Day 3

Yesterday I received the front r/h brake assembly but the rest of the day was taken up by work
Today was spent catching up on some iva trim around the lower wishbone then fitted the washer bottle and hose. I took off the jet first and added a small amount of sealant underneath.

Having set the track rod ends at 11 turns in,The discs were not in line with the car, 3 additional turns out each side seemed to do the trick, Having checked with derek who confirmed that each car is slightly different the final set-up will be done at the post build check.

Washer bottle fitted and zip tied in place.

Heater control cable in.

Heater valve fitted and ready to be connected.

Gear box extension fitted and mount bracket, It took me some time to figure out the bolt arrangement for gear box to engine.

Closing plate, clutch bracket and starter motor ready to be fitted.

I only have one of these fittings which are the bottom 2 fixings for the bell housing to engine(I think), I have contacted derek for another. The manual is rather vague regarding these fittings,...

Handbrake assembley fitted and compensator just behind.

Number 1 son, a budding caterham owner i think! (seats and steering wheel not fitted!!!)

Day 2 of the build

Another good day with no real problems .Having started on the l/h side fitting the front brake disc and connecting everything up ,I moved over to R/h side to find In the box another L/h assembly! ,..another call to derek.

My jack came in handy for the first time ,lifting the lower wish bone up made fitting the ball joint on the top wishbone nice and easy.

I wish caterham had sent the correct assemblies to start with as this would be fitted. but hopefully it will arrive in the post today so a job for tomorrow morning. 

Then i moved on to the heater .At first i thought that there was a back plate to fit first but i was wrong its an all in one unit so it was just a case of undoing 4 bolts and some clear silicone to the top edge. There are 2 fixings to fit at the top to fit but i have no idea which bag they are in, I'll fit these later

Just realised that i have fitted the heater ears on the inside pointing up should not take me long to turn it around with ears pointing down.

The horns fitted with the electrical stud connections close together.

I know a lot to people fit the trim around the whole cut out but derek assured me that that is no necessary so as per the factory trim applied to the top edges.(dots of super glue did the trick)

No green wire here as per other's? just the black and red ,black bolted to earth in headlight and red looped back in to chassis with the headlight cables.

I thought that i'd fit the horns which was no problem really but the only way to loosen the back nuts was to use a beaker bar then having got the IVA bag in the post at lunch time i fitted the grommets and trim to the indicators which would have been so much easier before if only i had them,..The engine gear box and gear box extension lie ready to be bolted together.

Front suspension

Well today on the whole has been ok apart from the headlights,...
I started with the upper wishbones which went in with no problems. Hopefully I will get the iva bag in tomorrows post as with out the the iva cover for the track rod end i can't fit hubs.
Then it was on to the headlights and indicators. I just could not follow the manual for some reason and ended up following caterham500.co.uk excellent blog instead which was much better although there were no green wires on my indicators just red and black.
Then it was on to the dampers which after a bit of persuasion with the hammer went in ok(piece of cake compared to the headlights)
Although the last thing fitted was the anti-roll bar there was no way i was going to be able fit this by myself so I rounded up the family, pushing and pulling for 10 minutes and plenty of grease finally got the bugger in. A good day all in I think.

It's Arrived!

Well here it is delivered. Checking all the boxes made me feel like a 10 year old at christmas! I'm just so pleased that finally it's in my garage.

I thought I'd start by fitting the steering rack first which was easy enough although having spent ages looking for the sva poly bag which contains the track rod end sleeves I can't fit the the track rod ends

Looks like the sva bag has not been delivered .My first call to derek will be this morning.

I do have a shortages list of parts which are due hopefully to be delivered in about a week these are;

Air box, Rear axle, Bonnet grill's,  Gear lever, Steering lock, Roll over bar, and the wheels.

Today I'm going to fit the front lower wish bones and have a look at the head light assembly.

Delivery date confirmed!

Well at long last I have a delivery date confirmed by caterham and its due next monday! After such a long wait (since may last year) to say I'm exited would be an understatement.
It does make me smile though, After chatting with doug at caterham midlands my car is being delivered with some shortages, Wheels, rollover bars, vents etc and no doubt other parts are to follow. I wonder if caterham have ever delivered a full kit? As looking on the forums it looks like having a shortage list with your kit is the norm,....

More great photos on the production line!

I'm not sure whats left for them to fit but the screen and fuel tank are still to be fitted. It's looking good!

First photos of my Caterham160!

Well these are the first photos of my 160! On the start of the production line.