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Out of gear is especially important with non-syncromesh gearboxes. Race cars, trucks, tractors, and heavy equipment. The tiny back and forth motion against the boomers beats the living poo out of engagement dog faces. I also crisscross the lashings if possible to increase the distance between load and trailer fixing points. Very little suspension compression is needed with longer lashings as the load's up and down movement doesn't have as much effect on the lashing's length and tension. Keep in mind that your lashing method should insure the hooks won't drop off or become disconnected with slack. Due diligence is SOP. I once heard about a brand new Caterham "Superlight" nearly rolling off a trailer...

Leave the car's gearbox in neutral when loaded on the trailer. Gearbox and diffy will take a bashing otherwise.

Pre-87 'boxes with the loose countershaft needle bearings running on full length shaft = 1.9ltr. (in reality, about 1.5 ltr. works, with less potential for seepage. There's a Ford service bulletin with the exact amount floating around the internet somewhere.) Post-87 gearboxes with caged countershaft needle bearings running on the stubby shaft = 1.2 ltr. Ford altered the design of the internal features in the later redesigned 'boxes for less oil drag and stiffer countershaft assembly. (and less seepage).

Fill to the bottom of the filler plug in the side of the gearbox case. The volume is different between the various versions of this gearbox. Ford drills the filler plug hole at the appropriate height to compensate accordingly.

If you're looking at the round flat boss that sticks from the bottom of the case, there's a large doughnut shaped ceramic magnet setting in the bottom of the gearbox exactly in that location. It's held down with magnetic force, but there's also a couple of overhanging lugs cast into the case. If you luck out and hit the middle of the doughnut, I suppose it'll be OK. If the drill jams the doughnut, I'll lay odds it'll crack in two.

BTT I've updated the seach strings to weed out the discount auto parts sellers on ebay. These links are quite long, but feel free to cut and edit them for other ebay motors searches that you might wish to purify. lotus seven lotus 7 caterham

Welcome! It's always good to see another VX. There's getting to be quite a number of us. :cheers: Was that a turbo C20LET or did you start with an XE? Steel crank?

If your chassis has a later "fresh air" type heater, you can purchase a bypass control valve for it. The control valve automatically bypasses the coolant flow to the heater core. Here. I think the fresh air heater was introduced in 1988 or so. It can be identified by an air intake that lines up with central lovers in the bonnet. There are two versions of the heater (metal and plastic) but I believe both use the same bypass valve. The bypass valve won't work with the older box heater that draws air from the cockpit If you've an older box heater, a splice tube and a pair of jubilee clips is the solution. Of course, you can always bin the heater and raise your power to weight ratio...

There is a safety issue with these vibration isolators. The originals tend to separate when they have seen their useful duty life. Here and here If you buy the isolators from CaterhamUSA you will get the ones with a safety feature built in. The isolators from other sources may not have this feature.

Sierra Diff Manual There are some special tools required. They aren't essential if you have experience setting pinion depth with die maker's bluing. edited to add: When you have the diff out, that's a good time to replace the cheesy Caterham Hookes joints in the propshaft. Any reputable drive line overhauler can set you up with new Dana/Spicer joints and balance job for $150 or so. Since the Caterham propshaft is essentially in-line and has no angular departure, the joints wear very rapidly.

Jude, If the clunk is on every gear change, 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, etc. then it's probably not the gearbox. Check the drive shafts, prop shaft, diff backlash, diff mounts, and motor mounts. Jack up the rear end and rotate the rear wheels back and forth in and out of gear to see if you can isolate the clunk noise.

Ferodo DS3000. Pros: Excellent cold bite and very little change when hot. Low pedal effort, low pedal travel, yet still easy to modulate. Less disk wear than RS-14s. Cheaper than RS-14s as well. Cons: Noisy as hell! Sounds like a sow caught in a fence after the third stop or so. Spectacular fireworks show after dark when the pads are hot. If the rears are locking up, you can downgrade them to DS 2500 for better balance. DS2500s will need to be warmed up a bit though.

As Skip says, engine out. You can leave the gear box in place and slip the engine back in with the new clutch bits. I don't like doing this as it actually creates more finger smashing opportunities and less chance of spotting other problems such as leaks and knackered Hookes joints. (the original Caterham joints are made of cheese) Engine out is a one man chore that takes between 3-5 hours, depending on how many things you forget to disconnect.:ack: You'll need a helper going back together to get the prop shaft slip joint lined into the gearbox. Have a new exhaust gasket on hand and plenty of beer.:cheers:

Since there were no threads regarding Earth Day...

I think Skip's hit it on the nose, however since this engine uses COP ignition, it's the trigger wires to the coils that are probably swapped around. I would also suspect the wires to the injectors may be swapped as well. I believe the Cosworth MBE is set up for sequential injection, in which case the injection wiring needs to be in order. If it's running in batch mode, the injector wiring can be random.

On his way back to the station, doughnuts and coffee getting cold.. :willy_nilly:

Make sure you are looking at the correct fuse. The fuel pump also uses a 20A. If it's the fuel pump packing it in, all the symptoms would be similar.

While you are sorting the engine mounting bracket, it would be a good time to replace the rubber isolators as well. Caterhams prior to ~2000 had rather dangerous isolators that can separate completely during a failure event. Later isolators have a safety feature that keeps the mount contained when the rubber fails. If you order replacement isolators from Caterham, you will get these new improved versions. The older (pre 2000) HPC and race chassis were supplied with safety "catchers" that would prevent the isolators from completely separating in a catastrophic manor. Most builders just tossed them aside as they didn't come with any instructions. Only the racers knew what they were for, and that info was passed by word of mouth. The late model mounts completely alleviate the need for the safety catchers.

Everything you did or didn't want to know about DCOEs. Here

GM corporate usually uses imperial measurements for freeze plugs, regardless the country of origin. I'd take a stab at the C20XE having 1 3/8" freeze plugs (Dorman 555-025). For a couple of bucks at Checker, it'd be worth a go. Yank off the zorst and pull the exhaust primary that's in front of the offending plug. Pop it out with a lag screw, washer, and a large socket. Take it down to the auto parts store and they'll be able to match it up. Beating the new one in will be a chore. Take care not to dimple the side skin on the back swing.

Since those are rockets, the rope will probably work OK (no recoil). Still wouldn't want to stand behind it.

I used petrol-proof Hylomar Blue on the sender gasket. The Pump gasket is Buna-N and should not need any additional glorp to seal properly. (at least in my experience.)

1) remove roll over bar. Tank comes out through the top 2) undo jubilee clamp and pull off return hose, front of tank. 3) pull faston off tank level sender on top of tank 4) undo banjo bolt, side of tank. let fuel line dangle. 5) find bullet connector for fuel pump electrical feed and disconnect. It's usually close to centre of car where it goes up the prop tunnel. leave wire dangling from tank. 6) undo the filler pipe and vent pipe from tank top. 7) undo bolts through angle iron holding tank into chassis. 8) remove the filler neck and fuel door. ( I've gotten tank out without, but it's much easier this way) 9) tape some foam packing to insides of boot skin to protect it from dimpling if you bump it with the tank corners. 9A) I can't recall exactly, but I think you need to drill the 4 rivets out of each end of the alloy hat-section that holds up the boot floor and remove it as well. 10) weasel the tank up and out through top of boot . 11) change the fuel filter while tank is out. Don't over tighten the flanges when replacing the gaskets. They can distort rather easily. Paint the plywood boot floor sections with some type of boat finish while they're out. They have a tendency to delaminate from road juice that collects when driving in wet conditions. Good luck!

380nm through a T-9 with warmed-over stock internals? :eek:

James, I seem to recall you have the Caterham system with the bell tank reservoir. They used to claim 4.5 liters, But I recall most folks can only squeeze in 4 liters before the tank pukes to the catch can. This might help. It's from Caterham's fitting instructions (Vauxhall Dry Sump System_master.doc) --------------------------- vii) The belltank housing should be filled to approximately 10” from the bottom with synthetic oil. Check the oil level, this can only be done once the engine has been run to normal operating temperature and switched off. The oil level must be checked straight away using a length of metal or wooden rod. ---------------------------- PM me and I'll send you the .doc if you don't already have it.