ScottR400D

I'm away at the moment so can't check exactly but from memory the ARB goes through cut outs on the brackets not the cowl. The rubber mounts go on the brackets then the cowl and rad into those. M6 bolts with spring washers hold the brackets to chassis then M8 nuts, not nylocs for obvious reasons, and spring+ flat washers on either end of the rubber mounts. All from memory, may be wrong

Now, be careful putting the new screws in. Button heads look right but the sockets are always shallow and easy to damage, especially if your keys are a bit worn.

Well it doesn't look good and certainly surprised me. Why don't a few of us post up certain dimensions, let's say the one at full width right across below the window panel? I'm on holiday right now but could do next week. We'd see then if there are many variations.

Not sure that this will help but when my SV kit arrived it had two LH doors. I reported this and was immediately sent a RH door with the agreement to send the spare LH back at PBC time. When it came o door fitting time I fitted the RH first. When I tried the LH couldn't get it in the same position as the RH. I tried the 'spare' LH but that as different to the right too. I then measured key dimensions of each door and was surprised to find them all different by quite a lot, 20/30mm in some cases. This was measured eg along the main seam under the window, along the front angled edge, from the top front corner, diagonally to the rearmost point at the back. I left the LH door to be fitted at the PBC. It came back with a door that fits fine but whether it's one of the two that came with the kit I don't know. I've had no issues with the doors blowing in but in my experience they vary in size, though I can't see why, and that may play a part.

I was told that if you put the 12 x 3 all along the side edge where the bonnet sits it will be squeezed out by the vibration etc. I put a couple of short, maybe 60mm long, pieces on each side. They're still there, no marking on the bonnet or side panels.

Haha! Good question JK! I don't think I would rest easy even though it's no issue practically. (probably!). Is it the 3 M6 button heads visible in the pic? Should be easy to get replacements locally, nothing special needed for 10Nm.

I would think you can ignore the other switch but as soon as you can, put the ignition on and l check that the reverse light works as it should. (Before you fit the tunnel cover, perhaps?). If it's the wrong switch your reverse light will be on all the while you're in neutral. (Or all the while you're in any gear?) I guess you could prove the point by connecting up the other switch and seeing if it does the above but that assumes that both switches will actually connect to the harness spades. About the manual, I found lots of confusing instructions, though persistence and patience usually got me through. I put an old PC in the garage and put the manual on that. Makes it easy to search for pages etc. Ref. the gearbox top, if you've rounded off the screws tightening, then they may unscrew easily and you could get replacements so that you can fit with the correct torque? Peter Scott

Thinking a bit more, and doing a bit of on line searching, it may be that the forward switch is the reverse switch. Also, though I can't see it that clearly, the two white connectors in your image look like males, so they wouldn't connect to the two spades anyway? Do the two spades reach and fit in the forward gearbox connection? If so that would be the best bet. I also see on P72 of the latest assembly guide a photo that indicates that the forward switch is the one to use.

That looks like the reverse light switch with the two females which will connect to the two males shown Doesn't matter which way, it just allows that pair of males to connect. I think the forward connectors on the box are for a neutral light which you don't use.

It seems to be. The clamping mechanism where the two halves of the shaft join would seem to allow the lower half to slide inside the upper in the case of impact, whilst preventing the upper half pushing through the bulkhead.

It seems that it isn't a requirement of the IVA to have a collapsible boss, though some inspectors might think it is. I think it's required to have some sort of collapsible column, which the 7 seems to have with the clamp arrangement where the two halves join, though I readily stand to be corrected on all these points. Having said that the IVA regs apparently don't eliminate wheels without padding but I understood they won't pass.

My car was IVA'd June last year so unless things have changed it's fine to have the detachable wheel column fitted. What's not good for IVA is a Momo wheel with no padding on the centre. CC fitted one of their detachable, padded wheels for the test in my case.

Another thought about warranty; despite the common tales of woe, I didn't and don't have an issue with the way my issues were handled. All my mails were replied to promptly, parts were issued without delay or discussion, and advice was readily available. This was directly with CC on two issues in August last year and March this.

I was told the warranty started from the date the car was registered. I certainly had a couple of issues rectified with no quibble well over 12 months after the kit was delivered.

Hi Mucus. I built my R400SV last year, over about three months with a month's holiday gap in the middle. My original intentions had been to take a long time but in the end I found it easier to build some momentum and get on it whenever I could. IMO the further you go the more you look forward to it being finished; it might get a little frustrating if you take it very slowly! A couple of comments on your blog; the heater components are only loosely bolted together upside down for packaging reasons, it's fairly obvious why it's fitted the other way up, IMO, but it won't go in the wrong way, will it? It's too late for you now, but I was reluctant to remove paint from the chassis/engine mount for the main earlier lead so fitted it between a bolt on the bell housing and a spare threaded insert on the passenger footwell panel, left of the battery. CC suggested is in conversation, after I contacted them because the earth lead was missing! From memory it takes a slightly longer than normal lead but I made my own up anyway.

I got some from CC. Cheap and only took a couple of days.

Well, I've just returned from a run to try out my dual temperature sensing set up. I put two new sensors in, which had better, IMO, connections, being a threaded post and nut, rather than the 'button' tops that CC supplied. The water with the new sensors is running at the same temperature, as you'd expect, but is less sensitive in that is slower to move between 80/75 than it was. I would have thought the sensitivity was more in the gauge but it appears not. The switch works which has enabled me to measure the oil temperature at the bottom of the oil tank, before the oil goes back into the engine. It reads about 70C, which is OK I think, after cooling and when not being worked too hard, though I'd appreciate any opinions on that.

Yes, I'm sure a few would be interested in that. When my kit was delivered the clutch pipe was loose at the CRB end. I removed the bell housing from the engine and it was easy to secure but not sure how one would do it with the car assembled. I cut down an 8mm goose neck ring spanner for accessing the bleed nipple, I guess some sort of special tool is needed to access the hose nut itself?

Thanks JK. I don't think it's far off, when the gauge shows 80, a pyrometer aimed at the sensor body indicates about the same. But the idea of putting the sensor in water of a known temp makes sense. I can rig that up quite easily I think because I have a couple of spares. The car came with two similar sensors one of which goes into a tapping in the oil tank, just to plug the hole. I've put a switch in and wired both sensors in so I can flick between water and oil temps, and it dawned on me that the sensor range doesn't match the gauge range, though I don't know that it needs to

Not on the gauge. On the sensor it has various markings on the hexagon flats: 150C; TC600; 0000901; 6-24; 4D From what I can see looking on line, it's not an OE VDO sensor (hey are normally clearly marked VDO) but it is what Caterham supplied with my kit last year. It seems to work OK, in that the car runs between 75/80C or so on the gauge, (normally at 80 but drops momentarily when you wind the speed up, returning to 80 when 'cruising'). I believe I has an 82C stat.

just a quick question! The water temperature sensor in my car is a brass 1/8NPT threaded VDO one, 0-150 DegC. The spec of this sensor says it suits VDO gauges of the same temperature range. The gauge in my car reads from 40 to 120 DegC I guess this may be a dumb question but does it matter?

If you've got anywhere near the correct torque the taper will be seated. There won't be a snap, as has been said its a taper. Very unlikely that the joint is turning on the taper; once a small load is on the joint it will lock in very well, that's what tapers do. Grease will help, not just now but when you want to split it.

From memory I used a long ball end hex socket on a torque wrench. Sets are available for not a lot of money. You could cut the short end off a ball ended Allen key then drive it with a socket. Also from memory the manual says tighten the suspension in the horizontal position (?) which was fine for me, as the wishbones are about level sat on the ground, completed.

Aren't the flats under the gaiters?

Is there a template? My kit arrived with two dots marked on each side of the nose, which implies a template, though the holes weren't symmetrical at all, side to side. In the end I used one of the 4 marks and plotted the others by measuring after fixing one side where I thought it was best.