January...
Start hours for the year: 542 Hours modification/maintenance time - (558)1100 Hours total work time - 197 Hours design time - (95)292 Hours total Design time
Did a test on the side pods using carbon fibre/flowcoat/PE resin... Not bad at all, in fact pretty damn good. So the new plan is to use a layer of flowcoat, over paint with epoxy and then lay-up the carbon, the test even allowed me to worked out where we went wrong with the carbon belly pan all those years ago!
Smoothed off the Gurney flap mould, polished and waxed it up ready to take some items off it. Decided that the bottom flap will end before it turns under the pod - I have visions of clipping a curb and ripping the whole flippin pod off - the top one will round off and fair into the top just to keep things neat.
Had a go at the Gurney flaps... Flowcoated the mould in black and used CSM, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake on several fronts. Firstly there were three of four air bubbles that left the Flowcoat behind when the item was removed from the mould and, secondly the item is much to thick and heavy. So, the next on I'll use tissue was the first layer then two layers of glass cloth, live and learn.
Mind you, even with the faults the flaps will do the job required of them - so pretty dang good.
Layed up the first carbon pod... looks good so far. Used two layers of 2x2 twill with the UV stable epoxy resin and it's currently being baked at 60ºC+, just hope it turns out OK given the cost of Carbon these days!
As I had some spare Carbon off cuts I had another go at the Gurney flap... Just one layer with PE Flowcoat and resin and it turned out very well indeed. Extremely light and stiff, (no as good as the epoxy items but not bad at all), and a dang sight easier to work than the GRP cloth - which was a bit of a disaster - Memo: Lay-up the cloth on a Flowcoated item within the hour of it curing :-) Ah well, live and learn.
The Carbon pod saga: The first one came off the mould and looked pretty good... the second one came off and looked even better. Now given that Carbon cloth is around the £50/Mtr2 mark at the moment I was pleased and relieved! However, these pods, (and indeed the diffuser), are 2x2 twill... I found a supplier that could deliver 4x4 twill, (the same pattern as the Westfield Factory pre-preg parts), at a very reasonable cost. What to do, what to do? Serendipitously a fellow Westy owner was after some carbon pods... So, job done. I sell the items to this chap and then make some new 4x4 items for my car... Well, no in fact...
I took pictures of the pods, then wrapped them in an old Duvet cover in the Conservatory for a couple of days... When I came to box them up and send them off I found that the first pod had developed a milky white imperfection about 3" wide and a couple of feet long on the main flat plane. It was so 'bad' that you couldn't see the weave through it... In all good conscience I could sell them in that state as 'Carbon', so it looks like I'll be making two sets of pods in the coming weeks :-)
As the pods are structurally fine, light and stiff but cosmetically yuk, so the current plan is to spray the lower section of both pods in black, leave the top section as clear coat Carbon and try to sell them, (at a much reduced price), which is really irritating as the second pod is very very good, so it goes.
Finished W&D'ing/polishing the engine cover plug... Gave it five coats of wax and masked it up, so just need to pre-cut the CSM to fit the odd shapes and we can pull off a mould!
Laying up the cover was a long, long job... it seemed to take hours what with all the fiddly bits of CSM. But if I thought that was bad... Taking the mould off the plug was even worse! There I was, gently pulling on the mould fully expecting the soft 'crack' that lets you know the parts have separated cleanly, when all the face surface of the plug pulls off the former - still attached, limpet like to the mould! It took hours to get it apart and several more to remove all traces of the plug surface from the mould... I had to use a chisel in the end.
Really don't know what's gone on here, everything was as normal, six coats of wax on the plug, paint on the Flowcoat and lay-up the item, all as usual. No fun at all. So, the mould is now being repaired - one coat of resin so far, which needs to be rubbed down, then several more to get the surface smooth and glass like. The good news is that the engine top cradle fits into the mould perfectly.
Had a think on the side pods and decided to vacuum bag it. This will allow me to just use epoxy resin and get a near perfect, air bubble free finish. Finding someone who will admit to selling the bits and bobs needed was a bit of a trail, but good old fashion 'stick-to-it'ness paid off... Well that, but mostly Google. Found a great company over near Bristol that supplies the lot at pretty good prices, so ordered up enough materials to make three/four pods. All I need now is a flippin vacuum pump.
The other thing needed is to remove all the carefully screwed & glued re-enforcing from the pod mould so it will go into a bag with no sharp edges.
So, all in all it hasn't been a fun couple of weeks, with little to show for a lot of work.
Found a vacuum pump on eBay, (snipe tool to the rescue!) which arrived two days later. The actual pump model is a discontinued ten year old jobbie, but this one has never been used - gosh it's very sparkly. It took a while for the motor to warm up and run then found that the pump.... well, wasn't, oh dear. A phone call to Rietschle UK, who have a very helpful tech. department BTW, and it was decided that the carbon vanes were jammed in their slots. So, popped the front off the pump and sure enough... Rock flippin solid. Ten minutes later and all six vanes were moving freely and it was time to try again.
Blimey it don't half suck..., for want of a better phrase.
So, I tried it out using a bin bag and masking tape just to see... A real giggle - and it works. Ordered the hose fittings and job done.
So, time to re-re-re-modify the side pod mould. Removed all the bracing and glued pond liner to the outside to give a 'sharp edge free' surface so the vacuum bag doesn't puncture and made up some 'adjusters' to keep the width dimension correct. So now we're all ready for the main event - Monday.
Gurney flap mould modification... Decided that this too needs to be bagged, so I'll use Polyfiller and expanded poly-foam to make up another 'sharp edge free' shape. 'Repair' of the engine cover mould is on the way, just involves W&D/resin/W&D and me freezing. Think I'm also going to have to bag this mould to avoid air bubbles, so a lot is riding on how easy the side pod vacuum process goes.
Bit of a lag in 'jobs done' at the moment as we're running around viewing Trimarans, (Hmmmm, light weight and speedy), as our next boat - Last W/E we were in France looking at a rather nice one and later next month we may well be off again.
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570 Hours modification/maintenance time - (558)1128 Hours total work time - 200 Hours design time - (95)295 Hours total Design time
February...
A busy month...Finding and buy all the consumables, then teaching m'self vacuum bagging techniques... Then actually making things.
Found a great company near Bristol that sells all the bits and bobs needed by the metre, rather than the lorry load! Ordered up release film, felt, bag material and tape enough to make four pods. Made a temporary bag fitting for the pump using an inner tube value and bit the bullet as it were.
Layed up two lots of my new and lovely 4x4 carbon using epoxy, layed the release film on top, then the felt and after a bit of a fight we managed to fit the pump value and bag the mould. Switched the pump on and sure enough the bag settled down, but very slowly - think we need a bigger pump/bag fitting. five hours later the bagging material was removed with little effort and four hours later still the first item was removed from the mould...
Damn! I think I removed it before it had completely gone off as there were areas where the resin looked like it was peeled off the item. Looking at the mould I could see the 'missing' resin... One down and my fault for being too keen. The general finish however was perfect, as was the thinness and, even when it was still green, the stiffness of the item. Oh well, live and learn.
Cleaned the mould up and ready for another go. This time we made a bigger free flowing pump/bag to pump fitting using a 3/8th rather than a 1/4 size pump nozzle. Once we'd done all the layup/bagging tasks and switch the pump on - blimey, The difference was huge! The bag immediately formed onto the item and really sqeeeezed. Again five hours later the bagging material was removed and five hours later still the item popped off with no bother and is perfect! The process was so easy, we did the same the next day and are now proud owners of two glossy, blemish free 4x4 Carbon/epoxy side pods - now all we have to do it cut and fit them.
This W/E we went to the lovely island of Guernsey to look at a boat... All well and good. For speed and comfort we decided to fly - what fools we were! On booking the ticket we were advised to arrive and check-in one hour before departure, which we did, only to be confronted with a six deep que for Passport control/Security that threaded its way completely around the South Terminal check-in area!
To catch our flight we actually had to push in the que - and given we're British and so 'Reserved' this should tell you how desperate the situation was.
Let me list the acts of barking madness that were to follow:
It really was very poorly organised and rushed and slapdash and crowded... Just the right atmosphere to do a really good job at security - not!
It later turned out that I had inadvertently taken on board both the outbound and the return aircraft a little multi-tool thingy attached to my car keys (henceforth to be known as... THE PENKNIFE OF DOOM™) which has a jolly sharp 2" blade in it... So all that security really worked there then didn't it - the buffoons.
Anyway, the boat was fine but not what we wanted... So we went an bought the French boat - oh yes indeedy!
Given the success of the vacuum pump, I thought I'd try de-gassing the mixed epoxy before using it... So I carefully taped up a Roses sweety tin and fitted a 1/4" nozzle in the top and tried it out with some water as a test. Once I stopped laughing I peeled the crushed remains of the tin from the water container :-))))) Vacuum is really strong!
Finished the engine cover mould and bagged it up... Not bad for a first attempt as there were faults once the item was removed - but not bad at all. Next time I'll use a 'stretchier' bag material as I think the shape of the mould and the pump fitting placement means that air was trapped in the fiddle shapes. However, I' can still use it as the faults are minor and can be repaired.
Trimmed the cover and cut and shaped the separate panels (made from the first bagged pod) and fitted it in the bay... Not bad. Fitted the trans tunnel plate and popped the engine back in and set about making the cover fit the engine... and rapidly realised I was going to run out of time - MOT due and the engine must be tested before hand. So, decided to (a) do the cover later this year and (b) have a re-think on how to fit it so it can be removed quickly and painlessly.
Trimmed and fitted the side pods - Sounds easy doesn't it... The stress I tell you, THE STRESS! Anyway, got both cut and fitted and it only took six hours, SIX HOURS OF STRESS!!!!! Still, it was indeed all worth it, they look stunning!
Fitted the engine, again using our tried and tested method of filling the thing with coolant... Pulled the fuel pump fuse and removed the plugs, turned it over until we got oil pressure, reconnected everything and it started after about 20 seconds of turning it over - I love this engine. Checked it would go into gear, which it did with ease. Grin time again.
The gearbox is great and everything worked as it should with no fluid leaks... All ready for it's MOT next month...
The rest...
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Some more...
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620 Hours modification/maintenance time - (558)1178 Hours total work time - 202 Hours design time - (95)297 Hours total Design time
March...
First blatt with the new gearbox/side pods, (and the last before the MOT test). The box is indeed 'slicker' than the 'old' one and the new full length pods are a great improvement on the originals. The amount of hot air now being pumped out the sides is much better than with the 3/4 jobbies, so much so I think I'm going to have to reset the coolant pump activation point as the car runs very cool, (even taking into account the 10degC ambient). Thoroughly enjoyed my first blatt in a long while.
Passed the MOT with no problems, even missed all the horrendous weather and drove back home in sunshine no less. So, what's next... Not really sure, I need to rethink the engine cover, get the Gurney flaps made and attached and make the boot box vent mould. As for any 'big mods', got to wait until next year I suspect as our new toy, (assuming it's survey is OK), is going to take up a lot of time during the coming months!
Modified the Gurney flap mould so I can bag it... Extended the 'sides' with hardboard and coated the back of the mould with rubber to stop any sharp bits puncturing the bag material. Just got to rewax it with ten of so coats and I can finish of the pods!
Chap on the WSCC site was selling a GTS widetrack kit... Given that the new toy was taking most of the spare 'goody money', I missed out on the bulk buy for the Westfield version... So, I threatened to hold my breath until Val™ caved in... After awhile, I bought them... Do I know how to be assertive or what! :-)
SWSCC meeting and what a lovely day... Gentle blatt (with far too many 'deadhead' drivers alas) to Dorking', within 2 Miles of the meeting point and at a Tee junction... The clutch pedal hits the end stop - no clutch! What! I've only just done this... What is going on? Made the meeting, which was fun and well attended, and got home with little to no drama.
Let the engine cool down and then stripped off the clutch cover expecting to see the little mushroom thingy on the MRE (lock-up clutch) supplied pullrod snapped off. It wasn't... Hmmmm, what was going on?
It turned out that the pullrod (other) end slides into the gearbox mainshaft by design... 'Unfortunately' MRE had machined this particular pullrod slightly to big so when it got hot it bound to the mainshaft. Not good considering this was a near as damn it new box (and clutch pullrod). It took a bit of swearing, but the damn thing came out with not more than bruised knuckles and an abiding and irrational hatred (which will pass I'm sure) of MRE, who will be hearing from me.
As I prudently ordered some spare pullrods some time ago, I check these with the mainshaft and also mic'd them up... And they are fine, in fact they are the same as the original Honda item, choice of three and I pick the dud one... My luck stinks :-)
So, I put the clutch back together, jump in the car... And the clutch pedal still hits the end stop - or just about - before I can feel a tiny amount of clutch movement. Now what's going on? Clutch stripped yet a-flippin-gain and the problem is found: As the pullrod 'seized' in the mainshaft it kept on spinning at engine speeds (OK, 66% of engine speed) and ate the actuator rod cup. This meant that the rod needed to rotate far more to 'collect' the mushroom thingy on the end of the pullrod and pull it away from the clutch mech... New actuator arm ordered from David Silver Spares and an oil/filter change, oh well at least more damage wasn't done... In fact, don't think about what 'could' of happened!
After modifying/waxing like mad the Sidepod Gurney flap mould, it was time to make the dratted things. Layed up two sheets of 4x4 carbon, bagged it and connected the pump... Instant vacuum! Three hours later I turned the pump off and removed the mould from the bagging consumables to let it cure at high temperature, well 70degC anyway. Had to leave it overnight, but it popped off the mould with only a small amount of blood spilt and looks pretty damn good. Just got to trim/shape and bond them to the Sidepods.
While we at the club meeting, one of the Kent Madmen™ has the same 'bones' as I'd just bought... So I was having a look at them, as you do. He had stuck that 3M carbon sticky back sheet on the leading edges of both the top and bottoms, which struck me as a prudent move... The down side was that as the radius the material has to bend around is quite tight it tended to peel.
So, given I have a monster vacuum pump and spare material, why not make a mould and pull bagged epoxy/carbon 'spats' off it to my hearts content? Job done... Laminated three 6mm wood slats together and shaped them, made up the backing plates and filleted the 'top' join to make an integral Gurney flap, which should also make getting the damn things out of the mould easier, and coated it with PE resin. Just got to W&D it smooth/glossy, wax it and I can make the mould.
The plan is to leave the Gurney flap on the topside of the lower wishbone but to trim it off on the upper wishbone...
The start of the Motorsport season...
Last W/E was MotoGP, he he he, that was fun to watch but the bikes aren't as manic as the 990 jobbies of last year... Good start to what looks like being an exciting championship though. Do you think that as Honda have finished with the V5 990cc engines... and so they're pretty much obsolete, I could have one (or indeed two or three) please?
This W/E it was the turn of F1. Hmmmm... How can something so expensive 'fast' and hi-tech be so dull? Dull, dull, dull. I suspect you could have used last years race commentary and just changed the names at the end... It is so boring! The two commentators spent "quite some time" discussing how to pronounce one of the driver's name - it was that riveting.
Also... Having viewed several F1 races over recent years, I feel that Mr Allen must either have (A) a great sense of humour and a knowing self depreciating sense of what's important and his place within the dull and unexciting circus that is F1 and so be gently sending both himself and those involved up for our subtle amusement.... Or (B) he's a complete and indeed consummate spanner with all the charm and wit of one of those nasty Amazonian catfish that swim up your 'thingy' at the drop of a hat and stick spikes in it - and just as painful to live with in all probability. I know which one I'm plumping for.
Jeepers, It was DUUUULL!
Pulled the mould off my wishbone spat plug... Just got to tidy it up, mount it to a plate so I can get the pump fitting in a sensible place and wax, wax, wax it. Looks pretty good... and my 'helper' thought so too :-)
Got the new clutch arm today... and did some 'before & after' images. Boy was I lucky!
Fitted the new arm... Then took the clutch back apart and installed the gear shaft extension and the refitted the clutch, what a twit I can be :-) Refitted all the pipework and side pod and started the engine... First turn of the key and it purred to life. The clutch now adjusts to the correct place and works, so I'm back to where I was Saturday before last, ready for the snow :-)
Made another vacuum pump to bag fitting as the Perspex one I'd knocked up was cracked and I suspect leaking air. made the new one out of ali with a wood base to hold the pipe fitting off the work.
Cut the Gurney flaps to shape and size... Just got to remove both pods and bond them together. Also W&D/polished up the wishbone spat mould and mounted it to a piece of Conti-board, (for the vacuum pipe fitting thingy). It's had four coats of wax so far but I'll give it at least another four before using it.
Dad™ and I fitted the wide track front suspension wishbones...
Four hours and it was fitted and setup, not bad, not bad at all, (many thanks Mr G), took it for a quick/cold test drive and .... Blimey it's flippin wide! I can see the whole wheel jiggling up and down now :-)
And braking was better, turn in much faster, minimal weight transfer, WAIT A MOMENT... I'm talking.... rubbish :-))) Not going to know until I do the next trackday, however, they do look good and free up an enormous area inboard of the wheels for the sidepods to work in. It'll be interesting to see what difference they make to the amount of air removed from the bay, Ah, if only I had a wind tunnel... Even a small one would do :-)))
Added a click to the damper and re-did the ride height..., the camber I set to -1.9deg/side and the toe is near as makes no odds zero, which the car in the 'normal' track guise seemed to like. It was in fact a pretty simple 'nut & bolt' process:
Really really like the camber adjuster... Blinder, only takes a couple of minutes to sort out both sides.
So, anyone want a set of standard Westfield front wishbones...? 3000 Miles'ish, polybushed and in pretty good nick :-)
Decided to have the toe checked/set... So in the end I took it to a Qwik-Fit that's near, as I know what I the setting that works for the car is, so I just needed someone with a laser jobbie to get it dead on.. Now usually I'm not that keen on these places after a rather bad experience a few years ago, but needs must as the Devil drives etc etc.
I must say that the care and enthusiasm in setting the car up shown by the chaps was fantastic. Once we had got the car up on the ramp and dragged it from one side to the other to get the targets in place, the car was set to zero toe. It turned out that our Heath Kit efforts weren't that bad... However, no substitute for the right toys to do the job. We then got the car off the ramp and the chap who set it up said "Take it for a run and see what you think, any changes needed and we'll do 'em". Now that can't be bad.
So I offered him a ride to 'test' the new settings... Too much traffic to get unwound, but the roundabout was fun. Turned out the car pulled ever so slightly to the right, once back the necessary adjustment was made, (and as it turned out, the car tracks straight and true now), the chap offered me a ride in his Sierra Cosworth, (and I can't help it, but I've always wanted one of those)... 360+ bhp of saloon car madness :-) What a great experience..., and what a nice chap. So, the settings now are 0° Toe and -1.50° Camber... We'll see how that works out.
Took a test piece from the spats moulding... Turned out OK but I think I need to make the mould longer so I can take at least one side set off it, otherwise the cost of the bagging material and resin waste will creep up. Anyway, the item fits the wishbone profile, so that's good... All I need to do now is make a new plug about a Meter long and as I'm using soft wood as the material of choice - pretty easy to do..., just more time.
I also W&D'd the boot vent plug and coated it with Gel and then resin, just got to let it harden off for a few days and then I can W&D it smooth and polish it up ready for waxing. Once done I'll mount it on a flat plane and filet the base joint ready to wax it up and take a mould from it.
'Painted' an 30mm x 18mm x 1800mm length of battening with Gelcoat to bulk it up to a 20mm section after rounding off the corners to give a U section. W&D'd it to within an inch of it's life and polished it up - not bad. Next step is waxing it up and taking a GRP mould from it, chopping that to two 600mm lengths and mounting them to a base. Then it's Carbon time again.
These will be the last 'upgrades' for a while... Just got to save up for front and back ARBs then a full cage. Next years Carbon upgrades could include rear arch vents and Sidepod splitters, but I think that would involve replacing the floor with a Kevlar/Carbon foam sandwich item - not a small job by any means. I did redo the suspension a bit... Changed the ride height to 95mm and the camber to -1.5°... Sums make my head hurt... and are all guesses anyway :-)
So, all the major bits and bobs are done... The car is going well, all the custom carbon bits look rather saucy and do a better job than the GRP originals, the serendipitous front widetrack is fitted and the geometry all done, just need a good blatting season now.
We're off to France this W/End to collect our new toy... A Corsair F-24 MkII Trimaran. Then we've got to strip it of all its gear ready to take it over to the Solent to have its bottom pampered :-) This summer should be a bit of a hoot!
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Hang on, wait a moment...
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And yet...
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650 Hours modification/maintenance time - (558)1208 Hours total work time - 211 Hours design time - (95)308 Hours total Design time
April...
Big Toy/Little Toy....
Got the boat from Rouen, got lost, made lots of new friends and learnt some very interesting hand gestures.
Pretty lacking update this month as we've been a tad busy with other things... probably will get even quieter over the summer...
Goodwood: Waay too crowded! We got there at 0830 and the place was packed... We had to leave early as we had some things to do on the boat so left at around 0930, by then they were making cars use the overflow car parks! next time we go we'll have to rethink the timings. Great blatt there though.
Waxed and layed up 'spats' mould... Pulled off OK, chopped and set into vacuum friendly mould ready to make one set for the lower bones...
Boot vent plug final fill & fair and mount/fillet.
RBFYB™ to LH... and very nice it was too, great blatt.
Fitting Gurney flaps. Pretty simple, ended up using hot glue.
Waxed wishbone spats mould and boot vent plug ... need more gel/time. Spats done and fitted... just used black silicone rubber compound... looks pretty good
Detling... Didn't really get lost on the way there or back! Show was pretty much the same as last year... The weather was great though.
Had an odd invite this month... Westfield Sportscars Ltd arch and bitter enemy, Caterham Sportscars posted up an offer on the WSCC forum for members to come along to their factory, have look around, a spot of lunch and a test drive of their product. So, around twelve cars and twenty people met at a garage in deepest Dartford on Sunday morning...
The weather was fine and
the trip to the meeting point was pretty easy, in fact I have to say
that while driving on Motorways all the time would be bad, the car seems
to like it. Super smooth and with 'not a lot of load' the wind noise
is louder than the engine, pretty relaxing as it goes. There were
six cars coming up from the Surrey area, three from Kent and the rest
from other areas and we all met at a point around three miles from the
Caterham Factory...,
where we met some of the local populous... It seemed that all my fellow
Westy owners melted away and left me to 'chat' with one fellow -
probably because I used to live in our great capital city and so speak
"London". To say the language used by our new friend was 'fruity' would
be a tad of an understatement, just as say, opining that Alfa Centauri
was a 'fair few miles away'. 
Once everyone arrived, off we went again heading for the factory... Ten minutes later after driving over some of the worst roads I've ever seen and a traffic planning system that looked like it was done by a concussed field mouse on crack... we arrived. We were strategically asked to park in an area that made it all but impossible to take a photo of a row of Westys and the factory with Caterham emblazoned all over it... Damn their forward thinking.
Once the initial intros where sorted out with Simon (Sales Director - Caterham) and Julian (New owner of Westfield), the Caterham MD gave a quick speech of welcome and outlined the day ahead:
We all signed the release forms to allow us to drive their product and then had a tour of the Factory, which was in stark contrast to my visit (quite a few years ago admittedly) to Westfields. Caterham don't actually make any of the components that go into their cars, it's all subbed out, so all the Factory does is assemble the various parts needed to make the car. Westfield in contrast make the majority of the components to make a car... I suppose it's cost effectiveness Vs. control Vs. demand/supply.
The cars are run up one side of the site and get to a state that is ready as a "Kit" for a customer to assemble, (in 60 hours or less for goodness sake). At this point it has all the wiring loom installed, the brake and fuel runs, the dash, the petrol tank and all the panels done... The 'car' is then either shipped to a customer to complete or it works its way across the floor to the final assembly area where all the remaining parts, such as engine, suspension, interior and lights etc are fitted using a bijou car production line system.
We saw the standard DeDion rear setup, independent rear setup cars and the 'new' in-board front shock setup and, I must say that the quality of the engineering was rather good and the components were well designed and manufactured. They now have cut down from having around fourteen different chassis configurations to just four! They also have settled on the Ford Sigma and Duratec engines now Rover are no more - but that's old news.
Next was the test drive... which I nabbed the first in the new iteration of the R400 'standard' body - in which I fitted! The car had a six speed gate box and a 210hp Duratec which made for an easy drive. Later I had a go in the 260hp CSR, (which is the their version of an SEiW I suppose), which was "OK" but more on this later. Val™ meanwhile had a go in their half centenary issue car, the R400 and the CSR and, seemed to enjoy herself judging by the silly grin she had for most of the day, the minx.
Lunch
was next and jolly good it was too, then just a wander around the
Factory and a chat to the Caterham people, (OK, so I showed off my car
as well, what of it? ), until it was
time to go. All very pleasant:
The factory people where great fun to chat with, keen on their product and professional in their manner - just a it should be. The cars... That's an odd one: I had a go in the R400, which was very easy to drive, the engine was tractable with no 'holes' in its rev range and the handling (such as could be judged on a public road) was solid. The CSR did indeed promise much... but hmmmm, I don't know. It certainly was louder than the 400, but take that away and given it was bigger, I couldn't tell much of a difference. The handling on this car though was a tad scary: We hit a bump at Motorway speed and the car behaved in a very strange and non intuitive way that quite unnerved me, to the point where I backed off and cruised back to the Factory. I did mention it to my Caterham minder/passenger, but...
So in conclusion, they are well put together (the CSR not withstanding), well engineered but bloody expensive for what they are! But then the Westy 2000S is in the same price bracket and I've probably spent near that on mine over the four years of its existence, so maybe not.
Also, and I suspect this has not a lot to do with Caterham's specifically and more to do with car engined cars of this type, (as I've never driven a CEC Westy), I did find them somewhat 'uninvolving', even the CSR, well especially the CSR in fact and hated the hiatus of progress during the slow gear change imposed by the gated box, (and this with me not driving as well as being behind the wheel). As I say, probably would have felt the same thing in a Westy, Locost, Tiger etc... Odd stuff, but I suppose once you've had a BEC you can never go back. Still, it was a fantastic day that was very well organised by friendly and approachable people that are proud and enthusiastic about their well engineered product... Many thanks Caterham!
The drive home was heaven though... The car buzzing along smooth as silk - admittedly very very fast silk, but silk nevertheless. All in all... I think I'll stick to my car, I know it makes sense.
Rant time… Well I haven’t had one in a while.
Was on a Kit Car forum recently and saw a thread about the use of fully synth engine oils Vs. semi synth and thought "Oh no, not again".
The main ‘argument' for Fully synth oil over semi went along the lines of: “All those that say fully synth oil causes clutch slip are wrong, so there, ner ner na ner ner” and “All the people that say fully synth does cause slip are just repeating hearsay and none of it is true anyway and no, you can’t have your ball back!” Admittedly this is a 'bit' of a précis of the various arguments but it does convey the general gist.
I’ve actually given up on voicing a contra view in these forums, but in my case and many others I suspect, the seemingly blinkered “Fully synth is great in all engines and must be used all the time” view is flawed:
Case study 1:
Semi synth oil it didn't slip, fully synth it did slip... In my engine, in my car, no third party hearsay. Now those of the "Fully Synth Mafia" (FSM), will say "Ah ha! but your engine is more powerful than a normal Blade, so that's why it slipped..." To which the blindingly obvious rebuff is: No, it's because I used two different oils (same manufacturer) back to back in a common engine (so relative power is not an issue) and one oil slipped the clutch and the other didn't, really, I was there at the time and remember. So therefore it follows that fully synth is more prone to slipping the clutch than semi - pretty damn simple stuff really!
Case Study 2:
I remember the recent thread on the Westy site... Chap had fully synth in his Blade car and the clutch slipped, changed the oil to semi and it stopped slipping. Hey, that's two non hearsay accounts - we're on a roll now!
FSM do state ad nauseam that RGB ‘this and who’ always use it, they and everyone they know including their Granny uses it and never ever ever have problems, even when using their BEC to pull tractors out of ditches. But in some engines (see above), fully synth oil does cause... slip, so why use it when you don’t have to?
Then the FSM argument goes... ”Ah ha ha! But if you put your car on the track the semi synth oil will go all hot and manky and your engine will explode, right?”… Wrong. The very obvious rebuff again to that one is: Put a flippin air/oil cooler in there with an oil stat and a bigger rad if you’re that concerned, it’s not rocket science and surely it's best to cure the problem than mask it with petro-chemical voodoo? In the long run it’ll also be probably be cheaper than forking out for fully synth every oil change and/or a clutch mech or two while you try to convince yourself it’s not the oil causing them to get ate but the Evil Clutch Fairy™. Using common sense and changing the oil after every trackday/short road mileage intervals is also needed.
So, fully synth oil can cause clutch slip, no, really, it can. I know the FSM is going to get pretty upset about this... But it's true. Maybe it's the brand of fully synth used, maybe it's the clutch material used, maybe Orion is in accent, the Mystic Bear is awakening and the Chosen One will arise, who knows... But it can. If the manufacturer of the engine says to use semi synth oil... use semi, if they say use fully, use fully synth oil. Why pay more and run a risk of having to at the very least change your oil/filter and at most scrapping your clutch and having to change the oil/filter, just because you took a risk you didn't have to and with what real benefit?
Having said all that... I do now use fully synth in mine, BUT I also use Honda plates, very well designed/manufactured custom super stiff springs, (unlike EBC/Barnett et al, or so it seems), and a lock-up clutch, so slippage is not an issue - while protecting the turbo is. The oil in my engine gets used above and beyond that in a standard bike engine, so I do see a benefit. I’d be shocked that semi synth oil in a N/A BEC engine with common sense water/oil cooling mods gets ‘used’ anywhere near as much. In fact my last Blade car used semi synth oil exclusively and was fine.
So, take what you will from the above; if you're feeling saucy - try it and see, you may be 'lucky' and good on'ya, use it in health... or, you may not be. But what ever you do, do some research on the engine makers view of what oil to use, sort out your oil/water cooling system with one that actually works and don’t be seduced by the FSM views, no matter how loud they shout.
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660 Hours modification/maintenance time - (558)1218 Hours total work time - 212 Hours design time - (95)309 Hours total Design time
May...
Going to be a really quiet month on the car front... It's finished as far as this years mods, so it really just blatting... Talking of which:
Very nice RBFYB™ run to Goodwood (French sportscars, and some very interesting kit was there... much more fun the the Ferrari'fest of last month). The blatt there was 30 minutes earlier that our normal time so once we'd all had a good look round the show we'd blatt off to the Cowfold greasy spoon for brekkie. This ment that the roads were empty... Fan-flippin-tastic! Even did a detour just so we could run down and back a rather nice up/down hill twisty, smooth and numpty'less road - bliss. Think I confused the Westys following me, but it WAS worth it.
And that was it! The boat has taken up all of my time... And as of now, it should be in the water!
661 Hours modification/maintenance time - (558)1219 Hours total work time - 212 Hours design time - (95)309 Hours total Design time
June...
Very quiet on the car front... Did the Goodwood RBFYB™ at the beginning of the month, Supercars I think it was - you can tell they made an impression can't you :-) The blatt there was great as was the Greasy spoon brekkie afterwards - the car went very well, just purring along. Also did the SWSCC meet which had an impressive number of new members/cars which was great to see.
I'm idly looking at swapping the 893/Turbo unit for an CBR1000RR/turbo system... Trying to find a CAD drawing of a 2004 - 2006 engine, or at least good images of the sides + dims to get an idea of what needs to be done to get it and a 'small' Mitsubishi turbo installed with the minimum of angst. I quite fancy having a fiddle with FI, and think that an easier/less stressful way to go would be to get and injected engine and mod it to cope with the turbo, rather than inject my current engine AND get the turbo fueling issues resolved.
Well that, but I can't lie... 240BHP'ish within the same all up weight does sound rather fun. I easilly have the cooling capacity to cope with the extra heat energy, just engine frame, exhaust link pipe/manifold, prop mod, electrics/electronics, oil system mod and maybe gear linkage should see it done. Apart from the extra black box to take care of the turbo fuelling - easy :-)
663 Hours modification/maintenance time - (558)1222 Hours total work time - 212 Hours design time - (95)309 Hours total Design time
July...
Well, still all quiet on the car front... Did the SWSCC evening and went for one blatt. The club event was a good one with plenty of cars and good people, the blatt was full of too many cars to be fun. On the odd stretch of empty road the car showed off a tad, which was fun...
664 Hours modification/maintenance time - (558)1223 Hours total work time - 212 Hours design time - (95)309 Hours total Design time
August...
Summer.... Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!! The one good thing - at least been windy so we've got in some exhilarating sailing.
Two trips out in the car this month: The goodwood thing and a general blatt - both were jolly good fun and the car went well. This site is a tad dull at the moment I know (sorry), but winter is on it's way... So it's upgrade time again!
665 Hours modification/maintenance time - (558)1224 Hours total work time - 212 Hours design time - (95)309 Hours total Design time
September...
Sorry for the delay in updating this month, however it should be last quite entry for a while :-) The boat's out of the water and snugged up outside on the drive and the chaos of the first weeks of a new term is abating somewhat, so I can get some work done on the car!
Last Christmas one of our relatives bought Val(tm) an action day... Which was a fast car ride around Silverstone, so last weekend we drove up so she could have a go in what we thought was a Ferrari or some such... Turned out to be three flippin' laps in a Caterham :-) Boy was she giggling. Mind you, what the trip did was to re-ignite may enthusiasm for my car, which due to the weather/boat had tailed off a tad.
So, upgrade time... Looking at front (and maybe back) ARBs and later in the year a full cage. Also got to finish off the bootlid replacement and strip/check/clean the rear end - no reason, just it lives under cover and I haven't seen in there in a while :-)
SWSCC meeting blatt was a good one, lots of cars turned up and the run there and back (especially back) was traffic free on dry roads - say no more.
Decided to have a look at the clutch again - it's been a while. I was finding (last couple of runs out anyway) that as a blatt went on I was getting more and more free play in the pedal, which is odd and last time it happened I was lucky: The pullrod did in fact come out of the main shaft after a while.
Popped off the cover and it all looks fine, no real wear on the frictions and the plains aren't even a little bit blue. Had a look at the pullrod and found some scratch marks on the section that goes into the main GB shaft, so eased them out with a drill and some W&D. Next had a check of the release bearing the pullrod sits in and found that there was 'quite a lot' play - the main problem being I have no idea how much play there should be.
So, I've taken the cowards way out and ordered a new one - just to be sure. Couple of days - read "next month" - and we should be set.
670 Hours modification/maintenance time - (558)1229 Hours total work time - 212 Hours design time - (95)309 Hours total Design time
October...
Recieved the new bearing from David Silver Spares (Great service as usual) today... So compared it to the old one - boy was I lucky! The original item was very loose and 'graunchy' (sorry to get technical there) while the new one was smoooooth, I dread to think of the damage that could have occurred if the bearing had let go, very messy. So, a new 'maintenance item' to go on the list... As I tend to check the clutch innards every three months or so that will be fine.
The difference driving the car is also very marked... Gear change was pretty smooth anyway, but now, gosh :-)
Started down the ARB route in 'anger' now... Decided the Factory items are (A) to stiff for my car, and (B) waaaay too expensive for what they are! £230+ per end is a bit much given they seem to break on a regular basis. So, looked around and even did the sums m'self to see if I could make them but decided it's way easier to have them done in the end. All but decided on the supplier and the material/diameter of the bars... Watch this space.
Been on hols to Spain down near
Marbella, 25degC+ and sunny barring one day... Nasty and cloudy and
cold, we decided to forgo the beach and explore the mountains... And did
we find a perfect Westy road...? Oh yes indeed we did! It was from
Ronda back down to the coast, rejoining the main toll coast road just to
the west of Marbella. Around 35Kms of smooth and very twisty Tarmac.
Going 'up' would be a lot of fun, really, it would! So next year we
trailer the car (hello Steve ) down and have a lot of fun!
Arrived home at 3am and got wet going from the car to the front door... We really live in the wrong country :-)
Looking to obtain a new link pipe and end can... The Leo Vinchi can is a bit sad (after having been ripped off on a stupid speed bump, bloody town pla... No, no John, breathe and exhale, breathe and exhale...) Anyway, the current carbon job is around the 5ltr volume mark, the 'quiet' Powerspeed (very heavy) jobbie is 7ltr and is 'just' on 98dB@ 3/4 max power rpm, so I thought a 10ltr carbon item would do the job nicely. So, I've contacted a company that makes exhaust components and has exactly what I'm after, so it's wait and see time.
Blimey, five minutes after asking the question I have an answer! £200 + VAT, not bad, not bad at all.
Worked out what I need from ABL for all the winter jobs... Lots of resin :-) I even checked their price for 2x2 twill carbon... are you sitting down, are you sure? £45+delivery+VAT/mtr, HELLS BELLS! Bit of luck I've still got enough for the current projects. Bought some epoxy layup/clear coat resin form my local chandlers... It was cheaper than ABL would you believe, I also go some screw on dispensers, so no more messy tubs! First job for it will be on the boat to repair/block up a hole the previous owner thought would be a good idea to site in the cockpit sole... Hmmmm.
Ordered some Titanium bolts (the first bit of Ti on the car!) and some rather flash anti vibration nuts for the turbo/header joint... After what must be two years with no problems it is just coming loose. So I'm going to do a proper job on it this time :-) Also odered some 2mm Copper sheet to make the gaskets for the turbo/header and also the turbo/exhaust link pipe. The bolt heads are pre-drilled to accept lock wire and I'm going to corner drill the nuts (if possible - if not I'll drill the copper gasket) so I can wire it all together.
Was approached by a fellow 'Blade owner who wanted a graphic similar to mine on his car... So after agreeing a suitable donation to the charity of his choice - off it went and jolly good it looks too, wonder if he's noticed the spelling error yet?
Ooooh, I'm soooo evil :-)
After having a chat with him about the poor performance of the Honda revcounter blackbox feed, he found that moving the Dynacoils further apart actually helped... So I made up an ali sheet and earthed it to the car and wouldn't you know... It flippin works! Rock steady revcounter, well done that man! I feel really guilty about the 'spelling' thing now :-)
Also, still playing with the 'downforce kit', new additions being rear arch and side splitters - last one's pretty apt :-) Was having a look at the Donkervoort site... Closed top car, dribble, dribble... Well worth a look.
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673 Hours modification/maintenance time - (558)1232 Hours total work time - 216 Hours design time - (95)313 Hours total Design time
November...
Ah, sorry for the delay here... What with sorting the boat goodies out and some courses I teach coming to an end, well it's been a tad hectic of late. So I'm doing a 'two for one' thingy...
The Ti bolts finally arrived (not exactly great service)... Very light indeed, we'll see how they cope with the heat and vibration.
The car got one run out this month, which while not a lot still reminds me why I like it so much. The turbo really enjoys the cold dense air you know :-)
The boat front was busy... New wind/bow nets (in blue) sorted out, new four stroke outboard deal done and some rather saucy new sails... Fat head main, blade and Screacher all done in exotic materials. Took the daggerboard out and removed all the nasty old anti-fouling ready to fair and epoxy it ready for... well, ever really :-)
We're going to take the square end trailing edges off both the ruder and daggerboard and fair them into a nice 30deg point. Admittedly this will mean the foils will now not 'sing' to us when the boat is pushing along, but it will mean that the energy used to make this rather pleasant noise will now going into boat speed instead! :-) We're also going to epoxy paint both foils International Orange - for no other reason than "it looks cool" :-)
Went to the start of the Jacques Vabre Transat race in Le Havre... Wow! The 60' ORMA boats are stunning and the event was managed to perfection - no entry fee to look around (in the UK you'd probably be stung for a tenner at least), a great atmosphere , gorgeous coffee and some spectacular boats. Even the ferry crossing was a laugh.
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673 Hours modification/maintenance time - (558)1232 Hours total work time - 216 Hours design time - (95)313 Hours total Design time
December...
December (as we're 2/3rds through it) is much of the same I afraid...
Did make another diffuser for a fellow Westy owner - GRP this time around as a Carbon one would have cost £400+ due to material costs and my insistence of vacuum bagging all carbon items to ensure quality.
So, by way of apology, here's a seasonal video: Enjoy!
(Please note that the comments made under the video by some of the 'contributors' indicates they have sub-European shoe size I.Q.s, so best ignore them... Oh, and don't let your kids see this... The mental scars could be with them for a long time).
January will however be busy for the car, got to make the mould for the bootbox lid and reseat the turbo...
677 Hours modification/maintenance time - (558)1236 Hours total work time - 220 Hours design time - (95)317 Hours total Design time
2007 Review...
Well, what a rubbish year for the car... No real modifications and precious little blatting, but then on the other hand... didn't cost me much this year, only used one box of latex gloves (can't stand getting grease and grime under m'nails) and the weather was yuk anyway. Nope, still not feeling better :-)
The good stuff was finally finishing the carbon side pods, which turned out rather well and do an amazing job of removing hot air from the engine bay... And fitting widetrack front suspension, which does actually make a noticeable difference/improvement to the handling of the car.
What little blatting we did was great and the car performs remarkably, no stunningly well. Also, the arrival of the Tri kind of distracted me (boy is it exciting!!!!) and we now have a list of jobs to 'improve' her for next sailing season, but back to the car... Things to do this year:
However, as long as the summer is OK, we do have two trackdays planned and even a trip to France!
Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year!
