A day at Rickys..........

[dlogan]

Craig,
It was a standard superlight (135bhp 1.6k).

It then had work done by Arrowstar (A swear word in Caterham circles as they went bust leaving a lot of people in the 5hit I believe), and the upgrade in 2001 was £5.5k worth, and paperwork only states "180bhp conversion with roller barrel throttle bodies."

This was the spec:
1600 K series
Solid tappets
Caterham Roller Barrel inlet
Gas flowed head + uprated cams + Vernier
Apollo tank
Oil Cooler
4 into 1 Caterham Exhaust without Cat
Lumenition K400 ECU

The last R/R plot was 145bhp at the wheels which I reckon would be 170ish at the fly?
Not sure on the cams spec etc.

Power in the "hundreds" does seem weedy when you guys are talking big 300+bhp, but the official weight was 470kg on the superlight, nosecone is carbon as are all four wings etc so saves a bit there. So P/W ratio is pretty good, even though mine will be 500+kilos due to running radial tyres and luxurious items such as paint/fia roll bar/heater.


Look forward to getting a base reading at Rickies, and then seeing if we can fine tune for some extra horses, as it is running lumpy and rich at the moment.

[tut]

Dave

You need lumenition to pull their finger out, tis a waste just sitting there.

If they still pontificate, maybe try to borrow Scotty's Emerald before he sells it, that will get you back on track.

tut

[r10crw]

You can always tell the hardcore, "luxurious items like paint"! Makes an s1 look soft.
Dave it was the roller barrel throttle bodies that took my eye, heard they can make the engine spin up really quick, its be intersting to get a run with you next time were on track together. The power difficult to work out since ricky cant to coast down to work out gearbox losses. I took the gearbox losses from the honda to be 15% but not sure about a caterham.
Cheers Craig

[dlogan]

Dave

You need lumenition to pull their finger out, tis a waste just sitting there.

If they still pontificate, maybe try to borrow Scotty's Emerald before he sells it, that will get you back on track.

tut

Tell me about it Tut, its getting to the point I feel they are taking the pi55. And thats not good for customer relations.

I am considering the Emerald route anyway, but keep procrastinating (sp?) as I dont know how much Lumenition are going to sting me for the repair.

The emeralds seem to be strong money second hand, so much so I would prob go the "new" route, unless someone offers me one at a "very competitive" price. Shoomer? Hit that PM button!!

Craig, the roller barrels are good, because they are not butterfly the air flow at wide throttle openings gives good airflow, and helps power, but teh trade off is the turbulence caused on small throttle openings means its a bitch to drive smoothly in traffic. Forever slipping the clutch and kangarooing etc.
IIRC the Caterham throttle bodies are the best part of £2k new.
Dave

[LotusLee]

290 + bhp that must be scarily fast.

[hiscot]

[quote="dlogan"]Craig,
It was a standard superlight (135bhp 1.6k).


The last R/R plot was 145bhp at the wheels which I reckon would be 170ish at the fly?
Not sure on the cams spec etc.

according to this site you should have approx 176 bhp

http://www.pumaracing.co.uk/POWER3.htm

[dlogan]

Wasnt a bad guess then

Interesting readint hough, cheers for the link.

[rossybee]

luxurious items such as heater.

GAYLORD!

[corbie]

I was using a generic map that was close to my spec, but I do not have Craig’s purpose made 2Bular exhaust manifold/back box, and the smaller crankshaft pulley means I am running 6psi boost as opposed to 8.

ps as usual it was a pleasure to work with Ricky, easy and relaxed, none of this health and safety crap, plus he made us lunch and a dram for the OAP.

it was a good day at Ricky’s very friendly and helpful guy.

Just glad that we got most things done in time. Still can't believe how well these two cars go.

Tut your map is far from a generic one that has had hours and hours of work put into it as a good base map.

remember that I said to go for the smaller SC pulley the crankshaft one is more hassle than it’s worth IMO.

[tut]

Hi Corbie

Welcome home. Generic was probably the wrong term, it was meant as the closest calibration that we had that had not been mapped on my car.

Have a big problem at the moment that Craig can not identify. During a recent run together, the engine began hunting, revving between idle and 3000rpm in a regular few second cycle. It can not be traced to any of the sensors, and there is an error code given of "daughter board communication error". It is also running extremely rich, and I got 100 miles from the last tank of fuel.

I phoned Hondata in the States, and they said that normally indicates low battery voltage, but there is no problem there, and there is full voltage going to the ECU. I am trying to borrow another K-Pro to try, but I believe that it has to be a PRC or D, and that Craig's PRA is not compatible.

If you have any ideas, could you give me a call please on 01771 622971.

Cheers

tut

[corbie]

Yeah I spoke to Craig breifly y'day.

Yes you need a PRC or PRD Hondata though the PRB will work too. The PRA one is not compatible at all.

I will have a PRC Kpro by the end of the month if you are still stuck.

I take it that you have measured the voltage at the ECU and that you have unscrewed it and checked that the daugheter board is making contact with ECU?

[tut]

Yep, voltage at the ECU is fine. Not checked the innards yet, will do that tomorrow.

Tried my original Honda ECU today and it started and ran at idle OK without the hunting. However phoned Abbey Motorsports and he said that did not necessarily mean that it was the K-Pro. He said it was more likely to be an air leak into the manifold.

Checked the obvious, T/B gaskets etc, but nothing apparent, so run out of ideas.

tut

[tuscan_thunder]

Tut,

when you have the K-Pro in, what is the idle speed? Is it constantly fluctuating?

I trust you have no cat?

John

[tut]

John

From cold, it now starts at 2000rpm, drops to 1400 as it warms up. This used to be 1200 and 900.

If I do not touch the throttle, it warms up and settles around 1200 but does not hunt. As soon as I open the throttle, 4 secs later it starts a regular cyclic rise and fall from 1200 to 2500/3000.

If I then turn off and re-start, engine now warm at 70, do not touch the throttle, it idles at a steady 1200 for a few seconds, then starts the hunting again.

Checked the butterfly, but it is completely closed with no pedal, and with Craig I think we have now checked all sensors, either by unplugging or changing over with N1 TUT. Phoned around, and most think sucking air in, including Ricky, who suggested spraying WD40 along the S/C inlet manifold gasket to check for suction bubbling. Did the top but can not get underneath yet to check the lower half.

T/B gaskets seem OK and bolts are tightened up. Also this first started 30 mins into a road run, so whatever it is, it occured during normal driving, with no static changes to any components.

tut

[tuscan_thunder]

very odd. ordinarily, I'd have suggested the themostat - ie, the sensor was telling the car it was cold and causing it to overfuel but if you've checked that, that's out.

I'm going back to basics now so if you've tried these things ignore!

The 'daughter board communication error' to me, suggests it is perhaps not an airleak but the pulsing of revs suggests it is an airleak.

I am unfamiliar with the intake for the butterfly on the Honda but if you hold your hand over the intake the car should stall, or at least the revs should drop. If they don't then there's air somewhere, I'd wager.

I'd check the connections from ECU to the daughter board next

(obviously, a trial with a different ECU will highlight the problem but they're not exactly thick on the ground!)

edit: GOOD LUCK!