anyone done a LHD - RHD swap or sell on.

anyone done a LHD - RHD swap or sell on.

Author
Discussion

JeffC

Original Poster:

1,685 posts

211 months

Monday 18th May 2015
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I appear to have acquired an SV Caterham 2.3 duratec race car that has done practically nothing but is a left hooker ,I didn't really want the car but its such a good spec at a good price that I couldn't leave it , not sure on plans for it but its likely a car I will tinker with a bit have a bit of fun and then move on as Ideally I wanted an R400 duratec race car in S3 chassis , plenty of options what I can do with the car but initial plan at mo unless someone comes along to buy it in the meantime is to convert it to RHD maybe use it a bit on track and then see how I feel about it , on the face of things the chassis looks the same side to side and on first glance it looks like the pedal turret should move from one side to the other if its removable ? that would leave me with a steering rack and a dashboard to buy , some wires for the stack dash and brake pipes to extend ?

Has anyone done this and Is it that straight forward or am I missing something major?



Gingerbread Man

9,171 posts

212 months

Monday 18th May 2015
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You'd have to remove the pedal box which is welded on. Then reweld, or braze as it probably is if imperial to the other side.

Modify the dash frame work for the steering column and their bushes.

New throttle cable.

New steering rack.

Probably other stuff,

e21jason

717 posts

218 months

Monday 18th May 2015
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Factory built LHD seem to have a premium in Europe, stick on mobile.de and flip it.

JeffC

Original Poster:

1,685 posts

211 months

Monday 18th May 2015
quotequote all
e21jason said:
Factory built LHD seem to have a premium in Europe, stick on mobile.de and flip it.
this car was bought in kit form and shipped to Dubai where it was built and registered on the road. It has all receipts from new just not sure if would be ok to register in another country .

harry b

329 posts

173 months

Monday 18th May 2015
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Gingerbread Man said:
You'd have to remove the pedal box which is welded on. Then reweld, or braze as it probably is if imperial to the other side.

Modify the dash frame work for the steering column and their bushes.

New throttle cable.

New steering rack.

Probably other stuff,
You don't need a new steering rack. I've gone the other way around and steering rack can be converted by sticking the pignion on the backside.
Biggest hassle I found was the steeringcolumn, and in my case wipermotor.
Better get a new pedalbox, since it is not symmetrical.

e21jason

717 posts

218 months

Tuesday 19th May 2015
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Might be Neil's old Caterham then, pretty decent spec and well put together if it is. I don't think he registered it here.

If it has a vin and you have a customs clearance certificate you should be able to register it.

JeffC

Original Poster:

1,685 posts

211 months

Tuesday 19th May 2015
quotequote all
e21jason said:
Might be Neil's old Caterham then, pretty decent spec and well put together if it is. I don't think he registered it here.

If it has a vin and you have a customs clearance certificate you should be able to register it.
I believe the first guy that owned it was called Neil Greer ? he was a pilot or similar ? , it has Vin no and tag and pretty much every receipt from new inc the original from CC and it has a certificate from customs when it was brought back into the uk , I had to Iva my last car and was a bit of a chew on and wasnt so keen to go back down that path again

e21jason

717 posts

218 months

Tuesday 19th May 2015
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Thats the right guy if you want i can send you his email.

Jason

JeffC

Original Poster:

1,685 posts

211 months

Tuesday 19th May 2015
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e21jason said:
Thats the right guy if you want i can send you his email.

Jason
yeh that would be good if you could pm it across thanks, I found one on an old receipt from years ago which I tried but no answer as yet .

mic

376 posts

232 months

Tuesday 19th May 2015
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Have a look on Gulf Petroheads, there's a link to the original build

JeffC

Original Poster:

1,685 posts

211 months

Wednesday 20th May 2015
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harry b said:
You don't need a new steering rack. I've gone the other way around and steering rack can be converted by sticking the pignion on the backside.
Cheers was gonna order up a rack but will have a look at that today

mic said:
Have a look on Gulf Petroheads, there's a link to the original build
thanks I found the build thread and have been in contact with Neil, its a much higher engine spec than I thought smile

mickrick

3,700 posts

172 months

Sunday 24th May 2015
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I was going to say flip it in Europe, as LHD are like hens teeth! But if it's kit built, Caterham won't give you a CoC.
But if you can get it through IVA and put it on U.K. plates, some one over here may be interested.


JeffC

Original Poster:

1,685 posts

211 months

Sunday 24th May 2015
quotequote all
mickrick said:
I was going to say flip it in Europe, as LHD are like hens teeth! But if it's kit built, Caterham won't give you a CoC.
But if you can get it through IVA and put it on U.K. plates, some one over here may be interested.
Im still very undecided which route to go down, im going to paint it up and get it looking mint first and will prob give it an advert as LHD trackcar before I do anything else see what interest I get in it. if no interest will weigh up options and either convert to RHD or look to IVA it or both . I have spoken with Bruce at Arch this week and converting to RHD is straight forward , pedal box , dash and other parts needed came to around £200 supply only and if the rack will reverse its cheap to do and a days work.

BertBert

18,953 posts

210 months

Monday 25th May 2015
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I would have expected a significant price difference between a road registered and track only car. Feels like it would be well worth getting registered.

There are specialists around that can help/do it for you. Fees seem to range from £200 to £600 (plus the third party costs).

Bert

JeffC

Original Poster:

1,685 posts

211 months

Monday 25th May 2015
quotequote all
yes I agree selling in the Uk market road registered would be worth more and make it easier to sell but if selling to someone outside the uk would it make any difference or are you saying the car would need to be uk registered to export ?

dlight69

30 posts

106 months

Thursday 28th May 2015
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Hi,

If it's of any interest I'm looking for a used Caterham to take back to Italy where I live, so if you're still looking for a buyer I'm open to negotiation. Please PM me if you want to follow up on this.
Thanks

JeffC

Original Poster:

1,685 posts

211 months

Thursday 28th May 2015
quotequote all
dlight69 said:
Hi,

If it's of any interest I'm looking for a used Caterham to take back to Italy where I live, so if you're still looking for a buyer I'm open to negotiation. Please PM me if you want to follow up on this.
Thanks
I have done nothing with it as yet its just sat in my garage at the mo and I would be open to offers on the car before I start on it , looking at your profile you dont seem to be able to receive PM s , if you want to send me one across with your contact details I will reply.

The basic spec is

2.3 Duratec
steels Rods
Omega Forged Pistons
raceline cams
Raceline Dry sump
lightened flywheel
uprated Ap clutch
raceline DTH throttle boddies
Quaife gearbox with uprated internals
LSD
Stack clocks
Carbon Dash

plus sooooo much more .

Angus7

20 posts

167 months

Friday 29th May 2015
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What is that radiator ? Is the radiator a standard Caterham rad or a special ? Is your car an S3 or SV ?

I ask because the inlet and outlet are on the opposite side to standard R300/R400 spec. So much neater to route the pipes that way and use a water rail. (And probably a weight saving as well). I am looking at doing this on my S3 R400, but am not keen if it involves a non-standard rad.

Thanks
Angus

JeffC

Original Poster:

1,685 posts

211 months

Saturday 30th May 2015
quotequote all
Angus7 said:
What is that radiator ? Is the radiator a standard Caterham rad or a special ? Is your car an S3 or SV ?

I ask because the inlet and outlet are on the opposite side to standard R300/R400 spec. So much neater to route the pipes that way and use a water rail. (And probably a weight saving as well). I am looking at doing this on my S3 R400, but am not keen if it involves a non-standard rad.

Thanks
Angus
its an SV , as the car has been in Dubai all its life the cooling system was uprated to deal with the temps out there , pretty sure was told the rad was from radtec.

mickrick

3,700 posts

172 months

Sunday 31st May 2015
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If it's on U.K plates, I'm sure someone will snap it up in the eu. Personally I'd just get it IVA'd and flip it, it would be a shame to convert it from LHD as they are so rare.