ashyers

Yikes! I suspect that woke you up plenty quick!!! Hope you didn't get hurt. A former student of mine had one come through the windshield after being tossed into the air by a truck.

We've nearly finished the engine assembly (:hurray:), but the temp sender was a casualty today: http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=15134&stc=1 Which brings me to my question, where can I pick one up locally? It looks like a VDO gauge: http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=15135&stc=1 I was hoping there's something out there that crosses to a common vehicle or can be ordered from Summit or a similar vendor. I'd like to break the engine in w/o having to rely on an IR thermometer. Thanks, Andy

The engine rebuild is nearly done and it's time to clean off the bench! Here's the specs: Bore: 87.50mm Std. CR: 9:1 (2.3) 8:1 (2.0) Dish: -20cc P/N: P4-DU875-N20 GNH-8750Bore: 87.50mm Std. CR: 9:1 (2.3) 8:1 (2.0) Dish: -20cc P/N: P4-DU875-N20 The "turbo" pistons somehow ended up in the N/A engine in my Caterham, go figure... They have since been replaced by some with a higher CR. They would work well if you would like to run a boosted engine or just like to run low octane fuel, like low 80's for octane . The pistons are in decent shape and need a new home. I'd be interested in trading of 2.3 Duratec parts (valve cover, front cover, right side alternator mounts) or $150obo. Thanks, Andy

I think Mike hit it on the head. I participate in a couple of auto related sites and traffic has slowed appreciably over the last few years. I'm also involved in a statewide vehicle club and have watched participation and membership decline. It bugs me because as much as I enjoy playing with vehicles, it's the people that really make it fun. Andy

PM'ed

So I can set the soft limiter at 3000rpm. That should be pretty quiet . One of my students said her brother and a few friends were cited last week, but the details she had were limited. I'd be very curious about the circumstances!

Hello All, I'm looking for a photo of the stock mechanism used to attach a throttle cable to the accelerator pedal in an '03 Caterham. The current method in my car is not poor and I wanted to see how the factory did things. Thanks, Andy

Tom, It's a street car with some autocross duty. Current head is a 2.3 Ranger version that we plan on cleaning up with a fresh valve job, new cams, new buckets, and the existing valves, dual springs and Ti retainers. More parts have finally started arriving: the torque plate last week, the correct (!) set of pistons today. I hope to have enough bits to visit the machine shop next week. I still need studs for the mains before we can drop the block off. I was hoping to get the car running next month, but obtaining parts has been slow. The good news is once the machining is done things should go together quickly. Andy

Agreed! This has been one of my weekend reads for some years now. It's a great resource and I suspect more than a few on the site have purchased cars found here.

Update: Things are still moving forward, just a bit slowly. We've totally torn down cleaned and inspected the engine. Parts are taking a bit longer than expected to arrive, but I'm assured they are on the way . Essentially we're redoing everything. One of my students compared this engine to a Russian nested doll. He said whenever we pull something apart we find something else wrong! Unfortunately he's right. The good news is that there's nothing left to pull apart... I'm hopeful that by next week we can drop off the block and head for some machining and maybe have the motor back in the chassis by February. We'll see! Rebuilding an engine and sorting a car with high school students is not always fast, but it is always interesting! The help I've received from this forum has been great. I really appreciate it. Andy

Tom, I suspect we could work out a deal for the pistons. Do you have anything you would like to trade that may be useful for the rebuild?! Send me a PM. Andy

Here's the crown: http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=14888&stc=1 http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=14889&stc=1

OK, the motor is nearly completely apart and I need some more help . How are you guys at identifying pistons? These are fancy bits and I will likely need rings and possibly some spiral locks. They are gray in color and have no identifying marks. They're in OK shape and we plan on running them. EDIT: Found 'em, they are Supertec pistons with a -20cc dish. This yields a CR of ~ 9:1 in the 2.3L. I'm thinking very seriously about replacing them with something that will get me up over 11:1. I have no idea how these ended up in the motor. Anyone need some turbo pistons?! http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=14884&stc=1 http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=14885&stc=1 http://www.usa7s.net/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=14886&stc=1

I guess we'll have time to go through the short block while we wait.... for cams. At some point it would be fun to drive this thing .

Tom, Thanks for the advice. I have a set of buckets on the way in the orig. sizes and I'm curious to see how things end up. I did manage to decipher the P/N's and find a source, so now it's just a matter of inspecting the head/valves and getting a set of cams. I was told they're on back order :banghead: . Andy

Here we go!

Tom, Here's the list of what I removed with the old cams ! 3.000 3.202 3.222 (x4) 3.262 3.282 3.322 (x3) 3.362 (x3) 3.382 3.422 A few buckets that definitely not good enough for set up. A 3.222, 3.362, and 3.422 are junk. None of 'em are beautiful! I was planning on purchasing new buckets as I don't want to risk the new cams. If you know any magic on setting this stuff up without spending a mint on buckets I'm all ears! Thanks, Andy

papak, I've found that Esslinger stocks buckets for $10/bucket. The local Ford dealer was useless, they didn't even know what I was asking for... I suspect if I could get all of the Ford P/N's I could do better than Esslinger's prices, but they may win out on convenience. I think I'll be purchasing 16+ buckets to get the clearances sorted. Thanks for the offer of the flaring tool, mine just arrived today, along with a pile of other goodies. I'm still not sure if forward progress has been achieved. There's been a few more surprises than I anticipated in this car. Fun, fun, fun! Andy ps. Love the photos of your engine bay! I'll be studying them carefully .

Randall, Any idea of the lifespan of these things? My understanding is that they die due to fretting between the spring and retainer. Andy

We're finally making some progress tearing into the motor (progress, right?!). So far we've found it has Crower rods, Ti retainers, some form of snazzy pistons and what appears to be a wacky cam arrangement. The exhaust cam has a lift of ~.441" so it's darn healthy. The welding on the lobes is visible and I'm reasonably sure that's what failed. The intake cam has a lift of ~.360" and it appears to be stock! The tear down has proved a mixed bag. We've found some nice bits and some evidence of some "band-aid" repairs. They're getting fixed as we go, but it's frustrating to see some of the crappy work someone did in the past. On the other hand I'm working on the car with my Auto Shop students and they get to see first hand a bit of shoddy workmanship and learn from it. As far as cams I have some Crower "Stage 2" cams on the way. I think they will fit the bill well. What's the collective wisdom regarding Ti retainers? I would not have chosen them for a street car, but they're in there and appear to be in good shape. Andy

Hello All, I was wondering if anyone had the suffix list for the Ford Duratec buckets/lifters/tappets. The main P/N is CP9Z-6500-***. The "***" is a series of 3 letters that correspond to different thicknesses. For example CP9Z-6500-AAB appears to correspond to a 3.000mm bucket. It sure would make ordering them easier if I had that info! Andy

I used HPS: https://www.hps-siliconehoses.com/hps-6061-aluminum-tubing-pipe-t6.html I purchased a few couplers to see what I thought of them. They are good quality and shipped quickly. I have a 3' and 2' section on the way now that I'm going to cut to size and bead. I've managed to remove about 6' (!) of 5/8" hose from the car and simplify the system considerably.

Spent some quality time at the parts store and found some hoses that will work, but I've decided to use aluminum tube for some of the longer straight sections. papak, what kind of beading tool did you purchase? I'm considering the Earl's one for 1.25" tube: https://www.jegs.com/p/Earls/Earls-EZ-Beader/1140092/10002/-1 I'm curious to know what you chose. Some of the small beading machines look good in the photos, but I'm not sure of their quality when in use. If they are decent quality they may be worth the $ in the long run as I can use them to bead tube on other projects. Andy

I'm going to try that too, I've narrowed it down to 20 or so hoses by photo. The parts store is going to kill me!

Tom, This is an early Duratec car so it's possible it used the Rover hoses. The one in the photo is 1.25" ID. Sound familiar? Too bad there's no dimensions on the Caterham site. Andy