We are recently back from a very good trip to the Outer Hebrides. The area offers an excellent tour for small groups of Sevens. We had excellent sunny weather, which made for a very pleasant trip. The Outer Hebrides are sparsely populated and parts of them feel very remote. Many times we found ourselves virtually alone on beautiful sandy white beaches. The tourist season is short, and caters mostly for cyclists and walkers. The flora and fauna is rich and varied, and the roads are pretty empty a
In the spring of 2017 I noticed that my turbo was making a slightly unusual noise, but I thought nothing much of it (it went away). I have done five sprints this year. It was my first full year of sprinting, although I did the Curborough 8 in 2016. I thought that I did a better job as a driver, but I noticed that my times were slower. Also my speed over the finish line was about 64mph, last year it was 77mph! And come to think of it, I can't hear the waste gate 'tshh' anymore. The 160 is still
Our Visit to Ireland August 2017 Rob J, Sally, Alice and I took our Sevens to South West Ireland for an enjoyable holiday. Here are some of the details of the best places to sleep, eat and blat. Hopefully it might be useful to others... We took Irish Ferries from Pembroke to Rosslare. We then drove 25 minutes to Kilmore Quay and stayed at the Quay House B&B. Kilmore Quay is a very pretty fishing harbour. The B&B did a good breakfast, offered friendly service and was perfectly fine. Ther
We have just come back from a lovely Scottish trip. My 160, in its infancy, has now travelled the complete length of the UK. With many thanks to Rob and Sally (planning and patience respectively) and also thanks for the advice we received from L7 members from the North – John and Nigel. We had a great time. Our tour started at the Invergary Hotel . This is a comfortable friendly hotel, and also won our tour award for best breakfasts. We decided to pack light, and this did involve some negotiati
I thought that I would finish off my build blog with a summary of things I would do differently. To be honest there was not too much. Car spec... Full hood? - I never installed the hood sticks and therefore won't use it (I will use my half hood). If I did it again I may try to negotiate with Caterham to get a half hood instead. I have no regrets about my lowered floor, mono steering wheel and leather seats. The FIA roll bar was probably a bit over the top, but I like it (it makes a full hoo
Maybe the best orange car in the world... I collected the car today from Crawley (with the help of Rob J) and drove it back to Somerset via family in Newbury. We avoided main roads and had a great blast along A roads. It is fantastic, and better than I imagined. The 160 is a lovely car. The car handles very well, and has quite a bit more 'poke' than expected. My intentions to run the car in gently with low revs were not always stuck to. Overtaking on A roads was not much of a problem. Interestin
I asked Dave from Premier Paint Guard to install a protective covering on my rear wings (and he now has a template for the 160). As soon as that was completed Rob and Sally J came over to help trailer the car to Crawley for the PBC. Unfortunately the car had to go off with one or two issues (it won't start due to some unknown electrical fault and a problem with the brakes but other than that perfect ). I have asked Caterham to get it through the IVA. I really look forward to getting it back
I made a start on the weather gear today. Caterham provided a full hood with the kit. However, I plan to use a half hood instead. I have an larger uprated roll bar and the full hood looks an unlikey fit (but possible, I understand, from reading the forums). I have decided not to install the hood sticks and the full hood car stay in the box. In retrospect I should have asked Caterham to supply a half hood instead of the full hood ( I don't know if they do this) It took me a while to get the boot
I put the seats and harnesses in today. All fairly straight forward (after Derek put me on the right track after I tried to use the bottom 6pt harness eyelets by mistake). For the four point harness lap belts, the threaded holes on the sides are used, and I used the most forward hole. The seats are Ok but you need to be a bit of a contortionist to get an Allen key to the back bolts. I then set about sorting the boot carpet. I decided against using carpet in the passenger area after reading a fe
I completed filling the diff today (I had to ask Caterham for extra oil). They supplied comma EP80W-90 GL5 Mineral oil. I needed a full 2L before the diff was at the right level (more than the instructions suggest). I found a pipe and funnel seemed to work very slowly but effectively. I just got on with other jobs and occasionally filled up the funnel. I also sorted out my floppy clutch problem with a wire clamp sent on by Caterham. This isn't mentioned in the August 2014 manual but is in the J
I recieved my gear and diff oils from Caterham this week. They supply different oils to the shell oils specified in the build manual (maybe they, like me, found those oils impossible to source in small quantities ?!?) The gear oil supplied is Comma SX75W-90 GL5. The manual says about 1.2L is needed, but I put in about 1.7L before oil dripped out of the side level plug. Access to the side level plug is a bit of an ask; space is restricted. However, my homemade tool worked nicely. I just cut down
I fitted my sill protectors after wrestling in the knee trim panels today. (I got the holes in the knee trim panels to align by using a screw driver as a lever). I note that I had 7 screws but 8 holes for the knee panels. However, the front-most hole is not visible and doesn't seem to serve much function. I cut Vs in the curved section as it suggested in the manual. Riveting was quite fun. However, my technique was perhaps a bit crap and in managed to scatch the powder coat. After that, I surro
I made a start on the cycle wings this evening. It took me all evening to drill 4 holes... I was a bit nervous about cocking it up. The majority of (smart) advice seems to advocate bonding the cycle wings. However, I had over zealously put stoneguard on mine and I didn't want risk sanding it off and causing damage. I also prefer the idea of bolting rather than bonding. The instructions are clear and I followed them very carefully. The cycle wings were supposed to come with markings for the bolt
I managed to get the rear suspension in today with help from Rob J. The instructions are clear and we had few problems. (NB there is a sleeve that clealy fits into the top of the radius arms and the fixing of one end of panhard rod was not mentioned but obvious). getting the the half shaft in place required a few 'gentle taps' from tool no 1. Tomorrow's task is to fit the speed sensor and handbrake. I also need to get the cycle wings sorted (they are just taped on at the moment)
I put the diff into the axle casing this evening. It took me a while to figure out which was the correct way around. It was a tight fit and involved use of the rubber deadblow hammer and swearing. I was about to give up, but then I tried turning the prop connection back and forth and it suddenly dropped in. I was advised by a friend to use about a 2mm strip of gasket sealant (Black RTV). I used Granville but I understand Caterham use the Wynn brand for their factory builds. PeterM mentioned tha
After seeing some of the 160 photos I decided I wasn't quite happy with my headlamp wiring. So I redid them. I cut a small hole in the black cable sheath, and inserted the indicator wires. I'm told by the fellows at Caterham, that an alternative is to use tape to cover bare wires. You can see my wheels in the background. They arrived yesterday along with my back axle casing. However, I still need to get hold of the gear and diff oils. The specified oils are only sold in large quantities, so I n
I added the intercooler today. No big issues but it is an easier job if you get some of the hoses in place first (there is not a lot of space). That is all the progress I can make for the time being. I'll start work again once I get the back axle casing from Caterham. (I understand they are on their way from Japan).
I managed to fit the radiator today. Nothing too difficult. However, I did get stumped by not recognising that to mount the fan on the radiator you need to slot in the little plastic right angled bolt holders. (Thanks Peter M) Very annoyingly I also managed to over tighten one of the radiator bobbin nuts and break the bobbin. I'll see if Caterham will send me another. 12v socket. It seems that under the dash there is a two pin socket (black, purple/red). There is also a fuse ready in the fuse b
A good friend, Rob, helped with the heater plumbing yesterday. No issues encountered although he did adjust the lengths of pipe to enable the valve to fit snugly between the heater case and the battery. (edit 10th Jan. I accidentally put the internal vent plate for the heater the wrong way up. The 'ears' should point downwards to direct warm air into the footwell. Thanks PeterM for commenting) He also suggested a pipe connected to the hole in the top of the battery (see photo) apparently these
I put in the roll bar today. It was only a few bolts but it took a bit of time as the frame is stiff and it required a bit of strength to align the bolts. I was also a bit worried about cross threading the bolts as they went in. I opted for a FIA bar (which isn't normally on the options list). I hope it will give greater safety and allow me to perhaps access more events. The FIA bar is different from the normal bar in that it also requires bolts from underneath. To get these in I placed a few l
I previously had a bit of trouble sorting the anti roll bar (I couldn't get the balls in the sockets). I rang Caterham and they suggested I might be using too much grease. I wiped out much of the grease, just leaving a thin layer, and then the balls just popped in with it a few taps of my trusty deadblow hammer. While the weather is relatively mild I also coated the inside of the wings with stone chip protective paint. I understand that stone chips from underneath can be visible and stone guard
Fitted the compressor outlet for the turbo today (below). This was a fairly straightforward task. I then set about with the steering. This looked straightforward but gave me some trouble. Connecting the universal joint was not much problem (but I think there is a typo in the instructions - it says bolt 6 and nut 1. I think it should say bolt 2 and nut 5) You need to be careful with the upper steering column. The plastic on the lower bush came free and it took me a while to get it back. It was a
I managed to sort out the clutch cable and make good progress with the exhaust this afternoon. By the way, only an idiot would assume that the place to start the clutch would be head down in the footwell. It is all easily accessed by unscrewing the panel just above the steering column.
After a few days enforced break (a-choo), I'm back on the build. I corrected my earth wiring which meant undoing one of the engine mount bolts which inconsiderately slid out of alignment once the bolt was out (and required a whole lot of leverage to get it back). I think that the correct chassis earth connection is just to the left of the battery. I connected the front brake pipes, track rod ends and set up the anti roll bar. next job: I'll set about making the engine connections. However, I do
