Legs

Thank you @JohnCh, from the eyeball it does seem like it's not centered on the bottom bolts, but because it's implied and I split the washers I thought, it must just be shadows or bigger welding on one side skewing the appearance. But this makes me think it really might not be centered. I was trying to measure between the case and the inside, not easy. Measuring to the outside of the frame should be much better and accurate 👌

Diff Day 1: diff wins Bottoms weren't too bad. I put one in to pull the diff to one side to them determine the total washers/shims needed in total. Split those in half and have an equal amount for each side, back the bolt out, then add washers and bolts. Top bolt, as expected, is going to need some finagling. Top left has a small gap, I can get one thick and one medium washer in while jostling the diff to make space, so that's tight. Top right has enough space for two thick and probably can squeeze a smaller one in. The bigger issue is simple getting the diff in line with the holes, it seems like it needs to go another 1/8" further into the car, but the front bolts naturally won't allow that. Possibly swinging the rear towards the right wheel well is what's needed, given the left side is tighter than the right, but again, the front bolts will keep it from moving off it's current line AFAIK. Not sure!

It's one of the best! Something I've found immensely helpful is https://www.tiggercaterham.co.uk/tiggers420rbuildmanual who actually took the time to go through several of the detailed build blogs and pull our the helpful tidbits and not only list them out at the start of each section, but also provide the link to turn! It's a gold mine haha

Well that should make things easier, thanks for the solution @JohnCh, any excuse to use more tools is always a good one 😊 @Timberline I like the sound of taking the frame off when it comes time to mounting.. do you happen to know the torque numbers on those bolts? Being that we'll be raising it up intact to at a minimum determine the shims, we'll see what it's looking like to get the bolts in. Great back pocket play to remove the frame if needed.

It's starting to warm up again which means we're FINALLY able to get back at it!! It's been a productive few days, got our front assemblies completed without a hitch. One of the brake lines needed a little bending to mate up, but nothing serious. So on to horn and headlights! I only had to look for the horn spacer for 35 minutes, only to realize there's no bolt to be found. No biggie! Moved on to the headlights but also stalled out looking for the hardware pack. I triple checked everywhere and no dice. The parts list says 12 z-packs, of which where are, so I guess there's supposed to be 13 including the height pack C 😆 Alright, let's keep moving! Tidied up the engine bay electrical before starting on the plumbing! I got everything laid out, but then decided to hold back because I think it will only make getting the headlight wiring in and torquing the wishbones down a lot more difficult with the hoses in place.. so next up was the handbrake! After reading through some of the immensely through and helpful build blogs, I came to the conclusion that it's probably better to wait until the prop shaft and diff are in. The diff looks to be difficult, so no need to make it any harder restricting space and views. So we put the handbrake cable in and moved onto the prop shaft. Prop shaft was very simple! It took much longer to track down some moly spline paste than it did to install. Is it necessary? Probably not as it's not mentioned in the manual, but I like to be safe and it will only be beneficial. Thanks again helpful build blogs! On the same note, when I topped up the prop shaft grease joints, I was only ever getting spew from one of the junctions, same on both ends. So was I simply not supplying enough? In other scenarios, the train of thought was keep going until you get fresh grease from everywhere, but it didn't seem to be the case here? Caterham seems to have addressed a complication with prop shaft install in the joints being slightly wider than the frame uprights, but my frame had some fancy curves to it, just the right amount for the shaft to smoothly drop in. Kudos! Now on to the differential. It doesn't look like a one man job, it's got some heft! My wife is a bit under the weather, so it wasn't going to happen this weekend. I took the opportunity to follow some other's suggestions to paint the machined connection with some engine enamel. The install will have to wait. Any and all tips and pointers are welcome! We have two jacks, but no engine crane. Seems that people have done both, but the crane does seem nice to keep things steady. I can probably convince our friend with a crane who helped us with the engine install to come help in exchange for a beer or two. Happy to be back in the garage and seeing things take some shape! ✌️

Haha aww man, sorry for your loss. There is surely still time!! Thanks for the update

@TwedleJoe or @Cranky do you happen to have any updates on how your lights are still performing?

Thank you for the input, @Timberline! I've only just managed to get the upper wishbones on, but I will have your words in my head when the time comes for the dampers. My old man came down from New England for a visit and we were able to do it together, which was a special moment. He had a large part of this whole project in telling me at a young age that sometime, we'd buy an old car and fix it up. Something I've learned his father told him too and never happened haha. Our time has come and gone for that, but my desire to do so never dwindled. When I told my wife that a few years ago, she persisted in making it happen in one form or another, and he we are! It was a good weekend despite having to break out the file to get the bolts to fit through the holes, the hammer to pry the headlight clip open more to align the bolt holes, and scavenging to locate the appropriate unlabeled upper wishbone bolt sleeves. It's about par for the course :-)

Front suspension, yea surely I can get the upper and lower wishbones on in a couple hours. Starting with the lower, only 4 bolts, easy! Well 3.5 hours later, the lower wishbones are on. Torqued up, then untorqued, then torqued, aaand untorqued again. I couldn't get them to sit level when torqued as some blogs suggest as it is a not so easy task to tighten them up when on wheels, but I'll follow the manual on this one and figure it out when it comes time to drop it down. I had a good time getting the last washer in, as seems to be the norm. The holes were 1-2mm off on the LHS, so that took some figuring out, but the threads eventually pulled right on through. I think I've to instill a personal rule: however long I think a task will take, multiply it by 3, and that's how long it will take. Time for a beer.

I've been slow to provide any updates, sorry. But thank you for prompting me to do so!! First couple weeks were busy (wrong kind) with work and covid knocking both of us out, but had a productive past two weekends! First one was all about preparation; bubble wrap and cardboard the body, pool noodles / oil hose cover the cross bars, spraying some dinitrol around the grot traps in the engine bay, confirming components, etc. This past weekend, we got the gearbox mated to the engine on Saturday along with engine install prep - removing the alternator, starter, serpentine belt, plenum, clearing the engine mount threads, taping wires down, and then protecting the cam headers. Everything takes longer than it will in my head hahaa. Sunday was engine install day! Ultimately it went very smoothly - the hours of researching other blogs and planning paid off. From my friend arriving with his hoist to wrenches down was 4 hours including coffee and lunch breaks! And despite him thinking we would be installing and removing 3 times, we never had to raise the hoist more than a few mill. The only unexpected thing to work around was the gearbox mount holes simply would not align enough for the 4 mount to chassis bolts to seat, so that requires a tiny bit of filing. So all in all, I think it was very good. Big thanks to Josh at RMC for alleviating any and all of my worries about, well everything. You can read about the extremely tight fit of the gearbox over and over, but man, experiencing it is another thing. We managed to only scrape 2 small portions of the reflective insulation, which was an easy, and anticipated, patch job for some aluminum tape I bought ahead of time for just the task. Last night I got the starter and alternator back on, so next up is front suspension! I wish the kit was delivered a few months ago when I was on a planned sabbatical, as my new job started up and thus takes some priority, but I'm still making time to keep the wrenches turning!

Any follow-up on these lights after a few years of use? I'm very interested in upgrading headlights for improved safety. As discussed, the Caterham ones are really expensive because of UK certifications which are pointless in the US. But I'm also leery of Chinese electeonics when it comes to safety equipment.

Nearly two years have passed and it's finally here! Very much looking forward to the build process. Josh at RMC is amazing! Options added to the base 420R: 4-piston calipers Battery cutoff Trackday rollbar Sidescreen armrests Carbon seats Sequential shift lights Lowered floor 620 nosecone 620 carbon dash (I love those toggles!)

I'm the guy from 'a little up north'! 😆 Congratulations! Thanks for doing the crate unboxing and removal first, the driver knew exactly what needed to happen and we were offloaded in 30 minutes!

It's always a good time hanging out with you all. Thank you EVERYONE for continuing to share your experiences and wisdoms. I look forward to finally being able to join on track next year. It's time to build!! -Legaré