Finally got round to putting some photos of my build last year on Flickr - for anyone who's interested.
David
R400 build
R400 build
http://www.flickr.com/photos/longd70/se ... 612906980/
Finally got round to putting some photos of my build last year on Flickr - for anyone who's interested.
David
Finally got round to putting some photos of my build last year on Flickr - for anyone who's interested.
David
-
Modena Scotland
- Posts: 2871
- Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2007 11:53 am
- Location: Scottish borders
Re: R400 build
How many hours did you take to build it? Any problems in putting the kit together?
I don't know driving in another way which isn't risky. Each one has to improve himself. Each driver has its limit. My limit is a little bit further than other's.
A Senna
Shared SE Calendar
Re: R400 build
Hi Mass,
All things considered there was not too much hassle and it all took about three weeks full time and about a month for the paperwork.
As for the problems:
The gearbox was noisy from the start and when I drained the oil most of the gearbox came out with it
- non magnetic so probably ground up casing. A credit to Caterham - a new box sent overnight. 
The cooling fan ran continuously. Caterham couldn't help much and in the end I spoke to Raceline and fitted one of their 82c thermostats – job done. I think the Caterham’s supplier (Ford) was fitting 98c thermostats (for emission and efficiency reasons Ford use 98c) and this reduced the margins too much for the state of tune and ECU fan settings.
Other things that went wrong were a cracked windscreen (replace at post build inspection) and the rear coil springs were set to the wrong groove for the adjustable platform – quite a difficult thing to put right, even Caterham had to send them back to their supplier.
The diff was whining badly – investigation show that the pinion bearing was not pre-loaded correctly but, even when this was put right, the whining was bad. Caterham eventully let slip that this was a known problem with their diffs and was thought to be caused by different tooth profile to the original Ford profile. (the crown wheel and pinion are new but not made by Ford who stopped manufacturing them in 2000.) The good news is that there seem equally strong, if not stronger, than the original Ford items.
This is the fifth kit car I've built and has been by far the most enjoyable. All the problems were easily resolved and Caterham after sales service was great once you got through to the right people.
Hope to see you at the weekend.
All things considered there was not too much hassle and it all took about three weeks full time and about a month for the paperwork.
As for the problems:
The gearbox was noisy from the start and when I drained the oil most of the gearbox came out with it
- non magnetic so probably ground up casing. A credit to Caterham - a new box sent overnight. The cooling fan ran continuously. Caterham couldn't help much and in the end I spoke to Raceline and fitted one of their 82c thermostats – job done. I think the Caterham’s supplier (Ford) was fitting 98c thermostats (for emission and efficiency reasons Ford use 98c) and this reduced the margins too much for the state of tune and ECU fan settings.
Other things that went wrong were a cracked windscreen (replace at post build inspection) and the rear coil springs were set to the wrong groove for the adjustable platform – quite a difficult thing to put right, even Caterham had to send them back to their supplier.
The diff was whining badly – investigation show that the pinion bearing was not pre-loaded correctly but, even when this was put right, the whining was bad. Caterham eventully let slip that this was a known problem with their diffs and was thought to be caused by different tooth profile to the original Ford profile. (the crown wheel and pinion are new but not made by Ford who stopped manufacturing them in 2000.) The good news is that there seem equally strong, if not stronger, than the original Ford items.
This is the fifth kit car I've built and has been by far the most enjoyable. All the problems were easily resolved and Caterham after sales service was great once you got through to the right people.
Hope to see you at the weekend.
-
Modena Scotland
- Posts: 2871
- Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2007 11:53 am
- Location: Scottish borders
Re: R400 build
Thanks Dave. 3 weeks is very impressive.
See you on Sat. I will be coming in the CR.
See you on Sat. I will be coming in the CR.
I don't know driving in another way which isn't risky. Each one has to improve himself. Each driver has its limit. My limit is a little bit further than other's.
A Senna
Shared SE Calendar
Re: R400 build
Top work David 
Re: R400 build
Very nice, 3 weeks to complete it is seriously impressive too.
You've built 5 kits? What were the others?
Simon
You've built 5 kits? What were the others?
Simon
Re: R400 build
I cut my teeth on a VW Beach Buggy - a restoration really, then I rebuilt an early Mini Jem which was hill climbed, I've since learnt this was a rare lightweight example and I should have kept it!ironside wrote:Very nice, 3 weeks to complete it is seriously impressive too.
You've built 5 kits? What were the others?
Simon
Then moved on to kits - a Mini Marcos from new parts (foolish boy! 
), and a Marlin Roadster which I loved and 've always regretted selling.But the Caterham beats them all
