First step of the day was to drill out the radiator brackets with a 5/16 to fit oil cooler bolts. I positioned the radiator on the bench, hit it with the drill, and viola! new holes in place. Next up was to take it outside and give it a makeover. I wasn’t thrilled with the standard aluminum color in combination with the black pack on the car so got a rattle can of high temp engine spray paint in flat black. First 2 coats went on ok, and I’m like “this painting thing is EASY”, and the third coat turned into a runny mess. I’ll need to pick up some 220 or 400 grit sandpaper and even it out later on (crap).
Once I had a couple coats down – that stuff dries quick in the sun – I moved on to the boot board. I took it out of the car, 5 self tapping screws, and gave it a good coat with some clear polyurethane I picked up at Home Depot. It says 3 hours between coats and planned on 2 coats each side.
While the radiator was drying, I looked at fitting the knee panels. As others have stated, the holes weren’t even close. Why do they drill these out if they don’t line up? something to deal with later when I have more hands to help hold stuff.
After the expected knee panel discovery I moved onto the carpet in the boot. I’d stopped earlier part way through so went ahead and put in the corners and back boot carpet. I did not glue this in with carpet adhesive like I did elsewhere; everything seemed to fit (very) tight and actually had to trim the corners a tiny bit to fit around the rear stanchions.
After the carpet was done I moved onto the engine wiring. After trying it multiple ways – multiple times – I arrived at the conviction I’m missing something. Only a few plugs line up or attach to anything. Another email to Caterham I guess.
With the wiring stalled, I moved onto attaching the oil pressure sender (I think that’s it) to the oil pan. Easy and straightforward. I torqued it down to tight and then a little more; still seems like it should go in further but it’s in there damn tight now.
After that, I moved onto the breather line and coolant return. After reading some build blogs I decided to run down the right side of the engine with the P clips provided. I ended up needing a couple extras so went to Home Depot for a couple more; they were like $2.
With that done I called it a day. Not as much as I was hoping to get done, but parts shortages have a habit of pacing things slowly.
Daniel