TurboWood

In Europe the CSR is not offered as a kit, but in the US it's required by law. This is probably why Caterham is rethinking the CSR strategy. As I'm in the middle of a build I can tell you the assy instructions for a CSR has some holes. $70k msrp....holly $hit! Daniel

Jon is still around, but traveling a lot. Daniel

Hi Gents, I'm looking at the rapfix quick release and so I need a different steering wheel than the motalita. Does anyone have a good suggestion for a wheel. The one I've found that I like the most so far is the 280mm Momo TEA28BK0B. Ideas? Daniel

Do you still have it by chance?

I know he is still building some caterhams and has another batch arriving in a month or two. I'm not sure if he has any plans of remaining a supplier though. I found 303-765-0247 online (yellow pages). It might be worth trying to give him a call. Daniel

I'm not sure if this will help, but a quick google search of Imron turned up this thread: http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/du-pont-imron-159934.html If you can trust the information it sounds like the imron you buy today is not the same stuff it used to be.

I love it, arguing about what is more fun the 0.1% or the 0.01% of car performance. I imagine even fred flinstone would have a fun "drive". Having said that, I'm questioning if 144x2 is enough. Daniel

Fire in the cabin = less than idea....lol. Awesome.

My perception is the FIA's heart is in the right place in terms of trying to generate more passing on track. They have made aero and energy recovery regulations to help give the trailing car an advantage. It also helps bring the technology back to reality so hopefully more of it makes it to road cars (eventually). I'm not an F1 historian, but as I see it the last 10yrs or so have seen a transition from guess-and-check to optimization. Today the aero engineers are not only trying to optimize efficiency (drag vs. downforce), but they are also attempting to intentionally disrupt the aero for the car behind them. Regulation changes unfortunately still require more guess-and-check and we all get to judge before seeing a result. MotoGP has the advantage of having aerodynamically terrible vehicles (maybe only trumped by a 7 ) and effectively active mass transfer by the rider. These things make the rider far more critical and give the trailing rider an advantage. Daniel

Sorry, I should have been more clear. BSFC is brake specific fuel consumption (fuel flow per hp). BSAC is brake specific air consumption (air flow per hp). Both of these basically tell you how much fuel or air it will take to make a given amount of power. BSFC serves as the easiest measure of fuel economy. If you do a search for BSFC map you can see what these usually look like. For every road car this is clearly critical. On a race car you really don't care much except that you need to have enough fuel to finish the race. By limiting the fuel flow in a race series you force engineers to make as much power as possible from a fixed amount of fuel. At a high level this is a much better way to go because you are directly limiting the energy available. This should make the series more competitive and should drive for more interesting engine development. The turbo systems they are using are also quite interesting. With the generator/motor connected to the shaft of the turbo you can play interesting games with transient response. They are almost able to run a fixed turbo speed by modulating the load of the motor. I think we will get used to the sound. For me it doesn't sound that bad, just different. Daniel

I can understand this opinion, but I don't agree. The reasoning for using a fuel restrictor is very sound. The whole point is to have the engineers focus on BSFC instead of BSAC. When you don't control the fuel flow engineers will try to find ways of increasing the power as a function of airflow (BSAC). This is because it's the limiting factor. By putting a fuel flow limit on the cars you are forced to improve your power as a function of fuel (BSFC). This approach is far more closely linked to the reality of street cars. I work in the engine development field and we spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to improve BSFC. These new engines also use relatively standard ignition systems which is no small achievement when you consider how much fuel is being dumped into these small cylinders. Daniel

I agree...Mike, very nice. I also like Busa's S2k dash. Daniel

I've never been much of a fan for NASCAR, but even sports I like (football) are better on TV. Why pay so much for expensive seats, expensive beer, terrible traffic, and not seeing all the critical information in zoomed in HD? You don't even need cable or satellite anymore. I watched the superbowl on the internet and use netflix or hulu for almost everything else. Daniel

It looks like those pictures are from Japan. From what I understand they are popular over there. That's probably your best bet, but I can't offer a specific source. Daniel

By this logic we should just remove the badge all together...imagine the performance.

The two horns in my kit were not identical. One was high and one was low (marked on the original packaging). I haven't actually tried them to confirm, but they should be different. Daniel

Bravo sir, bravo!

Hi Gents, I'm hitting a bunch of dead ends and need some help. The bell housing I've purchased needs to be modified as described below. This includes welding and machining. The bell housing is currently at ZZPerformance in Michigan. Does anyone know of a shop that could do this type of work? Green = Perfectly aligned, no change needed Blue = Need to modify oil pan (ARE dry sump) to meet these points Yellow = Need to modify the sump to mate with the engine Red = Need to machine off excess material and make a clearance hole for the starter http://usa7s.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=5826&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1391920737 Thanks, Daniel

This is so weird to me...a car forum talking about the joy of driving. I don't know if I've ever seen this before (seriously). I'm so used to armchair racers.

Yes, dual VVT...same as previous 2L and GM's ecotec. These engines definitely have a wide torque curve . Height may be the killer for a 7. I'm not positive, but there is a guy on the CSR forums that made mention of it not fitting so he's building a 2.5L duratec. The GM ecotec should just barely fit (claims to be verified). Daniel

This is a little better: http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_lrg/2015fordmustang-32.jpg The exhaust manifold is integrated into the cylinder head which should help packaging quite a bit. I had asked Ford Racing if the previous ecoboost engine shared pierce points with the duratec. Unfortunately they said the engine mounts, bell housing, and sump attachments are all different. Of those I think the sump would pose the largest issue since it would make the very nice cosworth dry sump unusable. It would be a cool engine. Anyone up for a project? Daniel

I don't have the great life long drive for 7, but I have been a general car guy for as long as my parents can remember. I've gone from matchbox to R/C cars to multiple car projects. Kit cars became an attractive option after being annoyed by what the average person wants in a new car. Now, at 32 I've been lucky enough to start a Caterham build. Hopefully it doesn't take too long to finish! Daniel

Hi Steve, Welcome to the forum. There is quite a bit more activity on this forum and everyone is very friendly. You get a much broader view of all the various "7's". Daniel

Here's the latest baby step. I ordered the bellhousing and ZZPerformance took some pictures of it set on a spare block. The results match my expectations, but unfortunately ZZP is unwilling to do the necessary modifications. Does anyone know of a good machine shop that can make the needed modifications? I also need to have the ARE dry sump pan modified to align with the two blue highlighted points. One other very good news is Scott at modernkitcar.com released a wiring diagram for the LNF ecotec engine to operate stand alone! This is a huge relief as trying to figure out those 150 wires on my own was not something I was looking forward to. He also made a rough 3D model of the entire engine (and released it for free!). wiring diagram: http://modernkitcar.com/product/lnf-engine-wiring-diagram-standalone/ engine 3D: http://modernkitcar.com/product/ecotec-lnf-engine-cad/ Daniel Green: Perfect alignment Yellow: Weld & machine to match block Red: Machine work needed Blue: Modify pan to meet these points

Here is a quick snapshot for on-highway from cummins. There really isn't a big difference between Euro 6 and US 2010 limits (both in effect now). I agree that the cost to produce compliant engines is crazy (no matter it's EU or US) and that gasoline technology continues to close the gap. There is a big group of global companies supporting HEDGE which has demonstrated some cool things with very high levels of EGR on gasoline. Daniel http://cumminsemissionsolutions.com/ces/navigationAction.do?url=SiteContent+en+HTML+EmissionsTechnology+Worldwide_Emissions_Regualtions