230 - 240 bhp

[finnie]

Now I know that I am currently advertising my car for sale but I'll make my excuses by saying that I am very indecisive and also quite car mad. Do I want a 911 turbo do I want an M5 (both used I'm not that rich) do I want to keep my caterham??? Decisions decisions!

 

Anyway in my gathering of opinions a good friend and the previous owner of my lovely cat mentioned that my car isn't too far from being a 230 to 240+ bhp. So following a wee email to Dave Andrews I've been given a quote to upgrade my engine to said spec. Unfortunately it's about a 1200 mile round trip but still doable with transporters.

 

Anyway question is whats the opinion of those who've got such an engine/had the work done. Is it worth it? Always been a fan of torque so particilarly interested in that. Yes I know the k series isn't torquey. Car is purely for road use but I love my power. Car could do with a remap anyway. Could I sell the current cams and followers, valves etc to make up some of the cost.

 

Currently car is a 2001 203bhp K series with just 15000miles

 

Finnie

[Shad]

A little off topic, but how reliable have you found the 200hp K and how many miles have you put on it since it was built to that spec? I want to go for that kind of power with mine but am a little worried about introducing issues.

 

Simon

niknak.org

[Dickie Normuss]

You could sell yours and buy the JPE in the For Sale section? You keep a 7 and an historic one at that, you get your desired power and the torque too.

 

VX HPC - Loud and proud here

Adding power makes you faster on the straights. Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere

[Rob Walker]

If you like lots of torque fit a 2.3 duratec. IMO the k is a great engine no question but keep it to sensible power levels if you don`t want grief . I have run lots of spec`s of K but liked my 186bhp 1.6 the most. I built an all steel 1.8 235bhp and found it needed lots of maintenance to keep it reliable and I was always worried about a failure and the total loss of all the expensive parts. A mild tuned 2L or 2.3L duratec is a joy to own and needs little maintenance and is the most cost effective option if you want big power.

 

Rob

[finnie]

The biggest problem right now is the logistics of it. Ilive in the isle of lewis which is probably about as far away as is possible from Milton Keynes. If DVA had room to store the car for a month then it would be perfect as I work offshore and could send it there while I was away then pick it up/be there for mapping when I come home. BUT dave doesn't have storage so have to come up with another plan.

 

Simon, I've not done that many miles in the car as I've just last year moved into a new house and have actually been building the garage for the caterham most of this year (yes I bought the cat without having a garage!, stored at a mates for 4 months). All I've done is replace the starter motor but as far as I can see it's in rude health and apart from an oil change since the last rebuild it's had very little done to it.

 

Rob I'm interested as to what maintenance you mean? Did you have some failures. A durratec would be nice but we're talking big expense here. If I'm selling the car I'll probably buy a porsche turbo but as I've driven the car so little I think I should spend more time on it.

 

The car has had a slight kangaroo-ing issue at light throttle since I got it so I want to get it mapped to sort that. If I'm going to travel all that way to get a good map and I have the cash sitting then I feel it would be good to "maximise" the potential of what is already a great spec engine. It's been done right up to now so I feel I should carry that on (the car was originally specced and built by a caterham employee). A could lose thousands on a porker over a year but a few K spent getting the cat perfect should lose me very little. PLUS I have the knowledge that my whole engine has been rebuilt to a very high standard, the mapping will be sorted to what I want and I'll have more power to boot. If I can just get round the logistics I think it's my best move.

 

I'm not a thrasher (high revs day in day out) so know the car isn't going to be puched to it's limits for long periods.

 

The JPE would be nice but it's too much right now and as I say if I did sell the cat then I would probably buy a 911 turbo - and then a year later want the cat back!!!!!

[RoyH]

Finnie,

 

I have a K series 500, not hugely torquey, but gets up and goes well enough.

 

DVA is a first class bloke and one of the best to fettle your car, but speaking personally I've always been reluctant to jigger about with the standard tune, principally because I know I'd not get my money back on it at resale.

 

I also have a Carrera 4; although slower than a Porsche TT it's still quick.

 

It depends what you want. My C4 is, literally, almost as quick around a bend in the wet as it is in the dry, but it's far less involving than my 7.

 

The two cars are very different.