Scott_

Here's a discussion from the UK forum... https://www.caterhamlotus7.club/forums/topic/262969-k-series-alternator-1400-supersport-1992-ecu2/ Try looking for a 55A Lucas A127 and replacements for the A127 that have the same mounting and pulley as yours. You also could use it as an opportunity to put a modern smaller/lighter denso style one on it but you'd have to work out mounting. Scott

Very nice. I have been considering one of those. Scott

You could reach out to https://www.stmotorsport.net/product-page/obd-diagnostic-connector-female-mbe-ecu-comms-motorsport-rally-race and ask about the MBE plug you need and if they could do a harness or partial harness and you could just wire it to Haltech (or other) standalone ECU plugs. You need the MBE ecu plug and a pinout list for the MBE. Haltech sell plug and pin kits for all of their current gen ECUs and all of the pinouts for the ECUs are available on their site. Depending on features you want, a Haltech 750 or 1500 might be enough. You would likely want to add a WB o2 and that will add some complexity to the install but make tuning at home and auto tuning with the Haltech a reality for you. Do a youtube search on Haltech autotune and you'll see what I mean. https://youtu.be/b_ly9YZodxw?si=3HahDUoV28-c9klw There are lots of resources for DIY tuning and wiring if you want to learn a new skill. There are active Haltech FB groups and lots of folks on those groups who run speed and wiring shops in North America that could help if you don't want to do it yourself. OR, like you say, just buy an unlocked MBE and it will save you much of the wiring hassle and you just need to find someone to tune it. You could likely find someone to provide you a good base map to start from. You might ask yourself as well what you'd gain and is it worth it. if you don't have drivability issues now it might not be worth the spend from a performance perspective. Scott

I placed an order with Burton Power last week for parts including a dry sump, differential, and some other odds and ends. The total bill with processing, duties and clearance fees with DHL was about 13.5% of the purchase price. Scott

Went to a local Cars and Coffee with some fellow Tar Heel Sports Car Club members this morning. Good publicity for the club. Planning to get back into autocross so I joined again after a 25 year break.

@Vovchandr is right. An adjustable FPR. Scott

Thanks everyone for your comments/feedback. I also reached out to Caterham and asked the question and no response so far. Does anyone have the dimensions of that tank? If I had that I can do some measuring. From the photos I have found, the chassis tubes in front of the engine timing cover is similar in design except that newer frames have a hole where the chassis tubes meet for the tank to mount to. I haven't checked mine to see if it has that. I'm using the photos below without permission, the one with the tank pictured comes from https://www.caterham7diaries.com/post/dry-sump-tank-install The one of the imperial chassis... from racecars direct. Issues with the tank in front of the engine aside, I'd prefer the ease of that over modifying the passenger footwell, which I believe I'd have to do on my car to get a tank there. I did reach out to some local folks today and I could have a triangular tank fabricated for far less than the 900uk, plus shipping and tariffs (ouch). I think a triangular design using .125" aluminum sheet without the curves would be easy to draw up in Fusion 360 and the aluminum bungs/fittings are available at a variety of places on the internet. The only concern would be proper oil/air separation. The Caterham tank appears to deal with that with internal plates, probably drilled or slotted, for the oil to flow down through. Thanks, Scott

Looks awesome! What does your sign say?

Does anyone know if the Caterham triangular dry sump tank will fit in front of a Duratec in a S3 imperial chassis? I have started a rather long term project of building a R500 spec 2.0l Duratec with a drysump to replace the engine in my 1999 K VVC series Caterham and am trying to make a decision about the Caterham tank or modifying the passenger footwell to make space for an off-the-shelf Patterson style tank. Thanks, Scott

Very nice blog and I enjoyed reading it so far. Scott

I had never installed the tonneau cover that came with this car so i put it on and took it out for a spin. I shouldn't have waited so long to try it. Scott

Thanks for the feedback on it. I’ll report back when I get to that stage of the installation. Scott

I thought it should be straightforward as well but what sent me down this rabbit hole is that the K series VVC features two solenoids, VVC- and VVC+, that facilitate oil flow to a valve. This valve activates eccentrics that, instead of advancing the timing, alters the speed of the cam rotation throughout the cycle. So unlike simply advancing or retarding the entire camshaft, it modifies the cam period and the duration of the inlet valve opening by employing this eccentric drive arrangement. When fully off, the K VVC has the shortest duration. As you want duration to increase, the rotation is slowed down when the opening begins until it closes, allowing for more overlap at the opening and delayed valve closing. I was uncertain whether the stock ECU simply switched on and off the solenoids at a specific RPM or if it employed a push/pull to provide intermediate speed settings across RPM or loads. I think it’s the former, at least that’s how I’m going to approach it with a 3000 rpm switchover. I’m open to any ideas. Scott

That's pretty cool. There was an HP Academy video posted sometime back on youtube where the presenter took ecu tuning advice from AI with some interesting results, but my take away was so long as the input information and parameters were solid the results could be very useable like in your use case. As I am learning the Haltech software I've asked for input from chatgtp on settings and menu choices and it's been helpful as a learning tool. It walked me through things like how to set up generic outputs with no issues. Scott