TurboWood

Happy New Year Gents!

I know 7's get associated with go-karts frequently, but that thing looks identical to those 2-seat (Daddy drives the kid around) karts.

Merry Christmas!

Next can we get a movie of somebody making it by hand?

Thanks guys. Skip, I'll let you know about the hoist. I think I have a closer solution. Daniel

I hope you guys don't mind me making a crack about your age....dag nabit you guys are old. Is the lesson that I can street race if I dress-up like a lady? Daniel

Good news first, the engine arrived :hurray:. Unfortunately, the first step is complete disassembly to have the block modified :cuss:. The oil filter adapter which is cast into the block has some interference with the pedal box and is very likely to be a pain during engine install. So, what is everyone using for an engine stand? In an effort to buy 'merican (please ignore that I bought a Cat) I searched the internet high and low for local options. Here is what I found: - Norco 78100 - $290 - CM products - $480 - Fold up engine stand (Merrick) - $7xx - Gray ES-1000 - $942 I'm struggling with the cost of the Norco (the others are crazy). Norco sells a Chinese version of the same part (7800i) for $90 less. I could find no mention of relative quality. Has anyone found a local option that isn't expensive for welded tubing? I'm also hoping to borrow an engine hoist. Anyone have one near Loveland, CO that I can borrow? Daniel

I'm a big fan of the concept. I wasn't involved in the 325i in the article below, but I was in the team when we did the two preceding 5-series skeletons. It is amazing how fast 540 will go with 275's, race pads, and this kind of diet. Simplify and add lightness . http://blog.caranddriver.com/lemons-goodbad-idea-of-the-week-bavarian-brougham/

I wonder what the cost is to rent LA. Cool vid.

Definitely a mean looking 7. I like the mudflaps.

Please send me the license plate drawings. My Dad works a lot with sheet metal suppliers so we might be able to get another run.

Do the fog/reverse light brackets fit the CSR? Daniel

Why not ask for a full new chassis from Caterham? That will ensure perfection and isn't that terribly expensive. The labor to swap it would be pricey, but not crazy. Daniel

The transmission arrived and holly cow are these small transmissions. I went with an allow case, fully roller bearing T9 from SPC. 1st gear is a little longer than I would have liked (2.482), but Steve did a good job convincing me he makes the best T9. From my previous post I took the block out of the car and had a machine shop knock the oil filter adapter off the engine. This made a big improvement in getting the engine in the car. It's clear to me now that this is a required modification for the final engine. There would simply be no way to get the engine in the car with it there. For the second round of test fit I put the transmission in first. This made getting the block in place tricky (input shaft in the way), but I was able to do it. I was also lucky enough to pickup a new bare head so these pictures show the head as well. It looks like the overall height of the engine will be a little more than the Duratec, but most of the difference is on the bottom. When I look at pictures of the Duratec it looks to me like the bellhousing is the low point and that the sump is a little higher. So, I guess I'll be consuming that small difference. Aside from getting engine mounts and bellhousing sorted I did find one challenge that isn't clearly solvable. I need to use an external scavenge pump for the dry sump system which is designed to run at 1/2 crank speed. Typically this is accomplished by putting a small pulley on the front of the main crank pulley, but I don't really have room for that. I also don't have room for the 6" serpentine pulley as I want to install it on the lower left (driver) side of the engine. So, I've been looking into electric scavenge pumps. There are a few on the market and one of the manufacturers is working on a higher flow unit, but from what I can determine the flow rate is much lower than the mechanical pump from ARE. I'm not sure it wouldn't work though. An electric scavenge pump would operate at full tilt all the time which would surely be enough at lower engine speeds. At max engine speed it may not be able to keep up, but the question is just how could I stay at rated power before emptying the oil tank? The other idea is that the oil pump will surely be bypassing oil and I'm wondering if I can directly rout this bypassed oil back to the oil tank directly. This would mean the scavenge pump would only need to keep up with the oil going through the engine and turbo. Thoughts?

I was able to get the prop shaft modified. It now easily slides in through the transmission tunnel. I can't help but wonder why this isn't made this way from the factory. Is there never an instance where removing the driveshaft w/o pulling the diff is useful?

Short block roughly in place. It looks like some modifications may be required, but no hard blocking points discovered yet. The biggest risk is the oil filter hsg which GM suggests cutting off when building the engine anyway. The unfortunate part is it would require disassembling the engine. I am also going to have to modify the propshaft. I didn't place it in the tunnel before installing the diff so now there is not way to get it in. Fortunately it looks like I can just remove some material off the drive flange and it will slide in from the front. Caterham is sending me the electrical connectors to solve the issue in my previous post. I've always enjoyed a little soldering . Daniel

20% thinner air will do that

I'm a little confused by what this product actually does. It sounds promising, but don't most quick throw shifters accomplish this by shortening the throw? Daniel

Roman, are you talking about a westfield or a caterham?

It will definitely be interesting to see if the 2.3L eco fits in a Caterham. I believer there was a VVT version of the Duratec that from my understanding does not fit (too tall). The same story for the K24 and S2k engines (Honda). It is a wicked engine though. Turbo lag really needs to be broken down into two categories, time to boost and boost/tq peak engine speed. If you plant your foot at a low engine speed the boost will build slowly as engine speed increases. If you go WOT at 5000rpm the response will be quite good. With electronics today you can even tune the ramp rate of boost to prevent unpredictable power delivery. That said, an engine with individual throttle bodies or a blower is hard to beat for response. Turbos are just more fun (in my very biased opinion). There are also many heat shields available to help manage additional heat in the engine bay. Daniel

Croc's CSR: copy, print. Beautiful. Daniel

Free upgrade!

You could link a bunch of small model car engines together. They are able to eek out about 10hp/ci! Put a chain of these together and you could have a 10ci engine making 100hp. http://www.rcplanet.com/HPI_Racing_K5_9_Eng_p/hpi15250.htm Daniel

Want: http://www.microcarmuseum.com/tour/whattadrag.html

Bravo on making a Miata look like a Giant!