rswestling

Having finished a 150 recently, some advice I learned from this forum that really helped me; step away from the vehicle, take a deep breath, call Caterham. They provided the kit, if anything does not make sense, or parts don't seem to fit, then they made a mistake. I had to get replacement or missing parts every week of my 12 week build. Many parts did not fit, or the instructions were for a different car, or some other craziness. Take it slow and stick to it. Look for build pics from others who have built 175s. It will come together, and you will be out on a blat this spring. -robert

I received the letter as well. And, I think it's sort of crazy to ask anyone who recently forked out the money on a car to now cough up another bundle to make the diff quieter. If a diff is deemed to be too loud, or unreliable, Caterham should replace it within the warranty period. If the new diff is the right answer, then that's the one they should replace it with. Just my 2 pence. Since I have so little experience with Caterham's, I think the diff in my car is fine, but maybe someone else would think it's loud. -robert

I had the same issue and Caterham replaced the drive shaft in question. -robert

150 is just right in a Caterham, especially if you plan to use it mostly on the road. Revvy? Not really, it feels absolutely spot on. If you want torque, maybe a turbo diesel would be better. The better question is why get an SV? They're so big! -robert

Mine went in fine once I followed the instructions I found in posts in this forum. Allen keys in top, fit lower bolts but keep slack, fit top bolt to left side and then send it home with a rubber mallet pushing the other allen key out in the process. Only real problem was making sure the thin spacer washers were in line with the hole centreline. It was out of alignment, but I did not have to resort to anything more extreme than the mallet. My diff makes a number of entertaining noises, backlash clunk, whine on overrun, etc, but none of them are overly concerning. -robert My build

Thank you all for your input. Seems the switch lights are in order, and the wipe/wash fuse may be a systemic issue. Peter, sorry, I should have done a search first to see if the issue had been brought up before. I'll try to use the 'firm' approach going forward and always have a set of spares on hand as well. In an odd way I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one with this issue. Chris, Paris was a blast. I usually do the trip on my bike, but now that my 7 is on the road I'll be making the trip once a month in it. I take the Eurotunnel, then the A16. I'd be happy to come on a Sunday and meet up with like minded motorists. -robert

Thanks, it did blow when it was raining. I'll look for ingress, but are there ways to protect the fusebox? It was not very wet, so I hate to think what would happen in a deluge. -robert

Sunday evening I took my first proper trip in the Caterham. I drove from London to Paris, and then back again on Monday night. On the first leg the car performed great with no problems at all, except that I need to get ear plugs! On the return trip I hit some patchy rain which was fine as I was moving and not getting wet. The little wipers did an effective job. After stopping for petrol and hitting some more rain I pressed the wiper button and nothing happened. I tried the wash too, and again nothing. I was able to drive and everything else was fine so I pressed on. When I got home I found that the fuse which is shared by both the wiper and the wash had blown. So, question 1 is: the fuse is a 15amp, is it normal to have one go early in the life of the car? should I be looking for some underlying reason? My second question: when the lights are on most of the rocker switches are lit. However, the brake fail, hazard, rear fog, and heated screen lights are not lit. I can't remember if they were and now there is a fault, or if they were never lit. All else seems normal. Thanks in advance for any pointers. -robert

The diff in my new build Sigma 150 has a fair bit of backlash but no significant whine. Each time I take someone for a blat, I have to explain that "that's just the way they are" when the passenger asks what the clonking sound is. But it sure seems like even a £20k car should not make sounds like that. I have a factory fit LSD, and used the LSD lube provided with Caterham's first fill set, so perhaps that's why the whine is not a problem. I'm really not sure after reading all of the diff posts if I should bother trying to replace it, or just live with it. -robert My build

The grommets are not necessary. The assembly manual says: "(2) The grommet and short section of flexible tubing on each section of outer cable are not required in this application and may be removed." This is at the start of section 8. -robert

For what it's worth, my 150 Sigma does it at idle too.

sure, but this thread might be a good start: Rear callipers On my rear callipers the exterior pad is held in place by a knurled threaded adjustable plate. I was able to turn the plate to provide balanced clearance between the right and left. When I first started to put the rear brakes together, the disk would not even fit between the pads on the right, but was fine on the left. I understand that the brakes self adjust, but, as delivered, I could not even build one of mine. Not sure if this is an issue in your build, just what I learned during mine... Rgds, Robert My build

During my build I had to wind down one of the rear brake callipers, but not the other one. If they are out of balance than maybe they could be providing different levels of force when braking hard. It's pretty easy to tell if they are wound to the same degree. There should be a small amount of play between the pads and the disk. If the play is asymmetrical between right and left than maybe winding down would help. Good luck with the retesting. -robert

On the 5 speed box the plug take a 10mm hex. Rather than use a cut down allen key, I bought a ratcheting 10mm spanner and then used the cut off piece of the allen key. I put a little blu-tac into the plug hex head, placed the cut off 100mm key into the plug, and then used the ratcheting spanner to put the plug in once the oil began to come out of the filler hole. It was a very easy solution and made the filling process pretty simple. My biggest concern in the process was stripping the plug threads. With the plug/cut key combo I was able to hand reverse then thread the plug in followed by using the ratchet. I think it took less time to do then it has to explain it! Maybe I'll add a picture of the tools used to the build diary. Rgds, Robert

Howard, One other huge pointer... Make sure to take the filler plug out of the gearbox before you put the engine in. Also, note that it is an SI hex head, not Imp as per the Assembly Guide. Have fun, putting the engine in is actually really enjoyable. best, Robert