Austin David

It's better. Hard to describe, but the press never really gets it right. My only mistake was waiting. Congratulations!

Yes, 185 vs 225 is the "staggered" configuration which is mostly standard for the 420/620. I went with 185s all around for longer road trips and to carry a spare. They perform GREAT but the rear arch has a lot of extra space (to accommodate the larger wheels on a staggered setup). The spare hoop itself would have to be updated. It bolts to the chassis, and could probably be made to work, but it wouldn't really make sense to carry a rear-only spare tyre, as the fronts are still the original 13x6 / 185s. At the moment I have the 13x6 spare and I carry a plug kit. If I were to take any long road trips I would probably swap back to the 13x6s in the rear. For around town I could use the spare, but it would put wear on my LSD so I wouldn't want to do it much.

I swapped out my factory 13x6 / 185 wheels & tyres with 13x8 / 225s. The new math said 41417 for PPU, and it seems about right at 70mph. I haven't yet screwed with ride height, but I do think I'll need to bring it down a little after this change. Some quick side-by-side photos: original fitment ^^ a little narrow for the wells, which are designed to hold the 13x8" wheels & 225 tyres New fitment: the 13x8 fill the well a little better, which was my goal. as noted I haven't yet tried to exercise them, I assume I'll need to make adjustments to height all around, and maybe my rear ARB to account for the additional grip. THis time of year with cold tires, it's basically ice-skating either way. for anyone curious, my spare is 13x6 and would be for limited use in emergency, I wouldn't want to run the mixed size with an LSD. For a very long trip I'd probably go back to 13x6 all around.

I see the oil cooler. Did they also lighten the flywheel? My 2.0 Duratec (360 spec, standard intake w/ plenum) definitely has some intake noise when the butterfly is open, but the intake is on my side (LHS) and exhaust on the other.

how do you like the ITBs?

Was it painted after welding? It might just need to cook off a little

Definitely gotta do a lap around the block, just to be sure

oven cleaner was the magic potion for curing chrome motorcycle exhaust. do these get hot enough for that to work?

For the record it's a $8.49 cap (new) from a 2014 Mustang. I'll know in a month if it helps

An aftermarket cap costs less than $10, I'll try that first. Tha ks everyone for helping confirm that the cap is being weird and I'm probably not just overfilled.

Yup. Almost 6k miles by now, it's great except for the coolant seemingly leaking out around the cap. It does click tight, there's no air in the system, etc. My modine connections were the last to really seal up well, about a year back.

in other similar cars (like a 2015 NC with ~ same motor) the tank stays about half full when cold. I guess I'm asking if it's normal for the tank to be mostly-empty when cold, and those marks on the side are because this is an off-the-shelf part that makes more sense in a Focus or something.

Hi! 2021 Caterham 360, Duratec 2.0. I think it's the same coolant tank as the 420, a pressurized tank up and behind the radiator. My car seems to want to push a little coolant out the top of the tank, past the cap. If I top it up to the min/max level at rest, and bring it to temp, it runs just fine and the level may rise a little, but mostly seems to stay around that max mark. Add a thousand miles and all of a sudden the bottle is mostly empty when cold, and there's residue around the cap. No other leaks on the floor or anywhere I can spot, but clear wetspots on the bottle and below it. The cap remains tight, but there's also residue under it -- clearly a little leak / blow-by. The leak is on the "low" side, RHS. It doesn't take much to top it back up. The motor is running fine, temps are cycling normally, and I have no reason to think it's throwing much more than "a bottle's worth" of coolant. I've repeated this cycle 3 times now, and my only interesting coolant loss is right under that cap, ever time. Is that sort of normal? Do I have a bad-sealing cap?

That is nice!

@UglyFast @jimmylukeii I just went to the Beacon in Spartanburg, SC. It's ... special. And about 3h from two of us, and maybe 1h from uglyfast? Wanna try and pop in one day? Hopefully a sunny day so I don't have to mount my windscreen.

So .... after talking to Mr. KnifeySpooney and admiring his ITB setup, I left the little grommet off my valve cover. Yesterday I decided to put it back because it was on my desk. Today I went to start and ... didn't. Rough start, turned and fired but didn't want to idle. I babied it up into running ROUGH at a normal 1200rpm idle, stinking of fuel, and started diagnosing. First step was removing that grommet. It was fine by the time I had the cover off, but I did confirm that disconnecting any one plug reproduces the issue. I could NOT make it misfire by smushing on the exposed #4 cyl wire, but I assume that was the problem. Just took another little shakedown ride and everything was great.

Looks great! I hope to see it one day. That cage looks like it would require significant contortion to navigate

Page 181 of the 2015 manual details the dry startup procedure. Basically you want to run the starter without letting it fire, until you start getting pressure. Disconnecting the inertial switch on the right firewall by the brake / clutch reservoir, will cut the fuel pump. If you have a wet engine I wouldn't expect it to take long to build pressure. 15.8) Cranking for oil pressure Before running the engine for the first time it is recommended that the following sequence is carried out. This will ensure that the oil system is capable of delivering lubricant throughout the engine.  Apply handbrake and check that the gear lever is in the Neutral position  Disconnect the wires from the inertia switch, located on the bulkhead above the ECU  Operate the ignition switch to crank the engine over until oil pressure registers on the gauge (oil pressure will be low due to the speed of the engine when turned by the starter motor). NOTE It may be necessary to turn the engine over for 30-40 seconds to achieve oil pressure. Once oil pressure has been achieved, switch OFF ignition and reconnect the inertia switch. Press down on the rubber button on top of the inertia switch to ensure that it has been de- activated.

@UglyFastand I met up for a donut this morning in Charleston. He's expecting to have a license plate "any day now" and is sort of on my way up to BRP & Deal's Gap. We gotta get a trip in later this Spring or early Summer! I got a highschooler graduating in May, I think I can sneak a few days away before then, or maybe early June, or later in the summer.

please post said picture of driving NEAR (not "into") a lake or snow bank.

(a) I wanted a dead pedal on my first road trip, but by the end I'd figured out where to put my foot. And my shin-muscle developed enough that it wasn't a big deal. On ~ highways I just rest it flat under the clutch, and have muscle-taught the gymnastics to unfold it. (b) I will offer to print whatever in a lovely flat black, rubber or polycarbonate. Both will hold up to the heat and UV in an open car, but I like the rubber for things that you touch.

I think mine is symmetric, both sides are the same size; both equally snug. My RHS has a channel for the steering column even, though it's all hidden by the dash.

Before I started I'd read in several builds about the point where the owner put in seats and sat in the unfinished chassis. I thought "no way." Then I did it last spring. I did not make the "vroom" noise, but my wife did.

$0.02 I've found it useful to start the car from the outside. And I've only run over my foot twice.

It's been a while since I spent time in an NA, but my NB and NC are great. The Caterham is better, but for several reasons. Weight obviously changes dynamics a lot. It's also got a much lower ratio / shorter lock-to-lock, so a lot less input is required. I did prefer the manual steering in a no-package NA over the power steering in the others.