KryptonR500

Hi guys, Summary of valve spring history as I understand it. 1) Kent parallel spring 38E051A, failures reported. 2) Cosworth conical spring 38E051B (2010/2011 from discussion above), but I believe supply changed to Kent at some point. 3) The 420R race regulations state that both the above can be replaced by 30E365A, which is the spec currently recommended by Caterham. Not sure if this is parallel or conical. John, perhaps the single spring fitted on your build were the newer 30E365A, not the 38E051A If anyone has any info on these, please let me know. Doesn’t sound like the “double” springs were ever Caterham standard supply.

Good reading above. Thanks KitCat for your message. My project stalled (normal reasons), so need to get back on it. I can confirm that my R500D engine has the double spring set-up... sounds unusual based on the comments above. I was thinking of trying to find the original builder as it was done here in the states. For info, I have never tracked the car (4 years of ownership), but the previous owner did some. I don’t believe I’ve taken it over 8,000rpm, as I was aware of issue. The failure happened low rpm pulling away; the only thing that I did differently on that day was giving it some unloaded revs when static (perhaps 6,000 - 7,000rpm). The Belmont Turner (Tom) has advised he’ll need access to the ECU in order to set up the vernier cam chain pulleys and tune; this is an MBE 39L067A. Does anyone know about this?

Thanks guys, my plan is to take the engine to them; I’m sure they will have a clearer picture of the spec when they have it apart. In fairness it was a quick telephone call after 5pm on a Friday Thanks for the info on the cams & springs John; not sure what work I’ll have done, I’ll be lead by the engine builder. Croc, thanks for following up, always good to get other opinions.

Hi guys, thanks for the recommendations; I have been able to find a relatively local company called Focus Power in Belmont just west of Charlotte, who do a lot of Duratec tuning and some engine building. Seemed familiar with Caterham’s on the phone, and suggested fitting a 2.3 head on my 2.0 for improved performance and to enable ~7,500 rpm. I believe the R500 has the 2.3 head already (found in the original receipts), and is allegedly good for 8,500 rpm, which made me wonder if there is a generic R500D engine spec anywhere that I could share with the engine builder to ensure we are on the same page; i.e. what cams, valves, springs, pistons, etc etc. Thanks again.

Thank you all, appreciate the feedback and advice... engine is now out!! I don’t have a bore scope, so don’t know what mess lies within. Time to check clutch and gearbox and motor mounts too; great idea! If I don’t want to do the work myself, does anyone know who works on these engines; the few names recommended didn’t know much about the Duratec, and I think the specification is quite specific?

Hello, I have a 2011 R500 (owner for ~4 years) with zero compression in cylinder 4, from a broken valve spring. I understand this is not uncommon from the various threads, and was planning to remove the head (in car) and start the process of inspection and repair (obviously including all new springs). However, I’m concerned that the instructions I’ve seen reference the tooling bar (and crank pin) to align/time the cam shafts, but my cams have vernier cam chain sprockets, and hence it appears the tooling bar would not fit, due to slightly different angles. Is the vernier installation intended to adjust the timing relative to the crank, or between the two cam shafts (or both) - beginner question, sorry! Now I’m not sure if I should attempt the head removal (and loss of settings), or if I’m better to take the engine out (looks tight/tricky?) and send to an expert; perhaps the guys in CO. Feedback gratefully received; perhaps the verniers are standard for the R500 and I’m over thinking it? I’m based in Charlotte NC, so any local experts, or other recommendation/guidance would be ace. Thank you!