Sunday 9 October 2011

Caterham Academy 2012 - Build (Day 9)

Day 9:
I wasn't looking forward to today’s jobs, but in the end I had quite a good day.

Firstly I fitted the expansion bottle and associated hoses, before fitting the wires to the alternator. Both jobs had been left whilst I waited for Caterham to send missing parts through and I just wanted to get them out of the way.

I then got stuck into the job I was looking forward to least, removing the diff to take the handbrake out and swap the cables around. In the end the diff came down without too many issues. I then spent a while faffing around with the cables to make sure they were orientated the right way and weren't rubbing together, as Caterham told me that if they were it was an IVA failure. Apparently the handbrake bracket is slightly canted to one side to hold the cables apart, but only if you cross them over in the right way. Having got that sorted I noticed that the rubber gaiter at one end of the cable was split, which gave me a dilemma. Do I just stick it in and hope it doesn't cause an issue come IVA, or do I err on the side of caution and get Caterham to send me a new one? Being Sunday I couldn't call them, but not wanting to take the diff out again I decided discretion was the better part of valour and I moved on to another job and will give Caterham a call tomorrow to check the best course of action.

I then got de-dion tube out and set about getting the rear brake lines attached, ready for the tube to go in when the diff is finally sorted. With that done I moved onto the roll cage, which is now loosely on the car, whilst I sort out the trim between the chassis rails and the side skins. I think seeing the cage go on gave me a real lift as it is another very noticeable step forward for relatively little effort, whereas the diff was a whole days work and you couldn't really see the difference!

Tomorrows jobs will depend on what Caterham say about the handbrake cable. If it isn't an issue then I will get that in and the diff finally fitted, before moving onto the de-dion tube etc. If I have to wait for a new cable then I will get the cage fully fitted then onto the seats and other interior bits and bats.....basically whatever I can do without the diff being in first.





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