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 9: Front Anti-Roll Bar and more Wiring

The front Anti-Roll Bar (ARB) bolts have arrived from Derek and pass through the front of the chassis forwards into the special brackets (see below). They were just a tad too long, so we used a washer as well as a spring washer, so that they didn't start to crush the tube.

Front anti-roll bar bolts just sticking through.

Preparation of the front anti-roll bar.

Preparing the Bar itself was relatively simple, although the ball-ends wouldn't fit into the mounting cups. We had to remove almost all of the powder coat using my Dremel (It's been proving very useful!) - see below.

Too much powder coat in and around the mounting cups.

Using the Dremel to remove the powder coat;

 Getting there using the wire brush attachment; 

For the record, a cylindrical sanding bit is less abrasive and achieves a better finish.

The ball ends were greased up then fitted nicely into the cups. A little more grease around the outside of the ball joint and the rubber boots were cable-tied into place. Job jone.

Greasing up the ball ends.

 A little more grease before the rubber boot is placed over the ends.

Front ARB (and front Suspension now) done.

The next thing was to sort out some of the last bits of wiring. From looking at a couple of blogs it would appear that people have put all the positive connections together on the positive pillar of the starter solenoid, being all the same potential. We had a couple of reservations as we weren't sure the nut would be in safety with all those ring ends in place. This was nothing however to when we looked at the terminal (see below) BEFORE we put the ring clips on, most of the threads had been crushed, on both pillars! It looks as though the terminal/pillar is all soft copper and has been crushed at some point, meaning the nut cannot get started until almost at the base of the pillar itself, certainly not enough to fit all the ring clips onto the starter solenoid.

Note the crushed (not by us!) threads on the starter solenoid pillars. Hmmm...

We called Derek, the ever-helpful Guru, who told us that the two long brown ring-ended leads (above), that eventually lead to under the dashboard, could just be fitted onto the battery positive terminal directly, rather than via starter solenoid. Although we've not tried this method yet, I'm a little concerned with all the extra wire now left over and how to route it effectively. Will have to think about what to do before we go any further...

Next I removed the pedal box cover whilst Dad started to assemble all the parts for the steering rack assembly, to be fitted tomorrow.

Pedal box cover removed.

Steering rack assembly parts.

Not much progress today (Build Day 8)

After yesterday's successes not much visible progress was achieved today, mainly because we spent it trying to route the wiring and connect the engine. My hands are scratched to hell, as the clearances involved are rather tight! Speaking of clearance have a look at the Bell-housing and the driver's side footwell...(see below)

Tight clearance!

First job was to fit the gear lever; took a bit of time to get evening aligned but eventually we won.

 

 Gear Lever fitting in progress...

Next was the reverse light switch; the Assembly Guide says there's a hole in the right hand side of the transmission tunnel. There is not (Is it an SV thing?). However it wasn't too difficult to fit and wire in, just a little fiddly.

Note the Reverse light switch below the gear lever.

Finally the rest of the day was spent routing the wiring and working out what went where. A lot of trying to make everything look neat and cable-tying everything so that it doesn't rub or touch hot parts of the engine. This takes longer than you think and requires a little experimentation. We're pretty happy with the results, however once again the Assembly Guide is unhelpful as quite a lot has already been done for you.

Bolts have arrived for the Front Anti-Roll bar, so that'll be done tomorrow including some other outstanding tasks.