Caterham R1...?

[Elle Vis]

I've got a mashed up R1 with an intact engine.What mod's would I have to do to get it to fit into a caterham fireblade kit..?

 

Thanks

[Morls]

I happen to have one of each in the garage, a Caterham, a Blade engine and an R1, so exuse me one moment.

 

 

 

Mark

[Morls]

Right, back from the garage.

 

The dimension from the front of the head, (almost against the NS top rail) to the output shaft centreline is less on the R1. This is good as the prop run will be shorter.

 

The engine height appears very similar.

 

The carbs are more downdraught on the R1 which would make the installed height greater and spoil the bonnet linesad.gif.

 

The gear change shaft is mounted above the output shaft on the R1 which makes the mechanism slightly simpler to route as there is less to avoid.

 

The pipe routing could be slightly better on the R1 as the headers are nearer vertial as they leave the head.

 

Riding my R1 back-to-back with friend's blades, the R1 has better response and more power everywhere.

 

So in theory the R1 engine is better.....but.

 

I've chosen a blade engine for my seven as:

 

They are very proven, there must be more blade engined kits than all the others put togather.

 

The transmission is comparitively strong, R1s have been known to suffer from clutch and output shaft failure in cars, (on the bike it just rotates the whole thing and damages the rider instead).

 

Many blades have been used, and raced, with only baffling to the sump. This can be a problem with other bike engines.

 

If I do want a dry sump, and If richer I would, these are commonly availible for blades, not so for R1s.

 

The R1s EXUP valve is usually discarded in car applications, this is one reason why it has better midrange so this advantage may be lost.

 

And finally, gearing. One problem with these engines is the low gearing at the output shaft compared to 5 speed car boxes. I think a blade on a 3.54 diff will do about 6600 at 70 mph. I'm sure the R1 would be worse given the final drive ratio.

 

This is less of a problem with a De-Dion car as I think longer diffs are availible.

 

The bike engined mailing list has a couple of R1 engined Fury drivers on. I'll find the site address and post it.

 

 

 

 

 

Mark

[Elle Vis]

Wow..!

Thanks Mark,you're a gem..!

[Morls]

The address for the BEC e-group has just been posted on the Bike engined cars, Cat Converters" thread, if you search there, there's a link to a build-up site for an R1 engined thing, either a westy or a Fury.

 

James Whiting is selling the proper Caterham approved bits for blades, Chis Allinson at Z-cars is worth speaking to as is Ian Grey at Stuart Taylor, and many BEC folk reccommend Fisher sportscars and Blackbird Motorsport.

 

Good luck if you go for it.

 

Mark

[Richard Miles]

The link is probably to Marc Bell's website concerning the conversion of a Sylva Striker to R1 power:

 

http://biketransplant.tripod.com/

 

On the bec list there is one other member who has an R1 powered Sylva Pheonix and myself - building an R1 powered IRS Striker, plus loads of other people with a multitude of combinations too:

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bike-engined-cars

 

People are using the R1 in cars installs with no sump mods other than a little overfilling. R1 has more on-paper horsepower and torque than the blade and is as light (mine weighs 60.5Kg), plenty of revs and good gearing, sprocket position and gearlink are one of the best for good prop angles and direct gearlinkage. One downside is that they are all 98-> so need a cat for SVA, but you can hire these. 2000 on model has many mods, including gearbox and clutch. No problems in running yet, but the R1 hasn't had the mileage that the blade has with the 750mc racers, which has proven to be bomb-proof so far. Blade also has all the bits like manifolds, mounts etc you need off the shelf.

 

Cheers,

Richard