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BDR caterhams


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I know of one BDR seven over towards Michigan. I assume it came in as a kit and was built that way but I am not really sure. There is also a BDA Caterham that I last heard was in upstate NY but again not sure of its history.

 

Also there is Sabbot's 80's era Caterham that started off as a crossflow but then one night he stole the BDA out of his Wife's Lotus Elan and gave her the crossflow. Then after deciding it did not have enough hp he upgraded it to a more "fruity" spec (I think it was BDD?). Amazingly they are still married! :D

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The cosworth BD series comes in many flavors. The BDA is the generic version.

 

The BDD is the atlantic version, BDP was used in the USAC midgets. The BDR is a head conversions. Unless the reciprocal assembly is upgraded, the full potential will not be attained. A BDD relines at over 9K, where as a BDR is around 7K. The major BDD HP gains are above 7K.

 

For local parts, bdaengines. com. Gordon says that he has licensing rights from cosworth.

 

Wayne

 

Wayne

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Gleaned (I think that means "stolen" :)) from another site:

 

 

BDA 1600cc 120bhp std engine for Escort 1969

 

BDB 1700cc 200bhp rally engine sold as a kit 1970

 

BDC 1700cc 230bhp Gp 2 escort fuel injected 1970

 

BDD 1600cc 200bhp Formula Atlantic motor 1971

 

BDF 1927cc 270bhp Formula 2 engine, liners brazed in cast block 1972

 

BDG 1975cc 275bhp formula 2 and rally later with alloy block 1973

 

BDH 1300cc 190bhp GP2 1973

 

BDJ 1098cc 150bhp Formula C for SCCA 1974

 

BDK reseved for forgotten project

 

BDL experimental turbo

 

BDM 1599cc 225bhp Formula Atlantic, big valve injected BDD 1975

 

BDN 1600cc Canadian Atlantic

 

BDO not allocated

 

BDP 1975cc 245bhp Sprint car fuel injected methanol 1984

 

BDQ not allocated

 

BDR 1601cc Caterham Seven Road ? 1983

 

BDT 1778cc 200bhp RS1700T turbo 1981

 

BDT 1803cc 250bhp RS200

 

BDT-E 2137cc 500bhp evolution BDT by Brian Hart

 

BDX basicly BDG spec with larger valves and 10mm spark plugs

 

And then there are the Zakspeed engine versions, with and without Turbo

 

Courtesy of Spelberg Lotus Book

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Stewart's (sabbot) long suffering wife:

He keeps buying engines, I'm assuming one of them is going back in my élan this summer or I will just steal the 7....

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The BDD is the atlantic version, BDP was used in the USAC midgets. The BDR is a head conversions. Unless the reciprocal assembly is upgraded, the full potential will not be attained. A BDD relines at over 9K, where as a BDR is around 7K. The major BDD HP gains are above 7K.

 

Super7guy is spot on, the Belt Drive (BD) "R" conversion offered by Caterham was predominantly a head and piston conversion. Have a look at e the "BDR" kit on John Wilcox's site for a picture of all of the parts http://www.wilcoxengines.co.uk/bda_parts.htm

 

My (sorry, my wife's) original BD was a standard 1600cc and in this spec and probably made around 140HP @ 6200rpm. Because it was a standard bottom end I set the rev limiter to 6400 and in this form it wasn't really very different to the crossflow that preceded it (1700 supersprint running a kent 234 cam).

 

Last year I sent the BD off to Quicksilver to change the bottom end to all steel components, they also changed valves and retainers etc. but the cams remained unchanged. The brief was that I wanted somewhere around about 190-200bhp, to be tractactable to drive on the road on pump gas and to not need a rebuild every year with regular driving and a few track days.

 

The layout and dyno sheet for the refreshed engine is shown. I've driven it less than 100 miles so far but it can easily driven around town at 30mph, it pulls strongly from 4000rpm and becomes reassuringly quick at >6000+.

 

Over the winter I also changed the transmission to an E8 unit from BGH http://www.bghgeartech.co.uk/html/5_speed.html.

BGH solve the long first gear issue of the type 9 box and the rest of the ratios are nicely matched to the power / torque band of the BD. Last, and probably least for most uses, the open backend was swapped out with a LSD from Titan. As mentioned I've only got about 100 miles on the combination but so far it seems fun in forward or side ways directions.

Assuming I don't break something before the 4th of July I'll see a bunch of you at NJMP.

BD Dyno Run2.jpg

BDA_install_jp.jpg

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