Fuel cell in a 2003 Caterham SV

[John B]

I just got my 2003 Caterham SV last fall and would like to run it in a hillclimb for fun, but will mostly drive it on the street. To compete in a SCCA sanctioned hillclimb, it needs to pass technical inspection, which will require a fuel cell. I know a bunch of 7's race in SCCA, is there an easy fuel cell solution?

[yellowss7]

I have one in my SV. The first owner installed it and I think it's a 14 gallon one. I don't know the make off hand though. It takes up the whole boot though. So it sits up higher than the standard Caterham tank. Tom

[Croc]

John - you may want to check the roll bar requirements. SCCA usually want a seven encased in armor and padded inside with cotton wool before you can enter it in any event....ok slight exaggeration...but the usual is full cage for hillclimbs and track is it not? Regular bar ok for autocross.

[James A]

ATL makes a fuel cell for Caterhams here: http://atlinc.com/racing.html it is 14 gallons. Oh, page 23 of the catalog.

[James A]

Also, Caterham makes fuel cells for their cars, here is the SV model: http://www.caterhamparts.co.uk/category.php?id_category=630

[Kitcat]

James: Except, as with most Caterham parts these days, these are "Out of stock" (In addition to being very expensive).

[FE07]

My Superlight R came with the ATL cell. When it started to leak I looked into replacing it. Bottom line, call Fuel Safe. I shipped my old cell to them and they made me a custom copy to replace it that was at least $1,000 less than the ATL cell.

 

Tried to contact ATL directly and when they heard it was for a Caterham they directed me back to the factory to try to get one. Just another middleman making a profit.

 

To make it worse, ATL in the US won't make it, it comes from England with all the expense of shipping.

 

Jim A

[James A]

Wow, I am surprised to hear of this issue with ATL, I had to opposite experience with them. I had to replace the bladder on our race car. They were very responsive I talked with an engineer at length and ask them to modify the pick-up versus the old bladder. They did a dimensioned drawing showing the modifications I ask for an additional change, they resent the changed drawing and I approved it and they manufactured the new bladder. I also had an extra set of all gaskets shipped with it, total $1342 delivered. Now, this was a year and a half ago, maybe they have regarded in their service quality, but my experience was first rate.

[FE07]

I initially called ATL in US and they basically told me they did'nt have the drawings for that cell and that it was manufactured in UK. I then contacted UK and when they heard it was for a Caterham they told me I needed to go through Caterham:

Hi Jim,

 

Can I ask that you discuss this with Caterham first please.

 

They should be able to identify the cell from your chassis number and I would like their blessing to sell directly please.

 

As you can imagine they have first refusal as they spec’d the fuel cell.

 

Kind regards,

 

Not an unreasonable request but after contacting Caterham my remembrance is that ATL would have to build it and take 6-8 weeks, then they could pack it in a container for transport. Would'nt come directly to me, had to go through a dealer and then come to me. So, cost would increase substantially. They were very polite and responsive but I did'nt want to wait that long/or pay all the markups/shipping so went with Fuel safe. Glad you were able to obtain what you needed directly from ATL.

 

Jim

[James A]

Yikes, that's a real crap show on the part of ATL! I wonder if the difference in experience was where the original cell came from? Mine was from ATL from new, was yours a Caterham supplied unit? In any event not a great showing by ATL.

[FE07]

The car was originally specced with a fuel cell when ordered from caterham and the cell as made by ATL. Not the one they show in their catalog that sticks up above the floor in the boot. This one sits totally beneath the floor. Think its around 8 gallons.

 

Would have liked to replace it with the same to keep the car as 'original' as possible but not for an extra $1,000.

 

Jim

[John B]

Thanks for the help guys. Sounds like I opened up a can of worms here on the fuel cell. I'll check Caterham, ATL, & Fuelsafe and see which will be quicker. The hillclimb is in July.

I'm pretty sure I saw a couple 7's with only rollbars, not cages, at the last two "Giants Despair" hillclimbs in Scranton, PA. Will check with their tech guy.

[Shoe String Racing]

I would talk to the tech people directly for the specific region and course you intend to run. For something that should be cut and dried, tech rules may not be. Here's my take:

 

The rules may be pretty detailed and hard to follow for the average lay person. I just had a front hoop added to my Stalker to make a full cage. It was done by a race car fabricator with 30 years experience including building for a CART team. While talking about my addition for SCCA or NASA racing, he took out his SCCA 2016 GCR book and referred to it to make sure something hadn't changed WRT to what we were discussing. And, never mind that different organizations have different rules, there are differences in interpretations of the rules by tech inspectors. There is a certain amount of judgment involved there despite what any one of us might expect. Think of how thick that GCR is and how it has to apply to so many different cars; sometimes, the tech can't keep up on all the subtle nuances and has to fall back on his seat of the pants judgment. The flip side is that the tech might let you slide on something that you personally have more concern about since it's your car and you've spent a lot more time looking at it than the tech has.

 

And on some cars there may actually be a front hoop; it's just hidden behind the dash like a formula car. I've seen pictures/vids of some Lotus 7's wheel to wheel racing with out the tall front hoop; And I wondered about that til my cage guy explained how the geometry of a front hoop to a rear hoop is calculated. The height of the front hoop can be quite low.

 

And as for the fuel cell, the hill climb tech guys may have their own view on it's necessity. As discussed elsewhere about fuel cell safety; some of us think our biggest chance of burning up comes from driving on the street in traffic and wheel to wheel racing without a fuel cell is actually less dangerous. So, for a hill climb, some might think a fuel cell may be less critical than a full cage.

 

Just food for thought.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Shoe String Racing

[John B]

Well... Good news and bad news. The Tech guys in the Pennsylvania Hillclimb Association say that although some early 70's Lotus 7's have run in the Historic and vintage classes, my car is "already prepared beyond street classes" and thus would be classified as EModified, requiring a full cage. I don't really understand what they mean by "prepared beyond street classes", but that's the bad news. The good news is they said it doesn't need fuel cell. I'm not putting a cage on it, so there goes that idea. Maybe I'll do some Ice Racing with it this winter then. It needs to do something semi-sporty.

[yellowss7]

Skip your other racing event and come out to NJMP to run with a bunch of other 7s. :party:

[Kitcat]

Yes, the NJMP event fits your "semi-sporty" criteria. No one takes themselves too seriousy at that event.

[sdca7]

I called ATL last year to order the 10 gallon cell for my 2008 R500. It came in about 2 weeks, cost 2400 including fuel probe and gauge, and fit perfectly in the stock location. I had to also get an external fuel pump, and a fuel pressure regulator. The install was pretty easy.

 

Justin