Moderate Clam Posted October 31, 2000 Share Posted October 31, 2000 Right then. If I'm gonna upgrade my engine 1600 Vx engine to an 1800. I'm gonna need better brakes! I'm currently using EBC Green Stuff pads which have improved the breaking performance. But are there any brake upgrades possible, like the De-Dion boys & girls can have the "big" break kit. Is there anything similar for the Live axel. It's not the standard classic front end, as the it has an upper wishbone which looks different to the standard. Any opinions? Cheers in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderate Clam Posted October 31, 2000 Author Share Posted October 31, 2000 Should that be axel or axle... I'm not sure question.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderate Clam Posted October 31, 2000 Author Share Posted October 31, 2000 ooh, and what about suspension... any tips? ...erm boss, can I have some more over time please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderate Clam Posted October 31, 2000 Author Share Posted October 31, 2000 ooh, and what about suspension... any tips? ...erm boss, can I have some more over time please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groutledge Posted November 1, 2000 Share Posted November 1, 2000 Chris Wheeler at the 7 workshop (01992 421111) has stuck an EBC big brake kit on the front of my live axle. It consists of bigger vented, grooved and spotted disks and dirty great big Wilwood four pot calipers with green stuff pads ( the pad area is now double the size it was before ). The bits where £412+vat although a got about £150 knocked off because the supplier kept buggering it up. I don't know how they cope with heavy stick yet as I have only driven it home and they take a couple of hundred miles to bed in. My only real worry is front/rear balance as fronts should be much more efficent now, I don't really see this as much of a problem though. The only other thing is the pads clonk around inside the calipers a bit as they are quite a loose fit but hey sod that! On the power front I've bought a 1800 zetec to stick in for £425. Running standard Ford 130bhp cams it will knock out 155bhp on twin 40's. I intend getting Jim Whiting to put it for me and expect the total bill to be around £3k including buying the engine and a side exit silencer. This will include a 3d mapped ignition though and by sticking in a pair of £290 cams the power goes up to 170bhp-ish. The main reason for this is cost and reliability a good RK crossflow will be around £4k with a dry sump, but I do a lot of track work which may mean a few rebuilds etc. I have a virgin AX block 1600 crossflow in at the moment which I intend to keep in case any future buyer wants originality, (the AX blocks are quite scarce now especially unmolested ones ). You may want to consider this as it seems the cheapest most reliable way to a lot more welly. I know Caterham don't condone this engine, ( except in the USA) and purists may scoff but's it's MY car and MY money and it seems the most sensible option for me. Besides a new short zetec is only £450-ish, you can't even buy a set of forged pistsons for that!. If anybody has any horror stories about zetec's please send me an email before i completely bugger my car! Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogvet Posted November 1, 2000 Share Posted November 1, 2000 These engines are used in Ford single seats and according to a local chap that builds the cars and supports a couple of drivers the engines are "bullet proof"!! Try calling him on 01782 722379 ask for Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elie boone Posted November 1, 2000 Share Posted November 1, 2000 James Whiting has Alcon 4 pot brake calipers to fit straight on to your car whitout changing the disc or brake pump, you dont need vented discs,(to heavy and there is no cooling problem on a Seven. price is +/- 475 + vat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderate Clam Posted November 2, 2000 Author Share Posted November 2, 2000 This engine change thing... How easy is it fit a different engine. I actually use the Vx 1600 rather than the X-Flow. Would a Zetec still use the same mounts? Or is it easy to adjust the mounts? Graham, did you say that you got a _NEW_ Zetec for £425. That seems very cheap. Maybe this my way forward on the engine front. James Whitting does 4-pot calliper kits too, hey? I think I shall have to phone Mr Whitting. Cheers for everyones advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MARK WARREN Posted November 2, 2000 Share Posted November 2, 2000 I have a Live axle 1998 seven, it was manufactured by Arch motors ( specially- at my request ) to take a Ford axle --- whilst discussing this detail I was told that live axle cars were now all a universal chassis as regards engine fitment ( excludes bike engines) -- so, you may want to call Arch motors with your chassis number / date --- I think you can easily fit Vauxhall, Rover K, Zetec or Crossflow without modifying the chassis. Obviously you will need relavent fitting kit for that particular engine. Be aware that a fuel injected car ie Rover 'K' has a different petrol tank.Also I think the crank spigot area is modified on th k-- perhaps others can confirm ? Cheers Mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Carmichael Posted November 2, 2000 Share Posted November 2, 2000 The k-series runs a Ford spigot bearing. This is mounted in a thin-walled sleeve. Lengths of input shafts may need to be varied between engines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MARK WARREN Posted November 3, 2000 Share Posted November 3, 2000 Peter, isn't the crank machined to take the 'Ford' spigot bearing, ie changed from its original spec ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Carmichael Posted November 4, 2000 Share Posted November 4, 2000 No. Machining usually involves removing metal. In this case you would have to put some back in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groutledge Posted November 5, 2000 Share Posted November 5, 2000 £425 was for a low milage salvage engine with ~14k miles on it. A new short motor is about that though, alledgedly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groutledge Posted November 5, 2000 Share Posted November 5, 2000 The reason I went for vented disks was because I wanted to use relatively cheap pads. Myself and a good friend of mine have been around most of the compounds, Mintex, EBC, Pagids etc. The Pagids are by far the best suffering from no glazing and with stable performance up to very high termperatures and are really difficult to lock up, ( I use these on my Elise 190, and they stick them on touring cars! ). The down side is they are £120+ a pair!. Mintex 1144's are crap. One good track session and they glaze over and squeal like buggery. EBC's worked well, were cheap but cracked on my friends car due to overheating at Le Mans. So my original plan was to go for the vented EBC disks, caliper spacer kit and green stuff pads. This little lot should have come in about £200ish which is two sets of pagid pads and would be able to keep the temperature down because they where vented. I ended up with the four pot calipers due to complications, but now i got them I think they're bloody marvelous. Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Carmichael Posted November 5, 2000 Share Posted November 5, 2000 Mintex 1144 are rubbish. Agreed. Certainly on the back. Squeal and crumble. I have always had the big front brakes with big disks and overheating at the front has never been an issue. I would seriously consider a vented disk upgrade for the rear (already got 2 pots, but still overbraked at the front and overheating at the rear) although ducting a bit of air under the wheelarches would probably have the same effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelspeed Posted November 7, 2000 Share Posted November 7, 2000 Is it a Ford axle or the Marina axle? You can get disc kits for the Ford axle which use the vented discs and calipers from the front of an XR3i. Quite easy to fit and work very well but they don't have any handbrake cable fittings. I think you can do something similar with the XR4i rear calipers as used on the rear of the de dion, try rally design or TAS for the kits. Peter C talked about over-heating rears, I presume we are all aware that there is now an uprating kit for the Superlight racers which uses a different AP racing 2 pot caliper and vented discs? It's even included on the parts cd-rom. The regs for the race series (dowmloadable as a .pdf file from Caterham's page) also talks about ducting to get air to the brakes so it's obviously a significant problem for them too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderate Clam Posted November 7, 2000 Author Share Posted November 7, 2000 Chelspeed, it's an Ital/Marina axle. Heat is definitely not the problem, in fact it's the reverse. I can't keep any heat in my brakes or engine at all at the mo. Get the brakes just nice (EBC Green Stuff), but within minutes they are freezing cold. Same with the engine. Leave it ticking over for 20 minutes until I get a reading (minimal), drive along and it goes off the scale. I know that the readings are not that accurate to start with, but I also know what they normaly read (when the sun shines). Doesa anyone else suffer from this. Do they have a fix. I've just gotten hold of a number plate front (just the perspex, without the backing), which I am goin tyo cut down and attach behind the grill to try and generate/keep some heat into the engine, but I figure that you'll get nearly as much air onto the radiator anyway. Appart from gaffer tape over the nose (in front of the grill), and other suggestions out there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Carmichael Posted November 7, 2000 Share Posted November 7, 2000 Graham, I am aware of the vented disk conversion for the rears. It pains me to realise that my current set up is redundant. Anybody want tier 1 upgraded twin pot rear brakes - would suit a nose-heavier VX, as designed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groutledge Posted November 7, 2000 Share Posted November 7, 2000 I'm a live axle luddite so I have drums on the rear. They don't do much anyway so heat has never been a problem for me. Chris Flavell they guy I'm buying the zetec from says that a toyota starlet rear axle will go on a live axle, fully floating half shafts, 250bhp capacity and disks I believe. We'll have to watch this space to see how he gets on!. G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captainbilos Posted November 9, 2000 Share Posted November 9, 2000 Groutledge, Who is Chris Flavell? -Caterham specialist? I may be interested in the axle upgrade, do you have any more info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.hall Posted November 9, 2000 Share Posted November 9, 2000 I have a sneaking suspicion that the Starlet axle is used on the Birkin. I also believe that Birkin at one time were Caterham agents, or service agents, for South Africa, so it might be worth a call to them. The importers/office for the UK is based at Silverstone, called Tradelink. The son of the owner runs this part of the business (I think) and may be able to help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groutledge Posted November 9, 2000 Share Posted November 9, 2000 Paul, Chris Flavell is another owner who likes to tinker. I don't really know him but I am in the process of buying a zetec from him so we have had a couple of discussions about this and that. G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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