Roller Barrel Induction Upgrade

[sf4018]

Has anyone installed this upgrade kit (or any other kit) from Caterham on a 420R to increase the HP?

Engine Upgrade Kit - R400 - 210bhp to 220bhp (caterhamparts.co.uk)

How hard is it to put this in?

[KnifeySpoony]

I built my kit from new with the roller barrels and they are amazing sounding but I have nothing to compare to. There is a thread on here about install/dyno.

[Croc]

 

I have had multiple Caterhams with the roller barrel set up but they were all built from new.  There is nothing better that I know of for a Caterham.  Sound is epic. 

 

Instructions for RBTB can be found in here:

 

 

Set up supplement is here

 

 

Some recent installation perspectives - start at Ralph's post on November 15, 2023. 

 

 

You will have to cut the bonnet - that is probably more scary than the engine upgrade.     Also you are going to have to reflash the ECU with a new tune.  Investigating how that will need to happen is important as the down time (i.e. car not operating) could be significant.  It may be better (albeit expensive) to buy an unlocked ECU, with a base tune and then tune it locally.  

 

 

 

 

[KnifeySpoony]

FYI you don't need to send the ECU to be reflashed. CC will email you the tune and you can flash it yourself if you have an easimap cable. 

[sf4018]

Ok thanks for the info @KnifeySpoony and @Croc!
 

I think I’m going to give it a go once Caterham tells me if the Throttle Pot comes with the kit. I believe it should be this one https://caterhamparts.co.uk/throttle-cables/4056-throttle-potentiometer-duratec-and-csr-260.html

 

 

[KnifeySpoony]

The TPS is reused from the plenum to the RBTB setup. Although it wouldn't hurt to have a spare, as i believe they are prone to failure.

 

Another thing - last I heard, CC is still shipping the RBTB kit with the green R500 injectors- however these are incorrect, at least they were on my car. The new RBTB tune is designed to be used with the stock black injectors.

[sf4018]

1 hour ago, KnifeySpoony said:

The TPS is reused from the plenum to the RBTB setup. Although it wouldn't hurt to have a spare, as i believe they are prone to failure.

 

Another thing - last I heard, CC is still shipping the RBTB kit with the green R500 injectors- however these are incorrect, at least they were on my car. The new RBTB tune is designed to be used with the stock black injectors.

Ok thanks. I'm going to have to retune anyways (I have a custom SBD tune already in their ECU), so does it matter which injector I get? Not sure what the pros/cons of each are.

[KnifeySpoony]

green is higher flow/more capacity

[sf4018]

On 2/6/2024 at 5:46 PM, KnifeySpoony said:

green is higher flow/more capacity

I just got off the phone with Caterham, apparently they used to use the green injectors until they changed the fuel pump to the variable flow setup they sell these days, now it's the black injectors. But he said for my fuel setup (external pump with pressure regulator and return to tank) the greens are better (more fuel, more power).