R500 with the sequential box

[James.S]

fcat said:

The new R300 looks to be rather good. Known technology, under-stressed engine so should be straightforward to set up and mechanically bullet-proof. The engine size is the only odd bit: not a problem for one make racing in CC's own series but its going to be uncompetitive in club racing where 170bhp from 2 litres won't cut the mustard in conventional capacity based classes.

True, club stuff I have seen in NW tends to rely on the car rather than the driver......that is the atttraction of CC race series'

[MarchHare]

I think the fact that this is a bog standard engine (in the R300) is one of the major attractions. A new engine only costs something like £2,000 to £2,500 so if you do lunch it you might as well just stick a new engine in and forget expensive rebuild.

Identical cars, limited costs, close racing and excellent performance should make for a successful series I reckon.

Edited by MarchHare on Monday 15th September 14:32

[Dave J]

2>2.5 K

2L is £1599 from suppliers

I bet that will be bumped up once the contracted engine sealer gets his lockwire out

[Fat Arnie]

Thx OJ, Now understood. I'll look for a more technical approach. I too get burns on my left leg.

[James.S]

The ram air kit won't stop your left leg from burning.........insulating the tunnel from underside will do that.

Ram kit stops yer feet from boiling.....or at least having to soak yer race boots in a bucket before going out

[nigelpugh7]

Arnie,

When you fitted your quaife sequential gearbox to your car, did you install it already attached to the engine, and swung it in in one complete assembly?

The reason I ask is beacuse we were told today by CC to put the gearbox in first then lower engine in after.

We now know that will just not work.

Also is it safe to remove the shifter from the gearbox to aid installation when attahced to the engine?

And in the same vein is it OK to remove the cable for the reverse cable.

Thanks in advance.

Nige.

[sfaulds]

The engine and box should go in seperately - what is stopping it? Similarly, it's a right pita, but the boz should go in complete with the lever tower.

[Mars]

Not a chance. The gearbox input shaft is far too long. The bellhousing is already on the engine. If perhaps the bellhousing was on the gearbox, then it might be possible to install the gearbox first.

However, since the dawn of time Caterhams have been built with the engine and box assembled first, then installed into the car in one piece. The only thing stopping this from being the same is that the gearlever is not supposed to be removed. This makes the angle a trifle awkward if the engine is attached.

It's my fault we didn't progress today really. We tried installing the gearbox first then decided to remove it and attach it to the engine before installing them as a pair. Unfortunately I ran out of time and Nige can't do it alone. I'll be back on Monday morning to assist. I'm certain we'll manage it even with the gearlever in place. We'll just have to be very careful.

[mic]

Gearbox should be fitted first,with the bellhousing attatched, the sequential box is deeper and will catch on the top of the tunnel if fitted with the engine. You risk damaging the loom and fuel pipes trying to fit the engine and box together.

Edited by mic on Friday 26th September 22:05

[Mars]

But Mick, the gearbox input shaft is way too long. With the box installed, we'd need to drop the engine further forward than we have room... then slide it onto the shaft. There's about 20 inches of space in front of the input shaft. The engine and bellhousing is waaaay longer than that.

Even assuming we try it with the gearbox pointing as far upwards as possible, and the engine hanging on the crane pointing down at the rear, we worried about damaging the clutch alignment or something. It seemed just a little too awkward.

Caterham has advised not to remove the gearlever, saying it is "calibrated" or something upon installation. Can you confirm this? It'd be a PoP to install it all conventionally with the lever removed.


Or, should we remove the bellhousing from the engine and attach it to the gearbox first? We also discovered that there is no way on this planet that you could find room to bolt up the bellhousing to the gearbox within the confines of the tunnel.

I admit that I fancied trying this but we weren't sure how the starter motor attached to the bellhousing... or doesn't it? It overlaps onto the bellhousing but there are no visible bolts. Does the bellhousing just slide past it?

[sfaulds]

Attach the bellhousing to the gearbox first - I can't imagine why you'd try it the other way round

[Mars]

Because it came that way. The engine and bellhousing were not delivered until last, and they came firmly attached to each other.

[sfaulds]

Ah.

You'll want to take the engine mounts off too then.

[Mars]

And, we have been told, the alternator. There's a large drive belt going round everything. Is the tensioner sprung or manually tensioned?

[sfaulds]

The tensioner is sprung, but it'll go in with the alternator still fitted.

[nigelpugh7]

OK Guys,

Following your advice here I have today separated the gearbox and bell housing as a complete assembly away from the engine.

I did not need to remove the starter motor, it stayed in situ.

Its a bit frustrating just how many different length bolts there are being used there, I have had to mark them very carefully.

So the plan is to install the gearbox and bell housing as one Assembly tomorrow.

Then I will lower the engine in on its own with the crane.

Couple of questions for you guys in the know, especially Mic.

The bolts that were already in the bell housing to mount the gearbox do not seem very long, now looking from the bell housing into the threaded area that these bolts go into it seems there is a lot of threaded area that is unused.

Have I been supplied with the correct bolts, what length should they be?

On the same subject two of the gearbox mounting holes have a recess that seems it should accept a mating dowel, but there is nothing supplied.

Should there be separate dowels provided or are they not needed.

Finally on the two metalastic rubber mounts for the gearbox to tunnel which way around should they go.

See them here as they were supplied in the gearbox.



Is this correct, and do the bolts go in from the bottom to the top, and the nuts mounted on top with the smaller washer between?

Thanks in advance.

Nige.