Supersport upgrade - 1.4

[pinkprincess]

Been thinking about the much-advertised recently Supersport upgrade for the K on offer at a reduced price from the Factory but am I right in thinking these upgrades are solely for 1.6 or 1.8 units 🤔

 

Of course the 1.4K was originally available with the upgrade up to the 1996MY but as I understand it these were EU2 engines. I have a year-old CC-supplied EU3 unit and heard somewhere that it might be difficult/impossible to do some of the head work on the later engine.

 

I should also point out that I have the standard 5 speed ZF Type 9 gearbox so I'm guessing I may as well upgrade to a 6 speed, or is that really necessary 🤔

 

Imagined it best to find out here rather than phone CC only to confirm that it isn't available.

 

 

RW04FUN

[Bob Corb]

The SS upgrade isn't available for the 1.4 but there are plenty of other routes open to you. People like DVAPower and PTP may be able to help.

 

If I were you I'd ring up Trident Rover spares in Brum and buy a second hand 1.8, preferably a 135PS unit from an MGTF. You should be able to get a good quality engine with all the ancillaries for £800. Then swap across all the caterham only bits (sump, pick up pipe, starter, wiring loom, airfilter, flywheel...). The ECU should be a straight swap as will the immobiliser. The 135PS MGTF engine is fitted to 7's at the factory as an option and gives 140PS with the reduced back pressure exhaust, this is almost the same output as Caterhams old 1.8SS engine (SS = 138PS I think).

 

Fitting a 1.8 VVC 160PS unit is also an option but your old 1.4 EU3 engine wiring loom will not have the VVC wiring on it, you'd have to ask Caterham to modify the 2nd hand VVC loom for you (costs about £100). You'd then have a very driveable 160PS and still have change from a grand.

 

Once you've got a 1.8 your future tuning options are completely open. Also you should keep the 1.4 in storage and put it back in when (if ever) you sell the car as many modifications will do little for the value of the car.

[DavePalmer]

I was led to believe the old EU2 conversion wasn't available because they'd run out of ECUs and it wasn't economical to manufacture any more.

 

However, isn't the new supersport conversion made by remapping the existing ECU to the new cams (hence the special offer price !) Is the EU3 1.4 ECU remappable ?

 

Depending upon your view on maintaining the integrety of your car (and paying extra tax) then going 1.8 is normally the way forward. There's much more tuning potential and more crucially the extra torque means the 5 speed isn't such a drawback, particularly on the road.

 

** Warning - upgraditis - will then descend upon you like there's no tomorrow and you'll soon be dreaming of ported heads, throttle bodies , emeralds, lightweight flywheels ......... **