Gary,
The caterham supplied fitting instructions just said to put the oil into the usual (cam cover) place. They suggested about 6 litres to start with, run the engine for 2 minutes, let it stand for 30 seconds then check the oil level. Then top up if necessary.
So to answer your question yes you can just fill up with 6-7 litres in the normal way. However, when you start the engine for the first time the oil pump needs to pump this fresh oil from the sump, through the (black) feed pipe to the top of the anti-cav tank. Once the tank is filled 3 or 4 inches the oil will then be forced down the lower (black feed pipe) and into the oil filter, finally it will get to the bairings - this is why it takes a few seconds for the pressure to build the first time you start up.
You can alleviate this slightly by partially filling the anti-cav tank with a litre or so of oil through the top by removing the braided air return hose. To remove this house is very easy (once you've unclipped the nose) and won't take you more than 10 seconds.
Whether you doi this or not you will still need to drain the anti-cav tank first and this will entail removing the drain plug (carefully) from the bottom of the tank (with a large allen key).
One final thing, make sure you fill the new filter with fresh oil before fitting. Although some of this will spill out whilst you're trying to (quickly) line it up with the sandwich plate this method is supposed to avoid the possibility of air-locks (or so the Caterham instructions said).
cheers,
Mike.
Edited by - MikeE on 12 Aug 2002 17:24:58