hahuang65

@williamwashere Yeah Sunbelt rentals. They have a very transport friendly one that fully disassembled into straight rods and beams pretty much. It fit in my wife's SUV. It's the one pictured on their site. They may however try to give you one that's not disassemble-able like they did with me. Just call and make sure the location you're going to has that one (if you need it to be disassembled). If you have a truck then it's not a problem. IIRC it was like $150 for the week. Quite affordable. What wasn't feasible was when I had to pull the engine and have it out for an indeterminate amount of time while I diagnosed my issue. Was also too lazy to rent it, and take it back and rent it again.

I had a 2 ton for my initial install that made it cake. I had a 1.5 ton when I had to pull the engine to crack open the transmission bell housing... Barely made clearance. It's the length of the arm and the height of the lift that was the issue. 2 ton is the clear choice here for no hiccups

Assuming you're running LEDs, I think there's more than enough voltage to run them in series...though double check random idiot on forum talking. If you're planning on running both the pod and the LED blinker, then I would assume that's the most straightforward way to do it. A reason not to do it now is that it's some small amount of extra work and if you're (possibly) not gonna need it, then don't do it now. Though, for what it's worth, I grounded my pod blinker in the headlight bowl, so you're gonna be running a wire into there already anyway. I suppose it can save you some re-tidying up wires if you're anal about that kind of stuff though, but just achieving illumination in both lights would not be an extraordinary amount of work, if I recall my own installation properly.

I quite like the symmetry, especially with the stripes... It does remind me of a Hobbit door:

I'm a bit of a (relatively) plain jane with my Detonator Yellow + 2 Stripes but I think that's the way to go. I did really like the 3 stripe but the nose badge made the middle stripe look too thick. I like how the 2 stripe curves around it. Sans nose badge I would have gone 3 stripe. I absolutely love the triple side stripes of the Encore. Would love to get that some time in the future

@Vovchandr in your pics, the windshield definitely needs some headlights up front. The aero without the headlights could go either way for me TBH. Looks pretty slick without, but it already looked good even with the lights.

Hah can't blame her. My wife gives my Caterham the side eye even though it's parked in the other garage lol. The Encore is a very nice looking car. Love the stripes and the centered gas cap.

Interesting... I may be mistaken, but in discussing with @empti who has the normal 420 nosecone, the mount points/hardware for the 420 and 620 were slightly different. Which nosecones do you have? Are they 3 different styles?

For me the biggest deal here is "620 nosecone" as standard!!! WHAT! That's fantastic.

Rich Kamp was my dealer and I've had a fantastic experience with him and his knowledge. When I read the article this stunned me as well! I'm glad that they set the record straight at least.

@Vovchandr is right. I also like the layout of the 5.75" headlight and the pod, from the front. The length of the pod and the side profile of it, I could take it or leave it. I agree 7" are a little too large and the high mount look quite awkward. The microlight is kinda interesting and it kinda "deletes" a light on the Caterham, making it look a little more streamlined.... but I personally would not run it.

I haven't looked in a while so I could be totally forgetting important details, but my setup, I think it's as simple as disconnecting the wire from the pod light, removing the pods and then feeding that wire into my bowl and connecting it to the correct (currently un-connected) terminal on the LED. My OCD that's preventing me from doing it is, I'd want to disconnect the connector from the harness, pull it out, re-bundle the turn signal wire with it and re-thread that through the suspension arms (which was a pain in the ass).

Note that you can absolutely run without pods, if you end up getting an LED headlight with a turn signal built in. Mine are halo lights that flash amber for turning. I'm absolutely considering just taking out the pods for a cleaner look. Just laziness to redo/remove some of the wiring. One thing I'll say that is probably obvious but should be said anyway...is know yourself. For me and my personality I know that I would regret not getting something ONLY due to money, and so I kind of almost spared no expense on my build. I skipped all the carbon bits (cuz that's relatively easy to do later), but I opted for the 620 nosecone, the 620 dash, the higher cost paint... Anything with any remote chance I might regret not doing and would be difficult to do... I opted for.

@williamwashere I think that the form guarantees you get a custom vehicle plate like @240mentions...but also, please get a cool vanity plate!

ASVEs (Custom Vehicles) do not require the annual smog check.

Exactly what @empti said for all points. I had to get a new tach although you can check your dipswitches. Rich had sent me a document but I can't seem to find it. If he's your dealer ask him about it. Definitely get the fuel gauge correction module. I also had to get a new wiper switch though I haven't installed it yet because I switched to the aeroscreen. Yeah run the engine until it gets hot,then the fan will start. In fact let it cycle a few times...the fan will cool the radiator enough to shut down,then it'll get hot enough to turn back on.

@IamScotticus both. It wasn't bolted down fully and it was leaking. It's possible I caused the leaking when I attempted to bleed the clutch because it wasn't dripping when I filled the slave.

Yeah suspension is relatively easy, especially if its just dampers. If you gotta swap out the wishbones and everything else, I can see that being a pain. My optioning logic was 1) will I regret if I don't do it more or if I do it more? 2) what will be more than 5 hours of work to upgrade in the future?

She's gonna be a beaut. If you're mechanically inclined, it'll go quite smooth for you. Just don't make my mistake and not double check the throwout bearing for the clutch before mating it to the engine. Long story short, I finished the car, fired it up and then had to pull the entire drivetrain to replace the throwout bearing. Added an extra month (diagnosing, sourcing parts, re-installing) to the build time before I could drive it. Basically double check EVERYTHING. I see you opted for the 13" wheels... EVERYONE says they're superior to the 15s. I went 15s cuz of the look. Very curious. You're not gonna regret the nose and the dash. I'm VERY glad I opted for those. Did you go S3 or SV?

@williamwashere oh didn't realize you'd ordered one! May is coming up right quick.... but more importantly what did you spec!!! I'm in Spring off 99 and 45, so I'm close enough that I'd be happy to help if needed during the build. Just give me a shout ahead of time as scheduling with kids can be difficult. Obviously, will try to help remotely as possible if requested as well. We'll have to get the TX (at least Houston) fellas together for a drive perhaps.

@williamwashere I think @IamScotticus knows a place in Houston that might be able to help with regard to being a dealership of sorts? He's told me once, but I've forgotten the name. Are you in Pinehurst, Montgomery County? For what it's worth, I used to live in CA, so I worked with Rich Kamp over at Kampena Motors. He had it shipped to me in Texas (I moved before my order arrived) and I had absolutely no issue with building in Texas with my dealer support remote. If you're considering a dealer build, I know that @240 is in Texas but had Rocky Mountain build for him. I'm sure he'd be happy to share some experience too.

Tacking onto this comment, this is also a dealer in Florida possibly worth reaching out to https://www.christopherjohnltd.com/caterham

Anyone here know who this is?

@KnifeySpoony on mine, it was actually opt-in. But I figured for the yearly $70, it was fine.

I've done this for the very reason you mentioned. When I finished building my car, I did State Farm because it was very easy to get insured and I had existing policies with them. However, I switched to Hagerty within 2 months because of Agreed Value. State Farm does not offer them for our cars. My Hagerty policy is $50 less per year than State Farm (pretty negligible if you ask me) for the same coverage + Agreed Value.