MarchHare2008

Should be fine then. Only other issue of any significance which I had was with the starter motor. The fitting on to the engine needed a bit of fettling. Caterham machine off a bit of the engine casing around the fly wheel to permit fitment of the starter. mine needed a bit more removed to get the spacer in place. Caterham Midlands (who did the post build check) then said they were not entirely happy with the way the starter was engaging and disengaging and, in fact this was causing a problem with the immobiliser as the current drain needed to spin the starter was fooling the immobiliser into thinking the battery was flat and immobilising the car. Caterham midlands ended up fitting revised spacers on the starter motor. You might want to have a quick chat with Brett at midlands who sorted this out for me as he said it was a modification required on all K Series using the new, higher spec Bosche starter motor which they were fitting to engines now.

With no rear bar I would go for either the orange (thinnest) or blue (next thinnest). Either would be a big improvement over the current scaffold pole!

One way to tell whether you might have an issue would be to look at the shape of the foot box on the passenger side. I compared mine with earlier build metric chasis and mine had a two part front face to it with a vertical section and a diagonal panel. The earlier chassis just had a diagonal panel. The new vertical bit at the top gives more room in the footwell but brings the box forward. Not a problem for the Ford but potentially an issue for the Rover.

I got mine in but it was very tight and I had to leave the gearbox to chassis bolts in the tunnel undone and the 'box pressing against the right hand side of the tunnel. Caterham took the car away as soon as I had a rolling chasis (I followed the revised build sequence and put the engine in before building the rear suspension). There seemed no point in going the whole hog and filling the thing with fluids if they were only going to pull the engine out again. In the end I think they may have been able to do it more or less in situ, probably jacking up or lifting the engine but I don't think they took it out completely. I would certainly talk to Sharon Wilkinson at Caterham to see if the technical boys have an opinion.

If you are putting a k into a new metric chassis you might want to check whether Caterham have carried out a small "adjustment" to the starter motor housing on the bell housing. On my CDX build the recently revised passenger footwell (longer and deeper) fouled the bell housing at the bulge of the starter motor. Caterham's fix is to angle grind off 5mm or so from the bell hosing. Clearance is still very tight but not proved a problem since they fixed mine at the post-build check. Re the alternator you can get away with loosening off the adjuster bracket and pivoting the alternator closer to the engine, no need to remove. The exhaust manifold should be fitted before engine is fully down on its mounting points. The main difficulty I have found is generally getting the prop shaft into the gearbox. in the current build manual I see caterham leave the rear dif/prop shaft until after the engine is in. I suppose it's easier to push the prop shaft into the gearbox than the other way round, if you see what I mean.

blue

I have mounted the antenna on a small L shaped bracket which I slightly modified from a right angle to around 120 degrees in a vice. It's just a standard galvanised metal thing about an inch wide/long from Homebase and stuck to the windscreen (or aeroscreen as alternative) just above the scuttle. The GPS antenna sits on this and the magnetic base is strong enough to stay there without sticky pads though you could use if you wanted to be really secure. Although it is not particularly high up it does provide pretty full horizon to horizon coverage and position accuracy seems to be excellent. Whole lot can be easily removed when needed (leaving the bracket).

You might think you would adjust and forget it but it is handy to be able to adjust for road or track conditions. Being able to shift the balance back in the wet (i.e. more braking to the rear) is useful. I really wouldn't want to have to stop and mess about in the engine bay whilst trying to get the correct setting.

Normally mounted on the transmission tunnel on the passenger side next to the gear lever. Presumably the rear brake pipe runs along the inside of the tunnel here so a couple of small holes allow you to route the pipe into the cockpit. You might want to look at a lever rather than screw type though as it's much easier to adjust and more visual in the heat of the moment.

Stick the hi-vis jackets under the seat. You have to be able to show that you can put them on before you get out of the car - at least in theory (I'd love to see 2 people, sat in a Caterham getting their jackets out from under the seat and putting them on whilst still in the car!)

Just back from a few days in Brittany with the Cat. and the Mrs. Brilliant trip and I thought I'd log a few comments for those considering a similar venture. Firstly, the absolutely superb; - The car (obviously). 1,000 miles, no problems, a real pleasure - The roads. I suppose there are a few people in France that drive cars but they don't seem to live in Brittany, at least not in May. There were times when we could drive on beautiful roads for 10 or 15 minutes and not see another car. It must have been like this motoring in England 50 years ago. - The French! We felt like royalty. In France it's not just young boys that stare, point, wave and want to talk about the car, its everyone. Old ladies in particular. We think they might have thought it was something rare and vintage (which I suppose in a way it is). - Softbitsforsevens kit. We have the half hood with zip on rain cover (the latter for use when parked). We also have the tunnel bag, draught excluder and boot top bag. All were great but the half hood deserves special mention. We kept the rear straps permanently fixed to the rear of the roll bar (although it would only take a minute or so to connect these if you didn't leave them connected) and then rolled the hood and attached to the roll bar with the supplied sleeve. The hood could be unrolled and clipped to the screen in about 30 seconds or less and provided complete weather protection. Even with the car fully loaded and boot bag attached it could be stored and deployed without a problem. The zip on extra cover could be added in another 30 seconds and I felt much happier leaving the car in a public place with these attached. As supplied the rain cover extension has no poppers fixed around the base and we didn't bother to fit them. It hangs over the boot edge and keeps the water out in anything less than a full gale and avoids having to unpopper the boot and then popper on the cover. Convenience is everything with this kit. Everything worked really well and 100% recommendation for all Softbits stuff! - TomTom 740. Complete with itinerary planning function. We used a bit of free software (TYRE - just google it) which allows you to click routes into google maps then upload to the tomtom. All the hassle of navigating complex routes through remote and poorly signposted places disappears and marital harmony is maintained. Priceless! Routes can also be planned on the hoof by using the unit's Itinerary utility and putting in waypoints such as villages although, for some reason, the unit wouldn't link them together and you would have to manually "tick-off" waypoints as you approached then, after which the tomtom looks for the next waypoint and navigates there. - Brittany Ferries - Portsmouth to St Malo overnight. Circa £220 including cabin and arrive in France at 8am. All worked well, food and wine great and reasonably priced. Part of the holiday. Secondly the not quite so successful; - the Autocom. I spent ages sorting this before we went and, in the end we just didn't use it. With a screen and doors and at less than 70 mph it just wasn't worth the hassle. When we did try it the sound quality was not really good enough for music and for some reason the tomtom only seems to have one volume - 11! - Dust and pollen. Just like in the UK some scruffy oik will scrawl graffiti on the car if there is enough dust and grit on the car. I was washing it off every night but this didn't stop kids leaving their marks at lunch time or at other stops. Take a folding bucket and a sponge. - Petrol stations. There aren't many, they only open for 15 minutes a day and you need a credit card. We didn't really have too many problems but we started looking out for them once we were down to half a tank as you could easlily drive for 30 minutes with seeing one. The Tomtom was handy as you can search out supermarkets which generally have automated petrol pumps which take cards. - The exchange rate - Ouch! Overall, If you have never driven your Caterham in France - go for it - it's a superb country with wonderful, quiet roads, friendly natives and great food and wine. We're planning our next trip already!

Thanks for the suggestions, the supplied transformer (12v to 9v) has an inline fuse fitted in the wiring so that part if it seems straight forward. I think I'll try a feed from the ignition switch, I have replaced the original key switch with an aircraft style switch on the dash so presumably one side is permanently live and the other is the switched side. Do I need to run a negative supply down the tunnel too? Can't I just use a chassis tube fitting (providing it has a bare metal surface available)?

I will be wiring in my Autocom next weekend and will locate the unit on the rear bulkhead between the seats. Ideally I'd like to use a power source from the back end of the car to avoid having to run wires through the cockpit. Does anyone know of a suitable source. It needs to be powered up by the ignition as I don't want to flatten my battery by forgetting to unplug a headset. The unit instructions suggest a brake light power feed. Presumably this would have to be a permanent live with the switch on the negative side of the light circuit. Is this the case in a Caterham?

The latest ones include a zip on section to provide complete protection when parked. it's pretty effective even without this bit added though to be honest. Pictures on their web site.

Don't forget to adjust for phases of the moon, leap years and magnetic variation as well!