Drying out the Duratec

[David]

Well, it finally happened -

Click

- but not with Caterham's help

Caterham still are not in the position to supply the barrels. But there are some good people in the industry (if you can track them down) so the practical problem is now solved. Just the non supply by Caterham to be resolved.

So a matching set of barrels were fitted this afternoon



The water rail was replaced with a silicon hose as it is a very tight fit under the airbox



Overall I was very happy with the finished installation although it is very tight in place.

The start up couldn't have been more straightforward with my estimated setting seeming to be spot on. The only problem seemed to be some intermittent ECU errors that I'll have to investigate.

Next post will be cutting the bonnet hole and the adjustment/balancing of the barrels.

[Shug]

Bloody good work mate - just stunned at the total incompetence that Caterham seem to have shown from beginning to this point. It's hardly as if they are a new-start, they've been doing this longer than just about every small-volume car maker and still can't get the simple things right. Seems to be an obvious need for a total reorganisation of the support infrastructure... Takes something to make the Lotus parts guys look professional and on-the-ball!

[Gourlay83]

That looks the business

Would love a spin round Knock Hill, if you see me.

Alan

[David]

Bloody good work mate - just stunned at the total incompetence that Caterham seem to have shown from beginning to this point. It's hardly as if they are a new-start, they've been doing this longer than just about every small-volume car maker and still can't get the simple things right. Seems to be an obvious need for a total reorganisation of the support infrastructure... Takes something to make the Lotus parts guys look professional and on-the-ball!

In fairness to Caterham (their staff anyway), this all seems to relate to the changes to their ''own brand' CPT for the Duratec engine. A few awkward suppliers I think

[David]

That looks the business

Would love a spin round Knock Hill, if you see me.

Alan

No problem - should be at the SIDC in anger on the 27th March. Maybe the Hot Marque on the 13th to run it in a little.

[Gourlay83]

I fancied the 13th as well, asked Jen and got "Computer says no".

Ill keep trying though
Alan

[Ferg]

Excellent stuff, lovely installation. I look forward to the datalogger comparisons once it's been put through it's paces..

[David]

Well, this might be the final post

After letting it run-in for half an hour, I checked the TPS and balanced the barrels using a flow gauge. The front pair drew about 7 kg/hour and the rear about 6. I matched them around 6.5. Interestingly the idle screw could not stop the engine so I guess enough leaks around the barrels to keep it running.



I was dreading cutting the bonnet hole. Caterham promised a template but it has never arrived . The best way I could see to do it was to estimate were the hole should be then cut a smaller hole and work my way out.

so using this . . .



. . . . and marking it up like this



. . . I ended up with this



I must admit I was pleased with the result.

A couple of whiskers for fun and the car is finished.

Conclusion
On the limited running I’ve done so far the engine runs much better. The old set up was awkward and lumpy when cold but this seems much smoother. This might just be the corrected valve timing – I’ll probably never know. The noisy tappet has gone and the oil pressure is noticeably higher even with the thinner oil I’m running it in on. The throttle response is noticeably different – it just seems more eager than before, although I’ll wait for a track day to comment fully on this.

Would I do it again – yes, but without Caterham. I could have sourced all the items myself at a considerably reduced cost. At the time, I felt I was buying support but this clearly wasn’t the case; in fact they made matters worse. Poor show Caterham.

[David]

Well, with the first trackday completed successfully, it’s time to deliver the verdict.

The dry sump

Right from the first time the engine turned over this seemed to work well. Oil pressure has been rock solid and significantly higher than before (even after a track session). This might just be the new bearings but I'm now beginning to wonder if there was an air leak on the old pick-up system. The fluctuations I used to see have gone. Definitely worth doing

The Roller barrels

I had some fears that I was going to end up with a binary throttle response and a car that really wasn't much use on the road. In fact the reverse turns out to be the case. Cold start and warm up is 100% better than before and road driving is a real pleasure. It runs smoother with less vibration. I think a lot of this might be down to the poor setup of the original engine, in particular, the cam timing. On the down side, the throttle travel is shorter and heavier.

On track

On the track the car felt a lot quicker and I was exceeding my previous Vmax without even thinking about it. The power delivery seems to be lower down the rpm and was explosive compared to the more linear plenum. On the down side, it didn’t like rapid full throttle on/off/on and I’ll have to learn to heal and toes to get the best from it. It sounds good.

Here’s KH pit straight data. The red is my PB from last year. The green is a from Saturday.


Vmax = 119 mph


Problems

There have been some fundamental changes to the coolant plumbing so it is maybe not surprising that there are a few issues. Basically, since the upgrade the coolant level sometimes gets a bit high in expansion tank. The reason is that air seems to be getting into the radiator. Now the pessimist in me says early HGF, but as the problem is intermittent, and does resolves itself after a while, I think it is related to the auto bleed system not functioning as intended. I might re-route some pipes and if that doesn't fix it, think about replacing the HG as some convenient time.

David

[Gourlay83]

Just watched your video from the 13th, Loved the river on the exit of the Chicane. Hopefully will be all clear for the 27th.

Alan

[David]

Sorry for dragging this post back from the dead, but an update for those that are interested.

I put the R400 on the dyno at Performance HQ today and it developed 200.6 BHP at the wheels, That's 21 BHP up on the pre-upgrade. I'm pleased with that but slightly surprised as Caterham only claim 10BHP for the roller barrels. I guess it boils down to the 10 BHP plus a few for the dry sump, a few for fixing the timing, and a few due to loosening up.

[smee]

Just found this post and read it thtough. Fascinating stuff, beautifully done.

Thanks for sharing it.

[Scottish Scrutineer]

Good figures on the dyno. A very discrete car having seen it in the Scrutineering Bay last weekend.
I didn't make it up the road to HQ yesterday, despite it only being 15 mind walk from home.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KingK_series]

Sorry for dragging this post back from the dead, but an update for those that are interested.

I put the R400 on the dyno at Performance HQ today and it developed 200.6 BHP at the wheels, That's 21 BHP up on the pre-upgrade. I'm pleased with that but slightly surprised as Caterham only claim 10BHP for the roller barrels. I guess it boils down to the 10 BHP plus a few for the dry sump, a few for fixing the timing, and a few due to loosening up.

A drysump without running is generally worth 4% extra power and torque on a off the shelf Pace type set up - that can be imp[roved but only with some serious engineering of things like oil seals etc.

anyway that's 8bhp on a 200bhp engine


I am surprised at the different flow meter results cylinder to cylinder - that a big difference and worth investigating..... however you realise shrouding the filter like that will starve the rear cylinder with the bonnet on? - you will lose a loaaaaaaaaad of power and even more torque with such short induction too - especially rev limited to 8000rpm!

[David]

I am surprised at the different flow meter results cylinder to cylinder - that a big difference and worth investigating..... however you realise shrouding the filter like that will starve the rear cylinder with the bonnet on? - you will lose a loaaaaaaaaad of power and even more torque with such short induction too - especially rev limited to 8000rpm!

That was partly down to me not understanding how the Cosworth barrels are set up. They have air bleed screws which are factory preset but one was a little off. The barrel should be 100% closed and the bleeds adjusted to get 6.5 on each. That also explained why the idle screw could not stop the engine. The shrouding isn't as bad as it looks on the photo but I take your point and, funnily enough, it was something I thinking about the other day and was going to change this year.