Caterham 7 Circuit Racer

[A30Racer]

At the moment, she seems to be delighting in exploring the capabilities of the Caterham & it seems a shame to spoil that by making it too fierce, too quickly. I'm still having a blast getting the best out of it myself, so that's cool. 

[A30Racer]

My ladies (wife & step-daughter) have been competing at Werrington Park Hillclimb in the Caterham. A bit damp today, but a nice dry day yesterday. Paddock shot to feast your eyes on......

[Escadrille Ecosse]

Excellent. Good to hear the car is being enjoyed properly

[Nick Jones]

Hope it’s not been as wet there as here…..

[Hamish]

Good luck and enjoy

[A30Racer]

This may come as a shock to you all, but I have made a little progress on one of my cars. Decided to pause the work on the VW T25 and do a bit on one of my projects.........The Caterham has only done one sprint this year and there will be a visit to Wiscombe on 14th of september, so was feeling a little neglected. I have had a Ford English axle modified to fit the Caterham suspension, so have been cleaning, painting, refurbishing the bits to go in the axle. At the end of the process we will have new bearings, brakes etc and a plate type LSD, with a suitably light pre-load to match the weight of the car. 
There are plans moving on to replace the benign old Vauxhall 8v motor with a Vauxhall Redtop 16v, which should be approx 100bhp more!! In a 530Kg car, we are hoping for great things next season! Here's hoping......

There may be those amongst you who recognise the slightly unorthodox work bench!

[Nick Jones]

6 minutes ago, A30Racer said:

There may be those amongst you who recognise the slightly unorthodox work bench!

That’s no way to treat an old lady - even one from Solihull  

Is that axle intended to be in for Wiscombe? Would be a little anxious about introducing an lsd to relatively inexperienced drivers on that hill?

Though judging by the report in the Woolbridge magazine, conditions must have been pretty bloody perfect at the last meet - more than a second of the hill record!  Outstanding effort!

 

[A30Racer]

The English axle will be going in over the winter, so not putting myself under too much pressure. Good guess on the mystery work bench!

[Nick Jones]

17 minutes ago, A30Racer said:

Good guess on the mystery work bench!

A true multipurpose vehicle…

[JohnD]

Wedding car?   Nice one!

John

[A30Racer]

It took us around North Devon on our honeymoon too! Just been woken up after 2 years idle in the garden (I am ashamed that we neglected the old love). Still slow, thirsty and noisy, but likely to be the last vehicle standing!

[A30Racer]

Drove all the way from Salisbury to Chelmsford this morning and place a deposit on this very energetic Vauxhall Redtop motor. According to the data, it was tested at 243bhp at 7300rpm, which should liven up the Caterham a bit! Will fit this over the winter along with the Ford axle with LSD

[Escadrille Ecosse]

That's quite perky!

And a very blue redtop

[Nick Jones]

58 minutes ago, A30Racer said:

it was tested at 243bhp at 7300rpm

 That’ll change the driving experience a bit….

[A30Racer]

Yes to both the blueness and the altered driving experience!

It is lovely on the road with the old 8v motor, but I am having to go so, so hard through the bends to be in contention at the hillclimbs & sprints. Will try to get the new engine installed before winter properly arrives, so we can iron out any bugs before next season (this may not happen, obviously!)

[Nick Jones]

5 hours ago, A30Racer said:

Will try to get the new engine installed before winter properly arrives, so we can iron out any bugs before next season

This…. And to give the less experienced pilots a bit of seat time so they can hold the beast in check! (Or remove a plug lead or two for their runs!)

[A30Racer]

We have concluded that the way forward is the ASWMC Sprint championship in 2025, as these venues have a bit more run-off and are a bit longer, so we can let the beast off the lead to take advantage of it's new athleticism. There may be the odd hillclimb depending how we get on taming it.........

[A30Racer]

Been a bit busy of late at work, clearing our field of brambles & looking after aged parents etc etc.

Finally managed to snatch some garage time to carry on putting the Ford axle together and more closely examine the new (to us) Vauxhall 16v engine. Got the engine on the stand, so I could remove the dry sump pan and check the big-ends & mains. A big sigh of relief, as the bottom end looks very good. Steel rods, nicely numbered caps, balanced, light flywheel. The clutch is a bit worn, but will stand being re-lined I think. Just need to fabricate some new mounts as the alternator needs to swap sides and the dry sump pump uses the same bolts on the block as the old n/s engine mount. A little bit of imagination & fabrication should get this sorted. May hopefully have some time over christmas to move it on.......

[A30Racer]

The bottom end in all it's glory

[Nick Jones]

Looks very good. 
 

Good that you’re being allowed a little playtime too!

[A30Racer]

Thanks Nick. To be fair, I am quite good at sidelining myself! So many projects, so little time......

[Nick Jones]

6 minutes ago, A30Racer said:

I am quite good at sidelining myself!

This is known….. 

[Hamish]

Gotta love a dry sump system. 
sounds like another positive step in the project.

Edited December 23, 2024 by Hamish

[A30Racer]

There are some packaging issues in a car this small (extra pump, pipes and tank), but a much nicer solution than 2.5" of oil sloshing around under the engine! The dry sump kits are getting properly pricey these days, so this engine looks like being good value with all the stuff included. Let's hope it works......!

[A30Racer]

Some small steps of progress have been made on our old Caterham......

The Ford axle with lsd is in place, complete with a new propshaft from Bailey Morris (who apparently build them for Caterham). Not cheap, but a great service and very prompt.

The mighty Vauxhall Redtop is being denuded of the dry sump temporarily, as there is just too much buggering about to get it in the chassis before the racing season starts. I have decided to use the wet sump setup from the old Vauxhall 8v motor, but as is the way of these things, there are quite a few details to sort before the engine swap can take place. I've had a look inside the cam cover and all looks well upstairs too! Will update you all when the swap has occurred........