CarlB

You have a loose connection or broken wire that is disconnecting intermittently would be my guess and where I would look first. If everything goes dead start at the battery and check all the connections. Pay special attention to the ignition switch. If you are only loosing power to the engine, check all the wiring in the ignition system.

You might want to sit in a car with the S-3 leather seats. They do not have sides and I think they are very comfortable. Cutting the Tillett seats apart would be very difficult. A lot of the strength is in the rolled edges and you would need to be very careful to maintain the strength.

I have the Kit Car Direct stone guards and I do like them, but I have a suggestion and I also had a issue. One was a prefect match for the stainless steel one that came off. The other side of the car was a different shape and I had to trim the carbon one. It wasn't hard. I used a cut off wheel. Be sure to cover up so you do not get carbon fibers on or in you. The other thing I would do differently is have them clear coated. That should stop the things that look like water spots. I do not think they are clear coated.

Hope it fits without cutting.

I have done it on my car. here are some pictures. When I got my car it came with a Newton Aero 300 cap and flange. I did not get the angled neck and had to make my own. To enlarge the opening to go from the Rover fuel neck I used a nibbler. I taped up the opening and determined the center. Then I drew a circle and cut it out. Once the flange fit I use the flange to locate the bolt holes.

Someone put different tappets in your engine. The Ford tappets do not use caps on the valves to adjust the clearance.

I got my car from someone who lives in Maryland. I think you can tag the car as a replica. You might want to check Maryland law. If you tell them that it is a replica of a 1965 Lotus it is my understanding that there isn't any emission testing and very little safety inspection requirements. I live in Virginia and while my car isn't tagged yet, Virginia has a similar law. Hope you are coming to the USA-7 Event at MJMP. Even if you do not drive it is fun to see all the cars and meet people.

Had not seen the Ford video before writing my comments above. I would still mill the head and check everything with a strait edge. Croc's block cleaning method will work better at removing rust. You can do it a home with a battery charge and a tank of water.

I have been busy and not reading the forum. Went to VIR had a good time but lost a clutch. Some of the pictures indicate areas that could have been leaking coolant or compressing the water jacket. The pictures are harder to read then the actual parts. You should see rings around the cylinder block and head with no breaches. The head gasket has steel rings that compress and form the bright rings. Some of the cylinders and head surfaces look like they could have been leaking. To clean the block if you do not take it apart scape as much off as you can. Use a file or something you know is flat and wrap sandpaper around it to clean the rest. Tape the pistons to the cylinder walls to stop dirt from getting down to the rings. After you clean up from cleaning the deck remove the tape and use motor oil on the cylinders. run the pistons up and down and wipe the oil and potentially dirt that might have gotten down past the tape or wasn't cleaned up the first time. Get a very good strait edge and check that the top of the block is flat. Especially between cylinders. check multiple places. I would check across all the cylinders in the middle and then X the pattern. If you completely disassemble the engine try to find a machine shop that still uses a Oakite 33 in a hot tank to clean the block. The machine shop might not know they are using Oakite and just call their cleaning method a hot tank. This will be hard to find. The EPA doesn't like the stuff. Most places use high pressure washers now. Oakite will remove the rust. The down side is you need to make sure you oil the block as soon as it comes out of the tank because Oakite is a acid and will leave everything susceptible to rust. Only run antifreeze water coolant or water and anticorrosion in the cooling system after it has been cleaned. If you do not disassemble the shot block get brushes and run them down all the water passages. When you get it together flush the cooling system. If you want to get really really careful put the short block on a engine stand crankshaft up. Plug up different holes in the cooling system and flush the water passages. Send the head to a machine shop and have it milled flat. Tell them you need to know how much needs to come off. You can figure out if you use the same technic I suggested for the block, but I would have it milled to make sure it is flat. The only exception is if it has already been milled a lot and you are concerned about raising the compression ratio. The best way to check the cam is actually look at the lifters. They should be slightly crowned. That is why someone suggested you check to see if they rotated. They will ware rapidly if they do not rotate. If they are dished you have a problem. There are lots of places to teach you how to degree a cam and it sounds like you are getting the tools. One other thing to check is piston to valve clearance. It is a pain in the neck to do. If you are not confident you aren't putting the cams back where they were installed originally. I do not know how critical the valve to piston clearance is in these engines. If you can tell me the compression ratio and valve lift of the cams I will check with the guy who assembles the engines for Quicksilver.

I would be a little careful with the front toe out. Lots of people like it and you might. It makes the car turn in really quick. You need to be slow with the wheel and get use to it.

Thank you - Those specs are very helpful. Hopefully I can get the car aligned this weekend

Attached are two pictures of my cage. I think it can give you some ideas to consider. It is a little wider for more side protection. It is also removable. The second picture shows how it attaches to the car. Two of them are connected to crossmembers. It was build locally by a guy who builds lots of cages for SCCA cars, but I can't remember his name. I bought the car with the cage.

Does anyone have some good track alignment settings for a wide track S3? I would be interested in everything. Ride height or rake, camber, caster, and toe.

My guess is the same as Croc's - A broken valve spring. A intake valve isn't seating completely. If it was a hot spot in the engine causing the water to boil, it would have condensed b the time it go to the filter.

Let me be clear. If you can't easily lock the brakes at hot or cold don't drive the car. There is something wrong. If it takes a long time to slow down from 60 MPH and the pedal effort is high you might have racing pads or pads that were not bedded correctly.

You all might find this helpful. Tire sizes.xlsx

I do not have a 430R, but I have some general comments. You should absolutely be able to lock the brakes. I suspect your pads are glazed and sanding the rotors and pads and bedding them again should fix it. Pad material builds up on the rotors and a light sanding will remove it. I do not know what Caterham supplies for pads, but pads have different coefficients of friction. and different operating temperature ranges. Racing pads do not work until they get hot. As pads get better at stopping they also work in a narrower range. Bedding procedures also become more important. They are not inexpensive but I really like the Porterfield vintage race car pad compound. I use it on my Caterham and my MINI. It is has a very high coefficient of friction. A smaller diameter master cylinder will make the brakes easier to push. For the same force on the brake pedal you will be applying more force pushing the brake pads. The disadvantage is the pedal will travel further. You still need to move the same amount of brake fluid to move the caliper pistons.

I have Kent Cams Adjustable pullies and cams in my engine.

Croc & yellowss7 have good advice. We all wish we could pin point the problem exactly, but no one knows for sure. Unfortunately it is a long and frustrating journey. If you do pull the head, and unfortunately I think you are close, make very sure all the water passages are open. There are small passages around the cylinders and if one is clogged you could be getting localized boiling and that would cause the overheating. Here is my thought process. You passed a pressure test on the cooling system. I don't trust the test strips for exhaust gas in the coolant. The engine boils over when the cooling system seems to be full. Coolant levels jumping up and down in the big funnel are either trapped air or local boiling. What I would expect to see in the big funnel is the coolant level rise slowly as the temperature goes up. When the thermostat opens you will get a jump and maybe a decrease and a air bubble but then it should go back to a slow rise in level. The system has lots of dirt in it. On the negative side I would expect the engine to overheat when you were driving not sitting still.

This only works if the radiator is very clogged. When the engine is up to temperature check the temperature of the face of the radiator. If some areas are colder than others that is a indication tubes in that area are clogged.

I have never seen a number to use for testing. I use 15 pounds because it is in the middle of the yellow zone on the gauge I have. I generally look for it to hold pressure for 15 minutes. If I t will do that when it the engine is cold, you do not have a leak.

When you get the cooling system pressure tester it will help you get the air out of the system. Pressurizing the system will often push the air out. I believe you said the the engine overheats a low speeds and that cruising down the road everything is fine. Check the compression and the the cooling system ability to hold pressure first, but you might consider having the radiator flushed at a radiator shop. They put it in a bath and get all the scale out. They also can flow test it.

I live in Fairfax and have them in my car if you would like to try the Tillet seats.

I will confirm that Zetec's have good torque. The main advantage of a Duratec is bigger ports for more flow and more power at higher engine speeds. Quicksilver put the Raceline wet sump pan on my car. They also did extensive baffling. I do not have any oil pressure issues or high oil temperatures.

Did the car idle before you took them out? They look like a plug should look if you cut the engine off at speed and took it out of gear. Modern gas has a lot of stuff in it that makes reading plugs harder. There appears to be carbon on the body of the plug and the center electrode insulation isn't white. That would indicate it isn't very lean. Even better the plugs do not appear to be steamed cleaned. that would indicate water in a cylinder. Unfortunately that doesn't mean compressed air isn't getting in the cooling system.