Tear Down and Rebuild of My R400 Duratec Engine

[7 wonders of the world]

I would say yours is easily equal if not better than a R500D James, Taking into account the approximate run down calc and assuming the altitude correction,

I have yet to see a dyno print of a R500D giving the claimed 263 in 'factory trim',  probably leaving myself open here... lets see if anyone can post one....

[Shortshift]

261 @ 8400rpm, using gloopy 10W-60 oil, so probably hitting 263 on the head with Caterham Cars' recommended (thinner) oil. 

Standard R500 spec and build, but mapped by the brilliant Steve Greenald.

If you're limiting to 8200rpm, James, that will be a relevant factor too.

James

Edited May 4 by Shortshift

[7 wonders of the world]

Thanks James,

I've heard of many getting the numbers after investing in a mapping session, what were you numbers on the first dyno run before Steve got to work rounding up the stray ponies..?

[Shortshift]

I'm not sure, Neil - I haven't got any curves and I can't remember.  What I do know, though, is that the driveability was transformed by Steve's mapping session. 

It's well known that, ex-factory, R500s had appalling torque curves with huge dips and holes around the 5000 and 6000rpm regions, leading to dreadful driveability whether on road or track.  Now, my car just pulls and pulls and is a pleasure to drive.  It also has a rock-steady idle too (well, it does now - again - since Stu Cresswell diagnosed and fixed no fewer than four dreaded failed valve springs, back in autumn last year when his wonderful Premier power was still a thing).

James

Edited May 4 by Shortshift

[aerobod - near CYYC]

On 25/03/2024 at 01:52, Colin_T said:

Sharing of experiences with jenvey return spring setup and the R clip they use:

i had the R clip come off on one of my race cars causing the return mechanism to fly off and of course throttle return became interesting to say the least….
  ever since then on either mine and any customers cars I always swapped the R clip out for a split pin. 
 

Colin 

I had been a bit slack in putting a split pin in place of the 'R' clip as I didn't have the right size in my parts box, until last night when I accidentally popped the 'R' pin out when turning the throttle quadrant by hand to confirm the maximum TPS voltage hadn't change since before the rolling road session.

.......First task this morning was to go to Canadian Tire when they opened and buy a pack of 1.6mm split pins, now no risk of the pin coming out and potentially jamming the throttle with disastrous results.

[7 wonders of the world]

Good reminder on that little R clip, 

whilst your in the area, its also worth replacing the R clip in the clutch pedal clevis pin too 

[aerobod - near CYYC]

The engine performed very well for my first track day of the year, today. Best described as an “angry bee” from a noise and responsiveness perspective.

Only one problem I have to solve is that I need more oil cooling. With the old 210bhp Duratec with plenum, track use would typically see coolant at 80C, 5w50 oil at 5.5bar at higher RPMs and just over 2 bar at idle after coming off the track. Bulk oil temperature in the oil tank would be 80C (likely about 20C below dry sump temp).

With the new engine after several flat-out laps, oil temp would quickly rise to 90C in the oil tank and pressure would drop to about 4bar at higher revs, I briefly saw 100C in the oil tank and an idle pressure of 1.8bar after coming into the paddock. Coolant temp would also be 90C or so at high speed.

I ended up running flat out for the beginning of each session, then keeping it to 6000RPM or so and using 4/5th gears instead of 3/4/5, but my speeds and lap times together with oil and coolant temps were than back to the same as with the old engine.

I had put a 12% lower speed water pump pulley in to avoid cavitation at high revs, but may put the standard pulley back in. I think in addition to that, both a larger oil cooler and 10w60 oil may be needed.

[7 wonders of the world]

Glad it all went well James.. 

For comparison my. Previous engine with Raceline DS and no cooler could see 130 degrees peak temperature measured in the trough in the finger filter I could lower this pretty quickly by using 5th on the Bentley straight instead of 4th and all the revs. 

I run a TTV under drive front pulley and have no coolant temp issues at all. 

I was taking mine to 8500rpm.

 

I have added a 19 row cooler and oilstat now though because of my rad it's mounted behind not in the ideal place but I am not expecting any issues... We will. See on the track 

[aerobod - near CYYC]

Hi Neil,

I think I will go with a 19-row Setrab oil cooler and oil thermostat as the next fix, although mounting the thermostat will require some re-plumbing of the oil lines. For the next track day in 2 weeks, I will take along the old pulley and see what swapping to it does. I want to try and keep the oil pressure at 5.0bar and above at high revs in all temperature conditions.

When is your first track day with the new engine?

[7 wonders of the world]

Hi James,

 

No that was the previous engine  last year, my first track day for this one is in July at Oulton Park..... and I can us 9K this time too..... 😜

[aerobod - near CYYC]

I ordered a Setrab 19-row Series-6 oil cooler with -12 fittings, the Mocal 19-row -12 ones seem to be back ordered in general. It is interesting that most of the Mocal and Setrab coolers are interchangeable with dimensions and rows being the same down to the millimetre, so the feed hoses will fit exactly the same as the current cooler. With it being taller than the 10-row one and the top needing to be higher, I will probably make some mounting blocks that locate on the existing Caterham brackets, to support both the top and bottom flanges.

I have decided that I won't put in a thermostat for now, as that will mean 4 new feed hoses. If it over cools for road use, I will just blank off part or the whole of the cooler.