Oh no !!!

Destroyed the thread of the oil tank... tried to fit the hose nut with brute force, instead of trying to think why it was so hard I forced it...

Not good - needs new parts...

So hard !

It has been over a month and a half without update... sorry for the lack of news...

It turns out that without sufficient time, this little hobby of mine makes it difficult to even think about updating a blog.

I have made major progress since the last update, the most important highlight being - THE ENGINE IS IN THE CAR !

I need to thank my friend Seb who flew all the way from Paris for the privilege of destroying his back and his fingers whilst helping out...

Not to mention the "oh dear" moment when we realised to lift the engine high enough, we would have to remove the garage door... Clever as we were, we managed eventually to shoehorn the engine without even destroying the garage... using sheer brilliance... or maybe more accurately, yoga-inspired position in the crammed garage...

I also completed the rear hubs - quite fiddly... and still need the hand brake cable fitting but this will need doing much later as dependent on fitting the central console.

Progress report

One month has passed and I realise that I have not spent nearly as much time as I would have expected building the car.

First, lots of work, no time during the week... Second, quite a few events (Estelle's 40th birthday party... !) and visits preventing progress...

Yet I managed to complete the front suspension rapidly (and painfully - the manual is simply not good enough, too few and too small pictures, no detailed explanations...)

The next week-end my friend Seb is visiting. After an insane effort we understand how to properly put the headlamp and all connectors... Thanks to Daniel French's amazing blog (http://www.caterhamr500.co.uk/). We installed the anti-roll bar and fixed the front brake. Few other bits done - very productive day !

I started to install the handbrake ahead of installing the diff (the handbrake cable must be installed first) - the clevis is a major pain to put in place

This Saturday I finally found the courage to start mounting the gearbox (with much, much Caterham blogs reading...)

=> 

And I will install the diff with Marion tomorrow - now that I am clear how to mount and adjust, I prepared it, ready to be lifted by the jack:

This car will take me an eternity... between my lack of experience and the incredibly succint manual...

The kit is delivered !

The Caterham arrived Monday... 3pm...

The Caterham guy delivering it was highly competent and so very heplful.

The beast is in the garage, and I am starting to realise the extent of the challenge. First I made an inventory of what is in the boxes and realise the logistics will be essential in particular screws, nuts and bolts... Clever system to have them parked in many specific bags with A4 paper recap at scale.

Decided to follow the manual and go for steering rack and front suspensions. I read all the blogs saying it is the easy bit... Hmmm...

Mounted and unmounted the upper wishbone 3 times (missing washer, wrong screw and then forgot the headlight bracket) - my hands full of copper grease. But happy!

God this is going to be hard work... but so far huge fun.

We've moved home

We moved this week to Maidenhead. I love the house... just need to sort the mountain of boxes...

The garage is ready and the Caterham arrives Monday... !!!

I did it!!!

After much hesitation, forum reviews, discussions with wife, and after having played with all the combinations of Caterham cars one could order... I ordered my own.

I will be the proud owner of a Caterhal Seven 420S on the 17/10... or rather the owner of the kit! I always dreamt of building my own car and this is the one.

Here are the specs:
   -Caterham Seven 420S
   -Wide body S5 chassis - am too tall and too large for S3...
   -S Pack
   -5-Speed gearbox
   -Limited slip differential
   -Dry Sump oil system
   -Sport suspension
   -Green, with yellow nosecone...

and for the curious:
   -2L FORD engine, 210bhp
   -560kg
   -0-60mph: 3.8 seconds

Here is what this beauty will look like after 150+h of work... probably much more considering how inexperienced I am as a mechanic.

But to start with it will be in this form:

Wish me luck guys & girls !!!