Routine maintenance suggestion for a Caterham

[Kitcat]

Do you veteran Caterham Crossflow owners follow any type of routine or preventative maintenance for the car, beyond oil changes and Weber fiddling?

 

Are there bolts that need to be tightened occasionally, parts replaced, etc? I am hoping to prevent some type of disabling/catastrophic suspension or other failure. I have the build manual for my '97 Caterham which Sevens and Elans built 10 years ago, so I have the torque specs.

 

What spares do you routinely take on long trips? I have ordered a backup throttle cable and cable linkage to the carbs. What else is unlikely to be found at the local Autozone if I break down hundreds of miles from home?

 

Mike

[stevet]

I used to carry a spare head gasket on long trips...

 

 

[Cherik]

having had a few non-catastrophic-catastrophic suspension failures (deDion tube, 1/2" bolts, balljoint) on the car, I have since replaced the Grade 3 bolts with grade 8 plated. Anything that mates up with a bushing (suspension arms etc.) should be verified to really mate up with the bushing, i.e. no dirt or rubber pieces in between. A rear shock bolt sheared off, dropping the car down "pretty far".

 

The lower front A-arm balljoint was perhaps expected, as these are of the "exposed" type. Given the high miles on the car and Wisconsin's weather pattern, I should have replaced these earlier: The left front slowly tightened and caused the nyloc to back-off over time. I had heard slight crunching when parking the car a few times and one day just before driving out, the left front arm fell down inside the rim... oops. No damage, but the joint had to be replaced.

 

As a standard measure, I check all main suspension bolts before any major event (big drive or track day).

 

The spares I carry: clutch cable, bulbs, fuses, lots of ty-raps, some bolts.

 

Cherik