Bob Corb

Ah ha, I wasn't far off then!

Yeah, its a bit crude but its a starting point. Did the guys at the rolling road look at all concerned about running over 14.5 everywhere? They should have. You weren't giving it any load I hope? (I've just done a wee calc here at work and for a given restriction the flow is indeed proportional to dp²)

Normally a rover FPR is set to 3 Bar. If you increase the airflow (=> fuel flow) by a factor of 1.12 (1.8 / 1.6) then dont you need to increase the dP on the injector by 1.12² = 1.26 => 1.26 * 3 = 3.86Bar? You could try blowing the reg open with compressed air? Otherwise borrow an Innovate LM-1 and take it for a blast and check your AFR drops to about 13 full load and down to 11 near peak power? A friendly rolling road would be the best place to set it up. If you try to adjust the fuel pressure at idle you will find that the pressure wont directly affect the AFR as the ECU will constantly be trimming the pulse rate to keep at 14.5

Not for me but just to clarify - Is that the full kit? 4 arms, 2 diamonds, inserts, bolts and 8 rod ends? Are the rod ends used?

I've never done it on a VX but I did on my old ZX 😬 I bought a cr@ppy little gunsons indicator box from halfords which is just an led in a box with a switch and it comes with a book to tell you the codes. Here the fella here Edited by - Bob Corb on 11 Nov 2006 17:35:03

Bedford battery centre in MK just up the road from DVAs do them for £36exc, but £42 aint bad considering its a local motor factor

The latest CC 15" wheels with CR500s do indeed use "13/14 Cycle wings" as they are known. The wings Bryn's selling are the "15/16" cycle wings as used on cars which left the factory on prisoners or the big 16" 5 spokes. I've got to say that these wings are pretty much the nicest carbon wings I've ever seen. The one's on bryns own car (same) aren't lacquered at all, just plain carbon, they dont need any further tarting up and whats more, they look just as nice on the other side. You wont be dissapointed. Without giving too much away, if you want to see some more examples of the workmanship from the same factory look here

I'm going through the whole of my new project (camper van) replacing every filament bulb with either HID or LED (even the instrument bulbs) You need to have a chat with this guy here Okay there not as trick as your full arrays but for the simplicity its worth a try. My inital reason for doing this was simply to reduce the current draw of the internal lights while I'm camping but as with all things petrol related it got a bit carried away...

Sorry, I got all carried away, I get very watery eyed when I think about "Chas". My best man bought a 92 1.4XSi the year before I got the Rallye, it was very nice. The nice thing about 106s is that they dont actually rattle very much, they're much better in that respect than the 306 which I progressed onto. When I picked up our Rallye (early in 97 - it was 20months old) one of my work colleagues had just bought a Citreon Xantia 2.0 VSX fully loaded for the same price, he thought I was daft, I knew different.

You'll find a loose wire somewhere around the ECU which should be tied away. Basically when this wire is grounded the light comes on. Sometimes the ECU will be set up to do this. On an MBE equipeed car this wire should be connected to pin 33 of the ECU IIRC.

Ours (94 106 Rallye) did its head gasket because the coolant had never been changed. The coolant became acidic, swelled the carboard gasket and pushed the oil seals around. It cost £300 quid to replace but didn't damage the engine otherwise. Watch out for a small oil leakge at the front corner over the alternator. Ours had FSH up to that point but when I realised that they never did anything I got it serviced by a specialist instead. Listen out for a clonking as you drive over uneven surfaces, ours had to have new front ARB drop links. It seamed to eat CV gaitors at one point The exhaust didn't last long, we got a Magnex stainless system and a cat replacement pipe (the rusty old cat lived in the garage 364 days a year and came out for the MOT!!) Watch out for rust behind the rear arch extensions. Otherwise, just look for the usual signs. The numbers on the odomoter always line up super straight, the factory alarm is a liability, the gearlevers do go wonky but a quickshift kit should fix that and make sure you buy a Rallye with all its stickers on (bonnet, sides and tailgate all have the multi colour flashes on) I tried an XSi once thinking I was going to get one to accompany Mrs Cs Rallye but it wasn't as much fun. I bought a new GTi instead (back in 98) but we flogged that after the Rallye outdragged it in a straight line. We would still have the rallye if someone hadn't driven into it and written it off. In fact I want one again... How about this one http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/95579.htm

MAHLE Motorsport would make you a batch of 12 for $195 USD each + vat and shipping, not sure about lead time.

Yeah, it works nicely, I'm cleaning a set of 42 yr old VW windows right now.

Which t.b.s? You mean the ones for my bus?? I dont think we'll worry about those, the bodies will be twin Jenvey 40 TFis and the manifolds and linkage are £100. I've placed the order now, got 5% off for a bulk order. For yours I thought we were holding off this year? The price for your dizzy conversion sounds okay. The dizzy blank on mine is £20 and the coil (MSD) is £70.

I noticed an engine at work fitted with an "Arrow" crankshaft the other day. I didn't think twice at the time...

I'm helping Bryn7 replace his old MBE this winter (HPC on carbs). He's bought a 967 from SBD and a weber throttle pot. EFA's given us a map to suit a similar car so it shouldn't be too hard. We just need to re-pin the ECU plug from the old MBE to the new 967 and add in the extra throttle wires. I think we were going to switch to distributorless too but I dont think we're bothering now. The long term plan was to go injection but thats next years upgrade now... SBD sound helpful, doesn't look too hard. BC

Hans has made a good point. On the CSR200(the full EU4 version with Ford ECU) I think the exhaust has two lambda sensors, one upstream to allow the engine to run in closed loop and one downstream to check that the cat is working. If the two sensors have the same output (ie the cat isn't doing anywthing) then the ECU will throw up a MIL fault (does a CSR200 have a MIL light? I think it should, if it has the Ford ECU) I dont know if it would go into a limp home mode either??

I'd say its always a good idea to minimise back pressure for maximum performance but you need to consider the side effects, so-to-speak. Caterham silencers are all "straight through" types so back pressure is quite low for all of them. The trick is to get low noise also. The other big critical area in exhaust design (I'd say more important with regard to a caterham) is the manifold design. Getting a suitable configuration which gives maximum area under the torque curve over the engine speed range required is very important. You need to decide whether you want a 4-2-1 type which gives a broader range of torque or a 4-1 which is best for peak power. I always thought that the old SLR system with a 4-2-1 manifold and a de cat system for £595 was pretty good value. In terms of bangs for your buck I'd also consider a 1.8 bottom end, there aint no replacement for displacement.

In theory, yes, there should be an increase as the engine has less work to do over the pumping cycle. It will only be a couple of percent though which wont really be enough to feel any different. If you went to a good rolling road though you should be able to measure it. In addition to reduced pumping there will be less residual exhaust gas in the cylinder, this can have differing effects which aren't always positive. I think at the bottom end you may get an increase in pinking and a reduction in torque, this is especially noticeable on K series Elises/MGfs for example but may be different on the CSR. Its very engine specific. To be honest, I'd leave it in place unless you are racing and need every last HP. BC

Mr Kipling Mini apple pies got my R400 to 214BHP

Sorry for the late post. You need an EU2 style tacho. I found my EU3 car didn't work at first and had the tacho upgraded for the different impedence malarky for the Mems3 ecu. When I switched to the MBE 967 I had to put the old EU2 one back in...

Mahle pistons OE pistons were from 92 onwards . They would have a number visible underneath saying 86 V 121 and are available to suit either 86 or 86.5mm bores. The crown design looks similar to yours though (from the very small drg I can see in the catalogue)

Ah, good point, TBs it is then. The skip got taken away about 6 weeks ago unfortunately. We were offered the chance to plunder it but didn't imagine they'd take to kindly to handing out the bits to mates etc. BC

IIRC the exhaust manifold should be std, we didn't do much with the exhaust side of the head, it just got the tuned 4-2-1 manifold which you should copy like for like - they dont change it even on the super touring cars and they make about 240BHP. The inlet port is raised up and more straight shot at the valve (a typical Cosworth inlet port really). I'd say its likely that the bolt pattern for the inlet will be the same though, but you may want to modify a replacement manifold to get the angle right. There's nothing special about the bottom end externally, its based on the North american spec Zetec so its not quite the same construction as the average euro ones but Caterham USA have made it fit. If you were to basically derestict the std engine with a free flow inlet and exhaust system then you'd see about 180BHP and a few more lb ft rising up through the midrange. If you were to fit throttle bodies then its anyones guess really, it all depends on what you do to the exhaust and cams. If you do go to TBs then try to maintain the same inlet runner length as the VIS in short mode, I've seen a robin hood / Tiger with one using Weber Alpha throttles (a Northampton Motorsport) and they looked too short to me, great for screaming power but thats not what an ST170 engine is designed to do, its about grunt. I'd try and keep the VCT and VIS working. The cams are a cosworth profile with about 265 deg duration and 11mm lift, if you go any longer you'll lose bottom end and idle quality. After wrecking my 160 VVC by converting it to a 210BHP screamer (now sold and 7less as a consequence ☹️) I'm loathed to go sticking lairy cams in anything (although I now drive a 8600rpm screaming toyota exige - but it does have 2 set of cams in it ). I wouldn't warrant increasing the rev limit either as the stock rods are on the limit... maybe another 200rpm but any faster and I'd be reaching for the Carillo catalogue, I dont think its worth throwing that much money at it. If I were to have to lose something it would be the VIS system. You can fit the ST inlet manifold in a 7 but you need the wee motor to pull the cable and switch it over. You can break out the long runners with a long chisel and shake all the bits out of the end which leaves you just with the short high power runner but there isn't as much difference in the mid range as you'd think.

Come on chaps, wake up. The ST170 is the Cosworth fettled 4 pot 2.0 Zetec, it does fit and goes like a steam train. Get in touch with Caterham USA, hopefully they'll get you sorted as it was featured in low flying a couple of years back. We've just thrown all the old development and spare engines in the skip, pity. You've got to keep the VCT by the way, it really makes the engine. The variable intake system (VIS) is a bit marginal as regards benefit, and mate it up to a 5 spd box and give the enigne a chance to muscle down through the gears. The first prototypes without VIS had 5 speed boxes and were really peachy to drive, the later 6 spd ones were all flat.