Caterham 170 experience

  TL;DR get the original LED headlights for a quarter of the price   Caterham don't build the LED kit by themselves. Looking at videos that feature the OEM units, part number NS-2270 is visible on the optics; NS-2273 for UK. They are designed and built by NS-Sirius , in Taiwan. Sidelights are replaced by the center led strips which also act as a DRL. The dipped beams illuminate the top part of the optics, while the full beams illuminate the lower part.   As they are used on Vespa/Piaggio scooters, they are available at sip-scootershop.com   A pair  'only' cost me 435€ all incl. Getting the full units from Caterham would cost ~1600€.   With the dedication of never doing anything irreversible, I didn't want to cut the side lights connectors. I've used cheap W5 adapters instead.   The NS-2270 units weigh 582 grams each, compared to the 410 grams of the stock headlights with the Philips Ultinon kits. Increasing the weight by 344 grams. ...

Once again a quick job just after work. The problem is that the air intake ducts go straight on top of the turbo and catalytic converter under the hood. This results in an unstable idling at the red light when the weather is hot (>=30°C ambient temperature). While the Caterham 160/165 is prone to stall in those conditions , the 170 is ok-ish with an engine that oscillates between 600 and 1000 RPM unhappily. All I can say is that adding 32 grams of that adhedive glass fiber coated with a golden foil really improves the idle in those conditions. It's now rock-steady at 1000 RPM. I paid around 15€ for a roll of 5cm x 10 meters. Gold is really good at reflecting infrared radiation, that's why it's used in survival blankets.