Day 2: waxoyl, front suspension start, and heater

A bit of a frustrating start, as I don't have the IVA parts that are needed to:
- put around the indicators
- cover the ends of the steering racks
So I couldn't complete the front suspension as planned. But some progress made.

I Waxoyled the chassis, focusing on the areas where the frame meets the aluminium panels. The Waxoyl plastic hand pump turned out to be a waste of time, not maintaining enough pressure for more than a few seconds of fairly violent and messy squirting, but that may have been user error...

In the end, I warmed the cannister up in a bucket of hot tap water, stirring regularly and eventually achieving the consistency and appearance of melted garlic butter. Then, it's very easy to paint the frame/skin joins with a 1" paintbrush. The white spirit solvent runs into the gaps, and then evaporates, leaving buttery wax behind. Before the engine goes in, I will go round again, from underneath, and make sure nothing was missed. And also the gaps between the skins around the cockpit, which I will resurrect the hand pump squirter for one last go!

The steering rack is easy to sort out.

Cross-member for mounting the steering rack

And the lower wishbones went in. A couple of tips:

1. make sure the chamfered washers are 'back-to back', i.e. the chamfered edges are on the outside of each pair

2. it is a real squeeze to get the washers in, but they will go in. Essentially, you're fighting against the bush, which is pushing outwards. I managed it by pushing the bolt through the first (rear washer), and then gently tapping the front washer into the gap using a screwdriver blade and rubber mallet (sounds like high-risk tactics, but I mean really small taps). The Coppa Ease that covers everything will help them slide in place

3. once you think the washers are seated properly, then you can gently drive the bolt through them, and beyond through the chassis

4. by contrast, the front arm is much easier to get the washers in. If possible, clear the threads out in the chassis before you start - mine had a bit of paint/swarf which needed clearing.

RH lower wishbone, rear bolt, not tightened up

RH lower wishbone, front bolt

And another coat of varnish on the boot plywood floor, both sides.

Then, I fitted the heater, which is easy. I did run a thin line of clear sealant around the plastic lip at the top of the heater, and about half way down the sides - it looks as if rain could possibly get in along the top, and then run down into the heater casing. This squeezed nicely into place when the bolts were done up.

LHS, heater & fittings

Inside, LHS, heater vents. The two electrical plugs fit together easily

On the inside, the heater vents can be spun around the face the right way (I went for a jaunty angle - see above).

Hopefully, Derek will get me the missing IVA bits tomorrow and I can finish each front corner suspension.l

Day 1: arrival and checking over

The car arrived as planned, and Ian from Caterham was very helpful with tips. He also told me that there were no missing parts, except for the hub centre caps! This was welcome news, given the tales of shortages from other 160 builders recently.

The traditional 'car-on-the-lorry' shot

Once installed in the garage, there was no room to move for cardboard boxes, so we emptied almost all of them, and stored the cardboard for use as protection for the paintwork.
UPDATE: It's probably worth keeping the contents of each box together, even if you empty them. Sometimes the picking/packing process is a bit random, and it's helpful to know whether things were boxed together at the factory.

Once everything was checked off, there were some things I couldn't' find. But I'm going to check again, before I call Derek - my new best friend, apparently.

UPDATE: please store your radiator and intercooler in a safe place immediately. The core is incredibly delicate, and liable to little bends and blemishes, which look naff and take ages to unpick.

Looking in the boot space, there is a small plank of plywood which is attached using 3 small self-tappers. The bottom of this is staring straight at the road surface, and the top will get knocked about with luggage etc, so I've decided to protect it with a few coats of stain/varnish.

Raw plywood boot floor

First coat of mahogany stain protector

I've also taped up the outside surfaces of the car with cheap 2mm foam flooring underlay (B&Q), which is going to stop little scratches on my lovely green paint.

Advice to new builders: look through every single box when the kit arrives. There are lots of things in the 'wrong' box, there's a box of odds and ends, and a few unlabelled bags with random small parts in. I'm hoping this all starts to make sense when I start the build tomorrow...

1 week to go - new pic

It exists!

My car is now a reality. Caterham's CEO, Graham MacDonald tweeted me a pic: