Caterham Capers: Day 20 - Fuel Pipe Cover, Track Day Roll Bar & Rear Shocks (5 Hours)

I am working to get the car ready for Ben to pop around and do some detailing on the car. As a result I haven't fitted the exhaust, which means I can't fit the steering column and steering wheel, so what else can I prepare?

Job 67 - Fuel Pipe Cover

Although not ready to go in yet, I decided to prepare this by drilling the 2 2mm holes that are required to mount the Fuel Pipe Cover as it is easier to do this before the Roll Bar and Boot Floor are fixed in place.

Fuel Cover Drill holes - Awkward to get to when everything is in place

Job 68 - Fit the Track Day Roll Bar

In order to fit the Rear Shocks the Track Day Roll Bar needs to be fitted first. The standard Roll Bar uses 4 mounting bolts, the Track Day uses 6 mounting bolts, of which 2 bolt up from just above the Rear Shock Top Mounts, which a re not accessible once the shocks are fitted!

Track Day Roll Bar Mount from underneath - Just above the Top Shock Mount that runs perpendicular to it.

Bolt fixing that is used on both Standard and Track Day Roll Bar

Track Day Roll Bar Fitted

Job 69 - Fit Rear Shock Absorbers

In order to be able to put the car down on the ground for Ben to detail, it would be necessary to fit all four wheels and hence the only thing missing that would prevent this was to fit the rear shocks. A fairly easy job in theory!

The top bolts into the shock are easy and bolt in through the cabin area of the car out towards the boot.

Rear Top Mount for the Shock

The lower mount wasn't quite so easy! The issue is that the bolts through the bottom of the shock are horizontal and the location they screw into on the De Dion tube are at a 20 degrees out of horizontal. I tried following the instructions in the manual on my own and had no success, I tried all sorts including using the jack to lift the back end, undoing the A frame, it still wouldn't budge! After 2.5 hours I gave up frustrated! A 2 person job then! Thanks Katey.

I ended up posting on Blatchat to see if anyone could suggest something I hadn't tried! A response came back within half an hour! You have to love the power of forums!

Katey assisted me with the suggestion and even then it was a struggle! First port of call was to remove the Radius Arm front Bolt, which would allow the De Dion to rotate more. I ended up removing the Radius Arm for the time being as it would also give Ben free access to the whole of the back side of the car!

With a jack under the LHS disc, lifting the De Dion Katey laid under the car with a socket and the bolt and I tried to twist the De Dion and we managed to get it lined up, but Katey couldn't get the bolt to grip inside the De Dion. So we swapped over and managed to bolt up the LHS. With the LHS aligned and fitted, the RHS was much easier to do.

Jack under the RHS disc and Radius Arm removed

Job 70 - ACF50 Application

Last job of the day was to spray the rear end of the car with ACF50 to protect the car against corrosion. I choose to do this now as I had the boot floor out and could leave it to soak over the next few days. Have a look at the ACF50 site for more information about the product, its ideal for the Caterham as it was designed for use on Aluminium Aircraft.