Csr?

[Manchestergas]

I was under the impression that a csr was 2.3 cosworth engine?
Did they change the engine later on?
This car I confusing me......
On the look out for a 200/260 at the moment!

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C372042

Thanks
Mike

[Grubbster]

Yes it is a bit of an odd one, certainly not factory spec.

[Risky]

Caterham have never fitted a Zetec as standard and certainly not in a CSR chassis. Very odd car.

[downsman]

The 2.3 is so much part of the CSR spec, I feel a car without it will be very hard to sell

[TelfonTurd]

Especially at that price. 170bhp in a car with the weight and cd of a CSR is not going to feel so quick. I think you have to look at this car as a CSR rolling chassis with a non standard engine. I'd say its not worth much over half of what is being asked, indeed when put on eBay by the chap who built it thats the best offer he got.


Front wings are on backwards also!

Edited by TelfonTurd on Sunday 31st March 10:07

[pipnjones]

Yes, a slightly odd combination. Definitely a CSR chassis. Perhaps cobbled together as a kit, but the engine doesn't make sense to me.

[LostCroc]

Risky said:

Caterham have never fitted a Zetec as standard and certainly not in a CSR chassis. Very odd car.

Maybe from a UK perspective but Caterham USA fitted Zetecs as standard for 9 or so years - they are a very good engine. I would take one over a K series anyday.

[TelfonTurd]

I think Rocky Mountain fitted the Zetec before they were bought out by Caterham. They only did this as the K would not pass US emissions, and the VX (which did)was no longer made.

That said, nobody is saying the Zetec is a bad engine - the 2 litre on 45 DCOE Webers is a great low cost setup - struggles much above 210bhp though. It was never a proper factory engine though.

[viper blue]

Some. facts,
UK CSR uses the 2.3 litre engine in 200 and 260bhp outputs
The euro CSR uses the ford 2 litre duratec engine in 175 bhp.

The front cycle wings are fitted the correct way around.

I have one.

Is there something S3 about its frame?. Just looking at the ecu, underneath looks very series 3 rather than csr series. Not totally sure but take a look.
Also check out those cloth seats. No respectable csr has them.
Integral dash looks ok.
No winglets on the nose cone either.

Edited by viper blue on Sunday 31st March 16:14

[pipnjones]

Interesting.... A couple of follow-up questions. Why would one offer an Eu spec car with right hand drive? I would expect the car to be left hand drive if it were built to EU spec.

Also, all the steel frame bits in the cabin. Is that an integral part of the chassis, or is it just bolted onto a standard chassis underneath? I think it looks nice, but I had always assumed it is part and parcel of the chassis, and structural. And then with the comments about s3, it just got me wondering....

[viper blue]

Both the ford duratec 2 litre and zetec 1.6 litre engines have the exhaust exit on the drivers side (uk). Te one in the picture exits on the passenger side. That is unusual.
You can easily pic up a genuine csr for 25-30k.
Regarding the integral dash, it is a bolt onto the csr chassis rather than part of it.

Rob

Edited by viper blue on Sunday 31st March 19:00

[Risky]

LostCroc said:

Risky said:

Caterham have never fitted a Zetec as standard and certainly not in a CSR chassis. Very odd car.

Maybe from a UK perspective but Caterham USA fitted Zetecs as standard for 9 or so years - they are a very good engine. I would take one over a K series anyday.

Yes, but this is a UK car. No doubting the fact that the Zetec is a good engine. As advert says, it is an unusual combination of engine and chassis which wasn't factory built, but from the pics looks well put together and in good nick.

[Fish]

YHM as I might be thinking of selling mine... either way I can help with CSR questions.

[adsvx220]

This car has been around for quite a while now. Approach with caution.

Adam

[kitcat7]

OK, that last comment just about does it. As the current owner of this CSR, I am amazed at the level of ignorance being displayed by some people - only some, as there are some fair comments too.

If anyone wants to know anything, why not just ask, instead of indulging in tittle tattle?

Let me correct a few things already said on here by Rob, who should know better. He says "Is there something S3 about its frame?. Just looking at the ecu, underneath looks very series 3 rather than csr series. Not totally sure but take a look." I actually don't know just what 'something S3 about its frame' means? No, there is nothing S3 about it, it is a pure CSR chassis, and by the way Rob, the modular dash has never been bolted in, it is welded in as part of the chassis.
This car has a 2.0l black top Zetec engine, they have ALWAYS been made with the exhaust on the left hand side, and please tell me Rob, where I can buy a 2009 Duratec CSR with only 1700 miles on the clock for £25k - £30k?

Adam, you are right, the car has been around for a while, but I don't suppose you have bothered to find out anything about it personally, would you like to elaborate on why you are advising that it should be treated with caution? I have been honest about its' provenance with pictures and a full description and in my opinion it had been badly marketed by the previous owner. I bought it to replace my current 260, which I built from a kit and registered in 2006, [the most recent of over 10 Caterham Sevens, a Vauxhall engined 21 and a s3 Lotus 7, which I have built and/or owned since 1986 BTW]. However my plans have changed because there is a rather unique supercharged CSR now up for sale, which I may well be interested in, if I can sell the two cars I currently own. This has only become available recently.

So guys instead of chewing the cud and passing wind, why not actually find out a bit before you fart! Oh, all right, a bit strong then, but you'd also get frustrated by empty speculation if you were in my position!

[timrw81]

adsvx220 said:

This car has been around for quite a while now. Approach with caution.

Adam

Unhelpful.

It would be around for a while with people saying that sort of thing.

Engage brain before tapping fingers.

[viper blue]

Kitcat7, you write as though you in some way know me? I don't know you; neither have I any interest sunshine in knowing you.
There was a good example of a csr on PH last month for £25k. CC tend to be in the 30k upwards but then that's a dealers price.

As to your points, I can see you have that you are pissed off at the comments and homed in on mine. I can understand it from your perspective. You could consider explaining the 2litre engine aspect in your advert, as any one who knows CSR in the uk will see the anomaly.

So good luck with your sale and hope you enjoy your R600?

[downsman]

Just out of interest kitcat, did the builder tell you why they chose a black top as the engine?

There's nothing wrong with the zetec 2l, but as the CSR was designed with the duratec in mind, I would have thought it would have been easier to build one with a second hand 2 litre duratec than a zetec as the Caterham exhaust, engine mounts ect would have fitted, and subsequent upgrade to 2.3 litres would have been much easier if desired.

Good luck with the sale

[pipnjones]

kitcat7 said:

OK, that last comment just about does it. As the current owner of this CSR, I am amazed at the level of ignorance being displayed by some people - only some, as there are some fair comments too.

If anyone wants to know anything, why not just ask, instead of indulging in tittle tattle?

Let me correct a few things already said on here by Rob, who should know better. He says "Is there something S3 about its frame?. Just looking at the ecu, underneath looks very series 3 rather than csr series. Not totally sure but take a look." I actually don't know just what 'something S3 about its frame' means? No, there is nothing S3 about it, it is a pure CSR chassis, and by the way Rob, the modular dash has never been bolted in, it is welded in as part of the chassis.
This car has a 2.0l black top Zetec engine, they have ALWAYS been made with the exhaust on the left hand side, and please tell me Rob, where I can buy a 2009 Duratec CSR with only 1700 miles on the clock for £25k - £30k?
...
So guys instead of chewing the cud and passing wind, why not actually find out a bit before you fart! Oh, all right, a bit strong then, but you'd also get frustrated by empty speculation if you were in my position!

Your points here are well made, and it is sad to see frustration flying here. A lot of the people on this forum are interested in why a car came to have certain mods/changes, and that is driving the interest. The last post "avoid" is unhelpful, and should be reserved for the adverts that we all see from someone who knows nothing about cars and virtually nothing about the English language and how to write an advert, and may, possibly, be selling a car that they don't officially own.

But.... I also think you need to take a little bit of the responsibility, because you opened the door to these questions when you listed the car as a CSR 200. This has a particular meaning, and your car isn't a CSR 200. When a car is modified, you list the mods but if the block up front is, for all intents, a lower spec engine, then it isn't a CSR 200, and that is what got people interested (and confused). The headline said it was a CSR 200 and everyone was assuming this was really the case and trying to explain how the name met the engine. You see similar issues with simpler builds like an EU-spec Roadsport, which seems to come in at least three states of tune, depending on the day of the week.

You car ad reads like "good power, awesome handling", and I hope it finds a happy owner who will appreciate it. And it is a CSR with all the benefits (including what I consider to be a gorgeous cabin). But the 200 is what caused the banter.

But I agree about the farting bit.

[adsvx220]

timrw81 said:

adsvx220 said:

This car has been around for quite a while now. Approach with caution.

Adam

Unhelpful.

It would be around for a while with people saying that sort of thing.

Engage brain before tapping fingers.

Sorry!!! I didn't mean to cause upset or insult.

There has been a couple of threads on the car that has popped up with people saying similar things. I'm not saying to avoid, it was just to say approach with your eyes wide open, do your homework on the car. It's a slightly left field setup with the blacktop just do your digging and get as much info as possible.

Adam