Caterham 170 experience

        TL;DR works fine on the inside of the sidescreens   Some random thought about keeping the plastic windows clear from mist led me to remember that Rain-X is a thing. Do not apply the 'original' glass formula on plastic.  They offer a version dedicated to helmet visors and bike windscreens. With the windows clean and dry, it was sprayed and wiped with a soft cloth, then left to dry. After 15 minutes or so, it was buffed with a second clean and dry cloth.  I did apply it on both sides of the sidescreens, the windows on the sides of the full hood, and the rear window. The internal surfaces were my main concern.  It really works well, I think I haven't had to use the chamois leather inside even once since it was applied, 5 months ago now. I'll admit most of the driving didn't involve the hood, but the times it did were really really wet and damp.  On the outside, it works well too, keeping the rear window clear from ra...

TL;DR ok but only on glass units Just for the classic motorsport looks. Like the guys and girls that take part in the Caterham Academy and Cateham Roadsport championships. But they do it to prevent spreading shattered glass on the racetrack and to identify different groups of drivers using different tape colors. I won't insult you with a how-to for this one. I kept the black Xs on the headlights for about 2 months, until the upgrade to the NS-2270 LED optics. Removing the tape was easy, but the glue was somewhat cooked and did require some serious acetone persuasion to leave the glass. Keep acetone away from any paint or plastic surface , do it with the beam out of the metal ring. Knowing this, I wouldn't tape plastic optics.    

  TL;DR get rid of the original clips while you can It's just a fact, those 'R' clips look nice but they have their own agenda. All it took to lose the first one was 2 days .  I got the car on a Saturday morning and was back to the garage at noon on Tuesday. Shown down here with a piece of electrical wire as a temporary fix.  By end of May I decided to upgrade the brake pads with EBC RedStuff, and discovered that the left caliper had no clips left at all. A good solution is to use cotter/split pins, but that's a pain to install and remove due to the shape of the caliper. The best solution is to use safety wire . Safety wire is love, safety wire is life.  Check out Rob Oldland 's excellent video on the subject here . Mine were already done before I watched the video, but it's nice to know the solution makes some kind of sense. I've seen somebody that has plastic cable ties to lock the 'R' clips in place, I'm not sure how they can cope with the he...

  TL;DR low dust brake pads Reference EBC DP3197/2C , for Lotus Elise, Exige and 340R. The Caterham 170 shares the brake calipers of the Elise. Those are ceramic brake pads, they limit the fading and let you lock the front wheels anytime, whatever the speed you're driving at. Their biggest selling point is that they are low dust . I bought them to keep my front wheels look fresh and easy to clean.

TL;DR don't go fast in deep puddles like a child Not the best experience this time, but a good story after the fact. I drove too fast in a puddle so deep that it ended in a ice bucket challenge . All the cabin was drenched, with 5cm of water in the tub. Water up the shoes when braking, and up to the belt in acceleration.  The roof was on, and as usual the water rushed in from the sides under the sidescreens. If we need a reason not to call those doors, this is the right page to do so. The cabin fogged up in a few seconds, and I had to siphon the tub with a hose, with the front wheels up the ramps. I let the sidescreen fully open over the hood the whole night, and thankfully the next day was dry and quite sunny. All was cleaned and dry, the seats drained in the house, dried over some mops.  

TL;DR don't get distracted when starting the car I usually start the car before I get in. That time I got a phone call just after turning the key, but before pressing the red button. After a few minutes, knowing that the fuel pump was likely running, I cranked the engine without checking if the gearbox was in neutral It was obviously not in neutral, as I usually park the car in 1st gear in order to prevent the handbrake from sticking to the brake drums when I leave the car in the garage for the week (or more). The engine fired in a fraction of a second, with the ECU diligently keeping a steady 1000 RPM with the front of the car crashing into the random cardboard boxes that are between the nose and the wall, the front right wheel somewhat climbing on some box, the rear wheels skidding on the slippery pavement. It was quite the spectacle. Very luckily, it only costed me the front license plate. Saving me some weight as the 3mm plexiglas did weigh 216g and I've replaced it with ...

    TL;DR honk deeper The original disc horns do sound like a moped. Those horn-loaded ones from PIAA have a better sound, quite deep with that choice of 330Hz+400Hz frequencies. The 330Hz does sound like a truck. Even with the 400Hz added you would'nt expect that low tone to come from my puny Cat'170.   Technology Connections has a great video on that subject. You wouldn't see it coming but they save some serious weight as well. Pair of original horns : 560g,  the pair of the PIAA superior bass horns : 360g. The swap is easy if you remove the nosecone. Power consumption does not require any change in the wiring or additional relay nonsense. I have since added a short extension to relieve the stress from that stretched power cable The horns come with bracket already fitted, and there is a clear warning that you cannot touch the center bolt at all. Linesman pliers were used to bent the end of the brackets, the provided ground wires were connected there. This article...