Carteham R500D - buying used - what to look out for?
Discussion
Hi,
I currently have a nicely sorted Westfield Zetec SEIW running just circa 210bhp, (used on both road and track), but I'm looking to 'scratch an itch' I've had for a while now and buy an R500D in manual, not sequential, gearbox form, simply because I fancy a fair bit more power and a more visceral experience than the Wesfield gives me. Usage will be more biased towards track days albeit I still want to enjoy blatting. For info, I would also consider an R400D with the roller barrel upgrade, if a good one came up.
Anyway, with regards the R500D, what do I need to look out / listen out for when viewing and how can I tell if the car is a genuine R500 in the first instance and if it is, whether it has been factory built or not?
Also I note that the factory car / kit came with a Bilstein damper set up as standard but that an Eibach track package was available as an upgrade. As I intend to use the car on track a fair bit, is the Bilstein set up more than acceptable or is the difference between the stock and upgrade option really noticeable? (Appreciate that other kit, e.g. Nitrons, may have been fitted but I'm more interested in standard spec and upgrade spec on the assumption I can get a factory car)
One thing that I am wary of however is cockpit space. My Westfield is the wide-bodied model so sharing that space with a passenger and using the wheel in anger on a track day especially, is no issue. However I've not sat in a non-SV Caterham yet but all the YouTube footage I've seen suggests that I'd be jamming any passenger I may have in the ribs with my elbows and vice versa when I'm not driving. Would be interested in hearing personal opinions from any owners on that one.
Thanks in advance for any feedback!
Steve
I currently have a nicely sorted Westfield Zetec SEIW running just circa 210bhp, (used on both road and track), but I'm looking to 'scratch an itch' I've had for a while now and buy an R500D in manual, not sequential, gearbox form, simply because I fancy a fair bit more power and a more visceral experience than the Wesfield gives me. Usage will be more biased towards track days albeit I still want to enjoy blatting. For info, I would also consider an R400D with the roller barrel upgrade, if a good one came up.
Anyway, with regards the R500D, what do I need to look out / listen out for when viewing and how can I tell if the car is a genuine R500 in the first instance and if it is, whether it has been factory built or not?
Also I note that the factory car / kit came with a Bilstein damper set up as standard but that an Eibach track package was available as an upgrade. As I intend to use the car on track a fair bit, is the Bilstein set up more than acceptable or is the difference between the stock and upgrade option really noticeable? (Appreciate that other kit, e.g. Nitrons, may have been fitted but I'm more interested in standard spec and upgrade spec on the assumption I can get a factory car)
One thing that I am wary of however is cockpit space. My Westfield is the wide-bodied model so sharing that space with a passenger and using the wheel in anger on a track day especially, is no issue. However I've not sat in a non-SV Caterham yet but all the YouTube footage I've seen suggests that I'd be jamming any passenger I may have in the ribs with my elbows and vice versa when I'm not driving. Would be interested in hearing personal opinions from any owners on that one.
Thanks in advance for any feedback!
Steve
Edited by JustCallMeMac on Friday 15th April 18:11
Edited by JustCallMeMac on Saturday 16th April 08:07
Can you clarify this is the Caterham r500 with the bored out (re-linered?) 2.0L k series on roller barrels. If so this is a pretty highly stressed engine that needs quite a bit of tlc and are very expensive if it goes bang, lots of power but very little torque, iirc they needed a service every 4500 miles. The duratec engine ones are less stressed and if you can stretch to one of these I would go for that.
When I iva'd my fury Caterham factory were in two cars behind me, a full fat k series r500 and a customer superlight with a 190hp duratec, both drivers much preferred the duratec to drive on the road. The r500 popped and banged and they had probalems meeting the emissions test, this was normal they said for that engine.
If you already have a zetec West, why not fit an st170 engine with a few trick bits on it (cam, tbs, porting etc.), should make 200hp+ with a decent amount of torque.
When I iva'd my fury Caterham factory were in two cars behind me, a full fat k series r500 and a customer superlight with a 190hp duratec, both drivers much preferred the duratec to drive on the road. The r500 popped and banged and they had probalems meeting the emissions test, this was normal they said for that engine.
If you already have a zetec West, why not fit an st170 engine with a few trick bits on it (cam, tbs, porting etc.), should make 200hp+ with a decent amount of torque.
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