Croc

Great write up and pics Skip! I guess the road is sealed all the way to the very top except the top is still dirt as seen in the photos? One of these days I will get around to doing that drive - but I want to do it in a seven. Need to work through that problem....

You are coming from a Zetec car perspective. They never had a standard UK Caterham wiring harness like the Rover K's or the Duratec/Sigma. My SVT Zetec car was far more messy with the wiring than my current Duratec which had a modified wiring harness shipped in from the UK. My previous SVT Zetec installation was literally out of a Ford focus and then chopped up. That had wires to nowhere...

I have heard about Ken's ability with Miata's. Here is a blurb about him here: http://www.flyinmiata.com/oracle/main.htm Then again, you could always just ship Skip out east to work on your car - it would work properly and there would be plenty of beers and laughs - which is sort of what you need right now. Keep faith Roman - we want you back out on the roads.

thats good news - crank sensors are cheaper than ECUs

Ah this helps clarify. So the starter is cranking over by the sounds of it as you can see oil pressure. If you remove a spark plug can you see if it is sparking when you try to crank it over? My guess is no based on your symptoms unless the ECU goofed the timing. So then you back track down the coils/leads back to the ECU to narrow the problem down. Also if you do this you can check if the fuel is getting into the piston on cranking. This should eliminate fuel as a cause of the problem.

Sorry to hear of your bad luck. Wiring diagram on a Zetec? :willy_nilly: I made no headway on this when I was fettling my then new yellow SV zetec after purchase. From discussions with Ben at Caterham USA (at the time) there was not one. So in the attempt to be vaguely helpful for someone (if not you) here are the wiring diagrams I am aware of around the place for Caterhams: Wiring diagram for Rover K series 2001 onwards http://www.hoymotorsport.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/files/Caterham%20main%20loom%20Diagram.pdf Wiring diagram for a Sigma engine - start at p156 http://www.caterham.co.uk/assets/html/technical/Caterham-Assembly-Guide-July-2010.pdf Wiring diagram for a CSR260/200 http://www.sjmmarsh.f2s.com/7documents.htm Wiring diagram for a R500. It is the Caterham Italian website but the European sites seem to get more technical information released than the UK and a ton more than we get in the US. Anyway Italian and wiring diagrams seem to go together to my way of thinking. http://www.caterhamcars.it/tecnologia/manu.html Do you get a click when key is turned or just silence? Is the fuel pump running or engine cranking? Any alternator lights on dials? If silence and no lights on dials then I would start with the usual suspects: - check inertia switch and reset - I assume battery has charge and is connected? - you have not done my trick and forgotten to switch on the FIA cutout switch :blush: - no obvious disconnections just from scanning wires to battery, fuel, starter, alternator, chassis earth, ECU? If you have done this already then sorry for stating the obvious - just trying to help you think through things.

Hi Al! Its ok - you can still come down to NJMP with Bessie and join us for the fun and social side of things even if you do not drive her wild on track. Anyway if you like polishing then my car is quite ready to volunteer for your treatment! :rofl: BTW - I suspect I will regret asking this....but.....how is Bessie coming along?

I replaced the fluid in my diff by sucking it out (well not personally.... but you know what I mean!)

Burton Power or Dave Bean are the first places to try that come to mind.

Congratulations on getting through registration! Following the line of "my state is worse than yours" I would still go for NM or CA over my NJ any day. Ever installed a fully compliant no faults showing OBDII wiring harness and OEM gas/PCV system on a seven?

I was sent this link and I have to say the garage is "droolworthy" :drool: I would love a garage like this - so much better than my current home garaging situation. http://automotorplex.com/caterham-garage/ So, does anyone on here own it?

Careful Martin - Tom is married so it needs to be G-rated! :jester:

Ok....I have rendered all the various video pieces with data/rear view cams etc. I also have Michael's video. Total video is 145gb of data from all cars! It is currently being backed up offsite to an FTP site so I can edit while travelling starting Sunday. To keep you all occupied in the meantime, I was tempted to post a video of Tom circulating Thunderbolt with data. However, watching it I realized you would be bored to death by the 5 min mark when he gets overtaken by a Porsche 924. So to keep you all "excited," here is one of me circulating in cruise mode on my last session of Lightning on June 25. You can watch in HD and there is decent engine sound and lots of diff lift off rattles as I deal with slower cars. This session is 5-6 seconds off my best pace as I am circulating 1.23 or slower. This should allow Kitcat to happily savage my driving abilities :jester:

Err....mine does not better my old zetec. The Duratec is down to low 20s on road and low teens on track. The Zetec was mid to high 30mpg on road. The duratec has a nice sooty exhaust too! Must be my heavy right foot? :devil:

There is a "third way" - JohnCh has the Birkin SV wide body which has all the advantages of both plus the ability to "float" through the wet weather of the Pacific Northwest. :jester:

I have not had quite the same experience as Mike with the crossflow but my first seven was the BMC 1200cc donk which I used to vintage race in Oz. Made lots of lovely noise and sometimes even provided some forward movement. Actually that is unfair - it was slow to get mobile but as long as you kept the momentum up, kept off the brakes then the little car could beat up the more powerful heavier cars. My later SVT Zetec was a brilliant engine - cheap, reliable, economical. Plenty of power for a seven type vehicle. The only issue I felt was wrong with it was it felt constrained as you went close to the redline. The power band was narrower - 3800rpm to 6000rpm. It did not seem to like it as much. My installation was the standard SVT zetec with the factory intake so I am guessing it was a breathing issue that seems to correct itself on throttle bodies. At least it does on some other zetecs that I have had the privilege of checking out at close quarters (MichaelD's). This is clearly fixed in the duratec which comes as a 2.0 and 2.3. The standard 2.0 can run to 8500 on a standard crank with some throttle bodies and other light modifications. Even the 2.3 long stroke is good for 7500 on the standard crank. A range of power outputs from 175hp to 300hp and it is 40 pounds lighter than a zetec. My 2.3 truck engine (Ford Ranger) loves to rev and would be happy to keep going past its limit of 7800. The torque is always present and the power band is nicely wide - starts at 4000rpm and keeps going to 7500rom. While the noise is not as aurally satisfying as a xflow, it is an improvement over a zetec which always sounded a little flat to my ears. My style of driving has evolved with the changes in engine. With the duratec on road I tend to hang on to a gear and rely on the torque to push me out of a corner whereas before on my earlier cars I would have to punt it down some gears to lift the revs to punch more out of a corner. Certainly I can do both now with the Duratec - for touring I can be lazy and on a track the option still exists to lift the revs and be more punchy using the power of the engine. More flexibility for you as a driver. The newer engines may not have the character of a xflow but they are worthy successors and well suited to sevens. Now of course you could always try to find a Vauxhall boat anchor or a Rover cheese block K series (plastic head dowels anyone?). There is another debate to have!

It did not take you long to get bored of family and seek some suitable distraction and alcohol on here! Just like my visits to family! :jester:

I was told by Jon Nelson it was from a 1 series Bimmer. Not otherwise verified this myself.

Good to see you on here Al! Hope all is well? Did you ever get through to Ben? Sadly I will not be able to make this event as I will be on the west coast that week but I hope the weather is fine and dry for you.

Mike - On Thunderbolt, look at your lines in the corners up to and including the octopus/Jersey Devil. I claw back a huge amount of time in 3 corners compared with your lines.

Agree that is happening but it happens as I change gear not because I am checking my speed. Look at my right hand go for 5th gear at that point plus look at my rev counter on the dash. Having sound would have made it easier to pick that up that detail.

I hear you Steve - I am always careful braking at the end of the straights - I have too much past race history butt puckering up the seat fabric when I discover there is nothing under the brake pedal. This video did confirm crossflows remain nicely competitive, especially on a momentum track like Lightning. Swap over the speed brake (windscreen) for a set of Brooklands and I think you will be even more happily surprised. Mike - for the bowl you should be foot to the floor halfway through, way way before the apex. At least that is what I am trying to do. The biggest single giveaway on all tracks is turn 1. This is followed by the 2-3-4-5 sequence on Lightning which you need to string together to make it all work as a run onto the back straight. MichaelD is sending me some video - I will see if I can merge it into this comparison. Video update - I have 19 x 22 min sessions startiing to render in HD. Takes approx 3-4 hours per session. I have previewed each raw video (29 sessions) and there is so much good stuff in there - Mike's two wheels off and dust cloud, Stewart's dust cloud, my oops moment, Steve's bonnet reflections, the Elise having death wobbles and then a later spin in front of me, Ron's spin from 2 angles, MichaelD's wing, etc. Only then can I start merging it all toegther into 1 big edited video. I had to buy a terrabyte drive to cope with the files! I am beginning to feel like Top Gear - ambitious but rubbish.

No I avoided warm up laps and cool down laps and I tried to stay with middle of sessions where you would be warmed up and going for it. I was trying to get faster, clear of traffic laps to be a better point of comparison on where each of us was best on each circuit. I think what it shows quite effectively is that you take the best corners out of each of us and there is a good to 1-2 seconds lap time saving for both of us. I need more time myself to think through what I am seeing. It is a very interesting comparison.

Hmmmm.....yes and no. Your lines are like mine - good in places and terrible in others - neither of us have a really good lap where all the corners come together. Also I call my driving 7/10th or 8/10ths as I am 3-4 seconds off what a good time in my car would be - I have a healthy respect for the track as I need to drive my car home at the end of it. Thinking about your comments above plus the idea you planted in our offline PMs re your videoa, I quickly put together a comparison of driving styles at each of Lightning and Thunderbolt Circuits. Four cars - Mike, Tom, Steve and myself. The results are very interesting. Mike and I are paired up top. My Thunderbolt lap has a 200 weight penalty called Jvbtte which evens things up with Mike better. Steve and Tom are paired down bottom. The crossflow was competitive with a Rover K series and they both have clams which give a major aerodynamic disadvantage. Tom also suffers extra wind resistance from 10 inch slick tires. Ideally I would have substituted MichaelD (if I had his video) as the better driver in place of Tom in order to match Steve's excellent driving skills (Tom will pay dearly for that saddle in Texas Roadhouse! ) I tried to pick laps that are representative - not the fastest but close in time and no traffic that holds things up so we can compare lines corner to corner. The rear view cam in my car on lightning is not quite synced with the front cam - fixing that for the event video. Each car has been started at the start finish line and the video only runs 1-2 laps time. I would review Mike/me first and then replay to see Tom/Steve as each pair is fairly consistent. For reference my GPS lap time on Lightning in the video is a 1.20.1 and on Thunderbolt is a 1.37.4 so you can estimate from that what the other cars are running. These videos are not in HD but will work full screen to see better. Sorry no sound as I could not combine 4 soundtracks properly. Lightning Thunderbolt The videos confirm what I already know - I need more time on Lightning as this was my second time on it plus I am awful at Turn 1 on both circuits. There are a number of corners where I give up speed just as Kitcat notes by overly slowing plus do not use the full width of the track. This should keep people occupied until I can finish off the proper video. Let the debate begin! :lurk: