scannon

A writer in one of the automotive magazines recommended the SEMA show and said that if you can't find someone to get you in you aren't trying hard enough. Skip

Try it again, I just watched it. Great video, great flying. Skip

Welcome aboard Glenn, WHERE do you find a girlfriend like that? Has she got any like minded sisters? Let's see now, a TC Europa and a Caterham. Life is GOOD! Skip

Ian I had a conversation with Ben from RMSC/Caterham USA today about your problems. He suggested that you get rid of the electric fuel pump and go with the mechanical type for the cross flow engine for two reasons. 1. He has replaced many electric fuel pumps on cross flow cars because people turn the key on and don't start the engine. The heat generated without flow once pressure is built up kills the pump motors. A dash switch for the pump would help with this problem. 2. Weber carbs apparently like only around 2 - 2.5 psi fuel pressure while the Caterham pumps provide significantly more. It forces fuel past the needle valves causing rough running and idle. If you stay with the electric pump you need to get a pressure regulator that will keep the pressure in the range. He also said to change the power to the electric pump from the coil to the ignition switch. Skip

Ian, I was wrong about the ballast resistor. I emailed Aldon asking them about ballast resisters and here is their reply: There shouldn't be a ballast resistor/wire in the system and we don't advice it. We suggest you check the resistance of the coil,it should be 3 ohms. Also make sure the coil is situated in a cool spot and not overheated by the engine or exhaust. Does the distributor have any part number or markings on it to confirm if it is suitable. If you have any queries with this please contact Rob in our Sales Department on 01384 572553. I guess the next step is to measure the coil resistance. Sorry about the bad info, I was relying on experience from the 60s and 70s when ballast resistors, points and condensers were on almost all cars. Skip

" Do you have or can you get a wiring diagram for the bike engined Caterham? " yes, they sent me the entire wiring system shown on an 8x11 sheet, clearly a copy-of-a-copy-of-a-copy-etc. Can't make out any of it. Is that because it is illegible or because you are not familiar with wiring diagrams? If it is reasonably legible send me a copy and I'll see if I can figure it out. " For the fuel pump, I would find another source for it as when running, point, condenser and coil systems typically show 20 - 40 volts and this would certainly not be conducive to long pump life. " that would certainly explain my 'bad luck' with two short-life fuel pumps. pardon my ever-deepening ignorance, but how does the low tension coil spade connection that the fuel pump is connected to see up to 40 volts without back-frying other components in the system? The action of the points charging and discharging the condenser cause the voltage in that circuit to be higher than line voltage. Try charging a condenser then touching the lead and case and see what happens. Compare that to touching a hot 12v lead. Typically, the ignition circuit is not shared with anything else. "Whether or not the voltage is jumped up by the condenser I would still suggest you find a new source for the pump." no condensor (of the sort I'm familiar with) is evident in the system, unless it's potted into the mystery box that makes up the 'points' in the dizzy... There may be a condenser in that mystery box. Measuring the voltage with the engine running will tell us that. thx as always... You're welcome. I hope we can get this figured out. Skip

Ian, Many bike engines run two coils and no distributor using a wasted spark setup where each coil fires two spark plugs together, one cylinder being on compression stroke and the other one on exhaust stroke, thus the wasted spark. It looks like the two pairs of wires on your setup is for just such a system. However, I don't think this is what is causing your coil problem. I think you need to measure the voltage at the coil both running and not running but with the key on. Also measure it on each pair of wires when disconnected from each other. While you are measuring, check voltages on both pairs with the key turned to Start. You also need to trace out the wiring to find out what is connected at the other end of those two wires. Do you have or can you get a wiring diagram for the bike engined Caterham? If you determine that a ballast resistor is needed you may be able to use the extra pair for the start mode and the existing pair for run mode with a ballast resistor in line. It might be a good idea to spring for a ballast resistor and install it in the hot wire going to the coil and run the car to see if the coil still heats up and also check the performance of the engine to make sure it is not affected by the lower voltage. For the fuel pump, I would find another source for it as when running, point, condenser and coil systems typically show 20 - 40 volts and this would certainly not be conducive to long pump life. This may not be the case with your pointless distributor but we need to know what that voltage is when running. Whether or not the voltage is jumped up by the condenser I would still suggest you find a new source for the pump. Skip

Is there more than a single wire connected to either of the low voltage connections on the coil? Skip

I would think that if there is an internal ballast resistor then there would have to be three low voltage connections on the coil instead of two so that the coil can be fed 6v or 12v internally to take advantage of the higher voltage for starting. Otherwise, why bother with a ballast resistor, just wind the coil to live with constant 12v and do without the ballast resistor. How about a picture of the coil and the wires connected to it and a closeup of it's label if it has one? Skip

Your coil is essentially the same as the 6v VW coil. The difference is the ignition switch feeds your coil 12 volts in Start mode and 6 volts during the Run mode courtesy of the ballast resistor. It's really a 6v coil. Although the early VWs had 6 volt batteries I would think by '65 they would have been 12 volt systems. Older cars had 6 volt batteries so didn't have the option of a 12 volt start mode. Measure the voltage at the coil with the ignition on and engine not running and see what you get. Then measure it while you go to start but before the engine actually starts. IIRC, once the engine is running you will see something around 20 volts at the coil due to the action of the points and condenser, assuming your distributor has an equivalent to points and condenser. Skip

That's what I remember them looking like. There may be other configurations available. You may need an ignition switch that is configured for the ballast resistor. You need to have two wires powering the coil, one for the ON circuit that goes to the ballast resistor and a second one from the Start position that goes directly to the coil. I dumped the factory Caterham ignition switch and steering lock under the dash and installed a switch from a 70s Chevy truck up on the dash surface. The first time I tried to start the car with the new switch it would sometimes fire up after I had spun the engine up on the starter and then let go of the key. When the key went to the ON position the engine would fire before it stopped spinning. I had to jumper around the provision for the direct to the coil 12v to make it work correctly as the switch was not feeding the coil directly when in the Start mode. Skip

I'm not familiar with the Alden distributor but in the pre-ECU days of distributors and coils, the coils for 12v cars actually ran on 6 volts using a ballast resistor. During the time the key was turned to Start, the ballast resistor was bypassed and the coil received 12 volts to facilitate good spark during starting. If you system is of this type, is there a chance that it was wired up without the ballast resistor and the coil is getting 12 volts full time? That would certainly overheat the coil leading to failure. Skip

Didn't work for me either until I copied and pasted the link in my browser. Looks like a fun toy. Skip

Something seems a little strange about the second dyno plot. My understanding is that the HP & torque curves only cross once and that is at 5,250 rpm. I have never seen a plot where the HP and torque curves cross twice. Neither of these occur at 5,250 rpm. The other thing is the plot shows negative torque from 2 - 3,000 RPM. What does that mean? Is there something different in the way motorcycle engines are dyno'd or perhaps in the calculations? Can someone enlighten me? As far as adding a turbo, it would have to be a very small one to produce boost down low with that small an engine. Being small, it would seem that it might actually cause a loss of HP at the top end due to restriction in the flow path of the intake. I suspect the turbo would be very inefficient at the very high rpm and produce excess heat. Skip

Mazda 6 speed gearboxes have pretty poor ratios for a Miata as well. Many Miata owners "downgrade" to a 5 speed. I have a 2000 Miata 5 speed in my Caterham and it took some serious reworking of the tailshaft housing to make it fit in the very narrow Caterham tunnel. I also had to remove a little metal on the bosses on the sides of the main transmission housing. The middle of this page shows what I did to the transmission to make it fit. That said, I don't know if the Duratec powered MX-5 uses the same transmission as the '00 Miata transmission or if the '00 transmission can be bolted to the Duratec engine. Skip

After posting, I decided this was too much evidence and might cause someone problems with their job. Mazda, please remove this thread. Sorry about that. Skip

A friend who works at a nearby foreign car salvage operation was telling me about a VW Golf with a complete on-board bio diesel system that stopped by yesterday. The car has a small gas powered generator used to power the pump that pulls the oil from the restaurant's tank and into his system. I suspect it also powers the conversion system as well. Everything needed to convert to bio diesel happens on the car, apparently while the car is being driven or parked. It is a complete DIY system. It does take up the trunk and rear seat space making it a two passenger Golf. He is going to call me if it comes in again so I can run over and get some pictures and talk to the owner. BTW, the owner said not to get oil from a fish and chips place, the exhaust odor is unbearably bad. Skip

:iagree: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: He's got my vote. Too much power is just about right. New slogan: A BBQ on every deck and a Se7en in every garage. Skip

Does Hertz know what you are doing with their Vette? Have a great time and thanks for your efforts looking for lost children. A worthy cause. Skip

Is this a recent change? I have Allstate for my home and other cars but they only offered to obtain Hagerty insurance for my Caterham. Skip

Bentley owners seem to be more performance oriented than the Rolls crowd. I did see a RR entered in a demo derby. The grille and flying lady hood ornament had been removed prior to the event. It was driven by the owner and she was the primary target of all the Detroit iron in the contest. She did not win the contest. Skip

John Tipler in his book Lotus and Caterham Seven, Racers for the Road states that "at the time of writing there are no fewer than twenty nine companies around the world making vehicles which bear a resemblance to the Seven". The book was copyrighted in 1995. I seem to recall reading somewhere that there have been a total of 81 different companies producing Seven type cars over the years but I cannot find the reference. Skip

Any info on this car? I'd like to see how they went about getting that flat 6 into a 7 chassis. Skip

Yeah, but it will help with traction, one thing you would be happy to have.

I was curious about the HP of the Hyabusa R engine from the other car. Skip