Benton

Be careful when mounting/aligning the exhaust "pins"!  If you twist them too much the rubber will rip off the metal
 

That was not necessarily a short.  It could be that a wire ended up carrying far more current than it was meant to and overheated, melting the insulation. 

 

Agreed a very possible scenario, the other cause could have been  pre-existing physical damage to the wiring at that position  but then something would have needed to disturb it at the time of starting to physically create the short.

Looking at the pictures I'm guessing it's almost impossible to identify what wire started the whole thing off?

I'm no electrical engineer and I could be talking total utter tosh, in which case I apologise  in advance! but ..... is it possible (at least in theory) the  "intended" earth path for one of the more current hungry components involved in start up for some reason wasn't available and instead found an alternative earth path through less current capacity wiring, that in this scenario bypassed any fuses?  

They say ignorance is bliss, however having just read the "fact sheet" for Autoglym Tar Remover I certainly won't be splashing it around as I have in the past !
Its like when I was at school during chemistry lessons handling benzene and toluene, no precautions or warnings, it was only years later when I worked in industry that you realised that wasn't the right thing to do!  I always remember the physics teacher with the Mercury spilling all over the bench and watching the silver balls go everywhere ...... 

I find Autoglym Tar Remover will remove 99.9% of residual stuck on gunge, shouldn't attack carbon but try on hidden part first to be sure.

Coming  upto Petworth one way system 

I've used these a number of times, no problems.

Not sure what you mean by stable, are you looking for something that just holds the camera in place in a secure manner or are you looking for some kind of mount which has some sort of stabilisation built in?.
If it's the former then all I've used in the past is a cheap roll bar/large diameter pipe mount (cost me around £7 a few years back) off Amazon, with some old bicycle inner tube wrapped inside to protect the roll bar.  
Im sure someone will be along with something far more exotic 

Doc007 thanks for the reply.
My kit came with two "one way" poppers to be used per door side so I was trying to determine the best place for the second "one way" popper.
ATM I'm thinking top rear to stop me accidentally pushing the door off with my elbow 

I've tried looking at the archives but still confused ....

Just received Caterham half door kit (no instructions of course!).  The car has already got some "ordinary" popper "bases" fitted so half the job done in theory, only the fittings in the doors themselves to install.  

So daft question.... the kit comes with the equivalent of two "dot one way" fasteners (which I assume are to prevent the doors flying off!) and two"dot ordinary" fasteners per door.  Obviously one of the "dot one way" fasteners is used for the front top (scuttle) popper position, where should the other go, top rear or bottom front?
 

Maybe worth a punt trying some of the "back to black" trim restorer usually normally used for restoring exterior trim?

There is a CC fix for the 620 cooling issues

 

I stand to be corrected, but as of end of November I was informed by Caterham it was imminent but not yet released,  as finalising suppliers. The conversion done for CTRMint appears atm to be a one-off.

PGM are the only ones offering a solution. 

Black cortex sheet cabletied to grill 

I hate to mention the word in this forum for fear of blasphemy but ..... Westfield  having bought Chesil Motors back in 2019 must have ideas in the pipeline

Already thought of 

I hope any eventual EV7 is a bit more watertight otherwise it could turn into a shocking experience! 

If you try using the pressure washer you'll probably end up with a lot of water going into the cockpit and most likely ending up under the seats etc. 

I may be wrong but the rear boxes appear only to be sprayed (inconsistently) with heat resistant paint. Therefore over time the paint will likely "oxidise" given the operating temperatures/exposure to the elements, leaving a patchy greyish finish. Even Caterhams original 620S press car showed  signs "greying" presumably early on in its life, judging by pictures on the web. 
I suppose you could always try degreasing and respraying with a suitable exhaust paint (they're not expensive)  though I'm sure the same will happen again over time. Maybe some form of specialist ceramic coating is the answer.

Agree as above. Don't forget to check occasionally for any build up of crud.

Apparently so, when I can be bothered I'll try pulling individual fuses to see if I can track it down or maybe try to figure out how the switch has been implemented.  Since it came as factory fitted I assume it was installed correctly(?) 

Because of this thread I thought I'd try measuring my parasitic drain just for my own reference.

For context it's a 2018 620R fitted with standard factory immobiliser (though it's on its second one!, the last one being too effective ) and standard factory fitted battery isolator.

1. in theory with just the immobiliser active:- average 41ma 
2. Plugged in a cigar socket USB adapter,nothing connected, just for curiosity  :- additional 5ma draw
3. Finally turned off the battery isolator :- 13ma draw​ still being recorded (interesting!)

​In case 3.  I only kept measuring this for a few minutes until I got cold and decided it was time for a coffee   so whether the 13ma draw would continue ad infinitum (well at least until the battery went flat!) or tail off I don't know.

Since the car when not "out and about" is always hooked up to a Ctek, none of this is going to give me sleepless nights but I thought it might be useful info to share/compare.

My rambling thoughts 
What doesn't make sense to me concerning using Lithium batteries in cars is that in many cases there is no mention of using any form of Battery Management System (BMS) alongside them.

Having spent years dealing with Lithium batteries for RC modelling its always been stressed the specific requirements of Lithium, not overcharging, not overdischarging, charging at specific rates, maintaining  voltage balance across individual cells, using only dedicated charges, storing ar specific voltages etc.  Lithium battery chemistry is obviously far different from lead acid, individual cell voltages, internal resistance, the characteristics of charging/discharging seemingly to be completely different.

My Lotus Exige came with a factory fitted LiFeP04 battery but  the battery is "protected" by a separate dedicated BMS.

Whilst you can buy a Lithium battery without a BMS, hook it up to your car and it works, charging it using your standard alternator/voltage regulator system  (that has invariably been designed for lead acid use), you certainly can't be treating the battery in an optimum way IMHO

And yes, (not as though I'm suggesting it can happen with car batteries unless really provoked) I have experienced a few Lithium Battery fires during my RC time, so am probably over cautious. 

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

Could be worse.... you could have the opportunity of replacing the all singing dancing lightweight lithium battery in the Lotus Exige that according to "official" Lotus parts costs a mere £1462.50   

If I was your pal I'd just buy the new 620R supposedly available at Oakmere, enjoy the saving and start the driving 

Out of curiosity do Caterham themselves modify the "factory"  diffs supplied with new cars (both BMW and Ford) or are they outsourced to a 3rd party does anyone know?