frizille

I've got a 2014 Caterham S3 chassis in Atlanta. Happy to let you come try the fitment. In my experience, the S3 is like a pair of skinny jeans and the SV is like a pair of baggy jeans. Both fit, but fit differently. IMO the SV is more livable because the toe box is a bit bigger and you get a few more inches of leg room. The most pronounced difference is I can drive the SV with normal tennis shoes on. In the S3 I had to find a pair of indoor wrestling shoes to get my feet on the pedals without mashing more than one pedal at a time. I'm 5' 10" ~175 lbs and the S3 fits like a glove.

Hi all, hope everyone is off to a merry start to their holiday! Has anyone done anything to prevent scratches from the windshield stanchions? I seem to recall seeing a post on one of the 7s boards about small chips and scuffs from the windshield fittings rubbing on the sides where they mount, but can't find it. I've got the dual option, windshield and carbon aeroscreen, and to date have only used the aeroscreen. Since the weather is cooling down I've been debating on attaching the windshield and doors for the next few months, but don't want to find nicked paint when I pull the windshield and stanchions off in a few months. Any suggestions? Dan

+1 for Bruce. He's helped me tremendously the last couple months get my engine issues sorted and get me replacement parts quickly.

VICTORY!!! I spent an hour with Steve this morning (he says hi Tom) and we've got the motor ticking along nicely at idle. Steve was incredibly nice and helpful. I was pretty close with the tuning I had before, but now I understand more about what the motor is doing and how the different settings all relate to each other. We bumped up the TPS voltage to 1.17V, and thereby opened the butterfly valve in the throttle body slightly more, to get the lambda to .90 at idle. We tuned the throttle index map up slightly to account for the higher voltage coming from the TPS and let it warm up. It runs great! Prior to the new ECU, when using the old Caterham 992 ECU, I'd get a huge dip in RPM when letting off the throttle and the motor would be close to a stall. None of those issues with the 9A4 and Steve's map. Next steps are to drive it this weekend and see how it runs at moderate RPMs. I'll get a rolling road session scheduled in the next couple weeks. Steve also suggested looking at the Innovate LC1 system to get a bit better data with a wideband vs narrowband O2. He's going to send me a 2nd map with that enabled and the wiring PIN out I'll need to use. I've still got to hook up the baro sensor so will just do both at the same time. Having control of the ECU is SOOOO MUCH BETTER than being limited by the locked ECU from Caterham. I'd defintiely recommend any new owners dump the 992 and go to the 9A4 as part of the initial build - the results are really night and day. I see a light at the end of the tunnel finally! Dan

Just traded emails with Steve; going to try to get a tuning session on Friday with him. Thanks for the idea!

I'm overdue for an update so here goes... - I fixed the TPS direction. From SBD: Most of the Caterham/Cosworth throttle pots were wired backwards, so MBE created a piece of software to save all the cars from being rewired. Your throttle pot sounds as if it has been wired correctly. It is a simple case of reversing the throttle pot direction in the software, please ensure you are on the Advanced level, this is done by clicking on the bottom right corner of the screen, a box will then appear and select Advanced. For those that come after me, the navigation to make the fix is: In Advanced mode, you want to go to the System Menu (at the top) > "Maps and Settings" > In the Maps and Settings window go to "Throttle Position" > "Throttle Position Limits and Default Setup" > "TPS 1 Direction" and change it to read "Clockwise Throttle Pot" (or anticlockwise if your wiring is the backwards way). - I didn't hook up the baro sensor yet, but the wiring order is red wire to the +5V reference pin which is either pin 4 or pin 22 in the Caterham harness/PCM. I will have to splice the wire into the existing pin though which makes me a bit nervous. From SBD: "Your new MBE9A4 would be looking for the barometric pressure sensor, but if it is not fitted it will simply detect it as a fault and assume its default reading of 1000 millibars, which is the pressure at sea level. This will not effect how the ECU runs, the only time you would get a problem is if you attempt to map your engine at a different altitude and therefore the pressure would be different. The quick short term fix would then be to change the default to a pressure seen when mapping is carried out." So in lieu of wiring it, I just set the baro default to 1.020 bar which was the barometric pressure in Atlanta today according to the Weather Channel website. - I bumped the Throttle Index Map up from 1.05V at site 0 to 1.15V at site 0, adjusting all the sites at once (Control+A, PgUP) so really just shifting everything up .10V. That made the throttle site at 0 for my throttle body with a TPS value of 1.12V and 1,000 RPM idle. Once I did all those things I hit the button and it started! Success... but only partial. It's running a bit lumpy and any application of throttle makes it want to stall. I also noticed the ignition timing was pegged at 40 degrees at idle which seemed really high, however, understanding ECU mapping is brand new to me and from reading supposedly you want a high ignition advance at start / idle for fuel economy and to prevent kick back. That still seems very high though. I have no idea where to go from here so will have to do a bit of learning. I can see the fuel and ignition timing maps and I'm exploring Easimap to get an understanding of how each map relates to the others. I also put a post up on Blatchat to see if anyone with an R300 (~175hp) has a map they can share for the 9A4 ECU. If so, that might save me some time or at least give me a reference in comparison to mine. The Caterham 992 ECU is also enroute to the UK. It was $148 via UPS and only $37 via the Postal Service... so it's on the slow boat. I'm hoping to get it back in a couple weeks.

Congratulations and welcome to the club! Love the color, but I'm biased. Mark's blog has a bunch of info on a starting problem he had. May be worth a read: https://csr175.wordpress.com/2015/11/29/diving-in-to-the-spaghetti/

Well... I wish I had better news as the weather is wonderful out. Partly cloudy and 80 degrees with not too much humidity. Sadly, the car is still FUBAR. This past week the new 9A4b ECU from SBD Motorsports showed up with a barometric sensor. I got the ECU swapped this morning but something isn't right. The TPS and throttle site are inverted in the programming it looks like; the TPS reads 1.08V which is correct (I checked that on the stock 992 ECU this morning before the swap) but the throttle site is 13.5. When I move the throttle to full open, the voltage on the TPS goes up as it should from 1.08V to 4.5V but the throttle site goes DOWN to 0.0. It should be the other way around, when TPS voltage goes up, throttle site goes up. I've been poking around in the Easimap software for close to an hour and can't for the life of me figure out how to correct it. So... I'm stuck until I find an answer or Monday gets here and I can ask SBD. Second challenge is the barometric sensor wiring. I've got the pin out from the instruction sheet they gave me, but the pin 4 I'm supposed to use on the PCM/ECU connector is occupied by the GY (green yellow) wire. Not sure if I'm supposed to tie into that one, move it elsewhere, or what. They didn't send me any new pins either so if I'm supposed to cut and splice I have no way to do it. More questions for SBD. Also, a new lambda sensor and TPS sensor showed up from Caterham. Based on the stamp date it looks like it's been floating around the post office for 2 weeks. Neither of those items are necessary - mine are both working fine - so put them on the shelf. Now that I've got the old 992 ECU out of the car that's going back to Caterham for diagnostics and reprogramming. Dan

Nope, just a single butterfly.

Finally some good news! Davestruve came over on Saturday afternoon for a bit and helped try a few things and confirmed a couple other things were ok that I was worried about. 1) The smoke coming from the exhaust isn't coolant, which is what I was *REALLY* worried about. Instead, we arrived at the conclusion that it was just a lot of moisture burning off and the extra fuel in the exhaust burning off from my FUBAR'd attempt at changing the spark plugs several weeks ago. 2) We got the idle tuned using the idle screw on the throttle body to something healthy, it was around 1000rpm, and with the TPS slightly offset from its mounting holes and showing .42V / throttle site 0.0 we were able to get the car running up to temp and the radiator fans kicked on at 98C just like they should. The car seemed to be running great and where I used to see the idle at ~1600 RPM and pulse +/- ~500 RPM it was now idling right at 1000 RPM +/- 30 RPM. Significantly different engine behavior! 3) The voltage we saw in Easimap was around 12-13V, but didn't see the alternator kicking it up to 14V as we would expect. Dave had an issue with his 7's alternator not running due to a "wiring fault" and it exhibited similar characteristics. I'm going to pull the alternator later this week and run it up to Autozone or Pep Boys for them to test it. 4) I sent Caterham an email over the weekend explaining the issue with the TPS and that the alignment of the butterfly valve and TPS mounting holes makes it mechanically impossible to hit ~.42V. To do so, I have to remove the idle screw entirely from the throttle body and thus completely close the butterfly valve, but that's an intractable solution as the car needs air to even start/idle. With the throttle cable bracket literally on the throttle body stop the butterfly is completely 100% closed and the car won't start. Dave and I tried that - the car has to have some air to run. Caterham's reply was to adjust the idle screw until the TPS reads .42V. I just shook my head and tried to explain it again, that the idle screw is completely removed and the butterfly / throttle body can't mechanically close anymore than it is and it still won't read a low enough voltage. 5) Going from someone else's comment that you need to set the min and max TPS voltage in the ECU, I suggested to Caterham that I send them the ECU to reprogram with the right value of 1.20V instead of .42V cause I can't get it that low through aligning the TPS with the throttle body. They replied again that I had to adjust the idle screw... /face palm. 6) With that dialog in mind, I made a video tonight of exactly what it's doing. You can see it at: 7) I feel as though this would be a simple exercise to fix *IF* I could access the ECU. But the MBE 992 that comes with the car from Caterham is locked. So I ordered a new MBE 9A4b ECU from SBD Motorsports this morning. I sent them all the specs for what's on the engine, it's pretty much just a stock 175-180hp setup from Caterham, and they said they will load a base map that should work pretty well. I can tune remotely with them as necessary. I also was tempted to order a set of ITBs with it - in for a penny, in for a pound - but since I've got an S3 chassis would have to cut the bonnet and that's more trouble than I want to undertake right now. But all in good time... So, anyway, that's where I'm at. I'm covered up with work this week and don't expect I'll have any time to get the alternator off until maybe Friday night, but I'm gone this weekend so early next week will be the next opportunity to get some progress made. That may work out ok though, the 9A4 should be here Monday/Tuesday next week so can put that in before messing with the alternator and rule one thing out at a time. Dan

LOL - great analogy, although I was always a Hardy Boys type of guy myself.

I tried 2 different ones as I already had a spare on the shelf. Both read the same voltage so it's a fitment issue with this throttle body. It's like the butterfly valve, spring, and bracket are just a tiny bit off.

No dice. I tried starting it this morning with the TPS unbolted and twisted to show .42V in Easimap and it did idle MUCH better than before. In fact, it's never idled better and have always been chasing a really bad idle so I think that's sort of fixed, assuming I can figure out how to mount the sensor right. I tried it both ways but the same problem persists - the problem is in the geometry of the whole thing. However, once it got to about 70C and I started giving it throttle it was letting out a bunch of smoke from the exhaust - which could just be stuff burning off because it hasn't really run since I had that issue with a lot of fuel coming from the exhaust and it's relatively humid in the garage (comparably) - and then started pulsing. It was pulsing a little at idle too, but not very noticeable. So... still at it.

Thanks vstryker, I was afraid of that. The TPS sensor won't go below 1-1.2 V when it is lined up to bolt in. I tried it in both positions, same result. The ECU I'm on is the 992 and it's locked from Caterham so I can't adjust. So... I'm stuck. Guess I'm calling Caterham Monday. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I think I've stumbled onto something! I was drinking a bottle of wine this evening - trying to drown my sorrows no doubt - and searching through Blatchat when I stumbled onto a thread about TPS voltage. The dialog in the thread said you needed to be around .360-.420V - which is labeled as "Throttle Angle 1" in Easimap - to hit "Throttle Site 1" of 0.0. I distinctly remember earlier this week when I was resetting the TPS that I couldn't get it below "Throttle Site 1" of .5 and most of the time fluctuated between 1.0 and 1.5. I also noticed the TPS sensor itself has a lot of play between where it mounts to the throttle body and where the stop actually is on the sensor when you twist it. The voltage reading from the TPS during my tests ("Throttle Angle 1") generally stay around 1.2V which is almost 3x (!!!) as high as it should be. I took the screws that attach the TPS to the throttle body out, then rotated the TPS by hand until Easimap read .42V. The TPS is literally as far as I can turn it at .42V, in fact, I broke one TPS sensor already twisting too hard... thankfully I had a spare on the shelf (they're $26 when you break them by the way, part num 988F-9B989-BB from Motorcraft via Amazon). At .42V the "Throttle Site" now reads 0.0 as it should. So what does that mean to the engine? Well, I can't see the map values since Caterham has the ECU locked, but based on screenshots I found of the different load sites, I'm about 25% higher than where it should be. That might explain why my idle has always been a bit rough and why when I get into closed loop things go off the rails - it thinks the throttle body is open when it's really closed! The ECU is dumping fuel in because the TPS says air is on the way, but its not, and end result is a fuel laden mess in the cylinder where it constantly tries to change ignition timing until it stalls. It's behaving like a vacuum leak, but instead of leaking air out, it just isn't getting air to start with. At least that's my theory... I'll have to test it tomorrow as I try not to run engines after dark so the neighbors don't get buggered. Here's the question though - I can't leave the TPS unscrewed from the engine and I've got it twisted so far away from the mounting screws that there's no way to actually attach it (zip ties maybe? See attached pic). How do you adjust voltage on the TPS sensors? There has to be a way - either that or I've got some deformed throttle body that doesn't line up properly. Dan

Coffee break - good suggestion. I don't have a heat gun and Google says a hair dryer only gets to about 130F or 54C. That's below my 60-70C threshold. So... I ran up to the Ford dealer and picked up a replacement coolant temp sensor this afternoon. Those things are expensive! Online generic replacements were like $20, the "official Ford part" was $58. Note, I got the "official Ford part" cause I'm not introducing another variable in this mess if I can help it. If it doesn't resolve the issue at least I've got a spare. The question is, if I pull out the sensor is coolant going to come surging out... I also spent a bunch of time staring at the ITB setup from SBD. Comes with a replacement 9A4 ECU. One take away from this process, other than learning a whole bunch about engines in general, is that I don't much like not having access to see what's going on in the ECU. In my Jeep that's fine - it's a Jeep - but for the Caterham where my nearest support is 5,000 miles away I really want to be able to look at what the maps actually mean and what they're telling the motor to do. Dan

Crank sensor was tight and aligned with the alignment tool. I think the crank and cam sensors are ok - if they weren't I wouldn't expect the motor to idle or run at all since the ECU wouldn't know where any of the internals were at in the cycle. The "bad missing tooth count" in the ECU is not increasing when the motor is on, which per SBD is as it should be (http://www.sbdev.co.uk/FAQs/General_running.html). That leaves the ECU and temp sensor. The temp sensor seems to be providing good data back to the ECU and CAN BUS, I see that in the Easimap software, and it matches pretty close with what I'm seeing on the temp gauge in the cluster (they are fed through different signals and sensors). That just leaves the ECU and don't really have a way to test it. I may need to pull it and send it back to Caterham in the UK for them to look at. Dan

Ok, a productive afternoon in the garage... kinda. - On a good note, the leak down and compression tests both look ok. The results of the leak down test were all cylinders holding 90 psi without any loss. During compression tests cylinder 1 and 2 were in the 205-210 range while cylinder 3 and 4 were in the 200-205 range. - I did a test with the radiator fan unplugged and it started the normal pulsing on queue. - I ran a test with the instrument panel temp sensor unplugged; same pulsing. I didn't think it would matter, but one more thing to rule out. - I ran a test when it was pulsing where I disconnected each fuel injector and coil pack, each one at a time. When disconnecting any one of the fuel injectors, the pulsing stops but the motor obviously runs lumpy since it is down one cylinder. Disconnecting any one of the coil plugs has the same effect. - Alternator looks ok; as Dave mentioned I'm hitting 14V so it is generating. - I tried another TPS sensor; same pulsing result. - I tried another lambda sensor; same pulsing result. - I tried unplugging the O2 sensor; same pulsing but started 10C degrees later. - I tried resetting the ECU by unplugging it for 5+ minutes (per Caterham's directions). Theories I haven't tried yet: - There's something wrong with the ECU map. - Cam sensor problem. - Crank sensor problem. - Bad temp sensor Anything else I didn't think of?

I just tried running it with the O2 sensor unplugged and it ran longer, but ultimately still did its stall thingy. I unplugged the ECU for ~5 min to reset it, unplugged O2, then plugged the ECU back in. It ran up to about 69C then started to pulse, I could see the RPM going from 800-1500 and the ignition timing jumping from about -8 to 14 degrees. It made it past the normal 60C mark by about 10 degrees, but ultimately started pulsing. The battery did not dip like it did before - it stayed between 13.9 and 14.3 the entire time. Graph below.

Could the alternator be going bad?

Does the water pump run all the time or is it ECU controlled in some way? My understanding is that the pump functions as an impeller and would spin whenever the motor is spinning, i.e. powered by the serpentine belt. I just want to make sure that is accurate.

John & Joe - There is no AFR logging unfortunately. I'm using the Easimap 6 software from SBD Motorsports and stock Caterham ECU, the MBE 992. The lambda/O2 sensor is a Bosch part, 0258003229 which is labeled as a Rover part MHK10006 (which is the same as found on the Elise S1 for a bit of trivia). The US equivalent is 0258005727 (or part num 15727) which I got by calling Bosch directly and talking to their technical support folks. It is a narrow band consumer-grade O2 sensor rather than a more feature rich wide band sensor that would generally be used as part of a tuned engine. There isn't a calibration procedure that I can find anywhere - it should just be a plug and play sensor supplying a voltage to the ECU. I've got the ECU unplugged now to reset it in case that does anything. According to the ECU, the lambda/O2 sensor voltage stays pretty steady until 60C. The battery also starts to fluctuate wildly at the same time. It's like something is starting at 60C and I have no idea what it might be. Graph below (upper line is battery voltage ranging from 14.1 with dips to 13.0, lower is oxygen voltage going from about 1.1V to .22V) My next idea is to do a leak down test this afternoon and see if that yields any further hints, but the motor seems fine at idle right until 60C.

Hi all, just a quick update. I've been able to figure out how to replicate the problem and when it triggers. The car starts and idles fine until 60C when the ECU listens to the lambda sensor and goes into closed loop mode. Before 60C it's running open loop as the lambda timer hasn't counted down and the engine isn't up to temp. The moment 60C is reached and the lambda activates the motor starts surging and will stall a minute or so later. I've swapped the TPS sensor and lambda sensor for new units as well as verify all the grounding cables. Question for the group - what happens at 60C other than the lambda sensor being activated?

No swirl pot. Is there a place to attach a pressure gauge on the Duratec? I've got the flexible fuel hose connected to the fuel rail, but don't see a Schroeder valve anywhere to connect to... Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

DHL came through and the SBD cable arrived! Better late than never. I attached it to the car and did a quick capture. The car idled fine until I started working the throttle a bit. It started it's normal surging once I took my hand off the throttle which you can clearly see in the graph from the data towards the end. It looks like the battery voltage, the ignition advance, and TPS vs Speed ign + Trim all go haywire. I'm not sure exactly how to interpret it, so I've uploaded the data to my Dropbox account. Links below for the lsn and lsn.dat files if you're so inclined. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14439357/2016-09-12%20Duratec%20logging.lsn https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14439357/2016-09-12%20Duratec%20logging.lsn.dat Dan