Nocturnal005

It's definitely not slow, although it's tough to tell how quick it really is due to the onslaught of wind. It's a different character to the last few cars that were all turbo charged and had endless torque, but those motors didn't have the same responsiveness. Its also been a while since I had a stick shift so that's a treat!

Went on a shakedown yesterday, finally got the rev upshift light to turn on, sounds great!

Are Caterhams competitive in D-Mod? What's required to be competitive besides fat hoosiers?

I measured it. In the farthest back location the front of the seat (carbon bucket) is just behind the cross beam on the floor. From that position it is able to slide 3" total towards the front. I also noticed I cant' really get the seat further back than it is because the headrest of the seat is already getting close to the trackday roll bar. Hope that helps

Mine also moves back and forth more than 2". I can measure it later. Initially it didn't, more like one or two clicks max. What I found was that one of the screws attaching to the rails (don't recall if it was the rail to seat or rail to chassis) was too long and interfering with the rail movement. Once I fixed that i got a larger range, however i can't get the seat further back than the fixed position of the passenger side. I can get it much closer to the wheel, but that doesn't help me. When it's all the way back it's about perfect (i'm 5'10"). However I'd like to explore one click back to see if it would even be better. A project for later.

Yes, 888R and 18psi cold as a start point. Are you running the stock de-dion ears in the back?

absolutely! Just ordered a new “ABP” lid. Once the car gets some more wringing out on the back roads she’s headed to Laguna. speaking of which I am looking for track alignment recommendations. The research I’ve seen so far is 135mm front ride height, 15mm rake, red front bar, 2.8-3 front camber, max caster, and about a 1.0-1.5 front toe out. currently I am at about -1.8 front camber, zero toe, 135 front height, 15mm rake, and on the orange front bar. Shocks are set at “7” all around (cup 420 shocks). handles ok but tends to push a bit w more steering input (only backroads driving)

Very close to being completely done. At this point I've stopped counting hours. The last big job on the list was to cut the bonnet for the RBTB...I've been putting this off for a while, and driving the car without the air filter. Figured I shouldn't do that too much longer and finally got the guts to go for it. Used a combination of dremel, tin snips, and a file, Think it turned out ok! Also took off the central mirror (blocked vision) and installed the two side mirrors instead. Much better for being able to see around RH corners.

Re the tach, I got these instructions from Richard over at Kampena (where I purchased the kit). Hope someone finds this helpful. Basically, depending on what the tach is set to, just do the opposite ;). Mine was set to 1,2,8 = 0n. I switched it to 8 = On, all others off and it seems to have worked. "Each tacho can be calibrated/programmed manually by setting a combination of eight switches located underneath the grommet on the rear of the gauge. When you remove this grommet and look inside, I expect that you will find that switches 1,2 and 8 are all flicked upwards. If this is the case then could you please switch down both 1 and 2, leaving only switch 8 flicked upwards. Alternatively, if you find only switch 8 flicked upwards, then you will need to flick up switches 1 and 2. "

The flash must be 100% the issue. Thanks for chiming in. For the tach, it reads, but extremely low. (200 rpm when it should be 1100) Worked prior to the flash!

Progress update: - Got the ECU flashed via easimap to the RBTB file Caterham provided, tach and seat heaters no longer functioning. The tach was expected, sounds like i need to reconfigure the DIP switches. As for the seat heaters, they only came on w the previous map when the engine was running...I wonder if there's an expected ECU output signal now that is missing w the new hardware. Could use some tips on this one. - After about 6 hours at the DMV I managed to get my SPCNS sequence number from the DMV, which is a major milestone in CA. I can now drive it around and get the required brake, light, VIN inspections done! - Drove it around the block this morning, first time leaving the house. It's intense! Nothing fell off and I didn't notice any leaks, so far so good. The brakes seem a bit soft and the pedal travels further than I thought so I need to try to re-bleed.

thanks, this is super useful information! I got the battery mount, here are some pics of the progress.

Wrong forum!

I really should have specced the car without a heater, looks so clean! I think I'll not drill the heater valve control for now and drive around a bit to see if the heater core is really needed in addition to the heated seats and then decide.

I'll have these in hand hopefully by the time I return to the US and will report back here with pics!

Here are the final designs I ended up with, being fabricated now. Anyone can order these themselves with the CAD files provided. Sendcutsend.com can turn these around in about a week. The material to specify is 5000 series aluminum, 0.08" thick. Antigravity ATX-12 HD Caterham Base Plate v11.step Antigravity ATX-12-HD Hold Down v9.step

Here's the battery bracket design I've been working on while away from the car. It fits the Antigravity ATX-12HD battery laid down in the factory location. I validated it with a 3d print, seems to work fine. Its a little taller that the factory bracket to clear the ECU better and at the same time eliminate the aluminum shims that are a pain to align under the stock bracket. Plan to get this fabricated over the next week or so after I fine tune the lightening holes. If interested I could make a few for the community, or share the CAD.

So the build process is on hold, due to a planned business trip to Asia. I got to where I wanted prior to leaving. All the body panels are attached and the car is nice and secure under the car cover. There are just a few things left: - ecu remap for RBTB, awaiting responses from Caterham and SBD - headlight wire routing - submarine belts and seat heater wiring - fabricate battery bracket for ATX12 battery - heater control hole - alignment - strategic PPF - registration! So far, I'm 102 hrs in, and prob another 20 or so to get all the little odds and ends cleaned up. If anyone is interested, here is the break down below: While on the plane I had wifi access, so I killed the time by doing some online upgrades shopping! Ordered the following: - battery disconnect - LED headlight upgrade - front nosecone canards - fuel gauge fix module The first two I should have probably just gotten with the kit but was trying to have some restraint, the price was already getting up there. -

This photo is great, no need to take a different one.

Interesting! Next time you have your hood off would you mind taking a photo of the heater cable routing to the valve? Wondering how they routed it from the factory.

For the Watt's link, i had to just refer to the separate instructions and find all the hardware. Pretty straightforward after that. Re the RBTB...I finally got them on. Had an issue where it appears the aft black end plate on the RBTB where the TPS attaches was clocked wrong. Ended up breaking a TPS sensor. Got it reclocked and now seems fine. Car fires up and runs, but seems super rich...guessing this is the confirmation that I have the wrong map. Does anyone know if a standard Tactrix cable can be used in place of the easimap cable? Attached is a video of the start and idle from this morning IMG_2337 2.mov

I sort of knew what to expect given the different blogs. I must say the most frustrating aspect has been installing the diff. Due to a few real and perceived parts shorts I skipped around in the manual a bit and thus had do revisit a few steps. Only to find the missing hardware was in some obscure unmarked bag found later. In the end it appears that I was only missing the following: 1. cushioned clamps of the right size for the bottom of the dry sump tank 2. scratched up lower control arm that Kampena motors got a replacement for 3. self tapping screws for the indicator to pod mounting 4. 1 bell housing to engine mounting bolt that was 10mm too short 5. cotter pin for hand brake pulley surprises 1. tech support needed for watts link 2. water temp probe wires needed to be extended 3. steering wheel not drilled 4. kit comes w LED rear lights (and I bought a set separately to upgrade) 5. fuse box cover seems terrible 6. seat mounting hardware looks cobbled together 7. radiator fan presses against 7 logo in nose cone 8. general patience and persuasion needed to fit parts together Some parts of the kit seem really well done and it doesnt look like any expense was spared - dry sump oiling, radiator hardware, etc. Other parts of the kit have been pretty terrible like the seat sliders and battery/battery mount. I'm also not sure how to check what ECU software is loaded. I purchased the roller barrel setup w the kit but have just installed the stock system for now... BTW how are you LHD owners mounting your heater controls? It seems to want to route to the passenger side, but i don't see how you could actually operate it from the drivers side while belted in.

A quick update, the kit finally showed up on 3/3 and I’ve been busy getting it together. Fingers crossed I’ll be able to fire it up tonight! A lot of odds and ends left to tidy up, but moving along pretty well. I’ll post some more pics soon. I have a few mystery hardware items I’ll need help identifying!

I’m in Belmont/San Carlos. I plan to drive it on skyline, do some auto x and occasional track days. Thanks for the link!

Introducing myself. My name is Norman and reside in the bay area, CA. I've had 15yr dream of building a Caterham and was actually building from plans when life put that on hold. Fast forward, I'm finally in a position to be able to revisit the dream and actually create some memories with my kids via the build. I don't really plan to a build blog, just excited to share and will prob need some advice along the way. Here are some fun pics from 15 yrs bk. This is as far as I got before I called it quits. Was to be a boosted Hyabusa powered clone for autocross. I imported the panels and body work from Caterham and the frame was TIG welded from 1020 steel. Here is the spec for the 420R kit I ordered in May 2024. It's currently in build, so not too long of a wait! And here is what it looks like at the factory today! Sorry for the low res photos. This is what we got from Caterham. Initially, they sent the photos of someone else's car in yellow, so I'm pretty glad I at least got these. It sounds like the kit should land late Dec or early Jan. For now I'm contemplating what to do with the motor. Leave it all alone, install roller barrels, or R+R the 2.0 before I even install it to get somewhere midway between a 420R and a 620R. I explored the destroked 2.5 short block route but feel like I don't need quite that much and it feels like a much more intensive project. Open to suggestions! Also exploring what options I should go ahead and upgrade now. At the time of ordering I wanted to keep the costs reasonable, but some of the nice items such as LED lights are looking attractive and don't look fun to install twice. Before it arrives I've been reading every build log and writing down all the tips and tricks that I find.