K series to VX upgrade- Dry Sump Capacity & Alternator Questions

[Guest]

I am in the planning phase of migrating from a K series to VX, decision is made, and I know its a ' marmite' migration, who cares I love my Redtop, but I have a couple of questions for existing VX owners.

 

Dry Sump Tank. What's the consensus view of the size of tank, both physically and actual oil capacity in use.

 

Alternator. Which alternator are you using?, where is it located, on the inlet or exhaust side?

 

Look forward to everyone's inputs

[andy_h]

I pit 7l in my dry sump tank holds, could hold more but that's what I use.

 

My alternator on exhaust side (can't go on other side as dry sump pump in way).

 

[keybaud]

Caterham said the Caterham dry sump oil tank holds 7l. The garage doing some work for me confirmed that they put 7l in; however, they reckon that about 3l of that went on the floor. I assumed that the system wasn't fully drained when they added it, but I'll be adding it 1l at a time when I next change the oil.

 

My alternator is on the exhaust side.

 

If the engine mounts are for a K-series, you may want to confirm what needs to be changed to fit a Vx, as I believe the VX engine sits lower in the car than a K-series, as the engine is taller.

 

Edited by - keybaud on 3 Jul 2014 11:19:38

 

Edited by - keybaud on 3 Jul 2014 11:20:32

[I reply to every thread]

My VX (230bhp) takes around 3.75 litres in a tall but narrow pace end of footwell tank. Steve Mell has the sameish setup

 

I use the valeo alternator on the exhaust side.

 

PS I have a photo of your old car on my office wall, albeit behind mine and being driven by Mr Gibb at Spa

[simonpa]

Soo - we have someone wanting to convert a Chesil speedster into a snail by converting it to lead-acid batteries and another wanting to convert a nimble K-series car into a lump of cast iron.

 

Does no-one care about handling/driver-experience anymore?

 

On a serious note, wouldn't it be a lot simpler to just sell your car and buy a Vx-engined version?

 

 

[ECR]

I have the Pace easyclean 6.5" tank but I think if I were buying again I'd try the 5" version and keep a close eye on oil temperature on track.

I use a Brise alternator (Nippon Denso) on the exhaust side (Caterham dry sump pump on the other side). It has proved much more reliable that the Valeo type alternators that I previously used.The bearings weren't a problem but I kept burning out regulators/diodes (?)

NB

The Caterham VX dry sump pump is no longer available

[k.russell]

Also got the pace easy clean same as roger, had to take out the pass footwell, still on Valeo alt. takes 5l oil with titan scav pump, QED dry sump pan.

[Guest]

Thanks everyone, even Simonpa...., of course it would be simpler buying an old HPC, but where's the fun in that?

 

I'll be using a Pace Dry Sump system, just deciding on tank size as they were recommending the 8.5 inch, but felt that was too big so your inputs are appreciated. Just need to work out where to put the remote filter. For the alternator, I think I'll go with the Brise one.

 

Also have sorted the engine mounts, I know a nice man called Bruce.

 

This is such a nice place.

 

Edited by - Tazio77 on 3 Jul 2014 13:22:07

[simonpa]

Good luck with everything!

Don't forget to take lots of pictures and send in a write-up to Low Flying :)

 

Cheers - Simon

 

 

[Guest]

Thanks Simon, I'll think about that...lol

 

Now all I need is someone who wants a complete K series engine plus the ecu etc....but not until October/November, plan to have some fun with it til then!

[cskip]

You don't need the 8.5" version. Where will you fit it??? Assuming you are fitting it in front of the passenger footwell - are you sure it will fit? On my HPC a 8.5" would foul the top chassis rail. The 5" is enough, well that was what SBD recommended I get. I ended up with a 6.5", due to the lead time from Pace for the 5" version (I waited 8 weeks and there was still no sign of it arriving, so I swapped to the 6.5 and it arrived in a few days!).

 

I currently have a cheap Chinese alternator, I just need to get around to installing the Brise Denso I have on the work bench. And mine is on the exhaust side, due to the dry sump pump.

 

I think most fit the remote filter below the Carbs/throttle bodies by the side skin. Where the washer bottle goes. Although I decided to fit mine on the edge of the scuttle above the gearbox, it makes it very easy to change.

[Neil Felstead]

I have a brise kidney shape DS tank in front of the radiator as passengers prefer the comfort of a long cock pit its nice and neat & out of the way with a 6ish litre capacity.

Alternator exhaust side.

 

Neil