Chapter 7 with a Caterham SVT

[redursidae]

22 hours ago, pethier said:

You need to tighten your Bimini. 

Ha. I've tried, but it only has two velcro straps to tighten it, and they're maxed. I need to have someone sew some anchors I could attach to the rollbar until I get hands on a Soft Bits for Sevens top.

 

 

Thanks for the info on those gauges. I like them a lot and I bet the quality is top notch too. I'll give it some thought, but the LED illumination may be the deal breaker for me at this time, because although the brightness could be tamed it would still be brighter and different color than the stock gauges (the pro version does have switchable LEDs which is nice). I guess if I were replacing them all at once that would be fine, but I'm not in a place to do that at this time. My temperature gauge does read low, so maybe some future man math may happen . 

[pethier]

On 6/22/2026 at 11:18 AM, Austin David said:

Note also that the bell housing is not much higher than the pan;

Not the case with my first Caterham.  My 1979 car had a crossflow 1600.  The dry sump looked like an inverted straight-ridge roofline.  It stayed WAY above the bottom of the bellhousing.

[Slonie]

14 hours ago, redursidae said:

. I'll give it some thought, but the LED illumination may be the deal breaker for me at this time, because although the brightness could be tamed it would still be brighter and different color than the stock gauges (the pro version does have switchable LEDs which is nice). 

I hear you. And this is how I end up with $1500 worth of Stack gauges eventually 😆 (I’m pretty sure their digital dash is actually cheaper than buying all those gauges separately)

 

Actually, I’d probably buy their fuel gauge tomorrow if it would actually give an accurate reading for these cars (iirc it’s programmable in some way so it actually might be as good as it gets for Caterham’s weird fuel level sender but I haven’t researched it deeply)

[redursidae]

Got around to fixing the torn CV boot. I wasn’t sure how complex it may be, and was glad it was easier than expected. I failed to take pictures of the process, but generally was:

 

1. Remove caliper
2. Remove axle nut
3. Remove brake disk
4. Remove DeDion ear
5. Slide ear and bearings off the axle
6. Slide axle off differential
7. Remove clamps on outer boot and slide the boot back
8. Remove the cup off the CV axle to expose the tripod
9. Remove retaining clip
10. Use 3 jaw puller to remove tripod from the shaft
11. Replace the boot and use new clamps
12. Dressed and greased the splines of the shaft and tripod
13. Reinstalled the tripod on the shaft by lightly tapping with a hammer and an impact socket that fit over the snout/shaft/splines
14. Install new retaining clip
15. Generous application of grease on the needle bearings and cup
16. Reinsert the cup and install the boot over it
17. Crimp the new clamps
18. Chase the threads on the DeDion tube, DeDion ear, caliper, and bolts
19. Clean old sealant on DeDion tube
20. Apply new sealant around tube
21. Install axle
22. Install DeDion ear and bearings (re-greased the bearings too)
23. Install brake disk
24. Install caliper
25. Install axle nut

Axle nut torqued to 200 ft-lbs, and everything else to 35 ft-lbs

 

Bonus step:

Wonder why this nut and washer are missing a piece.

 

 

 

 

After making sure that there isn’t anything actively contacting the nut and washer or the new boot, I put the car on the ground and went for a cruise. All went well with no new noises, only the usual ones.

 

Next up will be the engine mounts, the oil pressure gauge (that I still haven’t ordered), and having a side exit exhaust made so I can fit 13s. But I really need to work on the Miata's motor first, and itching badly to drive the Cat in the mountains, so maybe no further work this weekend.

 

 

 

 

[JohnCh]

It's hard to tell from that photo, but I wonder if it could have been done to increase clearance to an older wheel rim? A wide 13" wheel can get a little tight in that area. 

[Austin David]

1 hour ago, redursidae said:

After making sure that there isn’t anything actively contacting the nut and washer or the new boot, I put the car on the ground and went for a cruise. All went well with no new noises, only the usual ones.

 

I usually ride around with very effective earplugs, which means the first ride w/o earplugs is a bit of "is that normal".  I highly recommend taking a pre-ride before big changes to be sure you know what "normal" sounds like

[redursidae]

22 hours ago, JohnCh said:

It's hard to tell from that photo, but I wonder if it could have been done to increase clearance to an older wheel rim? A wide 13" wheel can get a little tight in that area. 

 

That's the closest guess so far. The driver side doesn't have this piece missing from the hardware. I'll refit the borrowed 13s sometime to check, but it sure was tight around there with those. As far as I can tell this car was built with these 15" wheels and the PO didn't mention having 13s fitted before.

 

22 hours ago, Austin David said:

 

I usually ride around with very effective earplugs, which means the first ride w/o earplugs is a bit of "is that normal".  I highly recommend taking a pre-ride before big changes to be sure you know what "normal" sounds like

 

Haha yep too accurate. I haven't really driven it in a couple of weeks and the engine noise alone threw me off a bit at first.

[redursidae]

Recently I’ve been occupied breaking-in the motor in my Miata and the Caterham has sat a bit.

 

I took this picture outside of one of our favorite coffee shops in Santa Fe, on our way to cars and coffee last month. It was a nice day so we did no doors and no roof (my friend drove his 485S).

 

 

Then last weekend I started the install of the Mocal oil pressure gauge. I had read that the SVT block had 1/8 BSP ports so I ordered a 1/8 BSP male/male adapter to go with the braided line, but unfortunately that was not correct. My block uses 1/4 NPT, and was able to source this quickly from Pegasus.

 

 

 

and it works! I only ran it for a few seconds and saw no leaks. Itching to drive it again.

Edited October 1 by redursidae

[redursidae]

Went for a long cruise today and had a bit of fun with the Cat. Oil pressure indicated by the new gauge is perfect, and after the drive it was holding 25-30psi. No leaks either 🤞
 

[redursidae]

 

Earlier in October friends and I traveled to Grand Junction for some mountain biking and to attend a Red Rock Racers event.

 

We started the trip with a cruise through the Colorado National Monument. A 45 minute drive in the sunset on a cool day that was quite nice. Near the end, a family of big horn sheep was crossing the road and gave us a stare-down. Didn’t get a chance to take a photo, but that was my first time seeing them up close. Oil pressure was good throughout and showed 25 psi at idle when we returned.

 

 

The weather apps showed it would be a rainy track day, so we put the Cruela spec on and prepared for sketchy conditions. The clutch was feeling “funny”, grabbing very low, and I was founding it difficult to go into gear and was grinding easily. Noticed that it pumped up like being low on fluid, then found the reservoir was empty. Refilling it resolved the issues and held through the day. Gotta find the leak!

 

 

 

We go to Grand Junction for Flyin’ Miata Summer Camp, although I missed 2026 because of my broken motor. Grand Junction Motor Speedway is a gem. It is a GoKart track, perfect for small cars like Miatas and Caterhams, and sits between an autocross and a big track. It has elevation changes, slaloms, hairpins, and small straights, with one that the locals call the banana straight that can be eventful, if say, you have a DeDion axle.

 

 

In the second dry session I had a moment where the dip in the middle of the banana straight caused the car to hop and oversteer while upshifting to third gear. It was a good wakeup call. We had two wet and two dry sessions, 4 hot laps each session, but both of us skipped the 4th session due to standing water and heavy rain.

 

 

 

This was my first time driving a track in wet conditions, and the car was very tricky to keep off the mud. Understeer at corner entry, and snap oversteer at exit…lots of fun once I got the hang of it, but I did loop it around once by locking the rear wheels. Seems to me I was applying too much brake while downshifting and while the rear tires were cold. I can definitely tell a lot of my downshifts were not as smooth as they should be.

 

In the dry it behaved much better and I was able to set a respectable lap time, 1 second faster than in the Miata. That said, the tires are holding the car back, so I’m curious to see how it’ll do with Novas, the new Toyos, or maybe some Nankangs. My friend set a great lap time, 1 full second faster than me, and 2 seconds faster than in his Miata. The oil pressure stayed ok, with some flickers that are not too unusual from what I’ve seen in other VVT engines, and idle on hot oil was right at 20psi with 5w-30. I’m happy with that and may leave the oil weight alone after all since I don’t intend on tracking the car often.

 

I stitched together some videos of the dry session, and the fun laps in the wet with some of my friends’ videos on top. I will warn you that I tend to talk a lot when adrenaline kicks in. The dry video is too overexposed so I’m attaching the one from the Miata as a reference too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very happy with the weekend and how the car did. I learned a lot and had a great time with friends. Post-track once-over shows the new axle boot is ripped again. Will have to get down there and see if it’s making contact with something and do the repair once more.

 

Yesterday I received a half-hood, aero screen and mirrors from CarYenta and I’m very excited to try them. The Half-hood fits very well and the mirrors are great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Friday at 04:26 PM by redursidae

[Silber]

Looks like a lot of fun! Did you and your friend road-trip in the Cats, or did you trailer them? One day I'd like to do a trip out to Colorado in my Birkin, and after watching your video Grand Junction Motor Speedway looks like a worthy stop.

[redursidae]

We trailered the cars up there this time. GJMS is very worthy. You won’t be disappointed. When you do, Red Rock Racers are very welcoming and have monthly events during the season.

[redursidae]

Found the cause of the ripped boot. It is the sway bar end-link I pictured while doing the repair, the one missing a piece. I don’t know how the physics of this works, but as the suspension compresses on the left side of the car, the rear right end-link moves left and up. With enough compression it makes contact with the axle. I’ll take pictures later of the damage. For now I installed a new set of end-links that’s the current style from Caterham, which makes more space for 13” wheels. I had to enlarge the mounting hole at the adapter to fit them.

 

Edited yesterday at 02:54 PM by redursidae

[Austin David]

I was told the rear ARB comes off with throttle steer.  Maybe there's an "add lightness" solution here?