Wayne Stambaugh

My car has to be possibly the lowest mileage Caterham ever built although there may be a car out there still in the crate with no mileage. I’m the second owner and knew the first owner when he purchased the car. It’s an 1986 BDR with DeDion and has 31 original miles on it. I’m working hard so I’ll be able to put so miles on it soon. Like John says “Who wins” this is really a crime!

Yep, I think that is the tank I have.

Noticed this thread and I have been thinking about my 86 S3 BDR. I don’t even know if it had an overflow or expansion tank on it when it was new. Currently there is a bottle up the radiator that is the same as the bottle for washer fluid. I have a feeling that it was just added on and didn’t come with it. As small as the radiator is I would have expected an expansion tank that allowed the antifreeze back into the radiator as it cooled. With a radiator this size I think you want all the coolant you can get all the time. Does anyone know if it came standard with an expansion tank?

Correct, no foam in the tank. Unfortunatey there is some gas in it. I think it must have been put it lately because it doesn’t have that rotten gas small or possibly it was a non ethynol fuel of some kind. The bad new is that the tank is steel and I can see some surface rust through the filler hole in the top of the tank. I will run my scope down into it when I get the tank out.

Everyone with a home shop seems to have space issues. I understand that but a standard size J head Bridgeport or a knock-off doesn’t take up much more room than a bench top. Yes, it weighs 2000 pounds but typically you only more it into place once. If you saw where mine is located in my basement you would probably do a lot of head scratching, especially when I told you I moved it there myself with no forklift or any assistance. Yes, three phase is not a problem these days. In the basement I have an old rotary converter to power it. They work fine. Life without a Bridgeport is about like life without a microwave but you have to understand I have always had one close at hand since I was in high school. I’ll keep an eye out for either one. I have people calling me now and then either wanting to sell or buy a machine tool. I do have a friend that was trying to sell an Enco turret mill. It is a floor model not a bench top but if you change your mind let me know.

As you can see, the bolt circle has 9 holes. This is the bolt pattern Motolita uses. How do you think they came up with the idea of 9 holes? I had previosly only seen 6 or 3 holes. Strange engineering, I guess it limits the competion from being able to put their steering wheels on the Motolita hub.

Honestly I still like the quick release the best although I needed this extra 1”behind the wheel. Hopefully the steering wheel will be off my thigh now. I will test fit tonight and if it works out okay I’ll take it back apart and have it anodized black. Considering the money I’m spending on this thing the quick release will have to wait a little while.

Tonight I finished up th spacer. Here are a few pictures. I don’t have the availabilty of CNC machine tools any more but conventional stuff still gets the job done.

Started the steering wheel spacer this afternoon. It will give me an inch more length. I didn't want to over do it. I finished the ring but didn't get the bolt circle drilled. I will do that tomorrow. If it feels right I'll have it black anodized at the machine shop I where I used to work. I get somewhat special treatment there. No minimum charge on anodizing.

Cool! I like that. Please keep us posted on how the installation goes and how much improvement you see in performance.. Isn’t it amazing how Santa knows exactly what we want!

Thanks for the links! These look like two vendors I needed to know about. I’m still learning who has what and where to go to get it. Thanks again!

I have seen a few different types but I guess the bottom line is that they give the mount a little flex and it should certainly seal better and vibrate less.

I think I’ll go with your recommendation, I’m going to run the Dunpops. I’ll put the money I would have spent on tires into new shocks instead. It seems I’m going to have plenty of things to spend money on.

I expected that. I looked carefully at these and they don't look rebuildable but I could be wrong. The way the tube section is crimped together makes me doubt that they can.

Another thing that needs attention are the original Spax shocks. They look like the oil has been running out of them for years. Should I replace these with new Spax shocks or is there a better option. Remember for starters this car won’t be on the track. I need something more general purpose.

Earlier in this thread there was mention of whether the engine had Misab plates between the carbs and the intake or whether the carbs were bolted directly to the intake. There was a nylon looking plate about 3/16” thick with an oring on both sides located in grooves on both sides of the plate. Should I get new oring for this set up or buy different plates? I notice there seems to be multiple types.

I believe I solved the mystery of the rear wing braces. I remembered seeing these two parts when loading up the car and the pieces that went with it. These braces are undrilled so I assume you were supposed to fit and drill to fit.

Here are a few pictures of the inside of the cylinders. Internally I don’t think there are any rust or corrosion issues.It was tough to get a good cylinder wall picture. The light reflection was so bad the pictures turned while. I’ll assume that means the bore is shines too much. The first pic is the cylinder wall where it meets the head, the second is obviously the valves. The thing in the sparkplug hole is the probe shaft. In the last picture you are seeing the top of an intake valve through the intake port. I took many more pictures but I think these are enough explain. the conditon of trhe cylinders.

Thats great! Before I order them I’m going to go through the extra parts and see I they may be here. Since I think the braces are here, it stands to reason the bolts may be here too.

I think I’ll pass on replacing them. They are really kind of uniqie hoses. Unlike a radiator hose or hydraulic hose, these hoses don’t move, they are not under pressure or vacuum not to mention they would probably be a pain in the neck to remove and replace. I don’t see any cracks or damage so as they say If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

I think I saw a couple of brackets made from maybe 1/2” square tubing. I didn’t know what they were for but these brackets my be the rear front wing brackets. Neither of the front wings are drilled outboard for the 1/4” galvanized bolts for attachment to the front and rear brackets. This is just more evidence that the car was hardly driven. At speed the front wings would have surely lifted off the braces.

While removing the front wings today I discovered the only bolts that held it on were the bolts along the inner flange of the wing. There is an arched brace where the headlight mounts that follows the contour of the wing and it had the wires to the wing light (hot and ground) zip tied to it. There were no screws or bolts through the wing into that brace. the wing was just resting on the brace. I also noticed two holes in the side of the body on both sides about half way up the wing. I believe there is supposed to be another support bolted there but there isn’t anything there. In the attached picture you can see the holes if you look closely.

They are almost 2 years old.

Today, I’m doing a variety of different things. The car is up on stands wheels off. I’m looking at fuel line routing and determined that nylon or plastic of some kind is used to go from the tank to the engine bay. As MV8 stated steel line of NiCop is probably the best thing to use. Looks like I’ll have to remove a few panels inside the car over the tunnel to acomplish replacing the line. I removed the wings front and rear to prepare the body for paint. I have talked about replacing all things rubber and while I was taking wht wheels off I got to thinking about tires. I have attached two pictures of tires the Goodyear Eagles are what went on the car in 1986. Needless to say regardless as to whether they were exposed to UV or not, I’m not going to run them. The second picture is the new tires that came with the car. They are two years old which is probably fine. I have been told to save those tires for purposes other than daily street driving. My question is, what is a good tire for everyday use on this car? As you can see in the pictures I have 14” wheels and at this point in time I want to stick with 14s. I will not be trying to shave a couple of 1/10s of a second off my lap times or anything of the sort. All I want is a decent tire to drive the streets with. Any recommendations? I hope to get to the engine today and get some pictures of the insides of the cylinders, so back to work. a

This evening I plan to check the cylinders with my bore scope and see how the cylinder walls and valves look. Again with only 31 miles on the engine I’m not going to be looking for wear but more for rust and corrosion.