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.