New Build

[Pokey]

That was the morning, the afternoon I decided to do something different and blinged it up a bit with edge trim.

 

[Vovchandr]

Yours came out a LOT better than mine did :cuss:

 

You decided not to to the lower control arm entry point and the tie rod circle?

 

I don't have enough clearance in the front hole to really get the trim in there and that's even before I relocate my headlights and add the new mount on top of the control arm mount.

 

You can see how the front part of the trim is just hanging out instead of being tucked under.

 

Maybe OEM trim is better than ebay. I think I have a round in the backstock that I can try. I assume its quite similar though

 

 

I also have a kink in the bigger hole where trim couldn't flex well around technical areas

[wemtd]

have you tried softening the pinchwelt /trim with a heat gun?

[Pokey]

Yours came out a LOT better than mine did :cuss:

 

You decided not to to the lower control arm entry point and the tie rod circle?

 

I don't have enough clearance in the front hole to really get the trim in there and that's even before I relocate my headlights and add the new mount on top of the control arm mount.

 

You can see how the front part of the trim is just hanging out instead of being tucked under.

 

Maybe OEM trim is better than ebay. I think I have a round in the backstock that I can try. I assume its quite similar though

 

I also have a kink in the bigger hole where trim couldn't flex well around technical areas

 

I might do the circle and control arm hole, but that's how far I got before being told I was done playing in the garage . I did, however, do the exhaust hole. Before anyone says it, I do realize the heat might be too much for the adhesive, and if so I'll just peel off the trim and clean off the adhesive residue - no biggie. I had the material and thought I'd see what it looks like.

 

 

The front hole where the headlight bracket attaches is a real pain. I decided to only do the top half, as defined where the skin pinches against the chassis on both sides, and even that was tough.

 

I didn't get the edge trim from Caterham, didn't see what I wanted on their online store, but after sleuthing settled on a product Trim-Lok makes. The next trick was figuring out what size, both the width and the gap. I wound up ordering 25' of three versions and settled on the smallest of the three. I liked the more petite look, and being smaller it conformed to the corner radii better.

Edited April 27, 2020 by Pokey

[Vovchandr]

I might do the circle and control arm hole, but that's how far I got before being told I was done playing in the garage . I did, however, do the exhaust hole. Before anyone says it, I do realize the heat might be too much for the adhesive, and if so I'll just peel off the trim and clean off the adhesive residue - no biggie. I had the material and thought I'd see what it looks like.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]16947[/ATTACH]

 

The front hole where the headlight bracket attaches is a real pain. I decided to only do the top half, as defined where the skin pinches against the chassis on both sides, and even that was tough.

 

I didn't get the edge trim from Caterham, didn't see what I wanted on their online store, but after sleuthing settled on a product Trim-Lok makes. The next trick was figuring out what size, both the width and the gap. I wound up ordering 25' of three versions and settled on the smallest of the three. I liked the more petite look, and being smaller it conformed to the corner radii better.

 

"Good" to hear that you also struggled with the headlight bracket area. Misery loves company right?

 

This is the product that I used.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KBXBS96/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Didn't think variations mattered that much so it's one of the few purchases I didn't overthink and over research. Appears I should have

 

 

I ended up actually cutting out the attachment backing from areas where I had 0 room and that wasn't ideal as it just obviously flops there now.

 

I'll consider cutting out custom pieces of double sided tape to apply myself and or using the hot glue gun to get things to stick.

 

 

I've also considered doing exhaust hole. Let me know if it holds! I decided there is no way it would survive, but I'll let you pioneer that path!

 

 

have you tried softening the pinchwelt /trim with a heat gun?

 

Yes. Didn't seem to make a dent. I'm at least hoping it helped the double sided tape stick better. I'm afraid of melting things with too prolonged spot use.

[Pokey]

"Good" to hear that you also struggled with the headlight bracket area. Misery loves company right?

 

This is the product that I used.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KBXBS96/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

 

I chose a product that didn't have one leg longer than the other, but would have preferred it had the adhesive built-in like what you purchased. Here is what I used:

 

[Pokey]

Well, for those of you that don't pay attention to the news of Washington State, our governor announced the stay-at-home program continues until at least the end of May. That means I need to slow down the build even further if I'm to have something to occupy myself on the rainy weekends to come. Thankfully the inventory pickers at Caterham do what they do best and left yet more bits out of the build, this time the two jam nuts for the rear brake line. So good news is that will add a week to the build, bad news is the $1 of nuts cost me $11 with shipping.

[Pokey]

With that in mind, I decided to finish the edge trim job.

 

[Pokey]

And when Mr. Beachman came by the other day he pointed out that the aluminum honeycomb in the boot that sits over the fuel tank was touching the skin, and that over time a crease will develop. I tried to remove the honeycomb to trim it but it must go in before the fuel tank, so with a dremel, 6" file and a little contortion was able to take off enough to create an air gap.

 

Before:

 

 

And after:

 

 

And if you are curious what the side-profile of the honeycomb looks like:

 

 

[Pokey]

Even though I couldn't connect the braided brake line to the DeDion tube, I went ahead and fastened down the copper line with rivets and placed it in the chassis.

 

[Pokey]

Next step is to attach the shocks, but you can't access the holes to mount the roll bar through the chassis from beneath with the shocks installed.

 

Oh those tricky Brits...

 

Thankfully I noticed otherwise it would be annoying to learn I needed to dismantle the rear suspension later in the build.

 

So here it is with the roll bar installed:

 

Edited May 7, 2020 by Pokey

[Vovchandr]

That honeycomb was a royal pita to move in and out with everything in.

 

With that said, question. What is the material that you used between the tank and the frame. Soft double sided 3M molding type material?

 

Mine disintegrated while I was troubleshooting a gas leak and was looking to replace it. Wasn't sure what it was. With you experience can I lift the tank from below and slide new material under or is this a bigger tank out job?

[JohnCh]

I'm surprised Caterham doesn't supply the boot floor in two pieces so it can be easily removed from above for maintenance access. I did my floor that way when building the larger custom boot box, and it has come in handy on a few occasions.

 

Glad you figured out the assembly order of the roll bar and suspension before it was too late.

 

-John

[panamericano]

The original owner of my Birkin cut the fiberglass bottom out of the boot, leaving about an inch of floor around the perimeter. That holds the thick aluminum that is the new floor. It lifts out easily with a paint can opener, giving good access to everything below.

[11Budlite]

I'm surprised Caterham doesn't supply the boot floor in two pieces so it can be easily removed from above for maintenance access. I did my floor that way when building the larger custom boot box, and it has come in handy on a few occasions.

 

John - The Caterham floor is in two sections. There's the honeycomb section in the rear and a smaller plywood section in front with I believe an aluminum channel in between. The honeycomb is still a little difficult to remove without damaging the paint/powder coat on the chassis.

[JohnCh]

Thanks. I took the comment that the honeycomb has to be fitted prior to the fuel tank to mean that dropping in from above is difficult due to space constraints.

 

-John

[Pokey]

That honeycomb was a royal pita to move in and out with everything in.

 

With that said, question. What is the material that you used between the tank and the frame. Soft double sided 3M molding type material?

 

Mine disintegrated while I was troubleshooting a gas leak and was looking to replace it. Wasn't sure what it was. With you experience can I lift the tank from below and slide new material under or is this a bigger tank out job?

 

Screwed down, no adhesive. I could not figure out a way to get the honeycomb out from the top, so am assuming it was installed from below first and then the tank.

[Pokey]

John - The Caterham floor is in two sections. There's the honeycomb section in the rear and a smaller plywood section in front with I believe an aluminum channel in between. The honeycomb is still a little difficult to remove without damaging the paint/powder coat on the chassis.

 

I tried every angle I could think of and every time it wedged against the painted skin that wraps around the frame along the opening of the boot. Maybe desperation would have given me inspiration, but all I needed was enough room to work with the dremel so I didn't push my luck.

[Pokey]

Today was rear suspension day. No drama, but if there was a video of me with that A frame and you sped it up just a little I think it would pass as an episode of Benny Hill. I'd shim with washers to get the axle centered, measure, nod in satisfaction, torque, measure, mumble to myself, disassemble and repeat. Ironically, when all was said and done I wound up with an equal number of washers on both sides.

 

 

 

[Lucky-7]

Hi Greg, nice progress, I see you put in the A Frame. I hope you didn't make the same mistake I did and put it in upside down. LOL. I only noticed the difference in the guide after I put it in. Oh well, it wasn't the only time I had to pull something off and put it on again.

 

Keep up the good work!