siva Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Hi all, Went through our yearly technical check today with the caterham, after a one-year lapse. All is well so I'm a very happy puppy :) But! In order for me to pass the suspension tests, I need to lower the tire pressure (anybody from Belgium can confirm they do the same??) This of course has an effect on the ground clearance. Today, I had to get out of the car and push the car over the inspection pit, otherwise the sump would have hit the barrier on the side of the pit. The guys from the inspection were very helpful, so no complaints there. I was wondering whether installing a dry sump would give me some extra ground clearance? If so, how much? And which systems are recommended, I suppose Caterham has a standard kit? Are there alternative suppliers? any advice would be much appreciated! Marc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Walker Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Which engine do you have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elie boone Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Siva, you are lucky to have find a nice station to check your 7, it's not always the case. lowering the tyre pressure is common practice, yes but don't go to far with it because they may complain your tyre wall looks too low. If you would have a dry sump the gearbox will be the lowest part, aldo it's more behind the front axle it can make a difference. BTW there is a nice tour on 22 april at Couvin, are you attending ? there are a few of us that will be there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siva Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 Hi Andrew, sorry, should have mentioned. It's a k-series 1.6 (2001). Hi Elie, so far they haven't complained about the tire pressure and this year they were quite friendly. But every year, I'm nervous because you never know what they find to pick on. Anyway, I'm good until 2013 now! The guy in the pit called me over to show me some nasty damage to the sump, so time to take action, before I run into real trouble. Regarding Couvin, it's quite far for me and I need to pick my dates carefully, so much to do, so little time. But I'll check. tnx, Marc Marc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siva Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 hm, Caterham site doesn't seem to list a dry sump conversion kit for k-series. Pace site does list a conversion kit, but no pricing? Anybody have a ballpark price? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stijn LUYCK 1 Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Siva ... what rims do you have? I always put 14" on my car with a soft sidewall tire to overcome this problem. To be honest I have decided to stop going to the MOT and unregister the car for the road. It now has 15 years, 130000km and I dont want to go through the hassle anymore ... trackdays here I come 😬 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonino Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 IICR, pace DS is £1250, +tank (bise is 250) + oil pump moods (labour cost) + SUMP MACHINING TO ALLOW FITTMENT TO ENGINE !!! cheers edit to say it won't give more than 1 cm extra clearance as far as sump is concerned. Edited by - tonino on 20 Mar 2012 20:33:54 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul McKenzie Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Tonino's right. Standard CC wet sump pans are very shallow, so DS pan will give very little extra clearance. Adjusting the ride height is the way to approach it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingnutLP Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Lower tyre pressure = higher clearance for the sump? That sounds counter intuitive but I am prepared to accept it if someone can explain how?1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siva Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 wingnutLP: no, lower tyre pressure (required to pass the test) => lower clearance for the sump, so was looking to use dry sump to regain extra clearance seems this is not the route to go, so far. I have 14" rims and not possible to go to 15", because the car has a single-vehical approval with 14". (185/55R14-80V to be exact). At least, I always understood I strictly need to keep to that type of tires. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eugene Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 What's this suspension test? Nothing like that here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil66 Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Quoting Eugene: What's this suspension test? Nothing like that here... +1...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siva Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 good question :) Have no idea how it works, you drive on two plates, which start shaking/vibrating. Front is tested separately from back. Stijn or Elie can maybe explain, I'd be interested too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter clarke Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Living in Schoten. Used to have this issue with both standard and the Bilstein dampers and had to drop tyre pressures, but since I changed to the adjustable Nitrons no issue. Test is simple one for the dampers, put on a vibrating pad and the effect is a graphical read out and then a %age which is pass or fail. It is good as it tells you how good the dampers funtion. As standard dampers are quite stiff and car is so light the readings on the equipment used is always an issue. I drop the stiffness down a couple of clicks and for the past 6 years no issue.Ground clearance in the test centre OK even with 13" wheels and wishbones set to near flat, 70mm under sump. In fact the car has only failed a couple of times in the last 6 years and only needed minor adjustments( lights and a small water leak) Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siva Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 Hi Peter, Never had any remarks about the adjustable dampers? Is this something which they would see during the visual inspection? Anything looking non-standard is alway suspect. And with our cars, nothing looks standard . A few years back I had to prove the metal flexible brake lines (between the nose and the front wheel) were standard, because it appeared 'tuned'. Marc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Deslandes Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 How long before the EU mandates this carp into our MoT, Lord help us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siva Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 no no, you guys keep the pressure to introduce some motoring-friendliness in the eu-reg, so the rest of europe can benefit :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter clarke Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Hi Marc, know what you mean. Mine is a 1997 1600 k, looks fairly standard but a number of mods including engine, exhaust, suspension, battery, lights, 13" wheels Toyo R888, etc. Unless the car came with adjustable set up you need a statement from importer that this is a standard part. Philippe at GPS will do this for you; he did it for me, his place is only 2-3 km from where I live so very conveniant! Things like vented discs would be an issue as not on any of the Caterham cars. If new items on the car are E marked I do not find a problem at the test centre. Sometimes get a list on the green pass paper of non conforming but acceptable items but usually find the guys want to talk about the car. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter clarke Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Paul, The test stations here are reasonably good. You normally have a choice of 3-4 in your area and are not local garages but a special drive thru set up. They do a good test on the suspension and dampers. Instead of hiding away any potential issues they find out if there are any real issues, and if you are driving your Caterham as you should it is a damn sit better to know if you do have any problems rather than ending up in a ditch or worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Deslandes Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 I've no doubt that the vibration test does a more thorough and quantifiable test on the suspension than a man bouncing up and down on each corner and saying 'that feels about right'! In general there is no doubt that the MoT and its European equivalents are a very good thing and have taken a great many unsafe cars off the road. My concern was based on the comment that the cars cannot be modified from imported or factory standard. At least half the fun of these cars, for many of us at least, is that in the UK we can legally modify them and try out different suspension settings and components etc on the road without having to change them back for the purpose of passing an MoT. As I'm sure you are aware , the UK does not appreciate being dictated to by what it regards as an outside authority with little better to do than dream up new regulations. We got rid of our last government as much as anything because we were fed up with their authoritarian meddling. So far we have managed to retain our ability to design and build small batch specialist cars like the 7 but I'm always a bit nervous that restrictions could sneak under the wire when we're not looking and spoil it for everyone. End of and apologies for uncharacteristic rant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter clarke Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 My favorite saying: Rules are for the interpretation of the wise and the obedience of fools. I too hate restrictions but many are good in priciple, just need interpretation, or the seemingly right piece of paper. Will not list the changes on my 7 which may not be official. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siva Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 Hi Peter, From what I've heard Philippe is not very eager to deliver paperwork for cars he did not import. (which I can understand, but LHD cars were above my budget). I'll try to find out whether adjustable shocks can be accepted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie_pank Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 I think that you can adjust the spring-platform height of non-adjustable Bilsteins although I've not done it myself. Apparently if you remove the damper from the car and take the spring off, there's a circlip on the lower part of the damper that determines the height of the platform. Perhaps you could look at adjusting this as it sounds like you're grounding out the sump a lot? A vibration test might be able to quantify the dash-pot damping constant, but the UK's MOT test requires no specialist equipment (which means you can do it at home) and confirms that the damper is working. If you're unsure as to what they're doing - they compress the spring and then release it to make sure that the car doesn't bounce up and down afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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