Drying out the Duratec

[KingK_series]

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.

Setting up Tb\s takes time and needs frequant resetting which is why they are not ideal for road cars....



You will be amazed how much effect even small restrictions have in an induction system - I went through that on the Touring car - which on a plenum and wet sump with less valve, less cam, and a smaller single TB than the K20 A2's use in the Elise conversions and a mandatory 8500rpm limit still produced 30bhp and 30 odd lbft more than the Honda - that's all down to careful tuning, and I know I was no where near the end of that road....

Any dry sumped 2L on throttle bodies ought to beat 300bhp and 190lbft NA easily. - so you can see how much potential your engine still has..

[pete]

Thanks David I really enjoyed reading that.

I didn't understand it, but enjoyed it nevertheless.

[KingK_series]

Thanks David I really enjoyed reading that.

I didn't understand it, but enjoyed it nevertheless.

what didn't you understand?

[KingK_series]

Well, the engine finally went back in during the week


Click image for big version


Take a good look as this photo as it is the very last one my camera will ever take It just stopped working and, as it's a 10 year old digital camera, it is just not worth fixing. So the future posts may suffer a little on the picture front.

The last couple of days have been spent trying to sort out the plumbing. Of the five oil pipes I got from Caterham (3 with the kit and two replacements) only one came near to fitting any of the positions. I've kind of lost faith in Caterham's ability to sort this sort of thing out so I've ordered some Aeroquip hose and will remake them to the correct length.

Negotiations with Caterham resulted in the roller barrels going back on Friday, so hopefully I’ll get a matching set back by the end of the week.

Jobs still to do are modifying the harness and cutting the bonnet hole. All being well, I should have it running in the next couple of weeks.

As a matter of interest did you weigh the engine before you installed it?


I have a weight of 112kg for a bare engine, no box, starter or alternator for a 2L Duratec, but have't weighed one myself,


really curious to see how it stacks up against a K or a Honda K20.


Stock K series as above are 84.5 kg with OEM heavy flywheel etc

my dry sumped engines are 74kg

and that stacks against the boat anchor Honda K20 at 122.5kg - 10 kg worse than a Duratec I believe.

all this without the box - though you have to remember the Honda box is 25kg lighter than the Rover PG1 according to a couple of individuals.

- I'd be very interested in a dry sumped 2l weight if you have it?

[David]

I never weighed it but the opinion on the Caterham forums is that the standard engine weighs around 115kg with the dry sump. I believe, if you are keen, you can reduce it by about 5kg by removing/changing bits and pieces. I think that makes it a little heavier than the K series and probably the main reason why the lower powered Caterhams use the Ford Sigma engine which is much lighter.

[KingK_series]

I never weighed it but the opinion on the Caterham forums is that the standard engine weighs around 115kg with the dry sump. I believe, if you are keen, you can reduce it by about 5kg by removing/changing bits and pieces. I think that makes it a little heavier than the K series and probably the main reason why the lower powered Caterhams use the Ford Sigma engine which is much lighter.

Thankyou, that sounds about right, but that's 35kg heavier than one of mine, - which is 50% over my engines weight! - although a lot less than a bruiser of a Honda K20.

I think the lower spec Caterhams use the Sigma just for cost

- but it's come up recently in conversations with Rick at CNC heads who sponsors the NSCC Caterham races - and just how uncompetitive the Duratecs are against K's, not least because of that 35/40kg weight penalty.

Says something because the Duratecs are lighter than the Honda K20 and some do produce 280/300bhp NA whereas outside BTCC no Honda is getting much beyond 240bhp NA -

[David]

- but it's come up recently in conversations with Rick at CNC heads who sponsors the NSCC Caterham races - and just how uncompetitive the Duratecs are against K's, not least because of that 35/40kg weight penalty.

I think many Caterham drivers would agree with that. But when the supply of new k series dried up Caterham's choice of the Duratec was a wise one - the full potential of the engine was not know at that time.

Interestingly, now that the Duratec has ceased production, Caterham have announced their intention to replace the Duratec with a forced induction Renault engine - the future is Renault

[KingK_series]

- but it's come up recently in conversations with Rick at CNC heads who sponsors the NSCC Caterham races - and just how uncompetitive the Duratecs are against K's, not least because of that 35/40kg weight penalty.

I think many Caterham drivers would agree with that. But when the supply of new k series dried up Caterham's choice of the Duratec was a wise one - the full potential of the engine was not know at that time.

Interestingly, now that the Duratec has ceased production, Caterham have announced their intention to replace the Duratec with a forced induction Renault engine - the future is Renault

Well OEMs are looking increasingly at Deisels and forced induction engines for emissions, but that means the engines are getting heavier and cheaper in terms of the 'metal bit' - and that is a shame because it's exactly the wrong direction for Elise/Caterhams.

Adding 40/50/60 kg into a car by Colin Chapman is the antithesis of everything he stood for, whether it be a K20 or FI Renault.