74PHIL build thread featuring Zetec with Suzuki Hayabusa Keihin/Denso injection.

[pethier]

I'm kind of new to the build-thread process.  This is going to be somewhat scattergun, to match my ADD brain wiring.

 

I will probably start by collecting comments I have scattered around the net already, and then get down to business with the 1700-Zetec swap that I have long-contemplated and has now suddenly commenced.

 

First, this post is to stake out the turf after a prod by one of our most-helpful (no sarcasm intended) members.  

 

I have a lot of irons in the fire just now, separate from the Seven.  Much of my house is in a cluttered uproar as I attempt to install a new kitchen sink into a place created by the iconoclast who self-built this domicile in 1950.  Some tricky surgery is required. I may document that on shop-talk@autox.team.net.  Meanwhile, you can imagine a 75-year-old ADD widower without a working dishwasher.

 

Come back later, there will be Seven words and pictures.

 

 

Edited May 9 by pethier

[pethier]

Sorry, still sinking.

 

And a sudden contact in genealogy popped up.

 

How did I ever have time to work at a regular job?

 

There are some pictures coming.  Honest. 

 

It's 2:20 AM again.  Good night.

[pethier]

Heading to the shop in the rain today.  Just about have my waterfowl aligned to show you all what's happening.

 

How did I ever have time to go to a job?

[pethier]

Pix so far are at [flickr.com/photos/pethier/albums/72177720326088078]

 

 

 

 

[pethier]

 

[pethier]

Suzuki Hayabusa Keihin/Denso injection.

Edited Sunday at 09:21 PM by pethier

[pethier]

Cover plates for heater ports.  Made these today.  Tuesday I'll go to Brian's shop and install them, being sure to mark the locations of the chassis tubes that run through the area.

 

 

[pethier]

[flickr.com/photos/pethier/albums/72177720326088078]

For those who have not picked up on this from other posts, here is some background on this project.

In the fall of 2023, I bought this 1991 Caterham 1700 Super Sprint from a gentleman in central Illinois.  This is one of four Caterham cars he had shipped from England.  He had investigated three cars online and engaged an agent in England to inspect the cars and close the deals.  The agent informed him that he had room for a fourth car in the shipment. He told the agent to find a fourth car.  This is that fourth car.  The original owner had ordered it from Caterham as a "complete kit".  It seems like a Prisoner car, but not an official one, as it was painted all Ford Moonstone Blue.  Specifications include electric windscreen, de Dion rear suspension, plate-style LSD, and swaybars (the rear adjustable).  It seems to have spent its life in Northwich, Cheshire.

 

I autocrossed the car in 2024, with a few interruptions.  I had autocrossed my previous 1979 live-axle 1600 for three seasons with no body damage at all.  Second time out with this car, the right rear fender was destroyed.  I got another fender and took the oppertunity to have the fenders and nosecone painted Caterham Firecracker Yellow. Back on the road, I suffered the failure of an oil-pump gasket.

 

I made to the 2024 Lotus Owners gathering in Texas and drove it around the Austin area including around COTA and to (but on on-track) Harris Hill.

When I bought the car, I assumed that the 1700 Super Sprint engine would be great fun for track days and twisy-roads driving.  I was right.  This driveline gives the classic Lotus Seven experience with more kick.  Thing is, those activities are not the main reason I have owned Lotus cars.  My automotive addiction since 1968 has been USA-style autocross.  We called it "Summer Gymkhana" in the rule book for the Twin Cities when I started (before SCCA started Solo II).  For this activity, an essentially "Cosworthized" pushrod engine does not give the broad power band in second gear I coveted.

 

From the jump, I had an idea.  I have a friend with a Birkin.  He came to the autocross community when I was autocrossing my Lotus Europa. He had driving talent and a faster car, but he was not yet beating me.  I knew I had to fix that.  Each autocross day, I would ask him, is this the day you beat me?"  I showed him that he was inflating his tires too high.  He soon put his engineering intellect to work on the car and his intelligence to work on the art of autocross driving and began to beat me, as he should.  One chilly day at ValleyFair, Steve's Birkin got Fastest Time Of Day, beating the Formula Cars.  The secret?  Hillclimb tires.  Steve is always thinking, always up for something different.

 

When I bought the Super Sprint, I knew that Steve was embarking on a new adventure.  He was going to take the Birkin all-electric.  I paid Steve cash for all of his gasoline-based Birkin equipment and he graciously allowed me to delay picking it up.  It took me a while to track down the motor mounts I would need.  Birkin and Caterham have completely-different ideas about motor mounts.  I also realized that I was going to need help with the work. I got my foot in the door with Brian, who runs a British-car shop with the specialty of putting GM V6 engines in MGB cars.  His crew knows about fuel-injection in cars that were made for carbs.  He also has a packed schedule.

It all came together suddenly on May 6, even a couple of weeks sooner than I expected. That's when this photo-trail tracks back to.  You will probably always see more photographs in the Flickr album than make it here.

 

Along the way, I will try to keep you informed of how it's going, and I look forward to all of your advice.  We are none of us as knowledgeable as all of us.
 

[pethier]

IMG_8041 Suzuki Hayabusa Keihin/Denso injection.

 

What does the white sensor measure?

My guess is that it is air pressure.

Maybe temperature?

I would like to go to individual air filters for each intake horn.  If that sensor is critical to the operation of the fuel injection by measuring pressure INSIDE THE AIRBOX, that could present a problem.

Edited Sunday at 09:21 PM by pethier

[MV8]

Looks like air temp. It would be a bad place to use for barometric pressure. I assume this system is diy with keihin and gm spec parts for the msq. To know what it is, trace to the ecu pin them check the software pin assignment.

 

Most diy systems don't have it but there is no reason to pull it when you have a complete, working system. It is kept clean by the filter. It doesn't look like it and the backing plate prevent using individual filters.

[pethier]

1 hour ago, MV8 said:

Looks like air temp. It would be a bad place to use for barometric pressure. I assume this system is diy with keihin and gm spec parts for the msq. To know what it is, trace to the ecu pin them check the software pin assignment.

 

Most diy systems don't have it but there is no reason to pull it when you have a complete, working system. It is kept clean by the filter. It doesn't look like it and the backing plate prevent using individual filters.

I don't have any of the documentation here and can't see it until Tuesday.

 

All I really know right now is that this is supposed to be a Mikuni* injection system meant for a motorcycle and this system has been run by Megasquirt.  The whole system, engine and FI, was being run successfully in a Birkin car. 

 

One of the reasons I'm talking about his now is packaging.  The tech wants to lose the backing plate and airbox/filter. Individual filters seem to be better for the setup in the Caterham.  I need for find out more about what is available.  I'm not a big fan of oiling filters, although I admit that I had them on the 40 DCOE feeding my Lotus 65 Europa (pushrod Renault).  If there are socks for velocity stacks that do not require oil, I'm interested.

 

I think I hear you saying that if the temperature sensor was protected somewhere in the vicinity of ITBs that it ight work.  May be a little bracket inside the filter housing for one of the four throttle bodies.

 

* Actually Suzuki Hayabusa Keihin/Denso injection.

 

 

Edited Sunday at 09:20 PM by pethier

[pethier]

"keihin and gm spec parts for the msq"

 

Showing my ignorance here. 

 

"gm" is General Motors or something or something else?

 

I have no idea what "keihin" might be.

 

Tuesday I need to dive in on the system that I own and do not understand.

[MV8]

I would probably go with two air cleaners using pleated paper filters for DCOE applications and shorten the air horns as needed.

 

You could put the air temp anywhere near the filters, maybe hang it on a small triangular, .050" thick tab bolted on with two bolts.

 

GM as in General Motors spec components often used with msq. Your photo of the TBIs posted yesterday shows them to be Kehin but it doesn't really matter who cast them. Keihin is a competitor of Mikuni for many decades.

 

I suggest getting it running and driving as is, bonnet off, then start making modifications as needed.

Edited Sunday at 08:22 PM by MV8

[pethier]

1 hour ago, MV8 said:

Your photo of the TBIs posted yesterday shows them to be Kehin but it doesn't really matter who cast them. Keihin is a competitor of Mikuni for many decades.

 

 

I don't know where the heck I heard Mikuni, but I did.  Turns out, it was billed as the hardware off a Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle when Steve bought it.  So it's Keihin/Denso.

 

Well, this is not the shock that some folks get when they get their DNA results, but it does surprise me.

[pethier]

2 hours ago, MV8 said:

I suggest getting it running and driving as is, bonnet off, then start making modifications as needed.

 As Is, it is not drivable yet.

 

But your suggesstion echos Brian's.  in fact, when we get it drivable, we will drive it around Isanti without the front fenders, nose or bonnet.