Shaun_E

I was going to post this on the 1.9 thread but thought it made more sense standalone. I want to upgrade my 1.6SS but don't think I can really stretch to a 240bhp monster right now, nor do I think going from 135bhp to 240 in one jump is necessarily a sensible thing to do 😬. I have a few questions and am after some sensible views on what path to take. I don't want to do any of the work myself as I've just rebuilt my car from chassis up, am thoroughly sick of working on it and just want to drive the damm thing (hopefully in the next week or so).

1) Just in case I suddenly find a few grand down the back of the sofa, what is the real cost of building a such an engine from scratch? Lets assume I buy a bog standard s/h engine as a starting point. If I handed that engine to oilyhands and asked him to build me a reliable 240bhp 1.9, how much money would I have to hand over with it? [Oily - I appreciate you may not want to give details on here but I am just after a realistic ball park figure] It seems there are a lot of vague numbers on other threads - is that because people are in denial or just don't want their other halves to find out?

2) What sensible stages should I take to get there assuming I can't afford to do it all in one go? My starting point is a 1.6 Supersport. I had thought about going for the K05 kit which with the fitting and verniers comes to £3120. This would give me a 175ish bhp car and the basics for further tuning (DTHTBs and emerald). Am I right in assuming this is done with the engine in the car? How long does it take to do? Should I have the car mapped on a rolling road afterwards?

3) Even £3120 is a quite a lot to shell out in one go (especially after my rebuild budget creep ) so, out of the other SS upgrade packages, what would be the best to go for as an intermediate step with the intention to get to K05 at a later date? K15 (headwork for 145bhp+) or K16 (DTHTBs and Emerald for 150bhp+)?

I know I can pick up the phone but this is just food for thought at the moment as my car hasn't turned a wheel in 6 months ☹️ and needs to be ready for Cadwell next month.

Finally, are there any other modifications to the car required for big power? The car is a 1997 Superlight with AP Suretrak LSD and all the other SL goodies. I guess I will need wider rear tyres (currently on 185's). ***I already have a dry sump - thanks for the reminder Neil***

Look forward to hearing people's views. Please email me through my profile if you don't want to post details here.

Thanks,

Shaun

Yellow SL #32

Edited by - Shaun_E on 1 Apr 2005 14:19:39

Part arrived today and the holes are indeed slotted. I can get the height of the windscreen mounting holes from this but not the horizontal location. Anyone got any ideas of how to measure the location?

Updated in case anyone ever searches for this or I forget the measurements:

The jig used, mounts to the upper nosecone Dzus fastener mount on the chassis. The measurements below are taken from the back face of this mount (i.e. the face nearest the cockpit) to the centre of the holes

forward hole = 1012.5mm

rearward hole = 1152mm

The spacing of the holes is actually 140mm but the angle of the measurement must cause the 0.5 mm discrepancy.

Yellow SL #32

Edited by - Shaun_E on 1 Apr 2005 11:15:25

Just checked the assembly manual and knowley's description is correct for later cars. My car is a 1997 and doesn't have the big locknut and grub screw.

As Tony said, the UJ at the steering rack end could also be the issue. The lower column slides into the UJ and a bolt goes through the UJ to clamp it on.

Yellow SL #32

Edited by - Shaun_E on 30 Mar 2005 10:04:07

That sounds pretty serious. First thing I would check is the upper steering column clamp. Take the bonnet off and you'll easily see the clamp behind the brake master cylinder. The clamp is in two pieces and is clamped around the steering column using 2 bolts. The lower steering column slides into the upoper steering column and there is a flat area that the clamp goes around. If the clamp has come slightly loose then the lower column will be able to turn in the upper column. It's all pretty obvious when you look at it.

The only other possibility is that the QR boss has come loose - I'm not sure how that goes together as I didn't fit mine.

Yellow SL #32

Halfords satin black is a pretty good match. I've been using the aerosol one to touch up any chips in powder coat.

Yellow SL #32

I bought a Radtec in an earlier bulk buy and (touch wood) have had no problems with it. It does the job fine coping with a wet sump K running a Laminova oil cooler on trackdays and in hot summer drives.

Search the archives for some comments about the design of the Caterham triple pass radiator.

Yellow SL #32

Update - called Caterham to order the brackets described above but they only have one side ☹️. Still should be able to make a template for the other side. However it is likely that the holes in the bracket for the scuttle mounting bolts are slotted and therefore won't give me a definitive position.

Caterham use a jig that works off the nosecone Dzus fastener mounting point. i may have to use the measurements for that jig .

Yellow SL #32

My new scuttle has no holes for the windscreen. How do I determine where to drill them? I have seen a bracket that replaces the "U" section that holds the scuttle to the body, which has an extension with windscreen mounting holes in it. This bracket was supplied with a Caterham interchangeable aeroscreen - is it a normal part?

Is there a fool proof way of measuring the positioing of the holes?

Yellow SL #32

The rubber nipples are part of the fuel pump gasket. If one has broken off then the gasket could be suspect. Would suggest you replace the gasket. Not necessarily a fuel tank out job.

Empty the tank and then undo the 6 screws you can see in the picture. You can then pull the fuel pump out of the tank, feed the gasket over it and replace.

Yellow SL #32

Drill a pilot hole in the centre of the bolt then use a nice big drill bit - about 8mm should do the trick. Takes about 5 minutes. Of course it was easier for me as I had the steering column sleeve off the car.

Yellow SL #32

I have just done a complete stripdown and have almost finished the rebuild.

Assuming you strip the car yourself then to have the chassis blasted and re-powder coated, all new panels fitted and a respray then I guess you should budget about £3k. You can save some money by removing the old panels yourself and by not having the new ones powder coated but it would only save you a couple of hundred.

If the chassis is really starting to rust then I would go for it. Mine was a real mess and every time I think to myslef "Why did I do this?" I just look at the pictures I took during the dismantling process.

Yellow SL #32

Easy to get tunnel cover off - the only pain is that to get it over the handbrake lever you will probably need to slacken off the handbrake cable. Unscrew gear lever knob and remove the handbrake lever sleeve. Pull handbrake lever as near to vertical as possible. Lift tunnel cover off - it's not actually held on with anything (well mine wasn't so I presume others aren't either).

Yellow SL #32

Rally Design do straight reducers in silicon - here - don't know if they're any good to you.

Yellow SL #32

Yes still available.

Yellow SL #32

Red with red roll bar C7***.

Yellow SL #32

Cheers Mark. Let me know if the bullets you have are any good. I'll call Caterham on Monday and see if they've got any in yet.

Yellow SL #32

I broke my reversing light switch which had a single wire connection with a press stud fitting. The new one supplied by Caterham has two "bullet" connectors. I have 2 questions:

1. What connectors do you use to connect the wires to the bullets? I have tried a straight 15amp female connector but it sticks out through the hole in the transmission tunnel. I assume there is some sort of right angled connector available - is this available from Caterham? Is it a double connector or 2 separate ones?

2. My old switch obviously earthed through the body of the switch - can I simply connect the existing wire to one terminal and take a wire from the other to a suitable earth? I have read "this thread which seems to suggest that newer cars are wired differently with the switch being in the positve feed to the bulbs rather than the earth. Should I change the wiring to the new method?

Yellow SL #32

Thanks folks - will order the cheap one from CBS

Yellow SL #32

The cheap one looks fine. Just one question though - are aluminium rivnuts good enough for the job? What do Caterham use?

Yellow SL #32

I need to fix some rivnuts to my car for attaching the wings and fitting fuseboxe, ECU, etc. RS do a couple of kits:

1. AVK Blind Threaded Insert Kit, part number 247-7581

2. Tapped Bush Fitting Clinchnut Kit, part number 292-530

Any ideas as to which is the best or correct one to use?

What size rivnuts am I likely to need?

Yellow SL #32

Mark - where did you get it from?

Yellow SL #32

Mark - sounds like a good idea. Norman Verona did that too and it was my original plan. When I was told about this tape I thought it sounded good - just wasn't expecting it to be difficult to source. I think I'll go the velcro route then.

Cheers.

Yellow SL #32

Delbert - they look a bit too permanent to me.

I contacted Caterham and Simon Lambert knew what I was talking about but Caterham don't use it and he didn't know where it came from.

Yellow SL #32

Replacing my current c/f dash which was badly rivetted on by a previous owner. I want to bond the new dash on but non-permanently. The stuff that Oxted use sounds perfect and I even found a post in the Archives referring to them supplying it. If I could just find the name of it then I should be able to find a supplier. Oxted were far from helpful.

Yellow SL #32

I have been told about an adhesive tape that could be used to mount a carbon dash. This tape is like Sikaflex but does not go off and therefore not only provides a good joint but can also be easily removed. Sounds a bit like this product from 3M but can anyone point me in the right direction.

The person that told me about it got it from Oxted Trimming but bizarrely they "aren't doing sales at the moment" and refused to tell me the name of the product.

Yellow SL #32