Paul Richards

You can drive it to IVA test but not to post build check.

38 minutes ago, SLR No.77 said:

Double sided sticky tape.

Tried tape but doesn’t work on “Dusty” surface. 

The doors on my car are in reasonable condition except that the material inside the part that bows out to give elbow room has become loose and saggy. 
I have armrests fitted and to gain access I have removed the armrest and slit the material where the armrest is located and this will be covered when the armrest is refitted. I thought it would be as simple as spraying some glue in to reattach the material to the door. However  the material is thin and glue can easily soak into it and show on the inside of the car. Not very successful as the inside of the door is a bit like hardboard and over the years is quite “dusty”. Second attempt was to try and secure using double sided tape but the “dust” doesn’t allow thinks to stick to it. 
Has anybody successfully carried out a similar repair? I’m thinking I need to find some sort of size/primer and then a suitable glue. Any ideas/recommendations?

My half hood is from Soft Bits. No real problems but does blow up a little when in gale force winds (Scotland) and at 100mph+ (Germany).

Standard floors have reinforcement in the form of channels underneath where seats are mounted. Lowered floors are thicker gauge. In any event repair washers should also be used. 4 holes are used to secure seats. All should be used but may need a little fettling sometimes. 

Just needs welding. I’ve had to do mine a couple of times. 

Is it to be located in the top hose?  If so installation is straightforward. It’s a little more complicated if an Apollo tank is also incorporated. I placed mine with the oil inlet/oulet going up and down with a 90 degree end on oil the hose that connects to the top. As it will sit on the chassis I used some sticky foam to stop it rattling. Picture is my installation with Apollo tank and top hose thermostat (just to make it more complicated).

Nice car for somebody. 

Brass T piece finally arrived from China so I have now fitted and shortened/tidied the hoses. Took the car for a quick test drive and it performs exactly how I hoped. Picture below as it might help others. Many thanks again to those who helped with their advice. 

David. The slot in the column in the picture is not for the lock. It is for the clamp to attach to the lower column. If you already have a removable wheel and no steering lock then removal of the column is straight forward. However if you do have a steering lock then your upper column will have a collar welded to it for the lock to engage. This collar will not pass through the upper bush so you need to remove the upper bush which can be a bit difficult and the bush could be damaged in the process. If you have to remove a column with a collar for the steering lock I found the best way was by using a ratchet strap fastened around the roll bar. Also as the bush could be damaged I would recommend purchasing a new bush before you start. Hope this helps.

Pop rivet.?

There’s no need to put the car on axle stands provided you can get a jack under the sump, although personally I would put it on stands as it saves bending down and giving me a bad back. I think you’ll find the long bolts are actually 1/2 inch unf with. 3/4 inch head (19mm spanner will fit). I only mention it in case you damage the bolt removing it and need to replace it.

Ditch the carpet. It will only get wet and smelly.

Can you not put something in the holes and lever it into position. Just needs “tweaking” but you may need to be a bit rough.

If you want fixed mirrors on the windscreen stanchions why not use the IVA fittings for his standard mirrors. HERE

I’m sure there will be plenty of people glad to sell them once they have passed IVA. 

Tonneau.

Update. 
The lead time to get a suitable brass T piece is around 6 weeks (from China) so I opted for a plastic T from Car Builder Solutions and fitted it earlier today in the 16mm bottom outlet of the expansion tank. Took it out for a run and it quickly warmed up and never went above 80 degrees. Result. Returned home and left the car ticking over. Fan kicked in at a suitable point and switched off after it had cooled. 
I’ll order a brass T from China and replace the plastic one in due course. Many thanks for your assistance. 

Try contacting Martin Phipps at Caterham. He has access to the sales records. He is only there one day per week so don’t expect an instant response. https://caterhamcars.com/en/contact

I simply used black pop rivets (carefully). The ones I used were quite soft aluminium. You could potentially reuse the plastic ones. They work in a similar way to a pop rivet. When you remove them pull the centre out first. 

R

2 hours ago, aerobod - near CYYC said:

You can also remove the spring/damper lower bolt and level the suspension arms before tightening.

I understand that’s  what they do at the factory. They do it before the shock absorbers are fitted and simply lift the de dion and tighten when trailing arm/A frame are parallel to ground. Similarly lift front suspensions and tighten when wishbones parallel to the ground. Then they fit the shock absorbers. 

I’ve done further investigation and no problems with blockages in pipes or waterways although the orifice in the top of the standard header tank is very small as standard with a narrow metal insert to stop the plastic crushing. 
Graham - Thanks for your response. I was intending to follow Malcolm’s advice and put a T in the 16mm hose from the header tank rather than the 8mm outlet and you have confirmed it. I note on QED website the kit does in fact show a 16/8/16 T piece.

I’ll order the T piece and report back in due course. 

Gents. Thanks for your suggestions.
Neil. I was coming to the conclusion that something was wrong with the bleed/bypass as it is not allowing hot water to reach the thermostat. As you suggest it appears the thermostat is only being operated by convection/conduction. 
Stu. I can’t recall whether there is a small ball valve in the cylinder head outlet but I did wonder if this could be the problem as I understand they are prone to sticking. In any event this is a very small orifice which could be easily blocked. I’ll take the hose off and give it a poke. Don’t really need some form of valve? I seem to recall someone advising to remove it.
Malcolm. Your idea of tapping into the hose between the header tank and the submarine pipe seems like a good idea. I’ll investigate and report back in due course.

I fitted a QED top hose thermostat housing to my K series engine a little while ago and reused the the 82 degree thermostat that was fitted in the normal thermostat housing. This thermostat had a 3mm hole drilled to aid bleeding. The car runs fine but runs a little too cool for my liking in normal ambient temperatures. I therefore changed to a new 82 degree thermostat with no hole. Temperature now comes up quicker but will rise to around 100degrees or even a little higher and will then drop very quickly to 80 degrees. I assume this is when the thermostat opens.  It then stays at 80 but gradually climbs again to 100 and then very quickly drops again. Picture attached to show how it is plumbed. Yes I have replaced the original thermostat with the recommended spacer ring. I have also tried 2 new thermostats with the same result. 
Any ideas why it is doing this?

My heater case also cracked and broke. I dismantled by taking out the little plastic plugs. I then repaired the case using glue and some bits of carbon fibre sheet that I had knocking around. I rebuilt using pop rovers to replace the plastic plugs. I understand that Clayton can supply the new matrix but recall they were eye wateringly expensive. 

Seat belt bolts on all cars (not just Caterham) are 7/16ths unf