David M

Changing the clutch release bearing at any/all opportunities seams to be a common suggestion... GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

good to see I am not the only one who adopts the upside down dash board technique...... got stuck on the drivers side...... bloody nightmare.... oooh I wished my steering wheel was removable at that moment..... Great content guys...!!! David 😬 GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

Hi, Looks like I may have a convert to our world of seven..... but he is a little worried that his bulky rugby player size may be too much even for an SV..... any suggestions on what the waist/gerth limit might be.... how much wider is the cockpit area in an SV than the standard variety.....? Cheers David.... ps I will convert them all ..... one by one by one....!!!! LOL!!! 😬

miss mav, we all were made to feel extra special with so many people taking photos and videos of us...... and every time we went out they would pop up somewhere different...... you are right though great piccies..... 😬 I particuarly like the one of Alex looking directly into the camera mid corner on the run I took him on....!!! David GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

Well I am just an entertainer at heart and I did have a cute young lady in the car to impress..... 😬 Not sure I was that successful.... good advice she gave though....!! Nothing like taking someone out for a spin!!! Indicator problem me never...... I don't believe a word of it... David GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

Adam.... i was kind of wondering what was going on..... and couldn't see you indicating...... but having finely tuned my reactions on the track the quick nip left at the last moment was an easy move... 😬 Oh and if you were confused by the number of times I waved goodbye, its because I forgot you were off for P & F.... Doah!!! Paul - Great photos and none of me doing anything too embarrasing...... 😬 David GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

Excellent day.... still have a big grin on my face......!!! Thanks Rach for organising it..... Off to look at the photos now.... see if there are any of me getting into trouble...... 😬 David GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

I did the SVA myself up in Norwich, very straight forward and Caterham cover most things in the post build check, if you have just built it. The test itself is pretty straight forward, the key points are bleeding your breaks well, making sure all the electrics work well and take tools and a mobile phone just in case.... Caterham will talk you through anything... there is plenty of time to tinker with the car if needed but its unlikely you will need it.... For me doing the SVA was an important final step in the build process and apart from a dodgy bulb that was blowing all my fuses one by one it went smoothly.... David GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

04 plated 1.8 roadsport and the clunking is something I now live with, but as felix sais it makes you drive smoother..... I am also getting more of the growling on freewheeling... Its just one of those things..... unless you go for a rebuild.... but remember its only sitting inches away from your 🙆🏻 tiy are going to here something.... David GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

CR500s from new done about 7.5k and loads more to go..... includes a tour down to Italy and back motorways country roads on fast blats in convoy..... No complaints.... wet or dry.... oh except for the Road surface in Rimini.... on cold tyres it could have been ice!! still don't understand that one...!!! oh and I had one aqua planing moment....on lots of standing water!!!! Has anyone put Winter tyres on a 7, any recommendations that are ok for normal road use etc.......? Cheers GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

Alex, just drop me a mail on saturday to let me know.... 😬 GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

Alex, what time are you meeting at the Gibbet.... and is it compulsary to bring a father along.... 😬 I am sure I have one of those in the house somewhere...... David GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

If you want more mature Duratec information try: Duratec Performance Focus Fanatics Duratec 2.3L Focal jet forums Duratec Tuning Enjoy..... David GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

Bare, Don't be so harsh on the little cherrubs..... one day they will grow up realise the error of their ways and become 7 owners everyone has to start somewhere..... they just havn't realised that money spent on paying mechanics to upgrade their focus could be much better spent on a little bit Low Flying action..... 😬 😬 David GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

I give up!!!!!! Lets just wait until the full details are out then make the comparison between what is on offer and the likes of raceline/mountune et al. what it gives and what it will enable you to do in the future...... I still like the idea of a Cosworth designed and engineered head over a gas flowed original... but that is probably because I would end up trying to do it myself and making a right balls up of it..... David GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

Lets wait and see what the pricing is, remember this is aimed at the US Ford Focus market so prices might be a little keener than you expect.... (well here's hoping anyway). The beauty of the three upgrade kits is that they will come complete with all you need in the box...plug and play... well almost....(oh and not all applicable to the likes of us unless we are installing them into the family Focus) and the +100bhp head and piston change is before you have done all the induction stuffand all the other tweaks........ This is not a gas flowed ported head, this is a brand new head designed by Cosworth.... personally I have been waiting for this for some time....but then again I am new to all this..... but I guess I shall learn.....or end up building an undrivable monster..oops! 😬 David GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

This is for the 3 stage upgrade kit for our focus rally car builders (fordracing.com) developed and supplied by cosworth, the head alone has been stated at adding 100bhp straight off....... The launch date is 18-19th September at the NOPI nationals, and it looks like pricin will be available at that time too. 😬 😬 😬 I will finally be able to plan out my winter build of the Duratec lump I have in the garage....... David GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

Hi, There is a perception that Gillingham is an easy place to get your 7 through because they are used to seeing them, however as its the main centre for CC they seem to use it as a bench mark centre. Therefore CC don't always have an easy time there...... The Norwich guys were ace..... 😬 bless'em!!! David GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

Hi Mike, Ok this is straightforward... You can drive your car to and from the post build check (take a look at my pictures and you will see a nice policeman even towing me off the M25 as I hadn't tightened up my clutch cable..... no plates no problem) You can also drive to your SVA test and back with no plates and again if you should fail. Take your own tools with you if you have a problem they are not allowed to lend you any.... also make sure you have Caterhams telephone number with you, any problem just give them a call and they will talk you through it....otherwise its pretty straight forward... oh spend lots of time bleeding your brakes.... its the one poeple get caught out on... if your really worried a 50mm clearance under the sump should ensure it can't fit on their test rig and thus they take it out and do it the old fashion way..... (the guys up in Norwich were great.....[E] ) You can also drive to your registration check if you are silly enough to do it in Peterborough and have to deal with Mr Jobsworth himself... (sorry touchy subject) most other places they won't require you to turn up with the car and confirm to you that it is Blue and so missing the 1st of March registration date......me bitter nah!!! never!!!! As for ensuring you get an 54 plate, I had a similar thing with my 04 plate and was told I would have wait until 2 or 3 days before the 1st of March in this case to be elligible for an 04. The SVA test you can take when ever you want...... Hope that helps... Enjoy your new toy.... David ps If you have built it doing the SVA yourself is the final step and although it may be a hassle if things go wrong it was an important final episode for me....... GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

finmac I am working on him really hard, he currently has a 1.6 crossflow very basic car in need of a bit of work.... which he is never going to get around to doing. I am suggesting he should sell that and use the money to put towards yours....... and let someone else restore his car... I'll keep working on him........ David GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

Hi finmac, What a great spec car...... I am working hard on a friend of mine, as its exactly what he wants... he just keeps making excuses about the timing not being right... but this is a fantastic example with every thing you could want already done...... I can see tears when I pulls out of the drive to go off to its new home.... I shall try and think of some others who I could get interested...... David GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

Stevve, Ok I am biased as I have an Ammo special 2.3 Duratec in the garage which I am in the process of pulling apart....... But here is my view... Ford Duratec 2.0 & 2.3 engines are the new Ford all aluminium engines not far off the weight of a K-series. These things are going to start appearing in everything with ford quoting quantities in the millions..... The engines are only really available in the US currently aside from a 2.0 mondeo, but they are being run in their most basic form only giving around 150bhp... but the potential upwards is considerable. The Block design is what is getting many so excited as it offeres so much potential with large capacity and good sized ports.... They were developed along with/by Ford owned Mazda and can be found in the Mazda 6. Also known as the I4 engine or HE. These will generally replace the Zetec brand... be careful though some engines termed duratec are not really duratecs at all.... the only relevant ones here are the 2.0 and 2.3 4 cylinder I4 engines..... The really exciting stuff aside from all the after market development that is currently going on for this engine is the work Cosworth are doing for Ford racing performance parts. A three stage upgrade package for the 2.3l engine (focus based but lots still applicable) we are still waiting to find out when this will become available but the concept of a Cosworth Duratec might just get me over the issue of driver side exhaust. You might want to take a look at sites like: www.duratecperformance.co.uk http://www.focaljet.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=UBB67 (and some of the other ford focus sites) I had the same choice, update my K-series or play with a new engine..... New engine won and I loving the learning curve. Although there is a lot to change on the Duratec to get it upto the 200+bhp mark.... Loads of support though.... Good luck with the choice!! David ps I am still a numpty with much of this engine building lark but learning fast!!!! 😬 GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

Well put Nifty..... Don't bother trying this yourself...... its really not worth it......!!! Yes I did try and yes I did screw it up big time..... David GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

Neil, I had a similar issue with the Caterham dark blues...... only choice for me, bit sad all my cars have been dark blue..... Anyway for an extra 100squid you can find any colour you like and spec that..... if you take a look at my pictures below I nabbed the colour from my old Audi S3 came out great........ just need to get the paint code........ David GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....

The Caterham guide states 0W-40 as standard..... which suprised me from many of the comments I had read on here.... I must ask CC what they put in at 500mile service as since filling with 0W-40 I am getting a much lower pressure reading than I used to on lengthy hi paced runs..... although many have suggested its just my potentiometer which is Knacked..... David GF04RCE is built running and on the road.... every day is a Caterham day!!!! He heee!!... pictures here , I am as excited as an excited thing.....