Caterham 170 experience

TL;DR a half hood can be useful, see below how to fit it   After 8 months and about 22 000 km with the Caterham, it is clear that it's best enjoyed topless. And I mean the car. When bad weather is a concern, putting the full roof on is a 5 minutes venture when done carefully. The car is actually covered in seconds when done by two people. After that, most of the time is dedicated to fiddling with the velcro and tensioning the hood sticks with the belts.  Since we’re both on the slim side and, let’s be honest, not exactly tall (I’m around the same height as Colin Chapman), getting in and out of the car is no trouble at all. Even with the full roof installed, we've long mastered the very procedural little dance it requires. Plus, the car has lowered floors and a removable steering wheel, making entry and exit a breeze. All that to say that I didn't see a reason to get a half hood. That is excepting on very particular conditions : really hot and overly sunny days. I came...

TL;DR hey,look, my keyfob ! Today, I have flagged each blog post with relevant tags/categories/labels. blog   DIY   equipment   event   improvement   merch   must-have   tools   trip   troubleshooting Here is how I understand and use them : blog : story-telling about my experience or the subject at hand DIY : something had to be built from raw materials, carbon fiber or metal had to be cut, wire harnesses had to be soldered, fabric sewn. I also include some 3D-printed items. equipment : accessories that go in or around the Caterham to make life easier (not part of it) event : the events we did attend to improvement : new parts and accessories that are added to the car (part of it) merch : fan-boy items related to the Seven, stickers and decals included must-have : stuff any owner should get or do as soon as possible tools : specific or suitable tools, with their maintenance trip : (faraway-enough) places we've been to with the C...

TL;DR protect the car body with weak fasteners   This modification is quite common on race Caterham cars, as their rear wheel arches are considered as mere consumables.  Replacing the galvanized steel bolts with nylon ones that will break more readily will protect the rivnuts and the skin of the car in case of contact or crash. Only the plastic bolts should snap. I've read somewhere that about a third of the fasteners are discarded, and that pilots often score the threads halfway through. The steel bolts are standard M5x20mm with 8mm hex heads. Washers with a diameter of 3/4" (19 mm or so) are used to support the fiber arches. I thought it was to better spread the load but after inspection I come to think it's really just a matter of making with very approximate tolerances and fit. Caterham themselves do sell a kit of nylon M5x25mm bolts (reference #BM5X25*20 "BOLT M5 REAR WING FIXING RACE APPLICATION" ). It happened that I had that exact dimension ...

TL;DR replacing the wooden part of the boot floor with carbon fiber A little-known fact about the Caterham is that it contains wood. I would bet that only people who have built their car themselves know about it. It's discreetly hidden under the carpet in the boot, visible only from beneath the car. The panel is a 6mm, 5-ply untreated plywood board measuring 19.5 x 76.5 cm and weighing 634 grams.    Just FYI, the part on top of the fuel tank is a 12mm honeycomb aluminium panel. The plastic plug is an access hatch to fill the diff with oil. This is specific to the 160-165-170-SS600 Suzuki-based models. The hole has a diameter of 64mm. Despite 23,000 km of use—21,000 of those with me, through all kinds of weather over the past seven months—it's still in excellent condition. The only problem is that the steel screws have become rusty, which is a real shame.  Let's fix that with stainless steel screws. I've bought a pack of 4.2mm x 13mm ones, with some washers to match. A ...

    TL;DR this one is just for the looks A keen eye will have spotted the the 170R press cars have fancy painted pedal box covers that match the car body color. Left : HLZ 727 with a golden pedal box,                Right : GNZ 737 and its red pedal box cover . Below : VIL 737, the light blue 170S, has no custom paint job on the pedal box. As it felt impractical to match the firecracker yellow of my car, carbon fiber looked like a good option. It will complement the carbon fiber stone guards and sill protectors nicely. WARNING : carbon fiber can be a nasty stuff, it's not biodegradable and should'nt be inhaled or enter your body in any way or form. Wear gloves to work with it and a respirator if you are using power tools.   I got a 200x250mm sheet of twill carbon fiber from Amazon, I chose a thickness of  0.5mm as we are talking about a simple lid with no structural role and no stress t...

  TL;DR it's easy to have the brake lights flash for extra safety   GSTOP® Emergency Brake Light Display , quite a mounthful for a miniature flasher module that weighs only 9 grams. It works a treat and adds some sense of safety when braking hard, the extra visibility it provides is a welcome addition. How does it work ?  When brakes are applied, it quickly wakes up and starts measuring the G-load with its built-in accelerometer. At first your brake lights are lit just as usual. But as soon as 0.6g of deceleration is reached, it flashes with a 2Hz frequency.  If 0.8g is reached, it flashes with a 3Hz frequency.  The blinking is maintained for 2 seconds after the full stop of the vehicle. The power side is "just" the NC (normally closed) side of a relay, meaning that its failure mode is that your brake lights will just work as usual if the unit is defective. I've installed it under the pedal box cover with the provided 3M double-sided tape. On the brake pedal sw...