back to the drawing board
Discussion
Just as i'm ready to go look at the hpc some body gets there first. damn, but as the wife says, it mustn't have meant to be. so onward and upwards, time to look again and more homework
, When i first drove and fell in love with caterhams it was in a x flow powered one with 135 bhp, sounded ace went nicely and spat flames, really liked it but felt it was a little down on power.so didn't realy consider one as an option as my own first caterham, But just spotted one in classified that made me grin,and think yeah, i could live with that, got that feeling ya know? unfortunately lack of experiance raises its ugly head once again so its back to you guys who have so far proved invaluable with yer knowledge and advice. the motor has been built around an ax block, its all steel with 1850cc
k3a cam, long stroke crank,45 webbers,alpha ignition,pace dry sump,lightened fly wheel all steel braided lines, 5spd, english axle,quaff lsd, and all the goodies i am wanting on my car, claimed power is 164.2 bhp with 144lb/ft torque.superclean engine and engine bay.
minus points; on a q plate, and wants £10500. thoughts please
Cheers, Trotsky
, When i first drove and fell in love with caterhams it was in a x flow powered one with 135 bhp, sounded ace went nicely and spat flames, really liked it but felt it was a little down on power.so didn't realy consider one as an option as my own first caterham, But just spotted one in classified that made me grin,and think yeah, i could live with that, got that feeling ya know? unfortunately lack of experiance raises its ugly head once again so its back to you guys who have so far proved invaluable with yer knowledge and advice. the motor has been built around an ax block, its all steel with 1850cck3a cam, long stroke crank,45 webbers,alpha ignition,pace dry sump,lightened fly wheel all steel braided lines, 5spd, english axle,quaff lsd, and all the goodies i am wanting on my car, claimed power is 164.2 bhp with 144lb/ft torque.superclean engine and engine bay.
minus points; on a q plate, and wants £10500. thoughts please
Cheers, Trotsky
AX block good. Apha Ignition very good (had that on one of my xflows) dry sump very good, all steel, very good. Check if it has an English axle (assuming its a live axle) if its a de-dion then thats ok for the power.
Q plate, don't worry about it, my first Caterham was a Q plate, didn't bother me at all.
Just make sure it drives ok, not sure about the cam, only ever had 244 cams.
Price, 10k ish as its a good spec.
Sounds pretty good.
Q plate, don't worry about it, my first Caterham was a Q plate, didn't bother me at all.
Just make sure it drives ok, not sure about the cam, only ever had 244 cams.
Price, 10k ish as its a good spec.
Sounds pretty good.
Who did the engine? If it is Roger King then you will be ok. TBH I am no x-flow expert, not even a VX expert (though I do know more about them since I own one!) but you might want to be cautious of a heavily modded x-flow without knowing who put it together.
It's going to be really thirsty on fuel you know and as Casbar says, ideally you want an English live axle rather than the Ital with that much power.
Personally I would keep looking for VX's, more modern, more usable, more power but less stressed and for not much more money than what this guy is asking for the x-flow. When I was looking I couldn't find any, put a wanted ad out on Blatchat and a few came out of the woodwork, one of which I bought.
I bought my VX without driving it and knew as soon as I laid eyes on it that it was the 'one' so I know what you mean when a car 'speaks' to you - I had already looked at 4 before choosing this one. Be careful though, they often look like corkers in the pics but dogs in the flesh.
SS
It's going to be really thirsty on fuel you know and as Casbar says, ideally you want an English live axle rather than the Ital with that much power.
Personally I would keep looking for VX's, more modern, more usable, more power but less stressed and for not much more money than what this guy is asking for the x-flow. When I was looking I couldn't find any, put a wanted ad out on Blatchat and a few came out of the woodwork, one of which I bought.
I bought my VX without driving it and knew as soon as I laid eyes on it that it was the 'one' so I know what you mean when a car 'speaks' to you - I had already looked at 4 before choosing this one. Be careful though, they often look like corkers in the pics but dogs in the flesh.
SS
I owned a similar car, although it was de-dion'd rather than live axled. I'm surprised this one doesn't make more power considering the engine spec, though I suppose it is a stroker and the torque is good. This is a highly modified car which I guess has been done for sprinting. Does it have a straight cut box by any chance?
This will be OK as a sprint car, but as a road car; you'll get really poor mileage and it's always a pain having to find Optimax to fill up - which you will need to do, often.
Has it got the unleaded valve seats? Otherwise, your fuel stops will be even more of a pain as you'll have to add lead substitute additives.
As far as track days go, tweeked Crossflows are a bit of a pain as they are loud and you will have trouble getting on many quieter venues unless you have a big can. And even if you do, the carb'd motor will soon burn out the wadding and you'll need to repack the can.
It's also a lot of money for a Crossflow. In my opinion, Crossflow and live axle car prices are falling far quicker than more modern, de-dion'd cars. So if you get this one, which isn't cheap by a long shot(though in fairness, a LOT has been spent on it), it will depreciate more than a more modern car, especially with the Q plate which does effect prices.
Also, it's a car that will be a pain to maintain as the engine is quite specialised and expensive to repair/upgrade.
Considering you can get nice, 6 speed, VVC engined, LSD equipped, de-dion cars of a mid 1990s vintage for this money, I'd stay clear of this one . . . but that's just me.
This will be OK as a sprint car, but as a road car; you'll get really poor mileage and it's always a pain having to find Optimax to fill up - which you will need to do, often.
Has it got the unleaded valve seats? Otherwise, your fuel stops will be even more of a pain as you'll have to add lead substitute additives.
As far as track days go, tweeked Crossflows are a bit of a pain as they are loud and you will have trouble getting on many quieter venues unless you have a big can. And even if you do, the carb'd motor will soon burn out the wadding and you'll need to repack the can.
It's also a lot of money for a Crossflow. In my opinion, Crossflow and live axle car prices are falling far quicker than more modern, de-dion'd cars. So if you get this one, which isn't cheap by a long shot(though in fairness, a LOT has been spent on it), it will depreciate more than a more modern car, especially with the Q plate which does effect prices.
Also, it's a car that will be a pain to maintain as the engine is quite specialised and expensive to repair/upgrade.
Considering you can get nice, 6 speed, VVC engined, LSD equipped, de-dion cars of a mid 1990s vintage for this money, I'd stay clear of this one . . . but that's just me.
casbar said:
Just make sure it drives ok, not sure about the cam, only ever had 244 cams.
highly tuned Crossflows on big carbs can be a huge pain in the ass for road use - no torque before they come on cam, difficult to start from cold, etc.. Having said which, 164bhp isn't that much if the engine has been taken out to 1850cc and mapped ignition will make a big difference. Make sure it starts easily flat cold when you look at it, though, and that it is tractable right the way through the rev range when hot.
Edited by Sam_68 on Sunday 3rd February 17:14
adamh said:
Considering you can get nice, 6 speed, VVC engined, LSD equipped, de-dion cars of a mid 1990s vintage for this money, I'd stay clear of this one . . . but that's just me.
Adam (Hay?) not just you, me too....sign of the times I'm afraid...I am sure that 20 years ago we'd have been eulogising about this spec car....Hi, thanks folks,As i'm more an enthusiastic fettler than spanner wizard I'm going to avoid the xflow, you have confirmed my thoughts and considering the miles i intend to do this year i think it might be a lot of hassle, dont want to put the other half off caterhams!! a vauxhall engine sounds like the best bet for my needs/desires, upgradeitis will no doubt get a hold! will be going to look at the HPC hopefully next weekend. Cheers folks. Will let you know what happens. Regards Trotsky.
The Ital IS an English axle. The Ital was the (very) slightly modernised version of the Marina.
I own and run a 1600cc Crossflow powered car and have done so for almost 12 years. So far it has not let me down once but 1600cc only produces 100 bhp and so doesn't put too much strain on the internals.
The Ital axle is perfectly adequate for 100 bhp.
The only major modification I have had done to the engine was a conversion to allow it to run on unleaded petrol.
I own and run a 1600cc Crossflow powered car and have done so for almost 12 years. So far it has not let me down once but 1600cc only produces 100 bhp and so doesn't put too much strain on the internals.
The Ital axle is perfectly adequate for 100 bhp.
The only major modification I have had done to the engine was a conversion to allow it to run on unleaded petrol.
Yes the Ital axle was made in England. But the "English Axle" is a much stronger axle that was fitted by Ford to escorts and the like.
The Ital axle has some inherent faults, no mater what Bhp you have, the bearings are an interference fit and eventually start to move, which will be evident when you have your MOT. If you jack up the car, and pull on the rear wheels, they will move in and out if the bearings are shot.
There are two ways of fixing this, once you have the half shafts out, press on new bearings and either shim them to stop movement, or get them spot welded.
When people say the axle is good for xxx bhp that means the diff etc won't destroy itself, its nothing to do with way the bearings are mounted on the half shafts, that is a fault and needs sorting on all Ital axles eventually regardless of power.
The Ital axle has some inherent faults, no mater what Bhp you have, the bearings are an interference fit and eventually start to move, which will be evident when you have your MOT. If you jack up the car, and pull on the rear wheels, they will move in and out if the bearings are shot.
There are two ways of fixing this, once you have the half shafts out, press on new bearings and either shim them to stop movement, or get them spot welded.
When people say the axle is good for xxx bhp that means the diff etc won't destroy itself, its nothing to do with way the bearings are mounted on the half shafts, that is a fault and needs sorting on all Ital axles eventually regardless of power.
I've got a rather powerful AX block based VeganTune engined 7 with Ital axle and 4 speed sports box. The axle does have a limited slip diff, but the 7 is fantastic to drive!
In the process of upgrading to an all alloy 2L block with the same VeganTune head (or rather a new VeganTune head).
Even the old engine is a tad more powerful that that mentioned here, but no major issues with the existing drive train, with the LSD.
Not a fan of alternative modern engines in a car such as the 7, but then I've had mine for some 20 years and over 200K miles, soa bit set in my ways!
Info here
In the process of upgrading to an all alloy 2L block with the same VeganTune head (or rather a new VeganTune head).
Even the old engine is a tad more powerful that that mentioned here, but no major issues with the existing drive train, with the LSD.
Not a fan of alternative modern engines in a car such as the 7, but then I've had mine for some 20 years and over 200K miles, soa bit set in my ways!
Info here
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