pugwash

Alan, I used the Emil in the thread above so may just be a Christmas thing. Carsten was very quick to reply to me so may just be away. G79, for what it's worth, I mounted mine so the lever sits in the slightly higher position. I found that in the lower position there was not much space to get my fingers around the lever to be able to grab hold of it. I have never found it gets in the way. Mine was build mainly for road use and I can understand for the academy cars that the more the handbrake is out of the way the better, so mount low. I took the view that if I did not like the high position it's not much work to go back in and change it. I don't remember having a problem with the micro switch but a multimeter will tell you what's going on in the switch. On IVA, IIRC it is important that the car is seen to be built from all new components. When I built mine (2012) I wanted to do something with the underside of the wheel arches to try and reduce starring through stones being thrown up. CCs advice at the time was that would be fine as long as it still looked like new. In the end I masked them up and sprayed a few layers of stone guard on the inner surface which did not raise any comment. Re the handbrake, might be worth asking CC but I expect their response will be to keep as stock as possible to get it through the IVA. Given yours will be the same as mine and Tim's, it will either simply twist off or it won't, and if it doesn't it is a relatively simple job to cut it off. Of course once you have cut it off you can't put it back on! Regards Mark

Dremmel deployed. Cut straight down the top along the seam. Still was reluctant to come off! It appears that when manufactured they squirt a blob of gluey goo into the plastic sleeve and just slide it on. Mine was obviously made by Mr Generous Goo Squirter. 😬 Still bit more Dremmeling and a good twist and off it comes. Underneath, needs to be finished off just like Tom's, so a bit more Dremmeling to get it all nice and smooth. Perfect fit. Looks great.

I built mine with it the wrong way up too. CC charged me to turn it the right way up during the PBC. Most people also seem to need to have the wiring tidied at the PBC.

Tom, thanks for the update. As I have yet to persuade the old plastic cover off I will be dremmelling it off at the week end. Looks like I do not need to worry too much about marking the lever itself! My handle has also arrived and I had not realised it comes apart into aluminium and carbon pieces. Having seen your finished article it does look good. Thanks for the fitting instructions. Mark.

Andrew, you may be past this point but you can order a first fill pack from caterham which contains all the fluids you need to get you going. It was a bit of a mystery to me that they don't supply one with the kit, or even tell you about it when you order the kit, but there you are. Oh, welcome to the club and hope the build goes well. I found BC to be hugely useful during my build so don't hesitate to ask questions. Mark Edited by - Pugwash on 30 Dec 2013 09:39:30

Order placed and it's on its way based I guess on your photos. So thanks for the assist. Extra Christmas pressie!

Thanks Tom. Will have a go at the week end to remove. Carsten has been asking me similar questions by email.

Tom, did you get the impression that it would just pull off? Mine seems pretty well fixed, but perhaps needs more effort? Directly under the button on my grip there is a moulded circle which in some lights could be a small plastic plug for a grub screw, or perhaps is just part of the moulding. Did you undo anything or just pull? Mark

Tom, I have been exchanging emails with Carsten. He also confirms that it just pulls off. However I have just been out in the garage and it seems firmly fixed. I am hoping that someone will be along shortly to tell us to just man up and bash it off! Mark

In days gone by the symptoms you have described sounds like the ballast resistor has gone. Do these modern engines have such a thing?

My aero screen clears too. Standard CC carbon fibre for SV. I just pull off the blades and cover with rubber caps. Blutack keeps them in place.

When I built mine I started in Feb and found a 3kw fan heater was fine. Double garage, open pent roof. Adjust the stat to optimum temp and it quickly heated the space. I confess I did have a wooly hat but then I don't have a wooly head, unless it was a late night the previous night. 😬

Oh, BM sent.

If the draft reducer is still for sale I will have it. Regards Mark

Hi Phil, Yes, on my way back from CC having collected the car. I have new oil seals and rear suspension that now goes up and down a bit. No more compressed spine! Mark

Zetec, YHM, Regards Mark

I have an FIA kill switch. I connected a CTEK fly lead to the kill switch as this gives direct line to the battery and taped it up to the sttering column. Did make a point of connecting it so when the kill switch is off, everything is off so I can only charge when kill switch is switched on.

Thats handy to know. In my Sigma Supersport the same cables appear in the boot. I have seen some cars with a power socket mounted in the rear bulkhead and this is the cabling. I always wondered about the third cable as nothing happened when I put a meter on it. Now I can have what every Caterham needs - a boot light! 😬

I have a d3o beanie and some Dixons ballistic prescription lenses (photochromic so I can wear under all circumstances). I do also have a full face for rain and very cold conditions and sometimes for longer runs. I also use soundears for hearing protection. Mark

Reply for Nickhi. My sigma engined 5 speed supersport had a tiny leak in the gearbox area from new. CC looked at it at the first 1000 mile service and did something then. It did continue with the odd drip however and CC has just replaced the gearbox to propshaft seal at the last (first 12 month) service. If yours is a new car then definitely worth having a chat with James at CC factory.

My Elan twink was rebuilt to fast road spec (142) and I always run it on shell vpower. I also use the miller octane booster VSP. As said above, they were built for 5star. Regarding cost of fuel, I am not doing thousands so miles to the extra cost is negligible.

I left mine for a few days as it suited me to do so. I suspect one day might be tight. However the more they do the quicker they will get. Best to ask them. Had mine done at the factory.

Mines just been done. Collecting from CC tomorrow.

Supersport 140 sensor is at the back of the engine just in front of the battery.