Day 42 - Post Build Check Collection

Job 129 - Paper Work Preparation

This mornings job involved sorting our the paper required for the IVA and Registration, not very exciting but had to be done. Once complete this was all put in the car along with the badges & Battery Master Switch.

Job 130 - Loading

My Mum and Dad arrived shortly before Keith from Caterham Midlands turned up. Following a cup of Coffee it was time for Keith to do a visual check of the car before loading into the enclosed trailer (very nice).

In the Garage ready to be loaded - I realised how small it was when there is room either side of the car even with the Shelves in place! My Clio Trophy wouldn't have had the same space with out the shelves and that wasn't a big car!

The Trailer being prepared for loading

Caterham's Tow Vehicle

Ready for Inspection

Driving it into the trailer

In the tailer! All I need to do is get out now! :-)

Day 41 - Front Wings, IVA Trim - Part 2 & First Drive (4 Hours)

I had a few hours to try and finish off the final items before it gets collected tomorrow!

Job 123 - Front Wing - IVA Trim & Final Fitment

In order to the car to pass the IVA test there needs to be rubber trim bonded to the cycle wings and any sharp edges. I used contact adhesive to do this, applying only to the inside of the wings.

Readied for Rubber trim

Contact Adhesive applied - waiting for it to dry

 Whilst the Rubber trim had been applied I followed some advise provided by a fellow Caterham Builder and applied some foam trim to the wingstays, preventing movement as well as cushioning the wings.

Foam Applied to the Wing Stays

I then attached the Wings Stays using Zip Ties and covered the wires connections with ACF50 before connecting and covering with windscreen washer pipe to provide some protection against the elements.

Front Wing fixed in place and Side Repeaters connected

Job 124 - IVA Trim - Part 2

I then went around the rest of the car trying to complete the IVA trim (where I had enough trim):

• Reversing & Fog Lights
• Seat Belt Bolts (Even though not fully torqued)
• ECU Bolts
• Front Lower Wishbone Bolts - Where I had trim

Other Items I couldn't complete due to lack of Trim were as follows:

• Rubber Pipe for the following:
• Front Brake Pipes
• Top Ball Joints
• Steering Column Boss
• Lower Wishbone Bolts - Where trim was missing

Other items Tom at Caterham recommended I didn't do at this stage:

• Dashboard Stickers
• Bung hole in the bottom of the Wishbones
• Top Shock Collar Radius

Job 125 - Wheel Fitment

After the wings were all in place I fitted the wheels so that it was ready to take off the Axle Stands and sit on its own wheels once again.

Wheels in place and ready to be taken off the Axle Stands

Job 126 - Removing from Axle Stands

Katey and I followed the same method as last time by jacking the back up and removing the axle stands before lowering (with the Handbrake on this time). I then lowered the front end and lowered the car to the ground.

Job 127 - Nose Cone & Bonnet Fitment

Final jobs before switching the Caterham and the bikes around ready for collection was to move refit the Nose Cone and Bonnet. We fixed the Nose Cone in place and noticed that the Anti-Rollbar was catching the Nose Cone so we removed it and used the Dremel to open up the location around the Anti-Rollbar before refitting. It was then a case of refitting the Bonnet.

Car Completed - Bar the Side Screens & headlights way off line!

Job 128 - First Drive

I wanted Katey to see the car move for the first time, so we decided to switch the Caterham and bikes around ready for tomorrow!

It was the first time I had sat in the drivers seat, so quite an emotional moment!

First time in the drivers seat! :-)

Katey then directed me out of the garage past the shelves at the side located in front of the Car whilst recording a video!

First Drive completed - Really pleased with the colour choice changes with different lighting 

No Flash used for this photo and a markedly different colour!

Day 40 - Rear Wings & Lights, Seats - Part 3, Hood - Part 2 & IVA Trim - Part 1 (1 Day)

This was to be the last full day I would have working on the car before it got picked up so needed to try and nail a lot of things that remained unfinished! Alex was on a day off again so was able to assist.

Job 122 - Rear Lights

Following the re-fitment of the Rear Wings it was time to fit the rear lights to the wings. A 30mm hole and the bottom inside hole had already been drilled. I levelled the car up with the aid of the jack and used the boot top and roll bar as reference points, using a spirit level to ensure that the light blocks were level. Pilot holes were drilled once the measurements had been taken, retaken and taken again for good measure. Once the pilot holes were successfully made, these were then opened up to 4mm and drilled from the opposite side. Self tapping screws were then used to fix the light blocks in place.

Fixing the light block - No bulbs in place. 

Rear Lights fixed in place

Job 123 - Seats - Part 3 (Passenger)

Having taken delivery of the new seat rail we tried again to fit the passenger seat! Again we managed to fit the front bolts easily enough, but the backs wouldn't fit so I took the decision to leave this to Caterham rather than strip another runner thread! I taped the remaining bolts to the seat for Midlands to complete.

Job 124 - Hood - Part 2

The hood had been left stretching over night and was a bit more supple today so we moved the hoodsticks to the correct location and and secures the hood straps in place. We then marked a location to drill the front 2 hood popper bolts into the chassis, once marked these were drilled and the popper bases secured with rivets.

Job 125 - IVA Trim - Part 1

Final job for the day was to start on the IVA trim. The following items were completed:

Exhaust Spring Mounts - Washer Pipe over the ends

Side Repeaters - Covered with Washer Pipe

• AP Caliper Mounting Bolts
• AP Inside Balance Pipe Bolt

Days 39 - Steering Column, Boot Cover, Seats - Part 2, Mirrors & Hood - Part 1 (1 Day)

With collection day fast approaching I wanted to get started on some of the IVA trim and get some of other jobs completed. Richard and Alex were on a day off and offered to assist for the day. :-)

Job 117 - Steering Column

I had wanted to get this job done for a while to see how the quick release steering wheel looked. We started by putting the lower steering column in first of all as described in the manual! This was easy enough and was bolted in to the steering column via the universal joint.

Lower Steering Column attached to the Steering Rack 

Steering Column - A tight fit between the manifold

The next job was to slide the upper column bush over the column and then slide this in from the drivers compartment through the (already installed) lower column bush and connect to the lower steering column and this is where the fun began! However we tried, we couldn't get the upper through without forcing the lower bush out of its fixing. In the end the lower bush ended up getting forced out of its fixing, so we tired to fit it to the standard steering column and the quick release one I had purchased and this bush was somewhat tighter than the on supplied loosely on both columns. It ended up that the inner sleeve of the bush destroyed! I ended up putting the bush in without the inner (another thing for Caterham to look at in the Post Build Check).

Now that everything was roughly lined up, we needed to sort out the front wheel alignment which seemed to have a lot of Toe Out (too much) so we had to head to Halfords to purchase a ball joint separator so that I could realign the front wheels. This was completed with ease with the wheels and tyres on.

Once the upper was though it was a case of lining up the upper and lower columns and fitting the clamp.

Upper and Lower Steering Columns fixed with the clamp

Quick Release Column in place

Steering Wheel Attached

Works Bell quick release Steering Column from the side

Job 118 - Boot Cover

Having still not completed the task of tightening the Upper Harness Bolts fully I decided with 3 of us we should be able to complete the task! We started by fixing the 4 popper bases into the top of the bulk head through the boot cover. This was made easier using a clothes punch purchased from Ebay.

We then tried to tighten the Upper Harness bolts to 47Nm, but still with no joy, they started to ruck the boot cover at 20Nm so a job added to the list for Caterham to complete!

With Richard and Alex pulling the boot cover I marked up the location of the popper bases on the back of the car on the boot cover. I then started to use the clothes punch and with in 2 holes it was shot! Bad feedback for the Ebay supplier I think, so I resorted to the drill with Alex and Richared holding the cover tightly. We worked from the outsides in towards the centre one at a time so we managed to keep the boot taught. We used the durable dot tool to secure the popper tops using the bulk head as a base to hammer the popper tops in.

Job 119 - Seats - Part 2
We then looked at the seats again, definitely a 2 person job! With a bit of messing about we managed to install the drivers seat by placing all the bolts in the runners before lowering the seat in to place. We fixed the front bolts first, securing loosely with a nut so that the bolts didn't get pulled back out and then shifted the seat forward on the adjustable runners so that we could get access to the back bolts. Using an round headed Allen Key on multiple extension pieces we were able to tighten the seat. The bolts were torqued up to 20Nm as informed by Derek.

Extension bars used to fix the drivers seat rear bolts

We then moved on to the passenger seat and tried to fix this, the fronts went in relatively easily, but I could not get the back in and managed to strip the tread of on one of the runners! A call to Derek and a replacement was in the post, a common issue I believe!

Job 120 - Mirrors

The mirrors come mounted ready to be mounted on the side screens, but for the IVA they have to be attached to the window stantions (in the top screen bolts for Nottingham). The mounts are different so they had to be removed and put on the IVA mounts.

Side Screen Mirror Mounts

The near side mirror was completed easily within 5 minutes, but the offside mirror wouldn't grip in the IVA mount and as a result I have a hanging offside mirror! Another common issue I have been told! Caterham Midlands apparently have a set made up so they will be exchanged for the IVA test.

Nearside correctly mounted 

Offside hanging - To be fixed by Caterham

Job 121 - Initial Hood Fit

We decided that we would also try to fit the Hood, this was a challenge as the hood had been wrapped up for so long. We followed the instructions in the manual and fitted to the windscreen first (easy enough) and then had to really pull the back down (much harder than expected) and fix the poppers which match those for the boot cover. Once the poppers had been located and fixed we left it there to stretch a bit over night.

Initial Fix of the Hood from the Rear

Initial Fix of the Hood from the Front - I like the contract against the Yellow :-)

Day 38 - Harness Adjustment & Seats - Part 2 (1 Hour)

Job 116 - Harness Adjustment

Following a call to Derek at Caterham I explained the issue I was having with positioning the seats and the fact that I couldn't get the backs low enough as they were catching on the harness bolts on the transmission tunnel side and he asked me which holes I had used! Derek informed me that I should be using the forward bolt holes and not the back ones!

I went out to the car and relocated the inner Harness from the back holes to the front holes and the seats dropped into position.

Original Harness Location - Wrong

Revised Harness Location - Correct

I tried to fit the seats by myself, but gave up fairly quickly as it is really a 2 person job. I shall come back to it next week.

Day 37 - Knee Trim Panels, Sill Protectors, Tunnel Cover & Gear Knob & Seats - Part 1 (1 Day)

Job 111 - Re-bleeding the Brakes

First job of the day was to check the brakes to see if there had been any further leaks over night, there wasn't! I opted to re-bleed the brakes for (hopefully) the last time.

Job 112 - Knee Trim Panels

I knew the Knee Trim Panels required rubber covering for the IVA, so I decided to fit this prior to fitting to the car and speaking to Derek they advised the use of Superglue to fix in place.

Superglue applied and waiting for it to dry a bit

Although the knee panels are pre drilled all the drill holes are in the wrong locations (seems that this is the same for everyone, so why do they do it?!). These were positioned along with the rubber trim and re-drilled.

Re-drilling the holes in the correct location!

Job 113 - Sill Protectors
Now that the Knee Protectors were ready to be fixed we could fix the side panels and Sill Protectors in place. With everything in place I drilled the holes in the rubber trim and positioned rivets in the holes starting from the front and working towards the back. It was then out with the Air Riveter again and the job was soon completed. :-)

Air Riveter made life so much easier - Highly recommended if you have an Aldi Compressor! :-)

We did 3 rivets at a time holding the rubber trim in the correct location 

Job 114 - Tunnel Cover & Gear Knob

An easy job, just a case of pulling the Handbrake up and sliding the Tunnel Cover over and attaching the Gear Knob.

Before Tunnel Cover 

After Tunnel Cover is fitted

I did notice that there was a gap at the back of the Tunnel Cover! I am giving Caterham the benefit of doubt and assume this is to allow hot air out of the transmission tunnel ;-)

Transmission Tunnel Cover Gap - To hot air to escape from the Transmission Tunnel maybe ;-)

Job 115 - Seats - Part 1

Now that the interior was in it was time to move on to fitting the seats! Or so we thought!

We started by gathering the items needed for fitting the seats, the drivers is adjustable and the passenger is fixed!

The first issue was that the packs listed in the manual don't match those supplied and hence the description of the bolts to use is all to cock. We started by fitting the shorter bolts between the seat and rails and then changed them for the longer bolts on the basis of how far they would stick through the car! We used loctite to secure them as there were only 4 spring washers to cover both sides of the car?!

It was then a case of deciding which way to fit the seat rails to the fixed seat!

Left Hand - Wrong          Right Hand - Correct

Passenger Seat with the fixed rail

Drivers Seat with the adjustable rail

Now that the seats were on their rails is was a case of trying to fit them to the car! We started with the Passenger Seat which initially seemed to wide to fit! So Alex sat in it to try and force it down (but wasn't heavy enough) I then sat in it and it dropped at the front and we managed to fix the front 2 bolts but the backs were some way off! By this time Caterham had closed and we decided to post on Blatchat and received replies very quickly, but nothing other than to persist with it really or try and winch it down into the car! I didn't have any bolts long enough though, so it would have to wait until tomorrow and a call to Caterham!

We positioned the seats in the car so they didn't get knocked and left it there for the day.

Seats balanced in the car

Day 36 - Bonnet Clips, Hoodsticks, Boot Poppers, Windscreen & Brake Re-bleeding (4 Hours)

Following the arrival of the Air Riveter I couldn't resist having a play with it! First of all I found a piece of old metal sheet and drilled a hole and tried it for the first time! I was impressed with the hand riveter and what a satisfying feeling it was to use that, this had the same effect again! Wow, what a great bit of kit, highly recommended as there is very little recoil reducing the risk of damage to the paint work and it's cool to use! :-)

Job 105 - Refitting the Bonnet Clips

These had been removed again for the application of the Paint Protection Film so they needed to be reinstalled. The fronts are a bolt and nut and apart from access are easy enough to install and for the rears the Air Riveter was used! :-)

Powder Coated Front Bonnet Catches (Little Touches) 

Powder Coated Rear Bonnet Catch

Job 106 - Hoodsticks

An easy job, simply taking the Hoodsticks apart and threading the hood cords and then rebuilding and fixing to the body using the screws supplied. It was then a case of drilling holes into the rear chassis tube and measuring/marking the correct distance on the cord from the rear Hoodstick to the top of the boot. Once measured the cords were fixed in place using self tapping screws.

Drilling the hole in the chassis tube for the Hood Stick Cords - Used the air drill as no room for my normal drill!

Job 107 - Boot Poppers

Again using the Air Riveter I positioned the popper bases in situ and riveted them in place.

First popper bases fixed

Popper bases fixed

Job 108 - Windscreen & Wipers

This was an easy job and just a case of reinstalling the Windscreen - Thank goodness for requesting the quick change windscreen set up! The only challenge is reconnecting the heated screen under the dashboard. It was then a case of fitting the windscreen wipers (after rounding the ends of the wiper blades as per IVA requirements)! Comically small. :-)

Windscreen & Wipers fitted

Job 109 - Locating the 12v power socket leads

I ordered a 12v power socket at the same time as ordering the car and decieded that before fitting the interior of the car it would be best to try and locate the lead for this! Alex assisted with this job! I had to lift him into the car so that he could see under the dashboard, cut the required zip ties and free up the cable!

Alex in place! :-)

Job 110 - Tightening the Front Brake Hoses & Re-bleeding the brakes

Final job for the day was to try and sort the brakes out once and for all. I had spotted a drop (literally) below each hose on the Calipers at the front end of the car, so it was obvious that overnight it had seeped out and was not quite tight enough! Tightening the hoses was easy, but it did cause an issue! It coiled the brake hose up as follows:

Coiled Brake Hose - Not quite sure how to fix!