Mick Day

My speedo drive fell out on my 1st visit to Germany as well! Noise: check the engine mounts are secure as well as the plug cover. And really just check all fasteners around the engine bay. Similarly check the rear exhaust mount. Power: could be you're getting quicker & a more powerful engine is required? Just a thought. Enjoy a steak on a hot stone tonight at the Pistenklause?

You're welcome Dave. I downloaded that from Caterham's site many moons ago but it's been deleted & updated with the new models now. It's good to know that the Yanks are good for something!

Oh forgot to say the knowledge will be easy for someone with mechanical aptitude. These cars are just fancy Meccano kits with a few agricultural accessories. Nothing fancy tool wise either but watch out for the mix of metric/imperial fasteners.

Build manual for a K series here. Might be for a later car but it's 90% there for your car. Spend some time with your new found buddy Google & you'll find there's a lot of info out there & of course help on here. I've had my car from new in 1994 & did a full rebuild in 2005/6. Took me 4 days to take it apart single-handed. Many months to reassemble. It does depend on what you want to do/upgrade. The best bit of advice I can give is take your time & work out which supplier is going to do what. Keep a spreadsheet of what you've ordered, where parts have gone etc as it's easy to forget. Start early as motorsport suppliers can be notoriously tardy when it comes to delivery dates, especially in the winter/spring when they service race teams before private customers.

What about some nice Magnecore leads? Here.

MGF

That's what I've told him, more than once.

I suppose because we can........................ 😬 When I built my car in 1994 I thought with the light weight that 100 BHP would be more than enough, however I forgot to factor in the barn-door-style aerodynamics. That & taking an interest in track days meant a development curve that for me has now peaked at 227. It's also been fun & I've met a lot of nice people along the way. Edited by - Mick Day on 6 Aug 2010 11:54:43

I had exactly the same problem when my car was repatriated from France in 2008. By the time I saw the car I was outside the time limit to deal with the company & I was more involved in repairing the engine (throttle butterfly screw went AWOL). So this is what I did: I placed the bonnet on a rolled up duvet & used a softwood stick to carefully massage out the dents. Can only just see them now. However I suspect a dent repair specialist would eliminate them. The dents are probably caused by a recovery monkey trying to refit the bonnet. Pushing down on the bonnet as he pulls up on the front bonnet clip.

Good morning Alan & welcome to the madness that is Caterham ownership! As you can see there are more views on this forum than you can shake an engine stand at! Most owners I know (including myself) have started out at the lower end of engine development & progressed upwards in search of more fun. I haven't met anyone yet who has regretted this but many regret not buying the performance in the 1st place. If I was doing this again I would probably buy a starter kit & source the engine myself. Food for thought??............. Plenty of suppliers out there & plenty of technical help here.

Mine wouldn't go away so I had the mechanical drive removed & blanked with the Ford blanking kit (£5 for parts from a Ford dealer). I now have an electronic VDO speedo driven from the front wheel.

I have 2 identical Magneton starters for my car supplied by Brise: one has a 2 hole fitting & the other 3. 2 bolts are more than adequate to secure the starter, so if it fits............

Any good metalworking shop could do this without a trip to Arch: personally I wouldn't worry.

On a K the cam carrier to head is sealed with our favourite Loctite anaerobic goo.

Strangely that's not in my away-from-home tool kit!

Make sure the car is not in gear & do the following: make up a flylead (as thick a wire as you have) with a female lucar connector on one end & bare the other; about 1 meter length should be ok. Remove the small (solenoid) wire from the starter & replace with flylead. Turn on ignition & touch bare end of flylead to positive terminal of your battery. Starter should spin up & the engine should start. If not there is a problem with the starter. If it starts you will need to renew some of the starter wiring & replace the relay as well. Check out this thread: here

There is an auto factor in Verviers who supplied just that part to friend back in 2003. You'll ideally need some friendly race team (or local garage) with a press to change it. I see it's a BAT day so Jonny can probably help out.

Now measure & record the ride heights at each corner & you can replicate this at any time in the future, especially if you change any suspension components.

Firstly A/C units should be used frequently to ensure the lubricant gets circulated & seals don't dry out - I leave mine on all the time. Secondly A/C units don't need regular re-gassing: there is usually a leak somewhere if it wont work. Main cause of a leak is a hole in the condenser or less commonly the dryer or evaporator. Compressors are pretty reliable but check that the A/C clutch is working & the drive belt hasn't gone AWOL. Kwik Fit often have a deal where if it won't hold the gas then there is no charge. What they should do is evacuate the system, determine if it will sustain a vacuum then introduce lubricant/gas to either a predetermined weight or pressure. If it wont sustain a vacuum then they can introduce dyes to see where the leak is Alternatively find a small specialist company that does mobile.

Although I'm not the originator of these they can be viewed here. I have one & a very nice bit of bling it is too!

Logic dictates if you have the cam cover from the 1.8 vvc it should fit on your modified head as that is where it came from originally. If you don't want to drill your new cover you can have my (came from a 1.6) old one for a tenner. Try before you buy?

It's a long time since I've had to do this so bear with me. You need to jack the car up & place on axel stands so that the de-dion tube doesn't get in the way. Plus remove the boot floor to make access easier. Once the plug is accessable trickle oil in until it starts to dribble out. Or is that dribble it in until it drizzles out? Oh sorry that's cooking!

If you have a Caterham gauge, or older VDO gauge, then you need the relevant sender from CC or any one of their agents.

Just one thing to remember with the SDC unit: it does need to be wired in from a switched power supply as without this there is a small current drain. Bob Simon's wiring diagram is spot on. More instructions from Norman Verona's site: here, half way down the page. Edited by - Mick Day on 27 Jul 2010 11:37:35

Hi Kev When I put my car back together again in 2006 I don't remember any issues with the angle of the fuel pipe relative to the banjo fitting. AFAIU the reason for the banjo is so the pipe can be fitted at whatever angle is required. It's also impossible to refit the pump to the tank in the incorrect position as the holes are not equally-spaced. Hope that helps. I have a pic of the tank being tried in the chassis (minus bodywork & without the pump) & also a pic from above before the bodywork & pump were removed. Blatmail me your email & I'll send them on this evening. I'll also try & get a pic of the pump/tank from the underside of the car.