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 Wednesday at 12:54 AM 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!!