Touch Down!

With all the work that I can do done I thought that it was time to lower to car down to the floor,..A few tense minutes followed. I used a length of 3x2 timber to spread the load and inched it down a bit at the back then a bit a the front until touch down great to see it off the axle stands, It seems so low! now that its down.

Sticker time.

The smile is the relief thats it's done!

Wing mirrors on, re mounting the screw to the adaptor was a tricky little job ,I can see that these should work better than door mounted mirrors.

Bonnet on and the rear view mirror fitted

If only I could get the engine to start,...It looks like i'm not the only one with starting up problems. Earth cables on and checked several times ,3/4 of tank of fuel, oil pressure ok , immobiliser off press starter button engine turns over but it just does not start not even a bite. Any ideas?

Keys in the ignition position 2 (orange engine light flashes on and off)

When trying to start oil pressure goes up to just under 4

I got this low profile jack from machine mart and it worked a treat i'm glad that i went for the low version there really is not a lot of room under the car.

Not far off

Its been a good few days in the garage with only a few jobs left to do at least there are no box's left.

I thought I'd put the nose cone on to see what it looks like, Great I think! popped the badge on too.

The hood at first had me baffled (I should have read the manual first) hood sticks in the lowest position first then fit to screen followed by the boot then move the hood sticks into position inside.

At last my key lock/Ignition has arrived! At first I was unsure which cables went where and if i'm honest I'm still not sure if i have it right. The cable on the left is white(I have white cables from the back of the starter button) not black and purple as derek's described 

I found this helpful on 700newtons blog(thankyou) I have put my white wire where the black and purple is, I'll find out later if it has worked.

Keys in time to see if anything works! The dash lights up ta da!

Wipers on ,I got the wrong angle to start with and it took me a while to work out how to remove them its just a screw driver needed under the metal clip ease it out slightly and the wiper comes off.

I still can't believe I got the wiring spot on first go! Switched on the ignition switched the lights on and bingo, I was almost jumping for joy .All working perfectly and a big sigh of relief.

Dash light's up for the first time

With the Lights and indicators tested I was able to fit the radiator in position some of the hose clips were a bit tricky

My trusty side kick charlie

Heat shield on

This is a bit frustrating one of the roof poppers is out by a good 1/2 inch derek assures me this can be looked at the PBC

The tunnel cover was not easy to fit ,The handbrake has to be as high as it goes.

Doors on and clips on ,seats in ,knee panels on rivets etc ,I think i may have missed a few bits out the blog!

Radiator fitted

Amazingly my soldering on the bullit connector has worked!

Cut down 3/8ths spanner to get to the not so easy gearbox plug ,I used a funnel wedged in the top which just about did it If I held on to it whilst looking over the to wait and see when it dribbled out although i put put in a bit to much and used an old can to catch the excess.

Coolant time, Funny I found this quite exiting,...In my excited rush I thought that I would put some fuel in the tank I had 4 or 5 jerry cans in the shed so I grabbed one put the funnel on and poured it in,...(don't laugh) but in my rush I didn't notice the words 2 stroke(faded) I had written on it some time ago. What an idiot 

It took me about an hour to syphon out the red fuel mix flush and it out until I had clear petrol running through.

I'm off to get some more petrol and see if i can get the car started.

Fingers crossed.

Axle disasters

The last few days have been testing to say the least. The axle and diff arrived late but once here we got straight to fitting the diff and then assembling it to the car, upper and lower radius arms brakes the handbrake cables speed sensors in everything apart from the axle brake pipe which fits to the top of the axle with rubber grommets to the top hats welded to top of the axle, except that there are non on our axle after another call and many emails later derek confirms that it will have to come out and be replaced,.... Gutted is the only way i feel about this all because of the poor quality control at caterham  the whole back end and all the work will have to taken out. I may have mentioned before some of the problems we have encountered so far but this on top of missing parts / fixings at every stage has left me completely pissed off .
So they have agreed to carry out the work to the axle at the post build check, But that means I can't finish the brakes torque any bolts or fill any oils etc,...

Looking on the positive side yesterday was a good day which started with me taking off the lights and indicators right from the start i did not have the iva bag but was advised to carry on and all will be ok ,..rubbish so i fitted the indicators and then when the bag arrived i tried to fit the trim which is not a good idea I was also unhappy about the wiring to headlight so after a trip to maplins to get some heat shrink cables covers 7mm and 10mm I set about doing it over again.

Trim neatly fitted (my red cable all others that i seen have a green cable)

Tea break time 

Cables from the lights do match the colour in the loom and as i don't have the steering lock or keys i can't test them.(typical)

Lights done indictors done time to fit the front wings

Tidy and looking good, After you've taken them on and off a dozen times it all seems straightforward:-)'

The grommets in place and well lubed up!

Nearly finished in the engine bay.

Exhaust on. Although I've been sent the wrong heat shield.

Dads old clarke dremel did a great job 

Front wing on , Not as easy as a job as thought it would be.

Badge on quick polish and time for a glass of wine to relax and try not to worry too much.

The Engine goes in!

Yesterday was a great day with the engine going in after a fare bit of persuasion with the engine mounts in place once the bolts were in it was a happy moment to stand back and see it in place.

Diff to axle, after smearing the axle with some black gasket sealer fitting the diff in place was tricky and a tight fit but turning the diff from side to side helped it locate in place

At last after the missing bolt came through in the post (Missing parts has been a big problem with all most every stage of this build and extremely frustrating) So we were able to fit gear box to the engine  I'm not so sure where some of the electrical cables go at the moment.

Time to get the engine in place, I managed to borrow the hoist of a friend of mine once up in the air i was a little bit nervous about my rope and knots so it was back to ground to fit another rope and loop it around just in case ,...

Taa da its in!we loosely fixed the r/h engine bolt in place first and then fitted the l/h as there is more room on the l/h side of the engine its a tight fit with the gear box hard against the drivers foot well. we had to lever against the l/h engine mount to get the bolt to drop in place.

Prop and axle all went in with no problem's the upper and lower radius arms are in loosely at the moment. We found that we were missing more parts, Sleeves for the upper damper and some of the big washers for the dampers.

The axle seals were tricky to fit in place they are a tight fit and i was worried that i may damage them but in the end they went in fine with plenty of help from my hammer. The half shaft fitted was straightforward just slotted in and bolted up.We then fitted the speed sensors and connected them in to the loom and zip tied in place. lastly had a look at the gear stick which is completely different to the one in the manual and at the moment i can't see how it fits.