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Catehram announce Suzuki-turbo '7, but.......
cjwood23 - 5/8/13 at 01:52 PM

...It's not the sort of Suzuki turbo you're thinking of........

Article on PH HERE and press release from Caterham HERE.

Strange choice or inspired genius??

Alway wondered why no one has turbo'd any of the 600cc bike engines and stuck them in a '7.

PSpirine - 5/8/13 at 02:00 PM

Read that, I think that's an excellent choice, and is about as good a balance you can get between 21st century engines and staying true to the basic 7 concept/formula..

scootz - 5/8/13 at 02:08 PM

Caterham have a large following who are not interested in balistic acceleration.

So as long as they can make it move reasonably briskly, then I think they are onto a winner! Super economical too.

I like it!

steve m - 5/8/13 at 02:09 PM

I wonder how may will be bought, and then stick a more suitable 1000 cc or higher engine ?

Ninehigh - 5/8/13 at 02:11 PM

Would be interesting to see what other 7 owners think after driving one. The PH article suggests it'll have enough power for most of us really so there's probably little real world difference to pick up on

MikeRJ - 5/8/13 at 02:24 PM

quote:
Originally posted by cjwood23
Alway wondered why no one has turbo'd any of the 600cc bike engines and stuck them in a '7.


The clutch and gearbox would be too fragile. They aren't exactly the paragon of reliability on the 1 litre engines when used in cars.

You'd also have very little torque off boost, so you'd be screaming the nads of it all the time.

Mark Allanson - 5/8/13 at 02:46 PM

The 1.0 Ecoboost is an excellent little engine, but sounds like it should be cutting grass

matt_gsxr - 5/8/13 at 02:51 PM

quote:
Originally posted by MikeRJ
quote:
Originally posted by cjwood23
Alway wondered why no one has turbo'd any of the 600cc bike engines and stuck them in a '7.


The clutch and gearbox would be too fragile. They aren't exactly the paragon of reliability on the 1 litre engines when used in cars.

You'd also have very little torque off boost, so you'd be screaming the nads of it all the time.


The only advantage of turbo 600cc might be that you could fit into a particular competition class. Say the turbo gives you a 1.4x engine capacity weighting, then you could sneak under the 1litre with a 700cc engine. No idea if it would be worth the bother though.

AndyW - 5/8/13 at 03:12 PM

quote:
Originally posted by MikeRJ
quote:
Originally posted by cjwood23
Alway wondered why no one has turbo'd any of the 600cc bike engines and stuck them in a '7.


The clutch and gearbox would be too fragile. They aren't exactly the paragon of reliability on the 1 litre engines when used in cars.

You'd also have very little torque off boost, so you'd be screaming the nads of it all the time.


Looks like they will be using a different box, as the article says a re-engineered 5 speed gearbox. Don't the bikes has 6 gears? Maybe there way of dealing with the fragile issue?

eddie99 - 5/8/13 at 03:14 PM

I also get the impression its not a bike engine, but a 3 cylinder car engine developed by Suzuki with a normal box.

cjwood23 - 5/8/13 at 03:44 PM

quote:
Originally posted by eddie99
I also get the impression its not a bike engine, but a 3 cylinder car engine developed by Suzuki with a normal box.


It's a derivative of the engine in the Suzuki Cappucino.

rdodger - 5/8/13 at 03:45 PM

Around 80bhp and less than 500kg, so 160 hp per ton.

Not exactly mind altering.

I don't see why anyone would want one because it is economical. How many miles per year does a Catering van owner do? 3000 max?

loggyboy - 5/8/13 at 03:49 PM

quote:
Originally posted by rdodger
Around 80bhp and less than 500kg, so 160 hp per ton.

Not exactly mind altering.

I don't see why anyone would want one because it is economical. How many miles per year does a Catering van owner do? 3000 max?

Yes but comparing it to the model its replacing, the NA 120hp 1.6, its not exactly a downgrade. I would expect it to make more than the figures and to have some torque being blown.

[Edited on 5-8-13 by loggyboy]

Wadders - 5/8/13 at 05:57 PM

I reckon a 600cc bike engine would be a waste of time in anything much over 300kg, even with a turbo.

iank - 5/8/13 at 06:15 PM

quote:
Originally posted by eddie99
I also get the impression its not a bike engine, but a 3 cylinder car engine developed by Suzuki with a normal box.


Yes it's a Kei car engine and gearbox based on (or just taken straight across) the RWD Cappuccino, probably designed for the Japanese market more than anything.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_Cappuccino

smart51 - 6/8/13 at 07:16 AM

The standard engine makes 77BHP at the flywheel and a Kei-Car-law-obeying 64 BHP at the rear wheels. The B spec engine made 120 BHP (and was used in snomobiles amongst other things). A Caterham with this engine could be quite tasty.

As stated above, the K6A engine was used in the 2nd generation Cappuccino. The first generation UK spec cars had the older F6A engine, weighed 725kg and did 0-60 in 8.2s according to Autocar. The newer engine is lighter and has more midrange torque. The Caterham is lighter still and if the get a decent power output it could be really quite quick.

ettore bugatti - 13/9/13 at 05:49 PM

Some nice details for viewing in this video:


Wonder if the front uprights are from Suzuki as well.