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How do Caterham fit the Duratec under the bonnet?
James - 2/5/11 at 11:20 PM

Just wondering how Caterham fit Duratecs in their cars as the car is quite short and the Duratec is quite tall!

Dont think they fit power bulges do they?

Are they all fitted with drysumps? But is this much advantage as the limiting factor in cutting down the sump is the bellhousing is it not?

Or do they fit a smaller flywheel clutch and therefore can get away with smaller bellhousing somehow?

Or are they all in imminent danger of ripping the bottom out on a speed bump!


Cheers,
James

[Edited on 2/5/11 by James]

mcerd1 - 2/5/11 at 11:47 PM

cossie do make a nice dry sump setup - if you've got a spare £1500

and I these are the spares that caterham sell:

http://www.caterhamparts.co.uk/product.php?id_product=1274

http://www.caterhamparts.co.uk/product.php?id_product=2388


but flak monkey's wet sump is a bit cheaper...
http://www.customworkshop.co.uk/page4.html

[Edited on 2/5/2011 by mcerd1]

Bare - 3/5/11 at 02:32 AM

Interesting ain't it :-) Cat frames are 13" high frames, nose cone, where it meets Ali bonnet is 7.5" tall.
Yet even a MX5 (miata) fits in .. barely... Sans dry sump.
You could modify your existing Sump is traditional hot rod style ie; much wider and half as deep.
Not even that big of a DIY job. With thought care and some skill it could be very close to as effective as dry sump setup.
Just think of all the Beer you could buy with the hundreds saved :-)

flak monkey - 3/5/11 at 06:56 AM

Short or dry sump and low line cam cover. Overall saves you about 60mm on the overall height of the engine.

James - 3/5/11 at 06:25 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Bare
Interesting ain't it :-) Cat frames are 13" high frames, nose cone, where it meets Ali bonnet is 7.5" tall.


quote:
Originally posted by flak monkey
Short or dry sump and low line cam cover. Overall saves you about 60mm on the overall height of the engine.


Okay, well that explains it then.

At 13" tall that's the same as a Locost. Caterham seem so small I assumed they were shorter than that.

And if you can chop the cam cover that explains the rest of it!


I've chopped just over an inch from my Pinto sump and it's now level with the Type 9 bellhousing. That's why I couldn't see they could lose much more from that end as the bellhousing will be the lowest point so no point chopping further!


Cheers,
James

Nitrogeno25 - 4/5/11 at 02:59 PM

quote:
Originally posted by flak monkey
Short or dry sump and low line cam cover. Overall saves you about 60mm on the overall height of the engine.


I thought a shortened wet sump (Raceline) would save 2 inches and the low profile cam cover (according to Raceline brochure) saves another inch.

I can't have the opportunity to measure it though.

flak monkey - 4/5/11 at 03:09 PM

Well it was from memory, over a year ago.

Think the cam cover is only about 15-20mm saving. Pricey too.