OK ... Not so much as a build thread ... more an unboxing!! 620r Arrived today.

[pickles]

Compared to most builds this will hopefully be pretty boring (how can any Caterham be described as boring !! ) in the sense the 620 comes into the US as a rolling chassis.

Here's the unboxing ...

 

[Vovchandr]

That driveway is begging for donuts 

 

Congrats. 

[pickles]

My wife would kill me!!! But saying that as soon as she sees the cost ... I am toast!

[IamScotticus]

Just tell her it's cheaper than therapy 

[pickles]

Opps Duplicate post

 

 

Edited April 30 by pickles
duplicate

[pickles]

7 minutes ago, pickles said:

So I promised a friend I would not put the engine into the car until he came back to help … he being in FL and me in CT !! … he’s back next week!

 

So thought … draw up a list of things I could achieve now on this pretty much fully assembled car.

 

1. Bleed the brakes
2. Adjust the hand brake
3. Rubber coat the underside of the wheel arches (To stop spider cracking of the upper surface)
4. Add some PPF to the various areas susceptible to road debris rage.
5. Assemble all required fluids. (Oils etc. I know … But mostly beer!)
6. Build/Sew a hood bag
7. And everything else!

 

Bleeding the brakes went pretty well, used a ‘Motive Power Bleeder’ so did this without the assistance of my wife being the pedal pumper! … I jest of course! my wife did help out by bringing me a couple of beers.

 

Adjust the handbrake … Oh my god!! … what a sh*t show!

For the uninitiated, there is a plastic adjustment ring and locking nut that you hand crank in and out to tighten or loosen the hand brake, it is situated on a clamp aside the rear diff. Laying under the car (With no access to your beer!)  you tighten several turns and then extricate yourself … test… return to previous position … rinse and repeat. Unfortunately, on mine, there was small hose clamp tightened on the cable behind the plastic locking nut. It was positioned in such a way that is preventing moving the adjuster as it was up against the Diff and Chassis tubing. Also it was rotated so that I could not get a screwdriver or wrench on the loosening bolt.

After struggling for a few hours, a lot of cursing and a few beers, I had no alternative to now start dismantling the assembled chassis; I exaggerate, but I did have to remove the passenger seat and the gear tunnel top to get access to the other side of the brake cable.

 

 

 

7 minutes ago, pickles said:

So I promised a friend I would not put the engine into the car until he came back to help … he being in FL and me in CT !! … he’s back next week!

 

So thought … draw up a list of things I could achieve now on this pretty much fully assembled car.

 

1. Bleed the brakes
2. Adjust the hand brake
3. Rubber coat the underside of the wheel arches (To stop spider cracking of the upper surface)
4. Add some PPF to the various areas susceptible to road debris rage.
5. Assemble all required fluids. (Oils etc. I know … But mostly beer!)
6. Build/Sew a hood bag
7. And everything else!

 

Bleeding the brakes went pretty well, used a ‘Motive Power Bleeder’ so did this without the assistance of my wife being the pedal pumper! … I jest of course! my wife did help out by bringing me a couple of beers.

 

Adjust the handbrake … Oh my god!! … what a sh*t show!

For the uninitiated, there is a plastic adjustment ring and locking nut that you hand crank in and out to tighten or loosen the hand brake, it is situated on a clamp aside the rear diff. Laying under the car (With no access to your beer!)  you tighten several turns and then extricate yourself … test… return to previous position … rinse and repeat. Unfortunately, on mine, there was small hose clamp tightened on the cable behind the plastic locking nut. It was positioned in such a way that is preventing moving the adjuster as it was up against the Diff and Chassis tubing. Also it was rotated so that I could not get a screwdriver or wrench on the loosening bolt.

After struggling for a few hours, a lot of cursing and a few beers, I had no alternative to now start dismantling the assembled chassis; I exaggerate, but I did have to remove the passenger seat and the gear tunnel top to get access to the other side of the brake cable.

 

 

The Adjuster and locking ring and the offending hose clamp once I was able to finally loosen it ... suffice to say will ditch the clamp and replace with a large cable tie which can then be cut off easily for future adjustments.

[slowdude]

Pickles, we have a new england group chat. Pm me if you need an extra set of hands getting the motor in.

[pickles]

On 5/10/2025 at 5:22 PM, slowdude said:

Pickles, we have a new england group chat. Pm me if you need an extra set of hands getting the motor in.

Hey

 

Many thanks for the offer, may take you up on that! Things are a bit in limbo as next week have to drive to MA ... pickup a 28' truck and drive it to Utah ... do a 4-day catering event and then back again ... so think that will blow 2 weeks :-) 

 

Cheers

Pickles

Edited May 14 by pickles

[pickles]

Sprayed the underside of the mudguards with 3M Rubberized undercoating to prevent spider cracking from stone damage. Just removed the rear and masked and then cursed the front ones for being such a pain to remove, then I masked the whole car. My previous build I used 'Big Heads' on the front cycle wings which meant they were easy to remove. I know someone will ask ... Why are you using 'Cooking Foil' as paint masking ... trust me ... try it ... makes things soooooooo much easier!!

 

[CarYenta]

Is the rear undercoating needed for non-carbon fiber arches?

[pickles]

Hi CarYenta

 

Probably more so in the sense that a fiberglass wing is not as strong as CF. I chose rubber spray coating but others have used stick on foam lining which works really well. Sort of a dense  black foam about ¼’ thick.

 

Pickles

[theDreamer]

17 hours ago, CarYenta said:

Is the rear undercoating needed for non-carbon fiber arches?

Highly recommended. My car has no visible stars on the rears but multiples on each front fender. It was part of the 30+ years of patina so I was not worried about it. Now I’m not sure if I’ll get both touched up or leave ‘em.

[Vovchandr]

20 hours ago, pickles said:

but others have used stick on foam lining which works really well. Sort of a dense  black foam about ¼’ thick.

 

This has been my method. Works pretty well, but I've also mostly avoided being in the water with the car 

[pickles]

I deserve this!

 

[pickles]

Had to drive to Utah and back 5000 miles ... cook a 4 day event ... even dragged the wife, so a number of weeks have slipped by without me working on the car.

 

Until today ... had a couple of friends round, promised them beer and pizza ... for the engine/gearbox install.

 

What a PITA! I have done a 360 build before, so thought I knew what we were in for, but this was a different dimension.

The main issue ... this was already a rolling chassis ... sounds like it should be easy but Nah!

 

I thought I was prepared 

Removed intake / Super charger / alternator / starter / most of the 4 radiators (Engine, Oil, Super Charger, Inter-cooler)

 

I knew the tilt/lower/move forward the engine/gearbox assembly ballet. But the curve ball here was the prop shaft (loose in the tunnel) and the rear diff already on the vehicle added a fourth and maybe fifth dimension. Spent 2 hours trying to align the gearbox spline and prop shaft, until finally it just went into place. No idea what the magic sauce was but it worked! 

 

Then the next hurdle, which I have currently not solved. I have the SADEV gearbox, there are a couple of electrical connections on top of the gearbox housing. The car loom has these hanging down in the tunnel ... so short you can't connect during the install, and so short that I need child hands to connect afterwards. But hey we spent another 2 hours trying and gave up to hit the booze.

 

But that being said the Engine/Gearbox are in!!

 

 

[CarYenta]

2 hours ago, pickles said:

Had to drive to Utah and back 5000 miles ... cook a 4 day event ... even dragged the wife, so a number of weeks have slipped by without me working on the car.

 

Until today ... had a couple of friends round, promised them beer and pizza ... for the engine/gearbox install.

 

What a PITA! I have done a 360 build before, so thought I knew what we were in for, but this was a different dimension.

The main issue ... this was already a rolling chassis ... sounds like it should be easy but Nah!

 

I thought I was prepared 

Removed intake / Super charger / alternator / starter / most of the 4 radiators (Engine, Oil, Super Charger, Inter-cooler)

 

I knew the tilt/lower/move forward the engine/gearbox assembly ballet. But the curve ball here was the prop shaft (loose in the tunnel) and the rear diff already on the vehicle added a fourth and maybe fifth dimension. Spent 2 hours trying to align the gearbox spline and prop shaft, until finally it just went into place. No idea what the magic sauce was but it worked! 

 

Then the next hurdle, which I have currently not solved. I have the SADEV gearbox, there are a couple of electrical connections on top of the gearbox housing. The car loom has these hanging down in the tunnel ... so short you can't connect during the install, and so short that I need child hands to connect afterwards. But hey we spent another 2 hours trying and gave up to hit the booze.

 

But that being said the Engine/Gearbox are in!!

 

 

Nice! Do you have the center console trim off to expose the shifter mechanicals? It was easy for me to connect my two transmission connectors on my 5 speed from the top.

[pickles]

12 hours ago, CarYenta said:

Nice! Do you have the center console trim off to expose the shifter mechanicals? It was easy for me to connect my two transmission connectors on my 5 speed from the top.

Unfortunately, the couple of electrical connections I am fighting on the SADEV box are not accessible via the tunnel from within the vehicle, they are closer to the engine within the tunnel. 

[CarYenta]

4 minutes ago, pickles said:

Unfortunately, the couple of electrical connections I am fighting on the SADEV box are not accessible via the tunnel from within the vehicle, they are closer to the engine within the tunnel. 

Looked at an image of a Sadev, can you touch the plugs from the top of the engine bay or any way at all? Could maybe fishing-wire the wired connectors with a long wire cable grabber/claw picker or something to bring them over to the plugs.

 

 

[pickles]

1 hour ago, CarYenta said:

Looked at an image of a Sadev, can you touch the plugs from the top of the engine bay or any way at all? Could maybe fishing-wire the wired connectors with a long wire cable grabber/claw picker or something to bring them over to the plugs.

 

 

I have the first (or closest to my touch attached), but he next one is further into the tunnel ...I can touch both female & male, but cannot encourage them to mate (Now there's a phrase you won't often hear on a car discussion website  )

I think I may end up purchasing one of those bore scope cameras so I can truly look at the orientation rather than guess with two fingertips.

[panamericano]

Story and suggestion. My son and I changed out the inverter on his Prius.  Tuned out foolproof because of, say 40, electrical connections and mechanical fasteners, none were alike.  Not the job for just a couple 10mm wrenches.  All quite brilliant stuff until the last electrical connector, on back, underneath.  No way to see it or tell how the connector might release.   Many tries.  I went to a little auto-electrical shop (real deal, not alarms r us).  Explained to the maestro and offered  for him to come to the house.  He showed up, undid the connector in one minute and offered to stay till we did initial fit on new inverter so then he connected the blind one for us.  Experience and tricks of the trade.  Well worth the $50 I gave him for 15 minutes.  Maybe you can find a specialist.