AMMO

Thanks guys

A couple of nights ago I came home and saw that my neighbour was in his garage tinkering with his VW camper bits. I popped in to see him. He had a mate with him. As soon as I appeared my neighbour started telling his mate about my Caterham and what a laugh it was. I was agreeing with him and had a big smile on my face. After all the work that has gone into it I think I would be foolish to sell. So I have decided to keep the car a while longer and my New Year's resolution is to plan a decent trip in it for next year. The car is no longer for sale. I will be selling the 210 bhp spec engine that I was going to put in it having decided to de-tune the engine I currently have fitted rather than swop it for my spare engine. I'll be placing an ad as soon as I have time to write the spec and work out a price.

Weekly BTT I've had quite a bit of interest from UK and abroad but no takers yet.

The McLaren book is up to eleven quid! Lots of watchers though and more than three days to go. I'm curious to see what it eventually goes for. Whilst looking for something else this morning I uncovered the Tony Weale Lotus Seven book. Soft cover, slightly creased, a few light thumb marks, but nothing tragic, and a note in Biro on the inside back cover. Looks like a Sachs clutch part number. Good, readable nick, spine in nice condition and no tears or loose pages. It's obviously been read a few times. It it a Spring 1997 reprint if that makes any difference. Really don't know what to ask for it. Anyone got an idea what they are realistically worth? Doing a Google search brings up used copies between £100 and £150. Tempted to put this on eBay too and see what happens.

Rob It is a great book. I've read it a couple of times and I doubt I will read it again. People are asking £100.00 + on buy it now. Whether they sell at that price or not is another matter. At the end of the day it's worth what people are willing to actually pay.

In an effort to dispose of the majority of my belongings I decided to put some of my books up for sale. I have a copy of the McLaren F1 book, Driving Ambition, on eBay at the moment. No reserve, 0.99p starting bid. here I also have a copy of the Tony Weale Lotus book somewhere. Can't find it at the moment. Got a feeling I may have lent it to someone but can't remember who. I'll have more automotive books for sale to follow over the next few months. Thanks for looking.

BTT

Thanks Willie. Much appreciated. Yes Martin, it is quite a lot for what I am asking. When I first weighed the car when I first got it with a Crossflow it was 590 kilos. I doubt the engine made much more than 100bhp even though it was supposed to be 135 bhp. The weight reduction and power increase have made a big difference!

The photos are being hosted on a friend's photobucket page as I had nowhere to put them. That's why you may have got some random other stuff!

Some photos here

I haven't built an engine in the last 30 years that hasn't been dynamically balanced. In the case of the Duratec the cranks from Ford are very good as standard. They require little or no work. Once you start adding the pulley, flywheel and clutch cover is when balancing become necessary. I demonstrated this on a balancing machine at a Duratec clinic I did years ago. In fact rather than talk about balancing the crank we should be looking at the crank assembly as a whole. I year or so ago I re-built an R500 engine where the crank assembly had not been balanced from new. I keyed the crank and balanced the assembly as a matter of course. The customer commented that it was much smoother after the re-build. The chain guide is something that I started modifying years ago after problems with the standard ratcheting tensioner over-tensioning. I think Rob Grigsby was one of the first people to encounter this problem. From memory the engine lost power and deveIoped a very bad vibration. The chain was incredibly taught. I think I explained exactly what happens elsewhere on this forum years ago. If you do a search you may find it. To resolve the problem I calculated the expansion of the block and chain and worked out how slack it needed to be when it was cold to give the correct tension when the engine was up to temperature. We checked this on the dyno when the engine was hot and the calculations were spot on. The amount of tension when hot was perfect. You have to get it right as re-tensioning the chain involves taking the timing cover off. I make the tensioner adjustable as it is better to use a lightly worn chain rather than a new one. The new one will wear very quickly early in operation and would result in a slack chain in no time. Within a thousand miles. You cannot just make a spacer of a fixed length because the block or head may have been skimmed for squish or compression. Also being adjustable means that you can re-tension it quite easily in the future during a re-build. Hope this helps.

Only noticed today when I removed the bonnet to take some photos that i had missed a couple of things from the specification: Custom aluminium battery holder. Titanium heater blanking plate. I will also include with the package: Spare nose cone and a couple of grilles. Faded red but useable for emergencies, track days, etc. A pair of rear wings, not perfect condition but useable if needed. One black, one red. Aluminium injection tank. I also have a Optimate battery charger that is required for the Odyssey battery that I will throw in as well as it will be of more use to the new owner than me. Basically when the car goes I would like all the spares to go with it. If the whole car goes rather than just the engine I will have the 210 bhp spec engine I was going to fit to the car for sale as well. A couple of people have enquired about the 260 bhp engine. I think I would rather sell the whole car as it is. Selling the engine is looking like a second option. I'll try to post some photos in the next couple of days. Thanks for looking

Forgot to say: Also has Luke harnesses and FIA roll over bar. Weather nice here in Woodbridge today. I'll take some photos and email them to the people who have asked for them. Sorry for delay.

Thanks for the plug Rob. Don't know what group 5 is and what the rules are for that class but it just occurred to me that maybe the whole car with a bit more weight removal would probably make a good sprint or hill climb car. The car is already only 518 kilos. If someone put their mind to it I'm sure you could get it under 500 kilos.

It is a lot of car for the money. It's priced to sell. The engine is really great. On track days I can overtake most things at will. As the car is a bit of a street sleeper with flared wings and no visible carbon fibre bling it catches a few people out. My motorbikes were a bit like that. Not showy but went like stink. I had one guy with an R400 come up to me at a track day and ask me if I had a turbo. He could keep up with me on the twisty bits but I would stomp away from him on the straights. A guy who had been a passenger in an Escort rally car on slicks with Dunnell 300 bhp Duratec came up to me and said I was the only car to go past them all day. They had more power but I had better power to weight. My memory is not that good. In the spec I put 165 ft lb of torque. In fact it is 183 ft lb. I must of been thinking of another engine. Graph here I'm letting fate decide what happens. If he whole car goes, so be it. If the engine sells I'll build myself something more docile and more suited to my needs and keep the car a while longer. Edited by - AMMO on 1 Nov 2012 06:52:20

I've been trying to decide what to do with my car for the last year or so. I've ended up with a 260bhp engine that is a bit too fast for general road use. Great for track days, but I don't tend to do those anymore. Subsequently I have done very few miles in the last couple of years. I have had a spec. sheet written for some time but couldn't bring myself to place an ad. The car is basically a red 1989 Supersprint with flares that has gone through various incarnations since I first bought it in 2000 with 16,000 miles on the clock. I've used it as a development tool for Raceco. Since removing the Crossflow it has had a 190 bhp Zetec, a 228 bhp Duratec and for the last 5,000 miles a 263 bhp Duratec. As an alternative to selling the whole car I could also consider selling the 260 bhp spec. engine and fitting a more docile 220 bhp spec. engine. That means I could keep the car a bit longer but somehow I feel that after 12 years I need something else to concentrate on. The car is presentable but is 23 years old so could do with some TLC. Here are the specifications: 1989 Supersprint with Raceco 260 bhp 2 litre Duratec engine 46K miles G Registration MOT is visible smoke only, no emissions test. Flared wings, screen and wet weather gear Big Tube De Dion chassis 518 kilos in track day trim with no spare wheel, hood or tools and ½ tank of fuel Ford Radiant Red S Type leather seats Rear spare wheel Wide track front suspension Front suspension mounts modified by Arch Motors Nitron shock absorbers re-valved to suit car 200 lb front springs 110 lb rears 250 lb springs and 140 lb springs also available Hi Spec 4 pot calipers with Pagid Blue pads and larger solid discs Rear discs lightened Flat floored Raceco 260 bhp specification engine, 165 ft /lb torque, 8,500 rpm. Omega pistons, Arrow rods, ported head D-Tec 35 cams etc. Wet sump 48mm direct to head Jenvey throttle bodies Pipercross filter Weber Pico injectors Injection tank with R500 pump Aluminium flush filler cap Adjustable Weber fuel regulator Emerald ECU with triple map facility Odyssey lightweight battery Custom exhaust with Raceco titanium silencer BGH gear box with higher 1st and 2nd gear in Quaife Aluminium casing Titanium stone guards on rear wings Aluminium rear light blocks Carbon fibre rear view mirrors (painted black) 5.75” Headlamps Recently reconditioned prop shaft with heavy duty spiders Differential 3.62 ratio (open diff not LSD) Differential mounts reinforced by Arch Motors 45 Amp medium alternator with 80mm pulley Large water pump pulley Large capacity Pace 4 row race aluminium radiator “7” Grille Total of 12 wheels. 4 x 7”, 8x 6” all Superlite apart from 2 Minilite style 7” CR500 and Yokohama tyres, some rims are bare. Spares to be included 1 x 5.75” headlamp shell 2 x 7” headlamps with Cibies Heater (currently not fitted) 1/2” anti roll bar (currently not fitted) 250 lb / 140 lb springs Fuel pump Wheel spacers to fit 7” rear Milnilite style wheels Looking for £15,000.00 The 260 bhp engine has done 5,000 miles since it was installed so nicely run in. It has a wet sump as on my chassis fitting a dry sump is possible but would have been a bit of a challenge. I'm asking £6,000.00 for the bare engine. It could have a dry sump fitted at extra cost. Ancillaries such as ECU, loom and throttle bodies could be added for an extra price to be negotaited. The car is taxed until the end of December so if anyone who wants either the car or the engine wants to come out for a ride please get in touch. Photos available on request. Any questions please ask. Thanks for looking. Edited by - Ammo on 31 Oct 2012 07:58:04 Edited by - Ammo on 31 Oct 2012 07:59:50

Danny Your alternator pulley was 80mm, not 100mm. The crank pulley was 100mm and the water pump 125mm. Yes, it probably didn't charge at idle but when you did 2 days open pit lane at Spa and covered 500 miles, how much time did you spend at idle and how much pretty much flat out at 9,000 rpm? For a trailered track only car it was the right decision I think. Later 310 bhp spec engines than yours with the smaller crank pulley for mixed road and track use ran a 65mm alternator pulleys. I've been running an 80mm alternator pulley on the road with no problems but with the larger stock crank pulley. I've also been running one of the 125mm water pump pulleys I had made on the road with no cooling problems. Pendennis The larger water pump pulley is definitely the way to go. I've been fitting them to a lot of my engines since about 2005. Never had any problems as long as your cooling circuit is OK and you have a good rad. I used to use the Pace race rad. Worked fine. There were some made by Cosworth at the same time as mine, funnily enough also 125mm (we came independently to the conclusion that this was the correct size). They made two different types. One was solid, the other wasted and lightened. The lightened ones had a tendency to crack and were later replaced by the solid ones.

Funny how they had to choose an Italian number to make a German four wheel drive car sound cool. The Audi Vier wouldn't have sounded that great I suppose.

Paul I had a friend who used to modify Arriflex cameras for the film business. When small taps broke off he would get them spark eroded. Spark eroding if done properly will remove the tap without damaging the surrounding metal. Maybe you can Google to see if there is anyone offering this service near you.

Quoting Richard: "I think the cause of the cracking was too much tension on the rear mounting bracket". After talking to Richard he confirmed that the silencer had to be pushed about an inch over for the bracket to fit on the bobbin near the wheel arch. This would have put it under too much strain. It can cope with some movement from the engine, heat and expansion and a certain amount of vibration. But under continuous strain it is not surprising it has failed. Richard purchased a silencer from us years ago to have a custom exhaust made around it. Unfortunately the exhaust headers and collector could not have been that accurately made if the silencer did not align with the bracket. Mike, if you make another the same as before it is likely the problem will reoccur. I think the three of us need to put our heads together and come up with a permanent solution. The absolute best way to resolve this is for the car to go to Mike and for the silencer to be repaired or remade and ensure that it is properly fitted. If this can't be done because of distance we must think of something else.

Hi Richard Saw your post last night. I have spoken to mike this morning. Can you please email me photos of the end cap. Once Mike and I have seen this we can tell you if there is a possibility of repairing your silencer. Ammo

Just thinking about the future Arnie. We have kit cars that have the ability to have different production based engines fitted. I'm blinkered and look only at Duratecs as I am pretty much besotted by them. My car was originally fitted with a BDA which when it expired was replaced by a Crossflow. When I got the car it was with the specific intention to do a Zetec conversion. Still a great engine and great value for money. If the Duratec hadn't come along I would still have the Zetec. I did the most miles in this and probably had the most fun doing track days and long trips with my youngest son. But the Duratec did come along and everything changed. I first fitted a 228bhp then a 263 bhp 2 litre. As I don't do trackdays anymore I am looking to either replace this with another less powerful Duratec with better fuel economy and less induction noise. In fact I have all the bits to do this and may go that route this winter and sell the 263 bhp engine. I was also thinking of possibly de-tuning the current engine and taking advantage of the triple mapping to have an economy map for long distances. The induction noise in comparison to the 228 bhp engine I used to have is much higher. I could fit an airbox. I was also thinking of fitting a plenum and reducing the power to around 240 bhp. Can't make up my mind. Whilst all these ideas were going through my mind I started wondering what else is out there that could be fitted. In all likelihood I will probably stick with the Duratec, but was curious what other people thought. There is always the possibility that someone will come up with something amazing that nobody has thought of yet! I did see the Eco Boost thread Jonathan. That's what started me thinking. Didn't know Westfield fitted a 1.6 turbo VX Peter.

Some of us were fitting Duratecs to Caterhams before the factory did. I remember a lot of resistance to the Duratec early on by VX and K owners when I was telling anyone who would listen that Duratec was the way to go. So what is the next engine that could be fitted? The Duratec could also likely be discontinued soon. It is already over 12 years old. Still one of the greatest production engines of all time in my opinion. Bang for buck it can't be beaten. Ford engines are readily available and have been traditionally been fitted to Sevens since the year dot. The new 1000cc 3 cylinder Eco Boost engine has made me resuscitate this thread from way back. If the Eco Boost engine dimensions allow it to be fitted to a Caterham I reckon someone will fit one at some point. With petrol prices rising fuel economy is becoming much more important for road cars. A friend of mine predicted many years ago that small capacity turbo petrol engines was where we were going to end up and it looks like the day has come. Diesel engines all seem to have become turbo diesels in the last ten years or so. Can you even buy a car with a diesel engine that hasn't got a turbo? I have a feeling that the Duratec may be amongst the last of the great naturally aspirated engines that lends itself to tuning. The choice in the future may become much more limited. Starting with a bare chassis what current engine would you fit?

You could try changing the leverage ratio at the pedal by modifying it. If you change the ratio so the travel is less the pedal will be heavier to operate. With a bit of experimentation I am sure you can reduce the travel. Unless of course there is a different pedal available off the shelf from Caterham that does the job.

One thing I forgot to mention was that at the time I was looking into fuels I was told that the octane rating of fresh fuel at the pump is often higher than advertised. This is so that the octane rating can be a guaranteed minimum. In other words if the fuel is left in the tank for a long period of time even after it has deteriorated it is still the correct octane rating. I was told that the BP Supergreen 98 octane fuel available in the 90's actually exceeded 100 octane. This would explain why when compared to Agip 100 octane WSBK control fuel on the dyno there was no difference in engine performance. It might also explain why the 12:1 engines designed and mapped to run on 98 octane still ran fine with 95 octane. My theory is that the 95 octane fuel when fresh is actually higher than advertised. It would be good if someone working in the industry could actually confirm this as I have no proof. Just based on what I was told many years ago. I have left half a tank of fuel in the Caterham when it was off the road and the engine has always started up fine with no misfires and perfect running on fuel that was several months old. In fact I can think of only once when fuel has caused misfires and that was when it was found to have water in it. Otherwise misfires are always something else, usually electrical. Fuel is something I never worry about in my engines. You buy either 95 or 97 octane according to the compression ratio. Most customers who have spent a lot of money on a performance engine will always go for Shell or BP. For engines with lower compressions supermarket 95 octane seems fine. I can vouch for my local Tesco. There are always big queues there so I assume the fuel is always fresh. All in all, the stuff you buy at the pump, although rather expensive, seems to do its job.