Caterham 7 Build Diary: 2011

Sunday, 21 August 2011

On the road at last! – 16th July 2011

Collected car from Caterham South this morning & drove back with Adam in the rain, hood down, big smiles - just had to be done.

Frustratingly, the whole post build inspection, IVA test & registration process took four long weeks so we missed our target by 2 weeks of getting the car on the road in time to drive it to the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Surprised by the length of the list of remedial work uncovered by the post build inspection (including new A frame!) as I thought we'd followed the Assembly Guide meticulously :-(. Closer analysis revealed that the guide was incorrect (washers for rear dampers, washers for rear brake hose) so I managed to negotiate a reduction in the bill but nevertheless there was still an unexpected £500 of work.

A word of warning to others reading this blog: the routing of wiring, cables etc in the engine bay has to be done in a very specific way to get through the IVA test & this is one area the Assembly Guide glosses over (a few more detailed pictures would be useful here). Consequently mine needed re-doing by Caterham, who did a very neat job. Another gotcha is the A frame for the rear suspension; apparently it's very easy to stress & crack the weld when tightening it up. Even measuring the spacers & making sure it was central we got caught out so it has to be a manufacturing defect.

Decided to get Caterham to take the car through the IVA test but, even so, this was not straight forward as it failed first time round despite all this work & preparation. The handbrake needed adjusting & the mounting of the washer bottle was incorrect which I'm at a loss to understand. The bottle comes pre fitted to the chassis & slides into a tapered bracket so there is only one way it can be fitted. Net result we lost us a week while we waited for a re-test.

Second warning: don't use MC Edwards for your insurance. Service is non existent, they don't answer the phone, respond to emails or voicemails & cover notes don't turn up on time.

How long did it take to build?

Estimate that the build took us about 120 hours. We started mid February & finished mid June working about 8 hours each weekend.

Was it a good family project?

It certainly beats spending hours in front of the TV or gaming on the PC or Wii. Both of my sons learnt a lot from the project about how to use tools, how to solve problems, car mechanics/enginering, & resolve & determination to see something through to the end. The picture on Adam's face of pride & excitement as he took his first ride in a Caterham he'd help build was priceless.

And lastly, would I build a Caterham again? Yes, but it would be a lot easier & quicker second time :-)

Job done! – 11th June 2011

All done & ready to be collected for it’s post build inspection on Monday.

Fitting the IVA trim & covers is mind numbing & fiddly. Assembly Guide leaves it until after you’ve done all the lighting before telling you that you should have installed grommets for the head lamp & front indicator repeaters in the wing stay & head lamp brackets :-{. By then it’s a bit late & they’re pretty well impossible to fit (even if you cut them) so ended up using amalgam tape at the bracket exit points. Hope this meets with the approval of the IVA inspector!

Tube for windscreen washer required a hole to be drilled through the bulkhead as there was insufficient space to slide it through the wiring loom hole. Replaced rear fog lamp bulb, checked fuse & wiring to the switch but still it refuses to function so added this to the post build inspection list for Caterham to have a look at. Broken plastic in lens suggests there might be internal damage.

Wednesday, 8 June 2011

Carpet jigsaw– 5th June 2011

Discovered that 8 unidentified bits of carpet were in fact for the boot. Another area where the assembly guide is deficient. Completed fitting of hood & boot cover.

Sidescreens, mirrors & hood all attached. Relieved to find all the hood dot fastenings were already on the hood itself; not sure why Caterham don’t do the same for the boot cover. Just the torneau cover to fit now-with plenty of dot fasteners!

The best seats in the house – 21-22nd May 2011

Returned from Seven club event at Dunsfold all fired up to complete the build. Just a pity that it took place a month too early to participate in my own car.

Zip tied wiring into place & connected up front lights with Econoplugs. All lights & indicators now functioning with the exception of rear fog light. I’ll have to investigate.

Repetitive strain injury from riveting 110 pop rivets for aluminium body panels to chassis.

Replaced nearside rear light cluster with new one which arrived during the week. This has a cable which is about an inch longer so the wiring isn’t stretched taught like a bow string. Apparently it’s common for there to be differences in manufacturing, but it seems like a basic quality control issue to me!?

Installed knee panels but pre-drilled holes in these don’t match up with those already drilled in chassis panelling :-(. As they seem a tight fit I need to ask Caterham if these have to be riveted for the IVA test.

Hoodsticks fiited prior to attempting boot cover installation. Drilled through alloy bar but top nearside harness bolt won’t go through chassis. Might need Caterham to run a tap through the mount when the car goes for it’s post build inspection.

Boys back from a weekend Scout camp so fitted 4 point harnesses & seats. Headrests a struggle to fit & remove even after carefully filing away burrs on the inside of the seat. Boys & I strapped ourselves in & went for an imaginary drive :-)

Lights, camera, action – 14-15th May 2011

Indicator repeaters fitted to front wings & cables fed through the hollow wing stays. This is quite tricky as the cables are a snug fit. Solution was to thread a long length of house earth wire sleeve up from the bottom , push the end onto the rubber connector of the repeater wires then use this to push & pull them through the stay. Unfortunately sharp edges inside the stay resulted in some nicks to the outer heatshrink.

The assembly guide describes a complex process for positioning & drilling the mounting holes in the front wings. In reality a much quicker & easier way is to centre the wings over the tyre, drill the holes in the wing stays using the tyre tread to get the same spacing front & rear, & finally put a pilot hole in the wings by using the holes in the stays as a guide & drilling up through them to mark the wings. You can then flip the wings over finish the pilot hole & drill out to 5mm.

Now that the wings & front & back lights are on it's looking like a real car! Unfortunately I discovered I'm missing the Econoplug connectors so cannot complete the headlight wiring & also realise that I'm still waiting for the hoodsticks. I'll have to put in another call to Caterham (I seem to have had rather a lot of shortages/missing items).

Yes, we have ignition! – 10th May 2011

Major milestone. Finally cracked non starting K series problem.

The Rover assembly guide fails to mention that there's a third brown & red low voltage wire that you need to connect to the starter solenoid, & I only discovered this after calling Caterham. Re-checking the Sigma assembly guide it is covered but as the wire comes with a Lucar connector fitted I'd assumed it was a spare for my installation. Changed the connector to a ring tab, attached to solenoid & vola-it starts!

Video clip shows a very excited Jamie :-)

Will it ever start!?– 8th May 2011

Checked all connections & immobiliser again & tried jump starting off the Impreza but still nothing. Engine turns over when crank pulley turned with a socket so at least it's not seized!

Time out to fit seat back carpet & roll over bar so at least Jamie & I can say we've achieved something today.

Possible I've used the wrong stud on the starter solenoid to connect the positive battery lead & positive from the alternator. On closer inspection there are 3 terminals & now the starter is mounted on the engine I'm not sure I've got the correct one: assembly guide talks about the lower stud. Need to put in a call to Caterham tomorrow.

Caterham gives you wings– 7th May 2011

Good start to the day. Rather than put the whole car back on axle stands Jamie suggested we take advantage in the difference in levels between the garage floor & the drive. By rolling the car out of the garage so the front wheels were in the garage but the rears were on the drive this gave us enough clearance to get under the car to access the gearbox drain plug. Using a newly purchased 10mm racket spanner & a stubby bit of cut down 10mm allen key Jamie managed to remove the filler plug. The gearbox was then filled using a long length of hose attached to the spout of the bottle of gearbox oil. Only about 1.2 litres went in so there must have been some in there already. Re-fitting the filler plug was then straight forward but fiddly due to the tight clearances.

Battery reconnected & ignition switch turned but no action from the starter! Just a click from the immobiliser. Checked all connections but still no joy so moved on to something else.

With Jamie, Adam & me working as a production line team we bent, drilled, riveted, trimmed & fitted the rear wing protectors. After making a cut out on the rear wings to clear the radius arms wings & trim went on. Starting to look like a real car now.

Put Lotus 7 club membership to good use & posted a question on Blatchat re starting problem. The Rover click seems to be a common issue when cables get fried by the exhaust but as this is a new installation this shouldn't be the cause.

Hoping for start up – 2nd May 2011

Unclear from assembly guide that Rover engines need plumbing as for Sigma ones with a T piece to the expansion bottle. Once this was worked out radiator & cooling hoses were easy to install & connect, however, you do need to install spacers on the radiator bobins which is not mentioned. Minor leaks on filling with coolant but quickly fixed by tightening hose clips.

Electrical connections made but as warned in the assembly guide, I do have a few spare wires/connectors! Need to check with Caterham if OK to attach black wire with ring tab to battery negative terminal rather than engine lifting eye mount (bolt too big/ cable too short).

Engine filled with oil ready for start up but even though I'd loosened the gearbox filler plug before installing the engine/gearbox assembly & cut down an allen key I still can't undo the filler plug. Wish I'd removed it! Shame as starting the car for the first time would have reignited the children's interest in the project which is beginning to wane. Guess we'll have to put the car on axle stands to improve access & try again next weekend.

Saturday, 23 April 2011

Heart transplant complete – 22nd April 2011

All I can say is that it’s an incredibly tight fit!

Installing the engine & gearbox took about four hours of slow, careful manouvreing of engine & gearbox suspended by hoist above chassis. Centimetre by centimetre the assembly was lowered into the chassis & the engine hoist pushed towards the car.

Nervous moment when Jamie accidently dropped the engine from about 5 cm on to the front chassis cross bracing but fortunately the carefully applied bubble wrap meant we got away without any damage. Difficulty in getting the prop shaft to engage with the gearbox, however, by applying a strap & lifting the gearbox tail from within the car it suddenly slid into position J. Having overcome this obstacle the engine got caught on the alternator (unfortunately causing scratching to chassis even through the bubble wrap) requiring loosen to clear the chassis members.

Once the engine was finally resting on it’s mounts the challenge began to get the bolts in the gearbox mounts. This necessitated all engine mounts being loosened to provide valuable millimetres of wiggle room. Jamie finally got the gearbox mounting bolts in place but the engine then had to be pushed & shoved, moved up/down with the hoist, to enable the mounting bolts to line up with the rubber engine mounts.

To tighten the left handside engine mount to block I thought I’d remove the oil filter to make access easier. Wrong! Oil filter wouldn’t budge & strap wrench just bent the filter.

Gearbox & engine ready for installation – 17th April 2011

By propping up gearbox assembly on blocks of wood & gently twisting managed to align the gearbox with the clutch plate & attach to engine. Bolts provide attached to engine & description in Rover assembly guide bear no resemblance but pretty sure we’ve got in right. Starter motor installed but once again the description in the assembly guide did not match up with reality & the parts provided! Battle to slide heater hose on to joiner despite using plenty of silicone rubber lubricant so ended up having to file off the ridges on one side of the joiner. Jubilee clip to attach the larger hose to the thermostat housing is too small so will have to visit local motor factors to get a larger size.

Slightly concerned at small nick to insulation of cable going to ECU temperature sensor but Caterham assure me it can be replaced later if necessary so I patch it up with some epoxy resin.

All set for putting the engine & gearbox in next weekend. As it’s a bank holiday hope to get plenty done.

Chassis 70042 stands on it’s own four wheels – 10th April 2011

All wheels fitted. Children very excited (not to mention their father) at this momentous moment. Progressively lowered the car a corner at a time until all wheels were resting on the ground. Jamie sat in the car whilst Adam & I pushed it out of the garage for the first time.

Bolted gearbox bell housing to gearbox & fitted clutch pivot arm, thrust bearing, clutch cable & speedo drive.

Saturday, 2 April 2011

Finished rear suspension – 2nd April 2011

Filled & bled brakes (again) & checked for leaks. One leaking at rear calliper & another on the 3 way union on the de Dion axle leaking so gingerly tightened them which seemed to do the trick. With Jamie stretching to press hard on the brake pedal the rear hub bolts are finally tightened to 270NM torque. Jacked up car & re-positioned axle stands under the de Dion tube so that the rear suspension is loaded & the A frame bolts were then torqued up.

Rear diff filled with oil using Jamie’s solution of a funnel with long flexible nozzle. This was made easier by removing both the ply wood & aluminium boot floor. Took advantage of car being up on axle stands to liberally squirt Dinitrol ML penetrating rust protection into all areas where aluminium body is riveted to chassis.

Brakes complete – 23rd March 2011

Took advantage of time between jobs to fit the rear brake callipers. Managed to use bike bottom bracket tool to rotate the calliper pistons to align with the brake pads then with spacers in place mounting the brakes was a simple task. Handbrake cables attached but not adjusted as the hand brake needs to move to the vertical position to fit the trim to the transmission tunnel.

Rear brakes – 22nd March 2011

Drive in Caterham hire car to Wakehurst Place near Ardingly provides a taste of things to come J This was a Roadsport 1.6 SV so a bit wider & heavier than ours but with similar performance. Even my wife had a grin on her face after our blast!

Whilst at Caterham confirm that spacers found in small bag marked “Axle” (along with rubber grommets) are, indeed, the correct spacers to fit between the brake calipers & de Dion ears. Also queried having a floating caliper with rigid brake pipes but was assured that the amount of movement is only about 2mm & insufficient to fracture the rigid brake pipes.

When I went to re-fit the brake pads in the calipers that was removed they won’t align with a cut out in the caliper piston & the piston won’t revolve !

Rear disks/hubs – 18th March 2011

Confirmed speed sensor brackets not required for Rover build so set about fitting disk/hubs Filled brakes with fluid & bled using Ezibleed to check no leaks. Brakes binding on disks & not sure if hubs are fully seated or missing spacers to align brake disks in centre of callipers. Can’t undo or do up hub nut as Jamie can’t hold on the brakes so Graham comes round. Brakes leaking at 3 way union & rear calipers but need to remove callipers to sort out brake/hub/disk alignment issues. Nuts removed & hubs/disk are seating OK. Conclude that either have wrong parts or missing a spacer.

Rear suspension continued – 13th March 2011

Realised by comparing text & photos from the Sigma & Rover build manuals that we’ve fitted the handbrake cable with the adjuster on the wrong side of the chassis ( should be on the left hand side) so had to correct this. Not as easy second time round now the diff’s in.

Installed de Dion A frame, driveshafts & de Dion ears but held off fitting disk/hubs & brake callipers as unclear if speed sensor & bracket(s) are needed & don’t want to have to pull the disk/hubs off again. Rover manual doesn’t mention them but Sigma manual does; need to check with Caterham.

Sunday, 6 March 2011

De Dion tube – 6th March 2011

Having checked out various other build diaries & the Lotus 7 club site, & slept on it, I think the solution might be to jack up & support the diff from underneath, or else use an engine hoist to support from above. This would avoid distortion of the upper mounting rubber bushes & should make the lower mounting bolts much easier to install. Didn’t get time to try this theory out today but did get the brake pipes fitted to the de Dion tube & the rear brake callipers assembled with pads in place.

Rock ‘n’ roll (or not) – 5th March 2011

Diff fixing kit arrived during the week along with the cycle wings, brake hoses, front anti-roll bar plus Sigma build manual. Installation of roll bar with Jamie before football on Saturday morning had to be abandoned when both plastic balls cracked whilst being tightened to the anti-roll bar. I’ll request replacements from Caterham on Monday.

Adam & I spent over 2 hours attempting to fit the diff, however, you could either get the top mounting bolt in or the bottom ones, but not both! Even with gentle persuasion from a rubber mallet. Spacing washes kept raining down on me whilst I struggled underneath the car to get the bottom bolts to line up. Decided to give up on this for today & re-think my approach.

Fitted front brake callipers & one hose so at least I felt we’d achieved something today. Missing washers for second hose so need to ring Caterham for these.

Thursday, 3 March 2011

The missing parts II – 28th Feb 2011

Phoned Caterham to request missing diff fixing kit. Next day contacted Sean to get faulty dampers replaced & he confirms that I should only be using the Rover installation guide to fit the engine & use the Sigma one for everything else including torque settings. Promises to include Sigma guide with replacement rear dampers & provides tracking details for cycle wings & first fill kit which still haven’t turned up. Front roll bar has just been received so will ship this to me as well.

The rear axle – 27th Feb 2011

Do a trial run to fit de Dion ears, brake calipers & brake pipes but fixing bolts in use to temporarily hold diff in place & other parts are in the missing fixing pack so unable to proceed. Discovered rear dampers are leaking!

Handbrake & diff– 26th Feb 2011

With Adam’s help temporarily suspend rear diff on its mounts but as diff fixing kit is missing am unable to complete installation. Fitted handbrake with Jamie.

The missing parts – 21st Feb 2011

Contact Caterham again for missing parts but Sean is still off sick. His manager promises to look into it & call me. No call back so phoned Sean on the 24^th who confirms cycle wings, hood sticks, brakes hoses, front anti-roll bar & fuel filler cover are missing. Cycle wings & brake hoses on their way. Other items will hopefully be despatched on Monday.

A new direction – 20th Feb 2011

Propelled into the garage by a still excited Adam who’s keen to recommence work. All the steering components are identified & laid out ready for installation but the steering rack just won’t go into the chassis. That is, until Adam observes that if we lower it in from the top it will fit, & sure enough it does. His spacial awareness & mechanical aptitude is amazing. After this it’s a relatively simple matter to fit the steering although I’m concerned it feels a bit tight & it’s not possible to get the universal joint in line with the steering column without distorting the rubber grommet or fouling the cheese wedge.

The build begins – 19th Feb 2011

Adam & I begin to build up the near side front suspension whilst Jamie goes shopping for new shoes. After the initial excitement he settles down to the task. Jamie joins us in the afternoon & the three of us complete the front offside suspension together. Copperease everywhere! Lower upright bolts keep spinning & won’t tighten (even with Jamie standing on them) until Adam spots that there’s a allen bolt at the bottom.

Inventory complete – 20th Feb 2011

Complete check of parts list & identify hood hoops, cycle wings, front roll bar & brake hoses as missing.

D Day – 17th Feb 2011

12.30pm delivery van reverses up drive & rear door is rolled back to reveal chassis 70042, in ali with yellow wings & nose cone. Help driver unload 12 cardboard boxes of parts, seats, wheels, exhaust etc before manhandling chassis secured to trolley out of the van & into the prepared garage. Lastly the engine is stowed away under the workbench. With the chassis securely on axle stands I set about moving the multitude of boxes into the garage & am surprised that they all go in so easily.

3.40pm children rush into my office & excitedly ask, “Is it here?” Together we go into the garage & start to open up boxes & start to check off parts against the delivery list.

The Order

Hours mulling over specs before concluding that best value for money was to purchase a Classic, upgrade the engine to the Rover 1.6K series, then add leather seats, heater, hood, quick release steering wheel, spare wheel & four point harnesses. This worked out about £2,000 cheaper than buying the 1.6 Sigma engined Roadsport with similar spec. Order placed early September 2010 for delivery mid Feb.

Go for It!

First visited Caterham South showroom with my two car mad sons, Jamie & Adam, in March 2010 & fired their enthusiasm for a build. Talked about it over the following months but it was not until a family holiday in August that I convinced my wife that it would be educational for the children & a fun thing to do together. After all depreciation on a Caterham is low so we could always sell it if necessary, I argued. Hurriedly arranged a test drive early in September before she changed her mind. This was the first time I’d driven a Caterham & even pouring rain did nothing to dampen the seat of the pants driving experience as I gingerly negotiated roundabouts .