Repainting 7 Emblem

[Paul N]

Hi,

First real post & hopefully not too dumb a question......

Looking at buying a new prebuilt 420R but don't like colour of 7 in front grill, how easy is it to remove on a 2021 car so I can either paint myself or have painted?

Many thanks

[Dan R]

Hi Paul, 

Welcome and please remember there are no dumb questions, just dumb answers.... of which i hope this isn't one! 

The front grille comes off very easily from the inside of the nosecone (Which also comes off very easily with 4 fasteners). Once the nose is off the grille on mine was held in by 2 spring clips and once removed all came apart very easily.  This is definitely something you can do yourself, and I've just redone mine! 

[Benton]

Mine was attached using black silicon gunge, therefore removal was easy using  a sharp blade, repainted and similarly reattached.

[Paul N]

Thanks both for the swift replies & welcome, just what I wanted to hear :D

Fingers crossed the phone rings shortly & can have a deal, will sort myself on purchase :D

Have to say joined club late last year & the communications, magazine etc been superb, even had a welcome phone call, not had this service from previous owners clubs, thank you. 
 

[Jonathan Kay]

Welcome.

Would you like any documentation: Assembly Guides, Handbooks, wiring diagrams?

Jonathan

[Paul N]

Hi Jonathan,

Thank you for the welcome & kind offer, I have the build manual from the Caterham site is there anything else you can suggest, car is a 420R S3 chassis 2021 build?

Many thanks

Paul

[Jonathan Kay]

Please send me a Private Message with your email address.

Jonathan

[John Vine]

For the best result, use a spray can rather than a brush (you probably planned to do that anyway).  Careful masking with tape will produce a vg finish.

PS: And welcome!

JV

[Roger Ford]

Mask the whole thing and cut out the 7. Much easier than trying to mask around it. Kicked myself when I realised that.
 

[Dan R]

#9

Roger, ..... your advice comes a week too late 

[420R]

It's a good club.

Plenty of info and decent guys.

Good choice re 420R!

[Paul N]

PM sent & thank you Johnathan regarding documentation 

Thanks for all the other advise with 7 logo change of colour, looking like it's been changed as part of the deal, should know tomorrow 

[ChrisC]

Welcome Paul, and hope the 7 is painted in the deal, but if not here are my thoughts.

How easy painting the 7 will depend on if it was painted from the factory.  Factory painted grills use two grills, one mesh and other with the 7 logo.  None painted grills will be supplied from the factory as a single combined 7 logo and mesh.  The separate 7 logo grill is simple to mask, where as the combined grill is a real pain to mask and the reason why the factory doesn't supply combined logo and mesh grills painted.  The painting is the same effort, once masked.  
 

My car has a factory painted 7 logo, but I prefer the combined grill because logo on the grill  doesn't touch the cooling fan (since 2019 radiator redesign).

One very simple option is to wrap the 7 logo on either grill. It's cheap, easy to do.  Maybe not as durable as paint, but given my first attempt took 15mins, cost £15 for enough material for 5 attempts, I can refresh the wrap every year, and even change the colour at will.

Hope this helps 

[Paul N]

Thanks for the detailed reply Chris, all makes sense & big help, think it's been painted at the factory, so an easier fix, should know full details tomorrow 

[Stuntmonkey]

I didn't want to pay the extra for a painted grill as the options bill was mounting.

Masking around the 7 on the 'integrated' grill was a bit of a pain but I actually found it a bit relaxing, I did it in front of the TV watching a film, it took no more than an hour, you could do it quicker if you were focussed.

£20 for a decent rattle can and the job was done and it looks just fine.

[Paul N]

Thanks for all your help guys, deal done & includes changing of logo, looking forward to Caterham ownership. 

[Paul D]

Thread resurrection (do I get bonus points for using the search function?)

My grille has been painted by hand and is a bit scruffy in general so I was considering just buying a replacement. I want a black 7 on a black grill ideally. If it was perfectly straight I'd just rattlecan the lot black but the devil on my shoulder is telling me a new one isn't a big expense...

Firstly, my car is an imperial one. Are the S3 grilles the same dimensions for imperial and metric cars (and therefore I can't buy the 'wrong' one)?

Secondly, colour. The one on the Caterham Parts site looks like it's already black which would be great but there's no info (as usual) to confirm so I'm only going by a single photo and, of course, it's out of stock. The one on Demon Tweeks has the same code, is in stock but looks to be unpainted which makes me think the Caterham Parts one would be as well. Can any one confirm?

https://caterhamparts.co.uk/nose-cones/144-nosecone-grille-with-mesh-s3.html

www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/caterham-mesh-nose-cone-grill-7-logo-cat30c093a/

Ta for any info.

[Golf Juliet Tango]

I wouldn't have any confidence that a new grille will fit an old nosecone.  Certainly my old grille wouldn't fit a new nosecone.  Caterham Cars have changed GRP suppliers more than once and marginal differences appear to have been created.  In my case this is irrespective of the chassis specification.

It is perhaps worth noting that my old nose cone had the Dzus receiving component on it and the pin part was on the chassis, now the mounting arrangement is reversed.

[Amos91]

If you want black on black, I'd just send it to a powdercoaters and get them to do it.  Will be a more durable finish then.

I got both parts powdercoated black, then ground down the paint off the '7' and went for a rattle can on that part: