crossflow that lacks the horses

[boughtoneatlast]

Hi all...

 

I currently run a very tweaked 1.6 SS BUT a friend of mine now has a crossflow that lacks the horses!!!!

 

So the question is who best to go to?.. it needs the following

 

Uplift of BHP -currently 110 ish...

Suspension very floppy - needs sorting

Rear exit exhaust system....

 

So you guys with the x flows, please advise what you would recommend and who to do it...??

 

Gary

🤔

 

Tweaked 1.6kSupersport

[Michael]

Go Zetec now, before spending on the crossflow.

 

 

[Joe 90]

With Roger King's retirement, Vulcan are probably your best bet. The XFlow responds to the usual tuning options, so a lot depends on budget and mechanical abilities. If you are going to start on the upgraditis road, you would have different priorities to a once only upgrade.

 

I will be on the road by Christmas. Photos here

[Gavin]

Gary,

 

On sorting the floppy suspension - previous forum postings have raved about Freestyle Avo's. I have just fitted a set and had them set up by Gary at Freestyle. They are VERY, VERY good, a massive improvement over the 1996

' soft ' factory suspension that my car had.

 

How far does your friend want to go with the engine ? Having the head properly flowed and fitting a competition exhaust will give a small gain if all else is OK.

 

Mail me if your friend would like to see the suspension, can also advise a little more on engine mods. I am of course only down the road from you, my car sounds similar to your friends.

 

Gavin.

 

[Baby Bucket]

Gary,

 

I have been down this route and have ended up with a much modified x/flow . The car started life as a 100bhp Caterham Classic SE (live axle):

 

I would recommend:

 

1. Sort the suspension. Makes the world of difference.

 

If the front anti-roll bar acts as one half of the upper front wishbone then consider changing the upper front wishbones to de-dion type with separate anti-roll bar.

 

Get some decent (preferably adjustable) shocks & springs. I used Leda's from James Whiting.

 

2. Check the brakes and consider upgrading to 4 pot front calipers. Again I used the Alcon kit from James Whiting.

 

With reasonable tyres (A32Rs), I was amazed at the difference these mods made.

 

3. Dry sump engine - only makes sense if you intend to keep the x/flow. I did this because I started doing a lot of track days.

 

4. Rework engine - I agonised for ages over whether to stay with the x/flow or go Zetec. I decided to stay with the x/flow and got the engine rebuilt to 162.5 bhp. I did around 1000 track miles last year ! 😬 The engine was built by Rob Morley at Protune.

 

5. Finally, here is a list of other mods that I made:

Side exit exhaust - with Caterham 7" can (this is heavy and I would probably now use Ammo's version)

Replace rear 'A' frame with rose-jointed version.

Fit rear anti-roll bar - not straight foward on a live axle but it can be done.

Instal ACES (as fitted to R500) shift light.

Fit ATL bag tank with guage.

Quaiffe LSD

Uprated gearbox (still four speed)

Full roll cage

Rear disk brake conversion (James Whiting kit)

AP brake bias adjuster

 

All of this work was carried out by Ratrace (Caterham agent in North London), who do a great job.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Peter

 

 

[boughtoneatlast]

Peter

 

What sort of money were you talking about??..

 

This sounds like the sort of work that needs doing....

Thanks

Gary

 

Tweaked 1.6kSupersport

[greg]

BabyBucket's car is very nice and a good example of a seriously tweak crossflow.

 

Uprating a car is a complex issue;

 

Do you spend money on you engine?

Swap the engine for a different one (Zetec)?

Sell the car and spend the difference on a different car?

 

Arround 3K should get you close to 155bhp - you could probably get close, or a good increase with a better head and exhaust, without getting at the bottom end - this could save you allot.

 

I looked at doing a Zetec conversion and priced it up at well over 3K. A Zetec is also appreciably heavier than an xflow, and it might be too much for the Ital Axle. So if you go for a Zetec, remeber that you will need allot (20 bhp ish / est) more bhp to get the same BHP/tonne due to weight, and if you go for a bigish one then you will probably need a new/different axle.

 

If still had my old live axle xflow I'd either go with an xflow, or put a Fireblade in it 😬

 

In the end it's an emotice issue - how much do you like your xflow?

 

Sig: If it is such a big issue why are the WSCC, Piston Heads, SELOC, BBC, Channel 4 ... not members only?

[AMMO]

Mark Hicks may commment at some point.

 

We weighed my Zetec with light steel flywheel, clutch inlet manifold and throttle bodies at 115 kilos. We weighed the Crossflow that came out of Mark's car, again with flywheel, clutch, inlet manifold and Weber carbs and oil cooler. Also 115 kilos (without oil cooler 112.5 kilos).

 

This was done on one pad of a corner weight scale at Anglia Sevens. And even if the Zetec was much heavier it has the potential to make a lot of power for less money than a Crossflow.

 

Depends what you prefer. It is probably cheaper to upgrade your Crossflow than to go Zetec.

 

AMMO

[boughtoneatlast]

Hi guys

 

Well this crosflow has the de Dion rear so the Ital axle is not the issue, however its what is a good value upgrade.

 

The enginne has only done 10,000 miles and therefore is in good order. It would therefore make sense IMHO to retain this and upgrade to a sensible level BUT, who is best equiped to do this now that Roger has retired and who is best to get advice on different bhp vs. cost options?

 

Help greatly appreciated....

 

 

 

Ex 1.6 SS, now 186bhp!!, it flies

[Baby Bucket]

Hello all,

 

My car has been developed over 4 years and although the engine was done last winter (interestingly at about 11,000 miles). I would strongly suggest giving Mark Oliver (at Ratrace) a call on 020 8216 5567 - he will advise on costs. Ask him about Peter's yellow x/flow .

 

Protune, who built the engine, are on the same site as Ratrace (in Barnett, North London).

 

They advertise on the inside back cover of LF.

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

 

[greg]

Peter / Baby Bucket

 

Out of interest why the bag tank?

 

Sig: If it is such a big issue why are the WSCC, Piston Heads, SELOC, BBC, Channel 4 ... not members only?

[boughtoneatlast]

Thanks Peter

 

Have to say RatRace did a superb job on my K series too.. so have had personal experience of them.

 

I also remember at some time in the past there was a company that had upgrade packages at set prices, does anyone know who that was???

 

 

Ex 1.6 SS, now 186bhp!!, it flies

[Badger Bill]

I seem to recall that my blade engine (carbs) clutch and gearbox was about 70kilos...

 

😬

 

Next weight loss is brown 😳

 

BB

[Chris K]

I also have a Pro-Tune engine and so far I cant fault it other then rocker gasket not fitted correctly upon delivery.. great engine .. 😬

JUST.. site down when they give you the bill.. dispite me stating a bugit prior to car going tothem it still came back over bugit.. (but there was a LOAD of work done)

Chris

 

Fighting the battle against Eurasia.... or was that Eastasia.

[Baby Bucket]

Greg,

 

I managed to pick-up a secondhand Bag Tank here on Blatchat. I had it checked over by ATL and fitted with a fuel guage and despite popular opinion you can use an external filler. Why go for a bag tank ? Two reasons:

 

1. Safety, given the number of track miles the car is doing.

2. I hated the fuel surge / wobbly fuel gauge !!! Both are much improved with a bag tank.

 

Cheers

 

Peter

[greg]

Thanks Peter,

 

Sounds like a good idea, I did not know you could get the sender retrofitted.

 

Sig: If it is such a big issue why are the WSCC, Piston Heads, SELOC, BBC, Channel 4 ... not members only?

[millsn]

Replace dmy XF with zetec. Am happy with it but would recommend selling and getting a newer car with better suspension geometry ('96 onwards) if you can bear it - I couldn't bear selling mine after so many skinned knuckles. In retrospect I would do so.