Aaaaaand............we're back...

Hi all,

We are back and building again! It's been crazy busy here since the wedding this past month and there is no sign of it abating anytime soon. However Dad and I hope to be posting more regularly and we hope to be making good progress over the coming weeks!

First off, around the time of the Wedding Loan Car (thanks once again Caterham!) - see previous post for details, Caterham informed us that we had to change our fuel gauge. This was due to our new Ford Duratec Engine now being made in Mexico (I believe) and there had been some minor changes to the ancillaries. We were sent the new Gauge (below left), to replace it and to send the old gauge back.

 

New (left) and old fuel gauge. Some cosmetic changes.

On the face of it, this appeared to be a quick and easy replacement job, however when we removed the old gauge from the dashboard it turned out to be far from a 'bolt-off, bolt-on' job, see below:

New gauge (left), showing the new style wiring connections versus the old spade clips style.

The wiring connections are completely different; the new gauge having an integrated 6-pin connection, versus the old gauge's three pin and a bulb holder. Naturally we can't find the right plug in the loom behind the dashboard and got onto Caterham, they are investigating, when we know something so will you. I really hope there isn't too much remedial wiring required... 

[EDIT 28/4/16: Latest info from Caterham is that it is more than likely going to have to be looked at in the Post-build check. Sounds like a connector will have to be spliced into the loom somehow.]

Loom connections don't fit new style gauge...

With that on the back burner for now, we turned our attention to fitting what Dad calls the 'Monuments' for the engine. These are the fixed parts that don't move under the bonnet and have all the connections going to and from them i.e. the heater, the water tank etc. The reason for this is that we could then more easily visualise where all the piping had to run and to work out the actual lengths of pipe required. We decided to fit the heater first and was a relatively simple job to do, we just had to enlarge the mounting holes, as the bolts supplied were too big.

Enlarging mounting holes on the heater.

Heater mounted.

The heater outlets under the dash.

EDIT 14/May/16
Andrew Bissell (who has a fantastic blog here) noticed that we've put the assembly in the pic above upside down and left a comment below. This has now been rectified; the 'ears' (see below) should protrude down from the bottom of the scuttle/firewall to blow air forwards towards your feet. This has now been rectified. Thanks Andrew!

'Ears' pointing down now...

One of the tasks on the manual that I wasn't looking forward to was mounting the oil breather bottle bracket onto the chassis rail. To compound matters we couldn't find the fixings required for the job in the fixings pack (a perennial problem!).

To do the job it required drilling off the existing rivet in order to use the vacated hole for a new one, this was so that the right side of the bracket could be attached. Also it meant drilling a completely new hole, through the chassis tube, for the corresponding rivet on the left side of the bracket, no mistakes allowed! In the end, I needn't have worried as it worked a cinch. The bracket (see below) is well and truly fixed and the bottle fits perfectly.

Oil Breather Bottle Bracket (note the 2 black rivets used)

The next job was to fit the radiator, again the SV arrangement is rather different, and the relevant section for the Duratec models was very short, vague and had few pictures to guide us! Fortunately there is a picture in the Sigma 125 engine section (figure 55?) and we were able to mock this up on the workbench:

SV Radiator arrangement mocked up on bench. We think it's correct!

We took some burrs off the edge of the Radiator Mounting Plates (silver pieces on the left and right sides) and fitted it loosely to the front of the chassis. This was so that the radiator could be centred on the front of the car and the slots for the bolts aligned.

Radiator fitted.

Finally, we fitted the steering wheel to the boss (you may remember that the screws supplied were mushroom-headed as opposed to countersunk). However as soon as we had completed this we noticed a rather alarming amount of play when turning the steering wheel. It turned out one of the Universal joints hadn't been tightened enough (oops), as soon as it was re-torqued to Caterham specs the steering became as tight as a drum and twice as responsive (note to self for when we drive her!). Also, another outstanding item checked off the list!

Steering wheel fitted. Time to climb in and make some 'Brum Brum, SCREEEEECH!' noises...

Apart from fitting the expansion bottle for the water (we have a wet sump, hence the tank fits on top of the cruciform, see below), that was it for the day. Decent amount of progress made and happy with what we had achieved. Next time we will be trying to get the engine properly connected with the mass of pipes and jubilee clips.

Note the expansion tank now fitted on top of the Cruciform. Overall Decent amount of progress made!

Day 10: Steering and Exhaust

Only had an afternoon, but got quite a lot done considering. The correct bolts for the Chassis cross-member have now arrived so the first task was to fit and torque those. However, whilst under the car we noticed that one of the wires has snapped off the reverse light switch, no idea how that has happened. We also discovered that the set screws for the quick-release steering wheel were mushroom headed, not countersunk, (see below). However Derek is again very is kindly sending us out another one and some countersunk screws.

 Oops, wrong type of screws...

 

The next task was to fit the steering column, relatively simple task, starting at the bottom, with the universal joint, ensuring that the yoke was either vertical or horizontal 'to ensure linearity of response'.

Universal joint into steering rack,

Then, between the pedal box and the firewall is the joint for the upper steering column, this allows adjustment of the steering wheel distance from the dashboard using the grub screw and lock nut (see below). Initially we thought that the anodized piece you can see in the photo was the other way up, however we're pretty sure that this is the correct orientation.

Upper steering column clamp.

Next was to start fitting the exhaust; perhaps it would have been best to fit the exhaust headers BEFORE the steering rack, however it really wasn't that difficult to do with the lower column in place. The part numbers did not appear to correspond with the manual, however, it's pretty easy to work out, start with the rearmost and work forwards. Feeding it through the hole in the side of the body (reinforce the protection around the hole before you do this) and then twisting into place.

Exhaust headers, relatively simple to do, just a 3D puzzle really!

All fitted into place.

I have to say we are pretty impressed with the exhaust, it all fits together pretty darn well and with pretty good precision, fits nicely and squarely into the cut out in the body. About the only thing we had to do was to to open out slightly the ends of the clips on the springs so that they fit better on the collector and header pipes.

It was getting late at this point but we spent some time gathering the radiator parts together and mocking up how everything fits together. I have to say Andrew Bissell's blog post on the matter is going to be our reference for how to do it (Thanks Andrew).

Parts mocked up ready for next time.

Merry Christmas and finally we have parts on the car!

Firstly I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I hope you all have had a lovely day with your families and loved ones. I've spent most of the day being on call for work, (fortunately I was not needed) and I'm presently sat on my parents' sofa with a sherry, trying to digest half a Duck and assorted accoutrements, realising I hadn't posted in a while. (Edit: I'm actually finishing this post in Hong Kong as I was eventually called away at extremely short notice on Boxing Day, before I had a chance to publish it!)

After 'Delivery 2.0' and some fretting on the Caterham and Lotus 7 Owners Group with Caterham's reworking of the chassis we decided to proceed with assembly. Dad wasn't initially happy with how they had dealt with it (effectively Caterham had just enlarged the hole on the offending bracket to allow the bolt through the chassis member- see detail on earlier posts below). However the advice (as always) on the Facebook group was reasoned and very forthcoming (thanks everyone who replied!) and maybe we were making more of a mountain out of it than we needed to. Also, being away on holiday whilst Caterham had the car meant that we didn't really lose any build time.

However, since then we have struggled to find the time to actually commence building! With a full time job (meaning I'm away a fair amount on business), planning our wedding, building a utility room, renovating the downstairs toilet and now repairing the Land Rover after a MOT failure, it's been difficult to afford some time. Never a dull moment!

The reason why the build hasn't progressed so quickly: Tiling and finishing our new utility room.

However we finally have bits on the car! Not many due to the electrician having to change our fuse box and killing the light in the garage, (meaning an early finish on the one day we did have). The front suspension is largely in and we're now looking ahead at shoe-horning the engine in. The good news is I have a big block of days off coming up in mid-January so planning on focusing on the Caterham then.

As the car has wide-track suspension the washer arrangement is somewhat different when fitting the wishbones. It was a little fiddly and tight getting them in, but managed it pretty well. Again the Assembly Guide was not the most helpful; it lead you down one course of action before telling you about the other condition. We had been pre-warned by others to expect this from the manual and had read up beforehand! However it was most satisfying when we tightened the bolts and the torque wrench made the satisfying clicking sound.

Hopefully I'll have plenty to report in the next couple of weeks. Thanks for reading and will report back soon!