Kitcat

Here are a couple of shots of my fuel cell setup. Not sure it helps. It is a return system. All built by my mechanic, I have no info on the details or setup. The fuelline hose that runs up along the rollover bar is the overflow line, not pressured. Tom Carlin runs these thru the hollow bar, which is much more elegant/tidy, on his Birkins. There is a catch can by the drivers’ side rear suspension. The red switch on the rear bulkhead is a separate off/on for the pump.

Great decision Skip! Let’s see a picture or 2 once you get your car. And a review. You have been very patient, hope it lives up to your expectations.

The lights location has no effect on cooling. Here are some more pics of other quirks/mods that the car came with. In addition to the 21 gallon fuel tank, for endurance racing. The third photo shows 2 hooks on the passenger side of the roll cage. I use one to hold the steering wheel, the other to hold my helmet. Surprisingly helpful. The bottom photo is an off/on switch for the fuel pump. Helpful when starting a flooded engine. The 4th photo is a dash shot. I have a combo oil temp/ water temp guage. The oil temp shows the oil takes at least 5’ more to warm up, after the water temp says the engine is fully warmed. Also in that shot, at the top, is a rev guage/shift guage ( a bunch of green LEDs, then 2 reds). When the reds both light up and then flash, it’s time to shift. I totally rely on this guage on track and ignore the rev counter. The 4th picture is a custom jacking point. Very helpful in a 24 hour race, otherwise irrelevant, tho I do use it to change tires. The top picture most importantly shows the tiny low fuel guage between the 2 large circular gauges on the far left. This has save me from running out of fuel inumerable times. It starts to blink when fuel is really low. Nothing is more embarrassing than pulling off due to low fuel, and having your entire run group flagged into the paddock, while you are retrieved (I suppose…..). The red pull lever triggers the fire suppression system. So far it has not been needed. It also vaguely shows an A/F ratio guage. Helpful as a level of protection when doing chassis dyno pulls. All in the for-what-it’s worth category.

Thx John, the pics are better right side up:).

I have attached pics of my Cat’s low profile lights, rivets filling holes where clams once existed, and long-delayed shot of my driver’s seat, looking at it from the passenger side. FWIW. I tried to fix the upside down pics, without success….. AFAIK, all work, including the cage, was done by Bruce Beachman at his Caterham/race shop in Washington state. He is a member here and a font of information. He may have the exact roll cage measurements? If not, I am happy to send more pics of it.

OK Croc, points to you for best post of the month.

At least you weren’t in the “parking lot” due to your own driving stupidity. And you didn’t eventually drive out if it bouncing off the mamouth rocks NJMP thoughtfully left there, so you didn’t return to the pits with 2 flat front tires and 2 bent front wheels. Thx for that memory Croc(:. But back to the present (TG), why did your transmission lock/explode? Is it the Cat 6sp? Any warning signs before disaster struck? As I mentioned in a post a while back, the seals on the 6 sp need to be replaced semi-regularly.

Any theories on the relatively low torque # and the big drop off? My two stock Zetec SVT’s managed low to mid 140’s in torque, on a supposedly conservative Dyno. We each have 2 liter engines. On the positive side, your torque number is a nice fat/flat shape, all thru the RPm range.

You are right Croc, a trip down memory lane, via this Forum’s search function, shows Stewart had some initial low oil pressure issues, followed by some oil leak issues, all resolved, some during BlueBDA’s current ownership.

As I (very) vaguely recall, this car has had some overheating issues since the the BDA transplant for the original X-Flow??? Still one of my favorite looking Caterhams (if not all-time favorite). I am sure you will get this sorted.

I can likely make the August 9-12 event.

I am scheduled to move it from storage later today and will take some additional pics then.

Here are a couple of photos. It’s in storage at the moment so pics are dark. I didn’t see any specific information, or model # on it, beyond Recaro Hans. I also have a fire suppression system (the red bottle in the passenger area is linked to nozzles in the engine bay and activated by a pull-out knob on the dash), and a Fuelsafe tank, so it is a big step up, relative to the protection offered by a standard se7en, on the track, or off.

Bartman: What are your roll cage plans, if any? Here are a coupla shots of the custom cage on my track-only Caterham. As you can see, the driver’s side cage extends out about 9” from the side of the car. So it provides lots of crush space. I am not a fan of the stock Caterham cage as it has minimal crush space on the driver’s side. The downside of such a stout cage is it adds a lot of weight.

Thx Steve, I knew that(duh)!

Top, Tom,(Yellow SS), Croc and Steve M, AKA,BBall, Next, Croc and Dave (S1 driver, par excellence). Next, Croc and Tom Carlin, USA distributer of Birkin. I think Tom was offering to “lay hands” on all the malfunctioning Caterhams in this shot...., Next Ultralight owner who I know well, but whose name I am blanking on, and Tom, Next, Tom again, in his customary pose, Next, WentMD ((Birkin) flaunting fashion conventions, in true Se7er style, Last, Dan(Westfield) obviously overwhelmed at getting one of Croc and Tom’s coveted awards.

The annual gathering of the clans at NJMP.

Since mine was set up for SCCA racing, he had to comply with their (arbitrary) rules. The Caterham wheels were limited to 13x6” in the rear, 13x5.5 in the front. So clever tire mfgs came up with huge, cantilevered tires that fit on the tiny rims. Unfortunately, they stopped making those tires. So I switched to 15x7 wheels with 225/45-15 tires. This approximated the dimensions of the cantilevered tire. But the replacements were still not as wide as the cantilevered tires. And the new set up added 10lbs, per corner (24lbs. v. 34 lbs). Here is a side by side shot, with the Goodyear cantilevered slicks on the right, the 15” R7’s on the left. And a shot of the muffin-top style of the Goodyear’s.

In fairness to Croc and his Mustang, he was trying to get it to do something it was never designed to do (turn....:)).

My Caterham has a brake balance/bias adjustment mechanism. So I can dial in more front or rear grip. I have never had a problem locking them up. In fact Croc has posted a video of my car engulfed in tire smoke after locking all 4 wheels up in order to avoid his careening, ill-handling ‘65 Mustang at NJMP:). Something is amiss with your Cat as it should be easy to lock the front brakes. I agree with CarlB’s assessment. I’d be nervous driving it in its current condition. Hope you get it resolved, keep us posted.

Just to mix things up: I run 15” wheels in back, (225/45/15) and 13” up front(185/65/13), with Hoosier R7s(in the dry only). Pure track car. It came with the staggered set up from Beachman Racing, which prepped it for the track. When I bought it in 2012, Goodyear cantilevered slicks were the race tire of choice. My front tire AND wheel combo weighed in around 19lbs. Unfortunately, Goodyear stopped making those tires. The Hoosiers R7s are not as good, but very close. As I recall, the bias ply Hoosiers provided the best grip and were the most forgiving (no sudden break-aways at the limit). And are lighter. But didn’t last as long. But this was back “ in the day” and radial tires have kept getting better, so?

Croc posted this shot of NYC elsewhere and, when I saw it, my first thought was: This must be the latest symptom of Vlad’s Zetec engine:)!

As noted elsewhere here, I am a big fan of the Evora 400. I will be following your trials and tribulations here, and on LotusTalk, with interest. You seem to be under warranty and I assume the AC can be fixed by a Lotus dealer? Hopefully, once this initial fettling is completed, you will be able to enjoy the car more.

Adjustable cams may not be available. I waited for weeks and finally gave up as I had track days looming. So check that out.

I think the race-gas-only compression ratio helps it get to 250 too? I don’t recall it’s what it’s RPM limits are. Typically Duratecs can spin faster. I think the Zetec is limited by the relatively modest capacity of its oil pump. The Raceline Zetec has its own proprietary ECU, or tune too-all this from my faded memory, so??? Clearly it’s freer flowing head helps. I assume there is an adjustable cam, or a more aggressive cam? As advertised, it come close to higher end Duratecs. I will be fascinated to see what rear wheel hp is. If it can break 200 hp, I will be very impressed.