Refurbishing a caterham - list

[mcerbm]

I am doing a refurb of my Superlight R. It has a quite a lot of gravel rash down both sides and all the usual marks on the rear wings nose cone etc. I was going to leave it as a badge of honour as I compete in it (Hillclimbs / sprints), but there are other areas where rust / corrosion is showing, but I took my competition numbers off once and it took the top layer of paint off so I decided to get a refresh.

 

At the moment it stands at:

repaint in BRG (original colour plus engine bay is BRG not black so seemed less hassle)

Rollbar / wishbones / wing stays all removed and powder coated

new suspension fasteners (pack from caterham)

re-laquer carbon nose cone ring / rear wing protectors

new badges / decals (unfortunately caterham only sell the new font rear caterham badge!)

new number plates

new hood sticks

titanium 7 grill

white square either side for placing competition numbers (not removing my paint again!)

3M protective film on the rear arches / behind bonnet springs

 

What would you do to you cars if you were getting them repainted? its a 2000 car and was starting to look a bit tired.

 

i dont have the cash for a full strip back to arch etc so its just a re-fresh. I'm happy with my suspension as well before that gets suggested as a change when the wishbones are off...

 

 

[Shaun_E]

If you've got corrosion showing then a repaint won't solve the problem and you'll just have to do it again. I'd spend the money on a full strip. It will cost probably less than £3k to have it blasted, powder coated, re-panelled and painted assuming you strip the car and remove the panels.

The white square is a good idea - I got self adhesive ones from Demon Tweeks and they've been on there for a few years now. I thought about having them painted on - if the paint is well waxed then the numbers should come off fairly easily.

Oh and the first event you compete in afterwards, you'll end up in the gravel 😬

[TonyR]

If the budget is tight I would go as Shaun suggests for repanel & chassis refurbish, but not paint the new alloy panels until a later date.

 

TonyR

[Englishmaninwales]

As Shaun suggests.

However, if you are going to continue to compete, I would suggest you put the refurbish on hold until you decide to stop.

I refurbished mine with a full strip, repanelled new paint etc., then only a year later I put it into a tyre wall at considerable speed, with the car requiring a big rebuild......

Also, I see you mention a rollbar (and I guess you are using a petty strut too). If you want to spend money now I suggest it is well spent on a SLR type cage, far safer and you can sell it on when you stop.

When you ultimately refurbish the repanelling will delete the cage holes in the side skins.

Hope that helps!

Malcolm

[TomB]

I'm planning to do this in a couple of years. In 2016 my car will be 20 years old, so I'm think of not doing anything beyond basis servicing until then, and saving the pennies for a rebuild of some sort.

 

My then, the car could be on ~60000 miles, but has had new engines, brake lines, discs, and rear suspension and scuttle panel repowder coated in recent years, so I'm thinking along the lines of the following as a minimum:

 

reskin, chassis clean up, respray

front suspension strip & bushes

depending on condition, rear as above

definitely new dampers

new screen

wheel bearings

 

The problem is, how long is a piece of string? How do you decide where to stop? I could go on with prop/diff/GB overhaul, new drive shafts, dash, wings, nose, but at what point is it more sensible to buy a younger car?

 

Another one is do you do the work yourself or commission the 7 Workshop or similar to manage the work for you?