barry rawdon

Having suffered stone damage to the radiator last year, I decided to have the original radiator re-cored. In order to prevent further damage in the future I decided to replace the radiator grille as well. The original grille consisted of the '7' symbol and a few horizontal bars, and wasn't particularly stone proof! The new one has a '7' symbol but with a metal mesh which completely fills the nose opening. Unfortunately the locating prongs on the new grille didn't all coincide with the positions of the existing securing holes in the nose cone. This was soon resolved by slightly elongating two of the locating holes with a small needle file, especially bought for the purpose. I'm beginning the amass quite a collection of tools now, all as a result of 'fettling' IGGY! The new 'all black' grille in place. I think the '7' and its surround needs to be painted yellow to match the nose-cone band.

Every time I came back from a drive I noticed that there was a yellow powder on the seats and on the floor behind the seats. It seemed to be coming out of the headrests, which were not very solid. Having removed one, and carefully pulled the underneath of the cover apart, I could see that the foam inside had turned to powder. No doubt caused by 17 years of exposure to the sunlight in the summer driving! The foam on the outside, in contact with the cover, seemed to be fairly intact.With the foam removed, I turned the cover inside-out and brushed off off the loose foam. Most of it came away fairly easily. The more stubborn foam that seemed to have become stuck to the cover was washed away under the cold tap, with a little bit of scraping with a knife blade and a toothbrush. The cover was fine after drying out. It was showing signs of previous DIY repairs with what seemed to be the remains of 'Copydex' adhesive around bottom opening. There was a small amount of foam stuck on the metal frame of the headrest. After I had removed the pieces of foam that were positioned between the holed metal plate and the support, I soaked the whole lot in warm soapy water, followed by light application of a toothbrush, fine flat file and sandpaper. All nice and shiny, ready for drying out on top of the central heating radiator!

Collected the re-cored radiator from CPA Services on Tuesday - they're located on the Alma Park Industrial Estate, Grantham, Lincolnshire NG31 9SE. Must admit I'd never heard of them before - they've only been there 30 years after all! I'm impressed with the job they've done, and the cost. Just need to check out the existing hoses now before I re-fit the radiator. Although I've seen some nice silicon hoses on the internet in British Racing Green. I'm tempted, but its a 2 month delivery period - seems everyones getting their Caterham sorted for Summer!

Having suffered from a minor radiator leak last summer, I have decided to have the existing radiator repaired if possible, or re-cored, rather than replaced with a new one. The radiator has a few stone damaged areas - this is the worst. With the radiator removed I decided to check the front chassis / side panels for condition. The rest I'll check later as I work steadily towards the rear. There were a few areas where the chassis paint had 'bubbled', but only surface corrosion underneath. The chassis has a generous coating of Waxoyle applied by the previous owners, although moisture has obviously managed to get underneath, presumably from the two previous radiator leaks recorded in the history file. I'll rub down and repaint these areas before re-applying some new Waxoyle. The front tube behind the fan has surface corrosion where the fan body has rubbed against the tube. Again rub down, repaint and Waxoyle. The side panels have a little electrolytic corrosion where they meet the chassis. Some road dirt and dust had built up between the side panels and the chassis rails, but was easily removed with an old toothbrush! The battery tray also needs a little refurbishment as well.

My Caterham 7 reg R941GGY, aka 'IGGY'. Partially built up by Chris Courtenay and in use as the development car / design mule for the Courtenay Sport Caterham 7 Turbo Special. Following the completion of the Turbo Special, 'IGGY' was fitted with a Courtenay Sport 2.0 litre 16v Vauxhall engine. The Courtenay Sport Caterham 7 Turbo Special R942GGY, as featured in the September 1998 issue of 'Car & Car Conversions', alongside the green development car / design mule 'IGGY'. In the background is the orange Hans Rausing Jnr Caterham 7 JPE, which shared engine developments with the Turbo Special. Out of the three Caterhams built by Chris Courtenay, only 'IGGY' remains in its 'as built' original form. Images showing the test fitting of cooling radiators into 'IGGY' prior to final fitting into the Courtenay Sport Caterham 7 Turbo Special R942GGY, and also 'IGGY' in completed form. The Courtenay Sport Caterham 7 Turbo Special R942GGY, as featured in the September 1998 issue of 'Cars & Car Conversions. The Courtenay Sport Caterham 7 Turbo Special R942GGY, as featured in the September 1998 issue of 'Car & Car Conversions'. Many thanks to Chris Courtenay for the information and images.

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My Caterham 7, reg R941GGY, aka 'IGGY'. Built by Christopher Courtenay in 1998 and used as the development car / design mule for the Courtenay Sport Turbo Caterham 7 special, reg R942GGY, which featured in the September 1998 issue of 'Cars & Car Conversions'. The Hans Rausing Jnr Caterham 7 JPE Special, which shared engine developments with the Turbo car, was also modified by Christopher Courtenay at this time. Powered by a non-turbo Courtenay Sport 2.0 litre 16v Vauxhall engine, 'IGGY' has now done just over 28000 miles.