Jim 123

Has anybody had direct experience of changing a front wheel using the CC supplied scissor jack as per the handbook instructions? It is certainly not a confidence inspiring arrangement.

I like the idea.

Check clearance between the drive belt and steering column. If they are touching at certain revs the column will have some tell tale line in the protective coating.

What SM25T says is a good starting point on a recent build Caterham. Be conscious that you may need to adjust the pedal stop (underneath the pedal) to get full throttle opening if you lower the pedal in this way.

Are there any signs of gum / deposits on the valve stems / heads that might be inhibiting the function of a couple of cylinders. A long shot I know but you seem to have covered everything else.

Are there any clues if you look at the spark plugs ? What is the tick over engine speed on hot idle. I personally find the Caterham Rev counter not accurate below 1300 rpm.

Place the jack under lower wishbones front tube, with the tube sitting comfortably in the scissor jack face groove. It is worth putting something between the jack and wishbone to protect the powder coat and discourage slipping. Position the jack as close to the lower wishbone front inboard mounting as you can. It's not a confidence inspiring arrangement, particularly as the the scissor jack design is intended to lift tin tops by being placed at 90 degrees to the car longitudinal centre line, unlike the Caterham solution.

Are the holes in the flanges possibly to fit rubber stoppers to stop abrasion and paint damage?

Would it be feasible to shape a bracket to suit the new nose and use the existing dzus fixing points to mount it at either end?

Without photos it is not easy to define what may be causing the milkyness. Maybe the following can help.... With reference to Stu's comments: I'd suggest that problematic parts can be ex-mould and non-clearcoated. Alternatively, parts may come with clearcoat on the outer surfaces. Clearcoat would be a standard treatment if the CF forming process has not given a visually uniform finish, especially with manual moulding on low volume parts where you can get unwelcome fibres/dirt sticking up. Either way the accrued moisture in the CF has to be encouraged out (heat gun or oven bake) and then all surfaces hermetically sealed with clearcoat including the edges. If any photos show a more general surface "milkyness" this could be down to the parts supplier using a clearcoat without a UV absorber in the clearcoat formulation (not unusual), and the low quality clearcoat is just ageing under sun exposure. This would explain the advice in #5. UV damage to a clearcoat can take time to manifest itself.

Heat as mentioned would not be a problem, but not sure how Halfords Satin Black will deal with soaking and drying cycles with road salt. One of the many Hammerites might be more durable and give better film build on the bracket edges.

If a heat gun works as a temp fix, that implies that moisture could be migrating through from the unprotected carbon fiber on the reverse side.

Have you photos?

Have you photos?

John, if you are unsuccessful with the adjuster I'm sure we can come up with some alternatives to gain a a couple of mil that won't take much time.

How many extra m.m. do you think you need to get everything in place?

Adjuster fully loosened and correctly seated, handbrake fully down with no tunnel cover fitted, and no ties securing the cable outers to the diff housing or chassis? With the rh side engaged try with a pair of mole grips to get a little more purchase for the LH cable inner after it curves around the pulley behind the handbrake, then do the same by pulling on the end of the cable inner on the lh side. Locate the lh cable inner on the disc assembly first and then the hook outer cable into position. Mine was a tight initial fit from memory. You might need a mole to grip the cable outer at the last stage, making sure you don't deform the outer cable.

I am sure that others have been down this path before, but until Jonathan corrects me, I can't find anything in the archives : ) During blats in rainy conditions, water collects in the engine compartment where the aluminium skin wraps underneath the chassis longitudinals inside the engine bay. The main areas of entry are the lower wishbone rear mount apertures in both side skins, plus the bodyside exit aperture for the exhaust primaries. Parking up recently, I noted that the volumes of collected static water can be surprisingly large, and no doubt that acceleration and deceleration helps distribute the water all along the longitudinals-to-body skin interface, including into the grot trap. I know that cavity wax in this area is a good deterrent, but water tends to get into places that even hot wax does not penetrate, particularly where the underside of the longitudinals are riveted to the skin. I am looking at making small diameter drain holes in underside the ally skin just outboard of the chassis longitudinals. Current thinking is one hole fore and one aft of the soldered joins in the body skin at the wishbone lower entry points. Ditto a couple of drain holes holes on the left and right of the car, and these will be fore and aft of the position of the aperture for the exhaust primaries. Before I fire up the drill, I'd appreciate feedback from anybody who has done similar.

From your photos, there appears to be rust on one segment of the flywheel, and the lower bell housing looks as though it has had contaminated water collecting in it. Has the car sat in water at any time?

I would give a big vote for the CC Draper kit. With the exception of a small sub-50Nm torque wrench, it is very comprehensive. CC can provide a detailed inventory of what is included which may help in making a value comparison.

Probably not very significant, but I'd assume that removing the rivnuts will leave an oversize hole in the side skins for existing diameter bolts. Are you going to rely on clamping load to prevents gradual movement or drill the clamshells to take a slightly larger bolt?

I was wondering if you could take some coils out of the spring under the CSC gaitor to arrive at the same result rather than take metal off the bell housing. But as I said, I don't have any physical parts to hand to validate my thoughts, so my last post was just an idea before you start shaving metal off the casting. Looking at your photos I strongly suspect your CSC is a Valeo assembly and their tech people may have a stock part to fit your unmodified bell housing packaging and throw requirements. The areas you plan to machine probably will have no impact of the casting integrity anyhow.

I'd take Ian's advice. Lot's of repairers will take on the job, but they will not have the staff who can fix the rear panel. Best to avoid mistakenly accepting a nice visual job with lots of hidden filler under the paint that will not be durable.

Garth my apologies if this is a stupid comment but I don't have the parts in my hand to play with. Rather than machine the bell housing, is it feasible to shorten the pre load spring in the CSC? From your photo this may give the length of CSC assembly that you need.

John re the link in #31, a very good article.