Randy Flowers

Thanks for the link on the washer bottle location and the pic of with the scuttle removed.

Awesome on the link to the build guides and assembly instructions! Found the 2018 Caterham Sigma 310 Assembly Guide. We have since yesterday gotten in touch with Josh at Rocky Mountain Caterham (where I bought it) and he is going to help us source the missing windshield wiper assembly parts we need, and he also told us the wiper fluid bottle goes into the boot. So, making progress Randy

I have recently purchased a 2020 Caterham 310R (Sigma engine) and my mechanic friend and I need help getting the windshield wiper assembly installed (it was not installed when the kit was put together) My Seven came with a box of parts for the windshield wiper assembly, but we are missing a number of pieces and we are also missing any sort of instructions on how to install the windshield wiper assembly. How would we find some sort of windshield wiper kit assembly instructions for a Caterham 310 Sigma engine Seven? Surely there are some sort of instructions for installing things like this. We are not the first one to do this and I would prefer to lean on how others have done it. Is there any sort of list for the windshield wiper assembly that lists all the needed parts/pieces as well? We are also very unsure as to where and how to mount the windshield washer reservoir bottle in a 310. Where (and how) do we mount the windshield washer reservoir bottle properly? Also, is there a central location to look online for instructions for various mechanical tasks on a Sigma engined 310 (like installing the windshield wipers, or installing a kill switch, etc)? Thanks! Randy

I called and talked to Caterham Parts in the UK a few days ago and he said to not mix coolant types, and that it was OK to just put distilled water in it to top it back up. He also said for putting a new coolant type in, any OAT type 50/50 would be good going forward. I put in 2.5 cups of distilled water today and saw no leaks at all when running the Seven for a bit. I am taking it over to my mechanic's house tomorrow to check it out better and figure out why I lost a few cups of fluid. How about this for the new coolant to use when we do a coolant flush in a few months (Motorcraft Yellow 50/50 with POAT tech)? https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c/motorcraft/oil--chemicals---fluids/antifreeze/antifreeze---coolant---vehicle-specific/df3a6469dc0a/motorcraft-1-gallon-yellow-50-50-antifreeze-coolant/mot0/vc13dlg?pos=56

If we flush the entire system, how many liters of coolant is needed when refilling the system?

My car is a 2020 310R (Ford Sigma engine). Here is the recommended coolant (and the only coolant listed at the Caterham parts site), but it is currently out of stock... https://caterhamparts.co.uk/158-coolant The coolant is due to be flushed (car is 4 years old), so we could use a totally new coolant and not need to worry about mixing it with whatever is in there now. I would strongly prefer something that I can either order easily on Amazon or get at the local Auto parts store in Oregon. Just want to know which exact coolant that I can get in the USA easily going forward. I can get this kind of Motul 50/50 coolant, is it completely fine going forward, especially if we flush the coolant and don't mix it with whatever kind of coolant is currently in the system? https://www.amazon.com/Motul-109533-Motocool-Expert-1lt/dp/B08DTZD9LJ/ref=asc_df_B08DTZD9LJ/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=692875362841&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14298195301580668345&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033094&hvtargid=pla-2281435177618&psc=1&mcid=663da278f7a3304d9a6bd6e48026d3d1&hvocijid=14298195301580668345-B08DTZD9LJ-&hvexpln=73 Randy

Hey yall Another new issue just popped up. I noticed today that there was no coolant showing in the reservoir in the nosecone area. This is the first time I noticed the coolant being low. So, 2 questions: 1) There is no coolant leak that I am aware of. Also, the engine hasn't been getting too warm. How do I best track down why it is now low? 2) I am pretty sure the original coolant in the reservoir was blue. The owner's guide is specifically pointing to only using their recommended coolant (Motul which can only be ordered from overseas). Given that we are in the USA, what can I easily order (Amazon?) for coolant? I will need to top it up again enough to get it over to my mechanic friend's garage so he can figure out what is going on. Right now, the car is parked in its storage unit. So, I will need some sort of coolant put in for that and don't want to put in something that I shouldn't put in it. I have never personally changed/flushed (or bled) coolant before (my Miatas over the last 3 decades have never lost coolant that I can remember), so I am learning on this subject for sure. I definitely do not want to burn the new Ford Sigma engine up! Thanks! Randy

I charged the car on the Noco Genius1 to full charge and the car is functional again. The plan is to only use a jump for emergencies to get me home. Anytime the battery is low, I plan on a full trickle charge. And the Caterham kill switch arrived a few days ago, and until that is installed I am disconnecting the negative terminal on the battery when leaving it for awhile.

OK the plan is as follows: 1) In order to prevent the battery draining when parked, get this kill switch from Caterham and install: https://caterhamparts.co.uk/.../1341-battery-master... 2) In the meantime (until the kill switch is installed) just disconnect the positive cable from the battery after parking in the garage to prevent the battery draining while parked 3) Also get the following trickle battery charger for my Odyssey PC680 (AGM16L) battery. If I find the battery low despite using a kill switch, then take the battery out of the car and take it home (where I do have an electrical outlet) and recharge it up fully with this charger. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W46BX31... 4) Keep some motorcycle jumpers in the boot and if out on a blat and for some reason the battery is low, then simply jump it to get me home. Does a standard jump of this kind have the chance of hurting the AGM battery? Question: I would like to take the Caterham to a car show in the morning. My battery is still turning the engine over (i.e. not just 'click' when trying to start it) so since I don't yet have the trickle charger shown above, would it be OK to just jumper the Seven today and drive it long enough to get a good charge back into the battery so that I can drive it tomorrow to the car show. Or is it always advisable to use the trickle charger to charge the battery back up when/if it gets low in order to avoid harming the AGM battery? Thanks! Randy

I do not have access to any light. The garage will not let me run a cord out under the garage door to a small solar panel.

I also posted this question to the Caterham Technical discussion on Facebook and got a bunch of responses already, all of them saying to install a battery cut off switch. I assume I need to install a Caterham specific cutoff switch like the one you posted above, right? The Facebook discussion is saying that doing that alone will keep the battery from needing to be recharged or kept trickle charged. Do yall agree with that? Randy

Hey yall I have recently bought my first Seven (2020 310R) and I have a unique battery dilemma Due to having turned our garage into an apartment for my parents, I had to park the Seven at a very close storage facility. I only bought the car in June and have been driving it a few times per week and haven't had any issues with the battery losing charge until now. I didn't drive the car for a week+ and went out to drive it the other day and it tried to turn over but it didn't have enough juice. I knew I needed to look into a battery tender soon, but that time has come. Note that I have a brand new AGM16L battery in the car right now. However, as I said, I have a unique issue. Since I have to park the Seven in the storage facility, that means that there is NO ELECTRICAL OUTLET where the Seven is kept. Ugh, hadn't thought of that issue until now. So, my understanding when I bought the Seven was that I would need to start hooking it up to a battery tender that kept the battery fully charged when it was parked in the garage. Now that I am needing to do that and given that I have no electrical outlet in the place I actually keep the car, how in the heck am I going to keep the Seven's battery fully charged such that I don't get in it to drive and the battery is dead or near dead? I have no place to plug the battery tender/charger into! Are there any elegant and simple solutions to keep my battery fully charged given no place to plug a battery tender into where it is parked? Maybe have two batteries and keep one of them fully charged at home (where I do have an outlet) all the time, and then switch them out when the battery in the Seven currently has lost its charge? We had thought of maybe running a small solar panel under the garage door and getting power to the battery tender that way, but the storage facility doesn't allow me to do that. Related Question: If the battery is low when I try and start the car (it was turning over but not able to start), when is it OK to jump the car with normal jumper cables? I have heard that it is not ideal to normally jump the Seven's AGM16L battery when it is almost dead. Instead, you should slowly and fully recharge the battery with a battery tender/charger. Thanks! Randy

My current idea for solving this is to: 1st get the Caterham wind deflectors and modify them with heat as described in the forum link I posted above, then see how much that helps all by itself with no side curtains or half doors on. 2nd, if not acceptable enough at that point, then go ahead and get the half doors (which I already own) fitted and combine them with the modded wind deflectors and see if that is enough. 3rd, wait to order a tonneau until I have sorted out the above two steps. If all goes well and I can be fine driving up to 60mph without full side curtains, then during the dry season I will be using a tonneau to cover the car most of the time with the half top kept in the boot for emergencies. I figure when driving alone with the tonneau on as well over the passenger side, that the tonneau itself may also reduce some of the turbulence in the cockpit. Plus, looks great to drive it with the tonneau over the passenger side, how real sports cars should look If I am driving it during the rainy season and there is possible rain in the forecast, then I can leave the half doors and wind deflectors at home and just take the full side curtains. I doubt I will ever throw the full top into the boot even during the rainy season. If I get caught out in a rainstorm, then I will just throw the half top on along with the full side curtains and that will get me home fine. Regardless of how well the above works with wind turbulence, I suspect I would always need to use the full side curtains when I need to travel a long way on the freeways. Only time I can envision ever putting the full top into the boot is if taking the car on an overnight type of trip. Could be pretty bad to be caught out 100s of miles from home and a rainstorm happens when the car is just sitting outside with only the half top and full side curtains on. I plan on running all of this by the guys at Soft Bits for Sevens as well. Really hoping that the above works and I can be driving the car most of the time without needing the full side curtains and with a tonneau thrown on the passenger side while driving (and tonneau fully covering the car when left in public). Randy

Ah-ha, yeah, that is it. Thanks

Take a gander at this post about using heat to bend the Caterham wind deflectors out enough such that they do make a big difference. Deeper into this post someone shows pics and explains exactly how to do it. https://www.caterhamlotus7.club/forums/topic/217714-wind-deflectors/ Note that there is someone responding saying he was using the bent out Caterham deflectors plus half doors and he said that combo was very helpful. I already do have the half doors, would just have to get them fitted, so I could try that combo for the cost of the Caterham wind deflectors + fitting the half doors. What does the guy mean by SFBS half doors (what is SFBS?) Randy