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r300 exhaust system / weight


ralf

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Hi everybody out there,

I'm a 'newbee' to this forum, so let me just introduce myself: I'm driving Caterham Sevens since 1986, started with a 1600GT and afterwards made an 'upgrade' to a HPC. I'm thinking about buying an R300 for driving on the road (mostly - but would also like to test it someday on a track day 😬). I have some questions regarding the exhaust system: I would like to have an exhaust system as it is seen at Darren Foulsham's R300 (pictured in his perfect building diary!), which is said to be the R500 exhaust system. What's the difference then to the 'normal' one which comes with the R300? Do I only need an R500 exhaust system with silencer and catalyst or do I also have to change the manifold? Can anybody give me the weight of a road legal R300 with raceseats but full weather equipment including heater?

Thanks a lot for your help,

bye

Ralf

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Thanks for the quick response,

just was wondering, because Darren mentioned in his diary that the exhaust 'is r500 type' - but if it's standard ... so much the better (despite the ugly looking catalyst ☹️ ). But I'm afraid the standard one for Germany will be not the 'side pipe' - instead of that there will be an additional silencer underneath the tank (no sound, no looks and often pretty soon do be damaged) - so I think I'll have to place a special order for the 'uk standard version'.

Thanks a lot

bye

Ralf

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Darren,

believe me, I would like to do that - but no chance in Germany! *mad* Risk is to high for my drivers licence - so I would have to accept the ugly thing. My HPC exhaust had the catalyst integrated just in front of the silencer and looked much better, but with Euro3 here in Germany I think you need a second Lambda-Sonde which is maybe the reason for the separation of catalyst and silencer??????????

bye

Ralf

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Apart from the aesthetics, can I ask if there any noticable performance differences post removal of the cat and if so, are they worth the £300 ? Having now done 1100 miles in my own R300 I'm seriously considering the 'upgrade' but £300 is an awful lot of money for a short straight piece of exhaust.

 

Ta

 

Tony M

 

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Tony,

IMHO the biggest difference is aesthetics- there no bloody great cat and associated hideous black guard visible. Even with the guard in place it did worry me about how hot the cat and surrounding area got- have ypu placed your hand near it post-blat- scary *eek*

 

I suppose there is a weight saving- actually I might weigh the cat tonight (now that I've got 'anorak' status *smile*).

 

Performance wise there is no perceivable difference low in the rev range- I didn't leave the cat on long enough after the 500 mile run-in to give an accurate assessment about differences at higher revs (....anyone else care to comment?.

 

The post-cat engine note is different though- more bassy and 'gutteral' (is that a word *confused*) and IMHO it sounds more aggressive. Even so, some posts on here have said that a catted car is noisier when tested than a non-cat car. Surprising *confused* and worth considering if you a marginal on any track day limits.

 

I would say however that the R300 pops and bangs are more impressive without the cat. You get less of them but its quality over quantity!

 

I stand to be corrected, but I would suggest that unless you really want to ditch the ugly cat, its not really worth the £300.

 

darren f

 

The Building of R300SEV is Here

 

Edited by - darren f on 6 Aug 2003 15:00:27

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  • Support Team

According to Caterham's website, an R300 weighs 500kg.

Fluke motorsport's website has a list of weights of components here.

Windscreen: 10kg

Sidescreens: 2kg

Hoodframe: 1kg

Hood: 5 kg

Wiper motor: 10kg

Heater: 4kg

Total extras = 32kg

So your answer is about 532 kg.

Anybody who built their own R300 should have a weight from their SVA.

Shaun

 

Yellow SL *cool* #32

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Contrary to most views, I've left my R300 CAT in place. I actually like the look of it. However after talking to people who have removed them off R300s and 400s, the consensus seems to be that there is a marginal power increase, the noise level is slightly increased, and the consequent moving of the Lamda sensor from its CAT position to the first primary resulis in more popping and banging. I've also read somewghere that the engine mapping was designed with the Lamda in the CAT position.
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