A Caterham fit for the road!

It passed it's SVA test with flying colours. In fact they said it was one of the best builds they had had for a long time!
Registration was pretty quick too and so I could pick it up last Saturday (13th August) and so I drove it back from Leicester but I went across country to avoid the M1. I am not THAT brave!
Engine is fine now after they had balanced the throttle inlets and set the throttle sensor. Only slight issue is that the oil pressure gauge creeps up to the correct pressure and never fluctuates. Engine is fine and Caterham  have said that the problem is more than likely the tachometer (which feeds the oil pressure gauge - strange but true) so a new one is in the post.
Great fun driving it now as long as I remember not to straddle the speed bumps! The seat bolts are VERY close to the ground!
It needs a bit of 'fettling' now - such as bleeding the brakes until I get a solid pedal - brakes are good but not good enough for a track day which will be the next challenge.

Saturday has arrived and it is ready!

Well, all the hard work is completed and she is rolled out into the sunlight (it is not always raining in Manchester!). The top pictures (sans roof) will be the normal guise for her with the bottom picture (avec roof) only needed for the trip on the trailer, however the doors will probably be needed on most runs as there is a lot of buffeting I understand! I decided not to put the stickers on yet as I might change them from standard ones.

It really is that low!

On the trailer arriving at Caterham.

This is the last time I see her without number plates! Caterham will be checking her over (to make sure I have built her correctly), putting her through the SVA test, and getting her registered.
See you in about 3 weeks!

It is complete. No more major items to go on!

All the bits are on it now, even down to the mirrors in their SVA placement. Once it gets through the SVA I can move them to the (loosely termed) doors as this is a much more convenient place for them on such a small car.

Needs badges and stickers locating plus all of the rest of the SVA bits like covers for all the exposed nuts on the front suspension.

'Man with a trailer' has been organised for Saturday to take it down to Caterham! I can then tidy the garage before it's return!

Lights, camera, and nearly action!

Getting to the last stages of the build now! All lighting is now complete, seats are in and the roof has been fitted.

It was only when it came down off the stands did I realise how low it really is, but it is not too low to go over the local speed bumps because I took it for a 'blat' (a kit car term apparently which means a run) and forgot all about the bumps as I was so intent on keeping the engine running I set off at a fair lick and was over them before I realised!

No real problems with the build now that I am well versed in the 'caterham way'!

The car is booked to go into Caterham for the Post Build Check (PBC) on the 2nd August but that means I have to have completed all of the registration requirements such as putting covers over all the bolt heads, tape on all electrical wiring, rubber trimming all exposed edges etc. etc. and of course getting it trailered down there. Should be on the road towards the end of August I reckon.

Trim and Front Wings on - looking good!

The front wings were a bit of a swine to fit correctly but at least fixing them with the bolts means they won't fly off! The wire for the indicator repeater had to be fed inside the wing stay tube and then into the car. Not easy! I had to feed a sturdy wire that wouldn't bend easily (I used bell wire) up from the little hole in the bottom of the stay tube to appear out of the end by the wing. I could then use masking tape to stick the two wires together and pull back the lot.

Louise did a brilliant job in getting the boot carpet glued in (used spray on contact adhesive) and also the carpets in the footwell sides.

This then allowed us to fit the centre console.

Seats and belts next but we are off to the Goodwood Festival of Speed from tomorrow, so no more progress until next week.

Yes, the rear wings are on!

My daughter, Louise, is my new helper and is playing with time lapse photography!
Wings and lights went on without any problems.
Next are the carpets and trim!

Looking good!

Roll bar is on, wheels are aligned, and steering centered. Wings next.

20 MPH. In the garage. With no steering wheel. Awesome!!

We eventually got the car to start fine and it now idles. Trouble is it dies when I apply any throttle! At least the picture proves that the drive train works OK. This is in fifth gear (not the TV programme!).
All the rear suspension is now completed and the roll bar is on.
Brakes and clutch filled and bled. Slight problem with the brake bleeding as I hadn't tightened the joints on one of the 3 way unions so as fast as I was putting fluid in, it was pouring out onto the garage floor! Ho-hum!
As the engine problem is still not sorted I will be leaving the engine bay tidy up, so it is onto fitting the rear wings next.

Three cylinders in my Caterham......

This little piece of the engine is a fuel injector and I need 4 working versions of these for the engine to run cleanly. This one is broken so I only have 3 working cylinders!
Amazingly all of the cooling system pipes and electrical connections were fine and the car started (after a bit of coaxing), but then we couln't get it to idle and realised it was only on 3 cylinders. Went through normal troubleshooting by swapping plugs and plug leads but then saw that the top of the piston on the suspect pot was still nice and shiny aluminium colour which meant it wasn't getting any fuel. Fortunately my able assistant (my nephew) knew a bit about injection systems (I am an old school carburettor guy!) and decided that we could take the system apart and look at the injectors. Bingo! We moved the injector to another cylinder and that went down. We had our culprit! A new one is in the post from Caterham! Good guys!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3KWM7t3UfM - the not so sweet sound, but loud!

Anyway that gave me a chance to finish off the rear suspension.....

All nice and shiny - for now!
Next stage is getting the engine properly fettled - tidying up wiring looms, pipes etc. and getting the roll bar fitted so I can bolt in the coil srping dampers (just tempoarily fitted currently).

Rear suspension taking shape!

I now understand how it all hangs together! The Watts Linkage (the two bars connected to the chassis in the top picture) also connects to the DeDion tube via the bell crank connection. This ensures the tube only moves in the vertical plane and not an arc (a single radius arm option), meaning that the wheel stays in better contact with the road.

Still need to install the disc and caliper but starting to look better all the time.

Next stage is obviously to get this finished but the most important bit will come up this weekend when I fill the car with all the required fluids, connect up the battery and try a start.

The diff is in - after a struggle!

 It took us about 4 hours to get the differential located in the chassis whereas Caterham say it should take 45 minutes! Probably next time (there won't be a next time!) will be quicker. The problem was you could get either the top bolts in or the bottom bolts in but not at the same time because the chassis holes were not in sympathy with the differential holes.
In the picture above you will see the metal we had to grind off the top bolt (top middle of picture) to make a point so that we could drift it through the width of the diff (bottom picture).

Anyway this now opens the door for the next stage which is getting all of the rear suspension on.

Cooling system complete!

 The radiator was the easiest bit!

 The lower of the two bottles in the picture is the oil breather bottle and it was missing when I started to install the cooling system stuff. Unfortunately the bracket had to be riveted on so I couldn't do the pipe work around the front until this was installed. As you can see it is now complete.

 The pipe work is now quite tidy after I took it all apart so that I could route it correctly!

It even has a heater!

The beast has a heart!

The engine is in! No problems really and all went very smoothly with the aid of an engine crane and a few bodies! Just a bit of lining up to do in the transmission tunnel to ensure the casing was central on the support.

All the electrical connections from the engine loom to the car loom were matched so you can't get them wrong. Now that the exhaust is on as well it is starting to look like a car! 

Its nearly engine time!!

The missing bits arrived so now the front suspension is complete. It is starting to look more like a car now (especially with one of the wheels on!).
Just need to mask up the engine bay so the engine/gearbox install doesn't mark the chassis too much and then it is engine hoist time at the weekend - if I can gather enough helpers. Volunteers??
Iain

Holiday time nearly over but not got as much done as I had hoped

Unfortunately Caterham have been closed down for this whole holiday period which meant I couln't get the rack brackets. I have also found (or not found!) that I don't have the left-hand cycle stay and as this has to be fitted onto the stub axle before the top ball joint is located, so this side of the suspension is not completed yet.
The break did give me time to do an inventory check so I have identified a number of items also missing, but will get all of these ordered this week ready for the weekend.
As to the right-hand suspension build I had no real problems as the manual is pretty good but I think the brake pipe is not located correctly in the inside of the chassis as the lock nut is taking too much thread.
At least I managed to get the engine and gearbox mated up and this now ready to go into the chassis when the front suspension is completed.

Caterham day arrives!!

Lots of boxes!

A tight squeeze but it all went in fine.

Nice engine - the heart of the beast!
It is a Roadsport SV with a 1.6l Ford Sigma giving 150BHP which will equate to a 0-60 time of around 5 secs - quick enough!

All masked up to protect the body panels from scratches and I am ready to start building.
Unfortunately the first item to be installed, the steering rack, came without its brackets to attach to the chassis so I will get these ordered after the Easter break. Until then the rack can 'roam free' while I install the front suspension. Off to the garage!

the time draws near.....