Day 1 of the Build - Masking Up, Steering Rack & Front Suspension (Half Day)

Despite having yesterday off with the intention of starting work on the build, I felt extremely ropey and tired so decided not so start.

Job 1 - Masking up the front end

I dragged Katey into the garage and we started work on masking up the front end using a combination of masking tape and insulation tape around all the openings, followed by pipe insulation around the chassis tubing.

Pipe Insulation protection over the chassis tubing

Job 2 - Steering Rack

On completion we started with mounting the steering rack, noting to hard or complicated about the job at hand one all the correct parts were located. As mentioned by other builders the hardest bit was finding the 'IVA Sleeves' which didn't come in the bag marked IVA.

Logo'd Steering Rack and Mounts

Job 3 - Wishbones and Shocks

I knew reading other blogs that this was going to be a 2 person job so I managed to persuade Katey to stay and help by putting on the propane gas heater. After the ease of fitting the steering rack, fitting the lower wishbones was somewhat more challenging! I ended up sitting inside the engine bay to knock the washers in either side of the rear lower wishbone mount with a rubber mallet and flat head screw driver.

Lower Wishbone Rear Mount with 2 washers either side of the Wishbone (As advised on the Caterham Forum)

Front Lower Wishbone Mount with 2 washers against the chassis (these wouldn't be there if the rear mount was as per the manual)

Following the challenge of the first lower wishbone we decided it was time for lunch and to read the next bit inside. It was then that I noticed that for the wide track cars (which the Supersport R is) then the washers should have a different arrangement to the way that we'd put them in! A quick look at BlatChat (Caterham Forum) I found out that this alters the castor angle and hence the stability of the car. This can be changed later if required so we left it as it was, this seemed to be the favoured option for others.

Mounting the Upper Wishbone was easier, but the front nut took was so close to the body work we were concerned it would rub, thank goodness we had protected the area. Only problem now will be removing the insulation tap around that area!

We then fitted the shock which was a reasonably easy job with a bit of gentle persuasion using the good old rubber hammer! Once in place all the bolts were torqued up and marked with a paint pen to indicate that I had tightened the bolts to the required torque value. The only one that I couldn't torque up was the top shock bolt as it is impossible to get a torque wrench in to that location, I ended up using an allen key and trying to match the feel to the lower torqued bolt.

We then completed the other side to the same stage.

Steering Rack, Front Wishbones and Shocks in place

The manual mentions during the above to fit the head light mounts, but following advice from another builder (Tom Wood), I left them off for the minute as they can be fitted at a later date, which I understand is how Caterham now do it.