Rob Walker

Sounds like the fuel pump is duff to me. Disconnect the fuel return line and direct into a bucket check if fuel is being pumped when the pressure drops, the reg cannot stop fuel flow.

I hang a known weight off mine at a measured 1ft from the centre of the drive to check accuracy with the drive held in the vice. Simples.

Paul I would like this if its in nice condition and the postage is not too expensive. Can you confirm condition please? Rob

As the IWP 063 cost £80 each. I have started using the Seimens Dekra 660cc pico , you can buy them on ebay from the USA cost is around £120 for a set of 4 with shipping and duty. They work very well. I can also confirm that there are a lot of nasty fake webber pico injectors about. I bought a set, they looked identical to the real thing but were useless, lucky for me the seller had them back and refunded my money. Edited by - Rob Walker on 18 Feb 2014 09:39:09

As Caterham said run a tap down to clear the thread no big problem.

What are you guys doing? I thought the whole idea of a seven was for it to be as light as possible, underseal, wax oil,are you planning to use the car on the beach or salt flats. the modern caterham chassis need little in the way of protection.

My first 7 was a 40th anni, the other vital thing to know is that the base coat is a light pink. Failure to use the correct base/primer will result in the colour turning a browny ruby red as others have found. TSK will advise on the correct base coat.

What a crap bit of driving, the rev counter gives the game away, the driver has not mastered the basic skill of toe heeling and matching his engine revs to the road speed coming down the gear box . Hence the car break traction. Poor show could do better , see me after class 😬

Hi Ian, Sorry I had also got confused, you are indeed correct the compact flywheel is 267mm and can run with 8.5 and 7.25 clutches . I have just measured a standard race line flywheel it 288mm Dia and runs a 8.5" clutch. I am advised that the compact bell housing is available in both long and short length My head hurts I off for a rest chaps. Edited by - Rob Walker on 9 Jan 2014 22:40:17

Tom, You only have to shorten the input shaft if you want to use either the short standard Dia bell housing or the short Raceline compact. if you opt for the standard length bell housing that Caterham use there is no need to shorten or use the special engine mounts. Some of use use the short bell housing as it moves the engine back in the chassis approx 20mm for better weigh distribution and because we can 😬 Edited by - Rob Walker on 10 Jan 2014 07:55:54

Hi Ian, I now see how the confusion has arisen. The sizes on Racelines web page are wrong they have the compact flywheel as 8.5" diameter and also as 267.5mm Dia (this is 10.53" ???). You have said that you have the flat bottomed bell housing this is the compact you also run the powerlite start motor and this only marries up to the 7.25" flywheel so I presume Chris has put the wrong sizes on the web page by accident. Make sense & no your not going mad were all mad ? Rob

Ian, If you have a 8.5 inch flywheel then you do not have the compact bell housing as it would not fit inside the compact bell housing. You must have the Raceline short bell housing. Trust me. Regards Rob

The standard piston is virtually a slipper piston i.e. it has very little skirt only on the thrust faces. A pure 2 ringed slipper piston will give you reduced friction due to its lower frictional losses and lower mass but the downside is it has a short life and usually noisy when the engine is cold. So it depends on what you are building and how long you want it to last. If you want NA 300+bhp rev to over 9000rpm and your happy to rebuild every 20 hours could be the way to go. Edited by - Rob Walker on 9 Jan 2014 18:38:57

Be clear and read Catastrads's post again ,the compact bell housing and the short bell housing are quite different. The compact is designed to run with a 7.5" flywheel and mates perfectly with the Raceline Dry sump pan. This means there is no 40mm step between the end of the sump pan and the leading edge of the bell housing . You also need a special starter motor that runs a large pinion . You also need the special 7.5" flywheel and clutch kit and the flywheel is quite heavy. I see no need to shorten the passenger footwell with either bell housing unless you wish to site the Dry sump Tank there. I can also confirm that it is necessary to shorten the input shaft both the splines and the overhaul length on the 6sp Caterham gbox with both the compact and short bell housing. If you opt for the short bell housing to mate with the Raceline Dry sump pan you will have to find some way of filling the 40mm gap between the pan and the leading edge of the bell housing, Caterham sell a nasty bit of tube for the job or a better solution is to have a machine shop make you up a bespoke tapered block/skid plate out of solid nylon or PTFE. There has also long been the debate that the Duratec does not need a dry sump as the Raceline wet sump pan is all you need. Well yes this is largely true but be aware that the Raceline dry sump pan with integral oil pump gives you 40mm extra ground clearance at the front of the pan. Also there is substantial windage of the oil within the Wet sump pan this leads to high oil temps, this is more of an issue with the higher tuned engines that will rev to 8500rpm. Lastly I take 300bhp+ from the SBD with a pinch of salt, lets just say its a remarkable result. Rob Edited by - Rob Walker on 9 Jan 2014 11:15:37

If the bores are not showing any signs of having seized/picked up or deep scouring on the thrust faces and the leak down test was ok then I certainly would not replace the rings. The OE auto belt tensioner is the way to go as it compensates for the expansion of the block. I have seen several belts come off on cars using manual tensioners. If you cannot see any breach of the head gasket then I would be looking for cracks in the block or head which is unlikely. Good luck. Rob

21mm length to underside of head. Just measured the OE ford ranger and Titan ultra light flywheels and they are both 9mm thick at the mounting flange. Therefore 12mm of thread is screwed into the Crank. Based on this you would need 29mm of thread under the head of the bolt. I cannot help you with a supplier of bolts. Edited by - Rob Walker on 17 Dec 2013 11:00:24

Ford OE flywheel bolts have only 21mm of thread

Ratios 1st 3.136 2nd 1.888 3rd 1.330 4th 1.000 5th 0.814 I recon that the mx5 box will be both stronger and nicer to use than the type 9, Its just a shame that the mx5 6 speed box will not fit the Caterham S3 transmission tunnel or I would be fitting one in my car. Rob

290BHp is impressive stuff from a 2L. Whats the spec of the engine and how much is due to the 421 exhaust as this type of exhaust primaries tend to boost torque in the mid range as a trade off in head line power. Rob

Check that water has not got down the spark plug holes in the head following washing the car or it being outside in the rain. If this has happened the pot insulation part of the plug will not work and the spark will short to earth. Even if its been wet and dried up the dried residue can short to earth/head casting

As Far as I know Caterham do not use the short bell housing supped by either Raceline or Titan. I personally prefer the short bell housing on a better weight distribution basis and also that it gives more clearance for the dry sump connection fittings as the engine is further back in the chassis away from the lower chassis rails on the arch chassis. I am sure that SWR / Sadev normally supply the input shaft that suits the long bell housing as this is the normal Caterham race car installation and all cars will have to comply with their regs.

Your in luck I have a new 2.3 that I am building in the garage Crankshaft flywheel mounting face protrudes 15mm Spigot bearing is 4mm recessed down the 8mm boss Therefore the spigot bearing protrudes 15+4=19mm into the bell housing

I have done several I usually fit the bell housing to the gearbox and with a straight edge across the open face mark and cut the input shaft. Therefore in the case of the short RL bell housing being 172 then sadev advising input shaft length of 171 makes sense. However Peter Mcewan knows his stuff and 176 will also probably fit, this would give you the chance to dummy build and trim the input shaft back a tad if its found to foul. Edited by - Rob Walker on 3 Dec 2013 14:38:28

Very awkward, I am not aware that anyone makes an oversize on the thrust faces. Only suggestion that I can think of to get around the problem is to separate the three parts of the centre bearing and put a shim behind each face of the thrust bearings. Then drill both the bearing and the block to accommodate some small counter sunk screws making sure that the head of the screws is at least .005" below the bearing face when affixed, finally loctite the screws when you are happy you have the correct end float on the crank.

I raise all my 2L duratecs 6mm ontop of the raceline engine mounts, use 3X2mm washers. then set the front whishbones roughly parallel with the ground, this gives me around 80mm clearance between the front edge of the bell housing and the road. I do not raise the 2.3Ls as the engine is 13mm taller. Edited by - Rob Walker on 6 Oct 2013 20:17:12