620 tuning

[glailey]

Off the back of the 620R exhaust thread and so as to not thread jack I thought I would start my own.

I will be taking delivery of a 620S in March of next year.

Do people tune the 620?

I have seen threads for the tts rotrex supercharger and what people have done with Westfields and fast fords but I don't think I have seen anything specific to what people have done with the 620.

As a follow on to that is there any specialists who are particularly highly regarded for caterhams or 620's in particular.
I have a GTR at the moment and have thoroughly enjoyed working with Litchfields to get it to where it is today, so I'm hoping I may find the same with caterhams.

Any guidance, links or knowledge would be very much appreciated

[DCL]

There's a few hurdles you need to get over if you want to tune it further. Firstly the ECU is locked and, in practical terms, that means replacing it with an open one. There'll then be some fairly complex mapping unless you can tap into someone else's knowledge about the 620R engine. Personally I think 310BHP is enough for the 2L Duratec, and Caterham chassis for that matter. But I believe there is some benefit from looking at the suspension as they can suffer from understeer issues - all a matter of opinion though.

[coppice]

If there 's one thing the 620 is notorious for it's being so gutless....

[rubystone]

coppice said:

If there 's one thing the 620 is notorious for it's being so gutless....

I was thinking the same thing!

Reminds me of a turbocharged JPE I got close to buying some years ago. Crazy! Mike Culmer bought it and unbolted the turbo...first thing I'd have done too!

[mike150]

I just drove one..........

Jesus, you want to make it faster?!?!

[monsterchub]

Why would you want to tune it? You haven't driven it yet!!

[glailey]

I have driven it a bit. I agree not enough to know that I would want to spend a very large amount money money tuning it just yet. But I also know how much fun I have had upgrading my current car. Hence the hope I got to play the same game with this one.

I'm a sucker for modifying for more performance having experienced how much a production car seems to leave on the table.
The suspension, toe links and top arms Lichfield have created for the GTR makes the car incredible and more than capable to deal with more power. Surely there is more to be had in the 620.

With this in mind, DCL I'm really interested to know what changes you would suggest to the suspension?

To the question of "Jesus you want to make it faster" , absolutely. As long as faster isn't worse.
I'm not looking for faster for faster sake. I'm looking to make everything about the car just that little bit better and therefore faster, more exciting, more ridiculous, and therefore more giggle inducing.

However sadly no one has come back to this post saying....these guys are brilliant....go and see them...they may be in Scotland,but they will build you the best 620 in the land.

[sfaulds]

Since you've ordered the 'S', I assume this is predominantly for road use? As such, there are very few specialists (if any) in making a 620 a better road car.

[damdy-cash]

You should have a chat with Simon from Meteor Motorsport or Joachim from MOG-Racing. Plenty of knowledge and stuff that you can add to it. Up to a 10k upgrade (MOG) for the front, including F3 Brembos and machined uprights.
Cheers Volker

Edited by damdy-cash on Sunday 27th November 08:26

[DCL]

glailey said:

I'm a sucker for modifying for more performance having experienced how much a production car seems to leave on the table.

I think this were you might be slightly adrift from others on here. The 620 is far from a production car. It represents 60 odd years of Caterham's efforts to produce the best paper performance so far. I believe the 620S is less track orientated than the 620R, but it is such a new car that few will have experience of it. But I suspect, if it is your starting point, then there really isn't much you can do to make it better without wasting most of the money you spent buying it. If you're into to modifying and tweaking Caterhams, then buy something cheap. There are plenty of companies out there that offer the bits you need to develop your car to whatever spec you want.

IMHO the Achilles heal of the 620 is the very concept of supercharging it, despite aggressive weight saving, the extra weight does not give it the agile handling of the the SLR thoroughbreds. That can be improved, but there are no tutorials, or standard fixes - just, perhaps, some 3 way shocks and hard work testing it. GreigM on here has been through the process and may be able to help you more. As said, Meteor Motorsport is the place to go.

The 620 is just one evolution of the brand, but there are other ways to get similar, or better, performance that might suit your aspirations better.

Edited by DCL on Sunday 27th November 09:20

[Dave J]

You could speak with Mick Atree who developed the car to find out if there is any scope for further power, or i guess he could build you a 2.5L engine for it , but this will probably require additional cooling issues to overcome?.
Then it's improving the package with aftermarket stuff so lots more weight saving with exhausts, wheels, carbon everything, MOG front uprights and F3 brakes, carbon props, £6k of dampers, etc etc.
Or you could do the job properly and buy a levante and grapple with 600 bhp😋

[tomwoodis]

If ultimate performance is what you're after then why the 'S' and not the 'R' as your starting point?

[Pdelamare]

Dave J said:

Or you could do the job properly and buy a levante and grapple with 600 bhp??

Everything is for sale when presented with large wads of money. Not only closing in for twice the HP but lighter to boot. Levante Superlight for the win.

[jackg]

I'm with the original poster. Maybe it's because I have had 2 GTR''S which Litchfield fettled!

I've just bought a 620R for track days, my RAdical V8 was simply too fast for track days, and the idea is to make it as quick as possible and the most fun. The key difference to the Radical is its lack of aero, I won't even try to change that, but everything else yes.

Part of the fun is modifying and tweaking, I'm really looking forward to that.

[glailey]

Thanks Volker, I'll look into both of those in more detail. The F3 brembos look a exciting option!

Tomwoodis, it was the S over the R for the manual gearbox. It makes up a large amount of the fun for me. As I mentioned it is absolutely about performance, but it has got to make me smile along the way.

Jackg, it does seem that Iain has an effect on his customers. A v8 Radical sounds an epic prospect, but it does indeed seem we are on the same page. As fast as possible but not compromising the fun aspect, while also tweaking the car to make it 'yours'.

DaveJ, thank you for pointing me in Mick's direction, a quick browse through his site he certainly looks like a chap I should speak to at some point.

DCL, a look at the meteor website does indicate they know their way around a suspension set up, thanks

[justleanitupabit]

glailey said:

Off the back of the 620R exhaust thread and so as to not thread jack I thought I would start my own.

I will be taking delivery of a 620S in March of next year.

Do people tune the 620?

I have seen threads for the tts rotrex supercharger and what people have done with Westfields and fast fords but I don't think I have seen anything specific to what people have done with the 620.

As a follow on to that is there any specialists who are particularly highly regarded for caterhams or 620's in particular.
I have a GTR at the moment and have thoroughly enjoyed working with Litchfields to get it to where it is today, so I'm hoping I may find the same with caterhams.

Any guidance, links or knowledge would be very much appreciated

Unless you are an F1, BTCC or an undiscovered driving god I very much doubt you'll need to do anything to it.

I wonder if you'd have been better off getting a 360 and using upgradeitis to get it up to 620 sort of spec your way.

Edited by justleanitupabit on Monday 28th November 12:16

[k20erham]

Hi when you take out the ECU as it's locked to replace it with something you can tune, take out the loom and the lump of scrap that's fastened to it they call it a Duratec I think, then replace it with something from Terry Bourne. keep the Sadev box but put Geartronics on it.

[grenpayne]

k20erham said:

Hi when you take out the ECU as it's locked to replace it with something you can tune, take out the loom and the lump of scrap that's fastened to it they call it a Duratec I think, then replace it with something from Terry Bourne. keep the Sadev box but put Geartronics on it.

Obviously we're talking K20s here I'm pretty familiar with the K20 having owned a Civic Type R and whilst it's a great engine it's not exactly an easy install is it? And my understanding is there aren't that many around now? So isn't it a bit unfair to call the Duratec 'scrap'? It certainly is reliable at 300bhp and works well in the car.

[xcentric]

given the tune of the engine already, I think you'd be better focusing on improving the aerodynamics to make it go faster and give it downforce and not lift..... that's the most cost-effective way to make it go faster and better.

[fergus]

Very high quality dampers, valved to suit, with appropriate spring rates, all setup on a flat floor with suitable geometry.

That way, you can both get the power down and go round corners. Amazing