Caterham Superlight R #29
Discussion
Roginwudhus said:
Stuff
I gotta call it - this is seriously impressive lurking in post vs membership of PH.Love the green - you were way ahead of your time on that one - they're everywhere now it seems (though MG owners would beg to different on being ahead. It looks a bit like the Skoda green that's popular now, if you want to aim more mainstream next rebuild, not that my experience with complex paint suggests that an OEM colour makes mixing any easier. My 350Z GT4 was a nightmare to get repaired.
Thanks Smitters
Each time I see an OEM green, I park the 7 next to it..but they're not quite there in terms of vividness. When the sun's out the 7 really does sparkle. I guess I'll have to compromise in the end sadly.
The rear panel will have to be done give the two small dents that are visible thanks to some plank in a supermarket car park who could not execute a simple hill start. Matching will then be the challenge
Each time I see an OEM green, I park the 7 next to it..but they're not quite there in terms of vividness. When the sun's out the 7 really does sparkle. I guess I'll have to compromise in the end sadly.
The rear panel will have to be done give the two small dents that are visible thanks to some plank in a supermarket car park who could not execute a simple hill start. Matching will then be the challenge
Wow, that metallic green looks amazing, I haven't seen any OEM colours quite that striking! I followed a bright green Elise down the Bumtingford road yesterday (well, I say bright but F1URO makes anything short of a nuclear blast look a bit dull), sadly we were in a big queue of numpties but always nice to see another proper car.
I've got a proper upgrade to report this weekend:
Titanium, so it's a bit lighter than the standard silencer, and much, much quieter. What's the only acceptable petrolhead reason to make a car quieter? Yep, trackday report will follow next week.
An unexpected bonus is that swapping between noisy standard can and civilised Raceco takes 2 minutes: Undo exhaust clamp and single retaining nut, wiggle 4-2-1 collector free and replace it upside down (to get the outlet angle right), then slide the different silencer on. It used to take an hour to swap the quiet exhaust onto my Exige, I got so sick of undoing those 50 tiny diffuser allen bolts!
I've got a proper upgrade to report this weekend:
Titanium, so it's a bit lighter than the standard silencer, and much, much quieter. What's the only acceptable petrolhead reason to make a car quieter? Yep, trackday report will follow next week.
An unexpected bonus is that swapping between noisy standard can and civilised Raceco takes 2 minutes: Undo exhaust clamp and single retaining nut, wiggle 4-2-1 collector free and replace it upside down (to get the outlet angle right), then slide the different silencer on. It used to take an hour to swap the quiet exhaust onto my Exige, I got so sick of undoing those 50 tiny diffuser allen bolts!
OK, first trackday complete and it was bloody brilliant!
I had had my eye on the Monday 8th session at Snett for the past month, and on Friday all six weather forecasts I checked looked good so I booked myself in. Snett is about 60 miles from me, and the only sensible route is a solid hour of dual carriageways. Setting off at 6.45, with the sun coming up on a crisp autumn morning I had a big grin inside my crash hat. After 30 mins of 80mph cruising it was firmly frozen in place! Three jumpers and a leather jacket was not enough to keep the chill off, it was a bit less draughty at 60 but I opted to keep the hammer down and try and get it over with. People move over really quick when they see F1URO coming! Another thing was the racket, with the quieter exhaust fitted the entertaining exhaust note is absent, and the windnoise was a really annoying roar that meant I couldn't hear radio 4 properly on my earphones. "My track toy is too cold" is a pretty lame first world problem though, so I'll stop moaning about that.
Anyway, I got there, and despite worrying about the noise, the Raceco got me through easily. I'd opted for Snett rather than Bedford (my closest track and a great place to learn a new car) because it is not as stringent on noise. As it turns out, I would have been fine at either venue; Snetterton has a 105db static limit, Bedford is 101db, I was measured at 90.6db at 5500rpm which is a real win. Nice work, Raceco!
So how does the car perform on track? Well, it's pretty wild. My previous track cars include Mk1 MR2s (fantastic brakes once upgraded) a Fisher Fury (350bhp/ton so great acceleration but pretty crude live axle setup) and my Exige 220S (totally planted and very confidence inspiring, dull exhaust note and not very playful beyond the limit of grip). Compared to these, F1URO has incredible acceleration in all of the gears, very good cornering speed, and the most incredible instant reaction to driver inputs. I still have a lot to learn before I can get the best out of it, which will be an entertaining way to spend the next year or two, but I am completely blown away,
Obviously I started fairly slowly with plenty in reserve, but in the last two sessions I did in the afternoon it all just clicked. I suddenly felt like I was sitting lower down and further back as I started to really trust the rear axle on turn in; instead of stabilising the car with a balanced throttle I was chucking it in with a bit of trail braking and then throttle closed all the way to the apex. This meant more weight was on the fronts so they dragged the car towards the apex even at seemingly ridiculous speeds. All my instincts were telling me I was going to pitch into a big lift-off oversteer slide, but the rear stayed planted on the way in. On the way out of the bends, there is so much power that a braver driver than I could have had it lit up out of every corner on the track I think, I got confident enough to get the LSD locking up in third, exiting the two hairpins with a very natural-feeling quarter turn of opposite lock. In the fourth gear corners I could meter the power out just enough to get a beautifully neutral exit, front and rear working together perfectly. It almost doesn't matter about the pace of the car, it was the way it was reacting so transparently to my inputs that was so addictive. I could have gone round and round and round until it ran out of petrol and never got bored of that feeling.
However, although pace isn't everything, it is ridiculously quick. Most people are aware that this type of car is not very aerodynamic. I am still running the aeroscreen, which helps, but the rate at which it gathers speed is incredible! By the end of the day I was coming out of Williams at the very top of 4th gear, carefully selecting 5th (very easy to get 3rd!) as soon as the car was straight. The gearing so short that you're right in the powerband and the shift light is on in no time. Very quick change into 6th and the revs keep winding round, the speedo overreads but I was seeing 7800rpm in top at the end of the Bentley straight. Need to check my maths, but I think this is almost 140mph? It felt like about 180!
Anyway, eyes off the speedo, quick dab of the brakes and down to 5th, late apex left into Brundle to straighten the braking zone for 3rd gear right of Nelson. Straight into 4th for the bomb hole, no need to brake but a rank amateur like me needs a big confidence lift 
Back on the power, plenty of torque available so choose 5th for the never-ending Coram. Try not to grab the wheel, just rest against the harnesses and feel the car moving about through your fingers. Slowly bleed off speed as it tightens, then dab the brakes and choose third for Murrays. Either light the rears up for fun on the way out, or try and keep it sensible for maximum speed down the start/finish straight. 4th, 5th 6th are over with in seconds. Brake as late as bravery allows, then deep breath as you turn into Riches in 5th. Early braking for Wilson hairpin, so the apex is nailed and you can have some sideways fun on the way out. On and on it goes, every corner a delight, the car never tiring, confidence growing with every lap until I realised I was probably going to do something stupid before long and I had a long drive home! When can I book the next one?
Anyway, too many words, let's see if I can get some pics to work.
I had had my eye on the Monday 8th session at Snett for the past month, and on Friday all six weather forecasts I checked looked good so I booked myself in. Snett is about 60 miles from me, and the only sensible route is a solid hour of dual carriageways. Setting off at 6.45, with the sun coming up on a crisp autumn morning I had a big grin inside my crash hat. After 30 mins of 80mph cruising it was firmly frozen in place! Three jumpers and a leather jacket was not enough to keep the chill off, it was a bit less draughty at 60 but I opted to keep the hammer down and try and get it over with. People move over really quick when they see F1URO coming! Another thing was the racket, with the quieter exhaust fitted the entertaining exhaust note is absent, and the windnoise was a really annoying roar that meant I couldn't hear radio 4 properly on my earphones. "My track toy is too cold" is a pretty lame first world problem though, so I'll stop moaning about that.
Anyway, I got there, and despite worrying about the noise, the Raceco got me through easily. I'd opted for Snett rather than Bedford (my closest track and a great place to learn a new car) because it is not as stringent on noise. As it turns out, I would have been fine at either venue; Snetterton has a 105db static limit, Bedford is 101db, I was measured at 90.6db at 5500rpm which is a real win. Nice work, Raceco!
So how does the car perform on track? Well, it's pretty wild. My previous track cars include Mk1 MR2s (fantastic brakes once upgraded) a Fisher Fury (350bhp/ton so great acceleration but pretty crude live axle setup) and my Exige 220S (totally planted and very confidence inspiring, dull exhaust note and not very playful beyond the limit of grip). Compared to these, F1URO has incredible acceleration in all of the gears, very good cornering speed, and the most incredible instant reaction to driver inputs. I still have a lot to learn before I can get the best out of it, which will be an entertaining way to spend the next year or two, but I am completely blown away,
Obviously I started fairly slowly with plenty in reserve, but in the last two sessions I did in the afternoon it all just clicked. I suddenly felt like I was sitting lower down and further back as I started to really trust the rear axle on turn in; instead of stabilising the car with a balanced throttle I was chucking it in with a bit of trail braking and then throttle closed all the way to the apex. This meant more weight was on the fronts so they dragged the car towards the apex even at seemingly ridiculous speeds. All my instincts were telling me I was going to pitch into a big lift-off oversteer slide, but the rear stayed planted on the way in. On the way out of the bends, there is so much power that a braver driver than I could have had it lit up out of every corner on the track I think, I got confident enough to get the LSD locking up in third, exiting the two hairpins with a very natural-feeling quarter turn of opposite lock. In the fourth gear corners I could meter the power out just enough to get a beautifully neutral exit, front and rear working together perfectly. It almost doesn't matter about the pace of the car, it was the way it was reacting so transparently to my inputs that was so addictive. I could have gone round and round and round until it ran out of petrol and never got bored of that feeling.
However, although pace isn't everything, it is ridiculously quick. Most people are aware that this type of car is not very aerodynamic. I am still running the aeroscreen, which helps, but the rate at which it gathers speed is incredible! By the end of the day I was coming out of Williams at the very top of 4th gear, carefully selecting 5th (very easy to get 3rd!) as soon as the car was straight. The gearing so short that you're right in the powerband and the shift light is on in no time. Very quick change into 6th and the revs keep winding round, the speedo overreads but I was seeing 7800rpm in top at the end of the Bentley straight. Need to check my maths, but I think this is almost 140mph? It felt like about 180!
Anyway, eyes off the speedo, quick dab of the brakes and down to 5th, late apex left into Brundle to straighten the braking zone for 3rd gear right of Nelson. Straight into 4th for the bomb hole, no need to brake but a rank amateur like me needs a big confidence lift Back on the power, plenty of torque available so choose 5th for the never-ending Coram. Try not to grab the wheel, just rest against the harnesses and feel the car moving about through your fingers. Slowly bleed off speed as it tightens, then dab the brakes and choose third for Murrays. Either light the rears up for fun on the way out, or try and keep it sensible for maximum speed down the start/finish straight. 4th, 5th 6th are over with in seconds. Brake as late as bravery allows, then deep breath as you turn into Riches in 5th. Early braking for Wilson hairpin, so the apex is nailed and you can have some sideways fun on the way out. On and on it goes, every corner a delight, the car never tiring, confidence growing with every lap until I realised I was probably going to do something stupid before long and I had a long drive home! When can I book the next one?Anyway, too many words, let's see if I can get some pics to work.
Hi everyone, it's been a while but thought I would spend some time to type up another update to this thread, especially as I just got back from a trackday in it! Happy to report that F1URO is still running well, and I have been doing all of the usual Caterham stuff in it. I took it off the road from November to April, and took the opportunity to change all of the fluids, fit a sequential shift light and tidy up some wiring. Since then I've just used it for some early morning drives through the countryside;
taken it to a couple of car shows, and visited my mum for a family gathering . . . which looks like a miniature car show (it's in the genes!)
However, allthough it's a hoot on the road I was anxious to get back on track and really pull some G's in it. Having breezed through the noise test at Snetterton I decided to book Bedford, and I figured that if I waitied until June then I'd get decent weather. The stupid English weather had other ideas though, and as the day approached the forecast was getting steadily worse. I decided to make the call and switch out the aeroscreen for the windscreen and weathergear setup. I love the way the car looks with the aeroscreen, but the only way I can get comfortable is to wear a helmet (I am pretty tall and sit right up in the windblast) so I have been meaning to try the windscreen for a while. I read earlier this week on PH about some fancy BMW that can drop the roof in 18 seconds at speeds of up to 31mph or something . . . I knew the Caterham would take a little longer than that but it turned out to be a bigger job than I thought!
If you've been keeping up then you'll know that 573 (previous owner and OP of this post) had a compelte new scuttle panel sprayed up and drilled for the aeroscreen setup to keep eveything as clean as possible. First job was to remove the aero screen and scuttle:
Then fit the windscreen-friendly version - this hadn't been fitted since the new paintjob so all of the bolt holes along the front edge needed fettling:
Next up was to fit the hood sticks and a different boot cover that would fit over them. This is mainly held on with press-studs, but also goes under the harnesses, so all of those had to come off:
At this point I discovered something truly disturbing. I had taken the car on a Tesco run on April Fool's Day. I had bought a tub of cheese and chive dip. The dip had evidently rolled out of its carrier bag and sat under the fire extinguisher for three months before biology took its course and the tub burst:
'Scuse the blurry pic, I was holding my breath! Anyway, scraping all of the goo out of the carpet made a 200g weight saving, which offsets the weight of the tent I finally press-studded into place some six hours after I started the process!
So, next priority is refining the wet setup to really shave off those last few tenths of a second. Or . . . . pump up the ZZRs a bit, put my big boy pants on, and apply Rain-X to the side windows. Yep, that'll do it.
Bedford is an hour's drive from me, and so this morning I set off in a state of mild trepidation. I was amazed and how snug and dry the car was! No, really! Hats off to Caterham, what they can do with press-studs and velcro is noting short of miraculous. I was relieved to see that I wasn't the only person with a totally inappropriate track car:
but I think I had the least-suited set-up on the day. I don't think I used more than half-throttle or 4000rpm all day, and there's not a corner on the track where I didn't go sideways! Grip levels were absolutely atrocious, imagine driving a normal car on summer tyres in the snow and that'll give you some idea. It was a great opportunity to work on my throttle control, but also pretty terrifying at times - there was a session in the middle where despite treading on eggshells the car was snapping violently from understeer to oversteer on every corner and I spun it 4 times in two laps - more than I normally manage in a year of trackdays! Shortly afterwards there was a red flag due to the amount of standing water and we went for an early lunch.
When the track reopened the rain has eased off slightly (although it didn't stop all day) and the track was just wet, rather than flooded. I never gained any confidence in the front end, and because I was never sure whether I'd be able to turn in or just spear straight-on, I was braking-super early and creeping into the corners slower than anyone else. However, I got pretty adept at drifting my way out of the bends, and with everything happening in slow motion I was able to really learn about how the combination of steering angle and throttle position was rotating the car. In hindsight I was trying to turn in on a balanced throttle, rather than trail-braking to tuck the nose in - this is probably from many years of driving mid-engined track cars which are tricky to catch if you get them sideways on the way in. Still lots for me to learn about getting the best out of it!
Despite all the aggro getting it ready, and the fact I was miles off the pace, it was a fun day out and way better than sitting in the office! I also got to meet a fellow PH'er Nige, who has a fantastically well-developed Golf and writes about his Nurburgring exploits on here. I've always enjoyed reading his stuff, and he was kind enough to take me round for a few laps. He's a gent, his car is great, and it showed just how much grip there was on proper wet-weather tyres. Not enough grip to stop him spinning a couple of times himself though! I'm hoping he got some of my exploits on video, if I track down a copy I'll post them on here for you all to laugh at . . .
taken it to a couple of car shows, and visited my mum for a family gathering . . . which looks like a miniature car show (it's in the genes!)
However, allthough it's a hoot on the road I was anxious to get back on track and really pull some G's in it. Having breezed through the noise test at Snetterton I decided to book Bedford, and I figured that if I waitied until June then I'd get decent weather. The stupid English weather had other ideas though, and as the day approached the forecast was getting steadily worse. I decided to make the call and switch out the aeroscreen for the windscreen and weathergear setup. I love the way the car looks with the aeroscreen, but the only way I can get comfortable is to wear a helmet (I am pretty tall and sit right up in the windblast) so I have been meaning to try the windscreen for a while. I read earlier this week on PH about some fancy BMW that can drop the roof in 18 seconds at speeds of up to 31mph or something . . . I knew the Caterham would take a little longer than that but it turned out to be a bigger job than I thought!
If you've been keeping up then you'll know that 573 (previous owner and OP of this post) had a compelte new scuttle panel sprayed up and drilled for the aeroscreen setup to keep eveything as clean as possible. First job was to remove the aero screen and scuttle:
Then fit the windscreen-friendly version - this hadn't been fitted since the new paintjob so all of the bolt holes along the front edge needed fettling:
Next up was to fit the hood sticks and a different boot cover that would fit over them. This is mainly held on with press-studs, but also goes under the harnesses, so all of those had to come off:
At this point I discovered something truly disturbing. I had taken the car on a Tesco run on April Fool's Day. I had bought a tub of cheese and chive dip. The dip had evidently rolled out of its carrier bag and sat under the fire extinguisher for three months before biology took its course and the tub burst:
'Scuse the blurry pic, I was holding my breath! Anyway, scraping all of the goo out of the carpet made a 200g weight saving, which offsets the weight of the tent I finally press-studded into place some six hours after I started the process!
So, next priority is refining the wet setup to really shave off those last few tenths of a second. Or . . . . pump up the ZZRs a bit, put my big boy pants on, and apply Rain-X to the side windows. Yep, that'll do it.
Bedford is an hour's drive from me, and so this morning I set off in a state of mild trepidation. I was amazed and how snug and dry the car was! No, really! Hats off to Caterham, what they can do with press-studs and velcro is noting short of miraculous. I was relieved to see that I wasn't the only person with a totally inappropriate track car:
but I think I had the least-suited set-up on the day. I don't think I used more than half-throttle or 4000rpm all day, and there's not a corner on the track where I didn't go sideways! Grip levels were absolutely atrocious, imagine driving a normal car on summer tyres in the snow and that'll give you some idea. It was a great opportunity to work on my throttle control, but also pretty terrifying at times - there was a session in the middle where despite treading on eggshells the car was snapping violently from understeer to oversteer on every corner and I spun it 4 times in two laps - more than I normally manage in a year of trackdays! Shortly afterwards there was a red flag due to the amount of standing water and we went for an early lunch.
When the track reopened the rain has eased off slightly (although it didn't stop all day) and the track was just wet, rather than flooded. I never gained any confidence in the front end, and because I was never sure whether I'd be able to turn in or just spear straight-on, I was braking-super early and creeping into the corners slower than anyone else. However, I got pretty adept at drifting my way out of the bends, and with everything happening in slow motion I was able to really learn about how the combination of steering angle and throttle position was rotating the car. In hindsight I was trying to turn in on a balanced throttle, rather than trail-braking to tuck the nose in - this is probably from many years of driving mid-engined track cars which are tricky to catch if you get them sideways on the way in. Still lots for me to learn about getting the best out of it!
Despite all the aggro getting it ready, and the fact I was miles off the pace, it was a fun day out and way better than sitting in the office! I also got to meet a fellow PH'er Nige, who has a fantastically well-developed Golf and writes about his Nurburgring exploits on here. I've always enjoyed reading his stuff, and he was kind enough to take me round for a few laps. He's a gent, his car is great, and it showed just how much grip there was on proper wet-weather tyres. Not enough grip to stop him spinning a couple of times himself though!
I'm hoping he got some of my exploits on video, if I track down a copy I'll post them on here for you all to laugh at . . . Edited by aww999 on Wednesday 29th July 10:00
Hello everyone! Not sure if anyone is still interested, but I thought I would do a F1URO update. As you can imagine, it didn't get a lot of use over the winter, but I kept it taxed and managed to press it into service for the most important shopping trip of the year:
At some point in the autumn I also got the spare set of wheels refurbed in gloss black, and a set of ZZS tyres put on them. Avon make the ZZR, which are extreme dry weather track tyres, and the ZZS, which are variously described as intermediates, or wet track tyres. They don't look very much different, but thanks to Avon's wizardry they are absolutely amazing! I went back to Bedford following the previous debacle, again in the rain, and went from being one of the slowest on ZZRs to one of the fastest cars out there on ZZSs! They are so confidence inspiring in the wet both for traction and braking, still allow easy sliding about in the slower corners, and were fantastic as the track started to dry. The last session of the day I ended up leading a new-ish Caterham Supersport R and a beautiful 996 GT3RS for about eight laps, we had about a ten second gap between cars, and despite everyone giving it their all no one could steal any time from anyone else over the course of a lap. Wonderful stuff!
Having had a very mild January, I booked onto another Bedford trackday with a mate of mine on the 31st. The weather forecast was unpredicatable, but having suffered with the roof coming unpoppered from the windscreen at 120+mph, I decided I would be better off switching back to aeroscreen. Much quicker second time around, and the car looks so much better without the windscreen. I also love the improved visibility on road and track, and I think I will look for a tonneau cover that works with the carbon half doors so I can drive with aero but give it some basic waterproofing when parked up.
The start of the session was great, not many fast cars out but I was having a whale of time on those ZZRs. I bought a knock-off Chinese go-pro, sound is hopeless but here's a (wet, slow) lap so you can get some idea of the F1URO experience.
https://youtu.be/oWkTS20PQMU
The track started to dry up, and I was able to really build up the pace - unfortunately the only video I got of my second session was me putting my helmet on in the pits and then fumbling the remote control which stopped the recording! Here's a pic of the car with my mate's Roadsport and a brand new Academy car out for its first shakedown. He lasted longer than I did!
Getting on the power harder as the track dried led me to discover my first mechanical issue since having the car - severe clutch slip in 5th and 6th. I thought for one glorious lap it had fixed itself, but it soon recurred and I had to abandon the day at lunchtime and limp home. Over the next few days, this happened:
As you'd expect for such a basic car, it wasn't too hard to take apart, and taking the engine out gives me chance to tidy up some of the wiring and address some awkward jobs like oil leaks. Speaking of which, you can see in the last picture all of the wet oil inside the bellhousing. I think the clutch had failed partly due to oil contamination, but also because the friction material had come adrift from the metal part of the friction plate and was wibbling (thanks Thom) around on its rivets. I have ordered a new rear crank seal, and I am also planning to take the box down to Road and Race transmissions for a refresh. The Caterham 6 speed has a good reputation for reliability but it's not too expensive to get the experts to look over it..
So this weekend I should be able to start putting it back together! I will keep you all posted.
At some point in the autumn I also got the spare set of wheels refurbed in gloss black, and a set of ZZS tyres put on them. Avon make the ZZR, which are extreme dry weather track tyres, and the ZZS, which are variously described as intermediates, or wet track tyres. They don't look very much different, but thanks to Avon's wizardry they are absolutely amazing! I went back to Bedford following the previous debacle, again in the rain, and went from being one of the slowest on ZZRs to one of the fastest cars out there on ZZSs! They are so confidence inspiring in the wet both for traction and braking, still allow easy sliding about in the slower corners, and were fantastic as the track started to dry. The last session of the day I ended up leading a new-ish Caterham Supersport R and a beautiful 996 GT3RS for about eight laps, we had about a ten second gap between cars, and despite everyone giving it their all no one could steal any time from anyone else over the course of a lap. Wonderful stuff!
Having had a very mild January, I booked onto another Bedford trackday with a mate of mine on the 31st. The weather forecast was unpredicatable, but having suffered with the roof coming unpoppered from the windscreen at 120+mph, I decided I would be better off switching back to aeroscreen. Much quicker second time around, and the car looks so much better without the windscreen. I also love the improved visibility on road and track, and I think I will look for a tonneau cover that works with the carbon half doors so I can drive with aero but give it some basic waterproofing when parked up.
The start of the session was great, not many fast cars out but I was having a whale of time on those ZZRs. I bought a knock-off Chinese go-pro, sound is hopeless but here's a (wet, slow) lap so you can get some idea of the F1URO experience.
https://youtu.be/oWkTS20PQMU
The track started to dry up, and I was able to really build up the pace - unfortunately the only video I got of my second session was me putting my helmet on in the pits and then fumbling the remote control which stopped the recording! Here's a pic of the car with my mate's Roadsport and a brand new Academy car out for its first shakedown. He lasted longer than I did!
Getting on the power harder as the track dried led me to discover my first mechanical issue since having the car - severe clutch slip in 5th and 6th. I thought for one glorious lap it had fixed itself, but it soon recurred and I had to abandon the day at lunchtime and limp home. Over the next few days, this happened:
As you'd expect for such a basic car, it wasn't too hard to take apart, and taking the engine out gives me chance to tidy up some of the wiring and address some awkward jobs like oil leaks. Speaking of which, you can see in the last picture all of the wet oil inside the bellhousing. I think the clutch had failed partly due to oil contamination, but also because the friction material had come adrift from the metal part of the friction plate and was wibbling (thanks Thom) around on its rivets. I have ordered a new rear crank seal, and I am also planning to take the box down to Road and Race transmissions for a refresh. The Caterham 6 speed has a good reputation for reliability but it's not too expensive to get the experts to look over it..
So this weekend I should be able to start putting it back together! I will keep you all posted.
Edited by aww999 on Wednesday 29th July 09:59
TommyRS_ said:
Be great to get an update on this thread.
Ask, and you shall receive!Lockdown for me meant a big increase in my workload, plus no opportunity to drive F1URO even if I wasn't working, so having got halfway through a clutch change I ended up taking about two months to get the car back together. Since then however it's been everything you'd expect a fluorescent 200+bhp Caterham to be - hilarious, impractical, intoxicating, unique! I managed to fix another issue I'd noticed, the handbrake wasn't working and I had a feeling the rear brakes were dragging. I did a proper overhaul on the rear calipers (which are from a Sierra), taking the time to strip and clean the handbrake adjusters rather than just the seals, also replacing the front caliper bleed nipples which were seized. (Fortunately didn't snap any but the amount of torque they needed to undo was a bit nervewracking!)
The roads were still quiet round here, even after we were allowed up to play again, which revealed that the clutch works perfectly and the brakes are MIGHTY. With upgraded 4-pot AP fronts on this car, plus good pads and fresh high-temp fluid all round, the stopping power is immense but the pedal feel and modulation available is worlds away from a normal car. It's just one more way this car demonstrates the combination of staggering performance, combined with a delicacy and feel that flatters and immerses the driver.
I also had the opportunity for some head-to-head runs against my mate's new 420R, Happy to report than the old K-series walked away from it in every gear which is incredible when you think about it!
Sadly, the main reason for logging back on to this thread was not to blather on about how fabulous the car is, but to refresh my memory on the exact spec so I can write up an advert for it. It's been two wonderful years, but I think I will be losing my garage space soon and that's the push I need to wave goodbye to this crazy car and try something different. I can't imagine that anything else is going to measure up though!
Many thanks for the update 
I'm glad you've manage to have some recent fun before deciding to part ways. I recently purchased a R300D and I'm having such a blast! Although a recent trip to Donington makes my father and I wonder if a R400/420R would be more suitable for our needs/wants.. I.E More power:wobble (& given it's dry sumped).
Good luck with the sale on yours, it's a cracking example so i'm sure it'll find a buyer in no time. Just out of interest, with the mileage being what it is, do you know if you car has been subject to an engine rebuild in recent years?
I'm glad you've manage to have some recent fun before deciding to part ways. I recently purchased a R300D and I'm having such a blast! Although a recent trip to Donington makes my father and I wonder if a R400/420R would be more suitable for our needs/wants.. I.E More power:wobble (& given it's dry sumped).
Good luck with the sale on yours, it's a cracking example so i'm sure it'll find a buyer in no time. Just out of interest, with the mileage being what it is, do you know if you car has been subject to an engine rebuild in recent years?
aww999 said:
I also had the opportunity for some head-to-head runs against my mate's new 420R, Happy to report than the old K-series walked away from it in every gear which is incredible when you think about it!
I know you've now sold the car, but this line above made my day. It always felt a very healthy K and with the lighter weight over the Ford engined car this doesn't surprise me but it's still good to read.Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff