RE: Building a Caterham: PH Blog
Thursday 22nd May 2014
You've probably heard of Best Of The Best. They're the guys who offer supercars in prize draws at airports and on the internet. You've probably also bought a ticket and cursed them when you haven't won. Guilty as charged.
Car still a way off; colour's great thoughAnyway, it turns out founder Will Hindmarch is a rather big Caterham fan and had always wanted to build his own. With no prior experience of building cars. And who better to assist him than another Caterham fan with no prior experience of building cars?
It will be a car eventually...But there was something really satisfying about putting a car together. Of course it's a lengthy endeavour (Will is contemplating a week's holiday to actually make some proper progress with his) but must be so rewarding to watch a car come together piece by piece. My respect for those Academy competitors who have built their own cars rose even further after this little taste of DIY; the commitment is laudable.
Building a Caterham: PH Blog
Matt's Seven adventures extend to building Best Of The Best's Caterham. Nobody was hurt.
Car still a way off; colour's great though
Will's car will be a Supersport R so it comes with proper tyres (Avon CR500s rather than the fuel saving CR322s on 'my' Academy car) and a 2.0-litre engine. Even just as a shell the Gulf colour scheme looks ace. In fact the only improvement I can think of for it is a PH smiley.
With only a couple of hours spare on a weekday evening we didn't complete an awful lot. However, I did assist with adding the front anti-roll bar so Will at least knows where to apportion blame when that fails... A few other suspension bits required tinkering but I was of course wary of attempting too much given my inability to construct a desk, let alone a car.
It will be a car eventually...
Assuming that ARB doesn't collapse, I have been invited to help with Will's Caterham again. It will be great to have a better idea of what comprises the PH Caterham so I'll hope to head along soon. Best of all (no pun intended), we're hoping to get both PH and BoTB Caterhams together as soon as possible. Can I have a go please Will?
Matt
Discussion
I half expected Caterham to make an appearance at Stoneleigh this year since the 160 is priced just right to tempt builders. Alas, they stuck to their 'not a kit, but a component car' snobbery and avoided the show. Thankfully, many of the owners were far more humble and brought their Caterhams for the building masses to see.
KMB said:
Another potentially silly question - Does it come with an assembly instruction manual? If so, how detailed is it and what mechanical expertise is required to build one?
I'd certainly be interested to know this also.I was left in an unfortunate position in November last year when a friend of a friend who was rebuilding the engine of my Audi UR quattro buggered off leaving me with over half of the engine in the boot and various boxes.
Disgusted at the £1,000+ price tag put on rebuilding the engine I instead bought a few key new tools and lent heavily on the fellow members of classic audi website and rebuilt the thing myself. 15 hours to get it to a state where it turned over and maybe another 10+ hours to get it running right and in a state for an MOT. Passed its MOT just last week.
Whilst I didn't appreciate working on rust, dirty seized on components on a 27 year old car I am really quite tempted with buying a 'component' car like this!
QuattroDave said:
KMB said:
Another potentially silly question - Does it come with an assembly instruction manual? If so, how detailed is it and what mechanical expertise is required to build one?
I'd certainly be interested to know this also.I was left in an unfortunate position in November last year when a friend of a friend who was rebuilding the engine of my Audi UR quattro buggered off leaving me with over half of the engine in the boot and various boxes.
Disgusted at the £1,000+ price tag put on rebuilding the engine I instead bought a few key new tools and lent heavily on the fellow members of classic audi website and rebuilt the thing myself. 15 hours to get it to a state where it turned over and maybe another 10+ hours to get it running right and in a state for an MOT. Passed its MOT just last week.
Whilst I didn't appreciate working on rust, dirty seized on components on a 27 year old car I am really quite tempted with buying a 'component' car like this!
Also because Lotus Sevens / Caterhams have been supplied as kits for well over 50 years, they really have been well thought through, and most issues with building the thing have ironed out very well.
Also unlike some kits, the accuracy of the chassis and components fitted on to it is also very good. For me building it is is (almost) as much a part of the fun of owning a Seven as driving it, especially the key moments like when it first sits on its wheels, and when the engine is started for the first
and of course the first time it moves under its own power. (mine was done sitting on a cushion on the floor pan!) All I can say if anyone has thought about doing this, then DO it! it is highly unlikely to ever be a thing you will regret.
Caterhams come with a very detailed build manual with lots of photos. You need very little skill as long as you can read and you're prepared to nip to halfords and buy a couple of tools. The complicated sub assemblies are all down for you. The instruments, fuel system, exhaust side cut out etc are done for you. The hardest part was holding the taillights level while you drill thought the fibreglass wings. Tell a lie, lieing under the car and offering the diff up with the propshaft connected without any assistance was hard, its best to have a mate leaning into the boot from above helping you lift and popping the bolts in!!
I built my car in 2001 which took about 6 weeks just tinkering away slowly. Then in 2005 I helped a friend piece her new kit togther and with a couple of mates we did it in a couple weeks just popping over 2 or 3 evenings. I reckon if Max Torque came to help and started building on friday night we could have it on the road by sunday lunch time. In 2009 I took an ex race car apart on my own and stripped it back to a bare shell. Re coated the chassis, had the panels re sprayed and then re wired with a new dash, seats and lowered floors. That took me about 6 weeks too.
Its all good learning experience. If anyone lives near Northampton and needs a hand give us a shout.
I built my car in 2001 which took about 6 weeks just tinkering away slowly. Then in 2005 I helped a friend piece her new kit togther and with a couple of mates we did it in a couple weeks just popping over 2 or 3 evenings. I reckon if Max Torque came to help and started building on friday night we could have it on the road by sunday lunch time. In 2009 I took an ex race car apart on my own and stripped it back to a bare shell. Re coated the chassis, had the panels re sprayed and then re wired with a new dash, seats and lowered floors. That took me about 6 weeks too.
Its all good learning experience. If anyone lives near Northampton and needs a hand give us a shout.
synXero said:
How much does it cost to do this - build a car...?
Budgets are quite flexible. First of all, allow £1000 for all the damn paperwork. The IVA test for self-built cars is both expensive and pretty rigorous.£3,000 - 4,000: Something like a MEV Mevster or Exocet. You need to add a Mazda MX-5 to make the complete kit, but that will cost you virtually nothing once you sell off all the bits you don't need.
£8,000 - 10,000: This is the territory I'm aiming for with an MNR Vortx Mazda. The Roadrunner SR2 is another to consider in this price bracket. Again, you need to add your MX-5 donor.
£15,000 - £50,000: Don't fancy the hassle of stripping a donor vehicle or just want all parts to be brand new. Welcome to the component car price bracket (rather than kit car) where all parts are new (there may be the odd reconditioned bit), you just need to supply your water, fuel and time. Something like a Westfield SE or Caterham 160 make up the lower end of this range. Buy the best you can afford.
£50,000+ : How about a little Veyron baiting? Then the Ultima GTR is the car for you. So fast that Top Gear refuse to have it on the show.
Bear in mind that this is only a tiny snippet of what's available. You've missed the Stoneleigh Kit Car Show this year, but there are others you could visit to get a feel for what's on offer.
Cheers,
Mick
Building your own car is one of the most satisfying and rewarding tasks a car nut can do.
I built my Supersport R last year in about 5 weeks ( Build blog ) and, although the build manual leaves a lot to be desired, the support you receive from Caterham's resident expert and the owners on Blatchat make it easily achievable for anyone, regardless of mechanical ability. I know this for a fact because I had none!
What's more, the process of building it yourself gives you the knowledge and confidence to tinker, service and modify the car from then on. It builds a real bond with the car. 'I built this'.
If you have the time, space and means, I'd strongly recommend it. It's a very rewarding and challenging hobby, with the added benefit of giving you a proper little race car for the road to enjoy for the rest of your days.
Cost-wise, budget £30k for a 140hp Supersport (when you include paint, tools and essential 'options') or £35k for a 180hp R. Silly money, but then depreciation is glacial, running costs are minimal, and the driving experience is worth every penny. And you'll never want to sell it.
I built my Supersport R last year in about 5 weeks ( Build blog ) and, although the build manual leaves a lot to be desired, the support you receive from Caterham's resident expert and the owners on Blatchat make it easily achievable for anyone, regardless of mechanical ability. I know this for a fact because I had none!
What's more, the process of building it yourself gives you the knowledge and confidence to tinker, service and modify the car from then on. It builds a real bond with the car. 'I built this'.
If you have the time, space and means, I'd strongly recommend it. It's a very rewarding and challenging hobby, with the added benefit of giving you a proper little race car for the road to enjoy for the rest of your days.
Cost-wise, budget £30k for a 140hp Supersport (when you include paint, tools and essential 'options') or £35k for a 180hp R. Silly money, but then depreciation is glacial, running costs are minimal, and the driving experience is worth every penny. And you'll never want to sell it.
For those whose budgets won't stretch to a Caterham (me included), don't forget to check out the Pistonheads Kit Car Subforum.
Haha! You don't build a Caterham. More like bolt a few bits to it. It is not unknown for these to be completed over a weekend. Even the buffoons on TopGear did one (badly). Some kit cars take 100's & 100's of hours to finish.
Have a look at what some of the Locost guys do. Literally start with about 100m of box section steel.
You assemble a Caterham
You build a Westfield
You engineer a Tiger
Etc. Etc ...
Have a look at what some of the Locost guys do. Literally start with about 100m of box section steel.
You assemble a Caterham
You build a Westfield
You engineer a Tiger
Etc. Etc ...
mikesalt said:
Some of the guys over at Locost Builders consider any kit to be cheating. Not many opt for making their own GRP mouldings though, it does seem an awful faff for a one-off.
Yes... Let me see- everything clean and new in boxes from one supplier to assemble or 2yrs hunting for a rusty Cortina part that requires 200hours cleaning and refurbishment... it might be cheating but I'll trade the price for convenience when I take the plunge :-) That said- IF you are going to get all silly and do EVERYTHING yourself surely you should cast your own engine etc so abit of GPR should be a walk in the park? ;-) Me thinks the Locost chaps do protest too much sometimes.
I have never done anything like this on full sized cars. But I really do fancy giving it a go sometime. I can understand the "bonding" with your car comments, as I have built up and heavily modified a few 1/8th scale vintage RC buggies in my time, which can be very satisfying. I imagine it is like that, only 100 times better as you end up really driving them.
That said, I think I'd prefer something with a V8 and a hard top.
That said, I think I'd prefer something with a V8 and a hard top.
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