair and you would also loose NCB to boot. ☹️ Be carefull! Rob.

Head still for sale, this was the head featured in Tony`s article in low flying, the engine produced a healthy 155bhp and had strong torque.

Also sitting blipping the throttle with carbs is bad news, the throttle pump jets squirts neat fuel in which does no good if the engine is not under load.

Crossflow Head porting by Nick Stagg, fitted with 1.625" SSteel Inlet Valves and 1.375" SSteel Exhaust Valves, Colisbro Bronze Rifled Valve Guides, Hardened Valve seats suitable for running U Leaded. Contact the seller Tony Thorpe for more details on Tel 01275 845109 Portishead near Bristol. He wants £275 ONO for the head. Rob.

Hein Gerricke the Motor Cycle accessories shops sell clear , carbon look and Kevlar look film in sheet 600X400 and cost 17 quid. I have just done my rear wings with the CF in the shape of the original protectors and clear film around the sides and up the wings a further 6" . Seems to be unaffected by stones.

Too much preload on the rear springs, this allows the dampers to top out when the suspension becomes unloaded. Remedy wind the spring seats down a tad or fit shorter springs. Edited by - Rob walker on 15 Sep 2002 09:27:33

Rob, THe other problem that we found was that a particular manufacturer who will remain nameless had his spun sections machined with a taper on the inner faces and these fouled the de dion ears. The MBR and SLR split rims have the necessary clearance in this area. Lastly its important that the hub mounting face can clear the rear brake calipers and a clearance is also necessary in that area.