Caterham BDR

Alan, I would imagine someone removed the fan shroud to save a bit of weight as it seems to be made of quite a decent gauge thickness of steel! I will be interested to see photos of your final solution

Hi Timb2117, Do you have any further details or photos on the radtec radiator you used? was it one of their off the shelf models? Where in Australia are you based? Chris

Hi Alan, We have the same setup on our car. Do you have the shroud that goes around the fan? This will help somewhat, but still a pretty dated design. There is not a lot of room on the back of the radiator for a fan either. We are considering an aluminium replacment radiator and would try and fit the largest fan possible on the rear (as the oil cooler and ARB are in the way on the front). You should get a decent sized fan mounted to the rear of the radiator, above the steering rack.

Yes Hi Alan! Were happy to alter the suspension a little, but it would be nice to keep the option of going back to the original suspensions in future if possible. Alan has a later car (with De Dion suspension?) and I understand wide track is a fairly easy decision if you are replacing all the suspension anyway. What about for my live axle car? Can a wide track front end create too much front grip? Or would it help manage the roll and therefore give the rear end more grip too?

Hi All, I'm new to the world of Caterhams and we have recently purchased a 1985 BDR. We're in the process of getting it fixed up and wanted to get the front suspension sorted. I have read up on the front wishbone options. After speaking with a couple of other owners I'm keen to do a 1 piece top wishbone (adjustable camber) as the car currently has the ARB locating the top link. I'm aware that I need to use the correct top ball joint (QR1118S). The car is a live axle (ital) rear end. My main question is: Do you think it is worthwhile installing the wide track front end or just sticking to the 1-piece top wishbone standard track setup? The wide track lower wishbone has a spherical bearing rather than the trunnion arrangement. Can this be adapted to my current uprights? or would the uprights need to be replaced? I'm keen to keep the existing 95.25 PCD. How much additional neg camber do the std track negative camber lower arms give? I have read that these have to be used with the different top wishbones? We will probably go with a set of the 1-way Nitrons from Meteor Motorsport and he mentioned going the wide track would mean a longer damper giving a bit more room for all the damper internals (but not essential). Car will be used on dry roads and do some track days. Thanks, Chris