Broken diff cage, prop shaft and gearbox tail

I spoke with Simon from Caterham Midlands yesterday, and he gave me an update on what they found.

Having received the car back at their dealership, Simon looked under the car and was immediately surprised with the amount of oil on the floors, he then put the car on the ramp to take a closer look.  After a thorough inspection it transpired the rear diff cage (lower mount) had broken - (which I remember reading on Blatchat some time ago) was a potential recall issue, so I'm not sure if I had received one of the remaining ones that hadn't been recalled or had the necessary fix.

Anyway... The broken diff cage has pushed the propshaft into the rear of the gearbox, which has then worn the prop and the rear of the box, meaning both of those parts will need replacing too.

The long and short of it is, the engine and gearbox will come out, the gearbox tail will be replaced, the prop shaft will be replaced and so will the diff cage...  Thankfully Caterham are covering all of this as a warranty repair, so the only bill (should) be for the first annual service.

I'm glad I'm not in a rush to have this fixed as it's a big job... but hope to have the car back around the third or fourth week of July.

Collection for First Annual Service and some other 'bits'

Friday of last week (26th June 2015) the R500 was collected by Keith from Caterham Midlands to go back to the Midlands branch for it's first annual service and to have my gearbox leak investigated (again) and hopefully fixed once and for all.



Keith arriving with the van and trailer

The car got winched back into the trailer as Keith had another car to collect later on in the day.


The R500 being winched into the Caterham car transporter

A nice wide angle shot of the car in the transporter.

A nice wide angle shot of the car in the transporter

Keith went on to collect another R500, this time a new owner Phil Hayward... I'm led to believe he is also having some gearbox troubles with his car, although not quite to the degree

 

Phil Haywards R500 being loaded into the Caterham transporter

This is the oil that's dripped onto my garage floor after returning from Curborough (last Tuesday) where I had to leave early due to the oil leaking! Simon at Caterham midlands said they will investigate the problem, replace the propshaft seal (again) if that is the issue; failing that the box will be removed from the car, stripped and repaired or replaced...

Gearbox oil on my garage floor

There also seems to be another 'leak' that has appeared.  My garage started to smell very bad of petrol a few months ago, and just thinking it was some overfilling or something like that I turned a blind eye to it.  Turns out I should've looked a bit more into the problem, as my petrol tank gasket seems to be weeping fuel down to the eighteen litre point.  This has gradually dripped onto my racedeck flooring and ruined four or  five tiles which will need replacing.

I've bought a new gasket (which is off a Metro incidentally) and was going to fit it before the car was collected, but just didn't have the time, so I've sent the gasket to Caterham midlands in the boot of the car and will see if they can fit it for me.  Failing that I'll replace it when I get the car back in a few weeks.


Racedeck flooring warped from the petrol weeping from my leaky fuel gasket

With the end of the financial year for us at work, it's been very hectic here, so I'll be taking a bit of a break for a few weeks now until the car comes back from it's service and warranty work.

100,000 Page Views

A bit of a geeky post... but another milestone was achieved this weekend... One hundred thousand page reads of my blog since I started posting back in December 2013.

Here's a quick stats overview screen-shot.

Stats overview from my blogger login

As you can see from the stats page the traffic has been on the general incline since I started posting back in December 2013 - which is really great to see.

The main traffic source is Google, and the top five entry posts are listed too.  On the right hand side of the blog there is a blog-roll which shows the currently trending top 10 entry posts too.

Thanks to everyone who has read, helped, followed, commented and enjoyed (or not!) my posts.  The aim is to continue posting with more upgrades (if that's possible) track days and blat videos in the coming months.

Another visit to Curborough Sprint Course

Around a year ago I went to Curborough Sprint Course with the cars running in being completed on the journey up there... It was a good day organised by Dan and Rich from http://www.sprintandtrackday.co.uk/

I was pretty happy with how I got on last year, but over the last couple of months I've noticed a Westfield (dare I say it) is closing in on my laptime, so I thought it was time to go back and set the bar a little higher.

I deliberated for a while about which tyres to take, CR500's or ZZR's... I couldn't make my mind up, and with the ZZR's still fitted from Cadwell, I made a lazy decision and took the ZZR's... That turned out as a bit of a mistake with them taking too long to warm up and not giving me the front end grip I wanted, so I spent a lot of the day fiddling with the rear anti-roll bar, suspension settings and tyre pressures... After a couple of calls to Rob at Rat Race Motorsport, we got to a decent setup with the turn in I was looking for, but (as you'll see below) I didn't really get the exploit the car at the end of the day.

Here's a picture from the day... Not the fastest way around a corner, but probably the most fun way!


Not the fastest way around Curborough, but probably the most fun way!

I set a slightly quicker time than my previous best, a 1:20.1 - which was two tenths faster than my best last year... I think if I went with the CR500's I could've got into the 1:19's or quicker, but the day ended a little prematurely with my gearbox oil leak returning with a vengeance.  I decided not to take any risks (or drop any oil on the circuit) and got the car home in one piece instead.

Here is the video of the two best laps I could put together, if somewhat scrappy...

Here is a video Nigel Pugh took using his Hexacopter... It's nice to see the car from a different angle - well at least I think so!

And the star attraction for the day was this beautiful Porsche 918 Spyder.  Here's a video below of his first laps taking someone for a passenger ride, and using launch control...

The R500 is booked in with CC midlands for collection tomorrow (Friday 26th June) for it's first annual service.  Whilst the car is with CC they'll be investigating the gearbox seal / leak issue and this time I hope they resolve it once and for all.

Rear Anti Roll Bar Drop Link Ball

When I had the car flat floored by Rob at Rat Race Motorsport I was discussing with him the best option for curing understeer on track days.  Some options included, changing the Nitrons by a couple of clicks (front or rear), he also suggested one of the quickest ways to get a bit more turn-in was to add an extra anti roll bar drop link ball.  With this additional drop link ball fitted to the roll bar, you can simply click the drop link forward by one notch and this will help increase turn-in.

So a week or two ago I ordered two anti roll bar drop link balls from Caterham Parts, link here that arrived a couple of days later.

Onto the fitting (which is pretty straight forward)

Here is the drop link ball, one is needed for both sides.  It is supplied with a standard nut, but I changed this to a nyloc nut as you can see in the picture below.

Caterham Rear Anti Roll Bar Droplink Ball with Nyloc Nut

The drop link part is secured onto the drop link ball with this spring locking mechanism, which needs removing before prising the drop link from the ball.

Removing the spring locking mechanism on Caterham anti roll bar drop link

With the locking mechanism removed, the drop link can be prised (by hand) from the drop link ball.  The picture below shows all the parts prior to fitment.

Additional drop link, ball and spring mechanism for Caterham Rear Anti Roll Bar Prior to Fitment

Fitting the drop link ball is very easy, using a number 11 spanner hold the drop link ball in place, and tighten the Nyloc nut using an number 13 spanner to 20nm.  Repeat on both sides!

With the drop link ball fitted all that's required is to remove the spring mechanism, pop the bottom of the drop link off, and move to the forward ball.  Replace the spring mechanism, repeat on both sides and (hopefully) the turn-in should be improved!

Additional drop link ball fitted to Caterham rear anti roll bar

I should be going to Curborough this coming Tuesday (23rd June 2015) with the http://www.sprintandtrackday.co.uk guys, so I'll be looking forward to trying out the new anti roll bar settings!

Fifty-two weeks later

It has certainly come round quick, but it's been a year since my complete and road legal Superlight R500 Duratec was delivered by Dean Francis.


Fifty-two weeks ago, Dean Francis delivered my road legal Caterham R500

I mentioned to my girlfriend that it was "mine and the Caterhams" one year anniversary today, and with a swift reply she said "so when's it our anniversary, Dan?"  A number of errs and ums later, I confessed... I genuinely had no idea!  So on with the blog post!

I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel for content to write about today, as since my track day at Cadwell last week, nothing has happened with the car.  So I thought I'd revisit some of the highlights over the last twelve months.

In ascending date order, here they are:-

• Naturally the entire build was an 'interesting' challenge, more in terms of dealing with Caterham what with their poor parts supply and quality issues more than putting the car together.  Having said that it was extremely satisfying to build, eventually.

The R500 and all (well most of) the parts being delivered ready for assembly

• Experiencing the car from the drivers seat for the first time (video below)
 
• My first track day at Curborough sprint course.

On track at Curborough Sprint Course

• Fitting the aero screen - should've done it MUCH sooner!

The first look of my Caterham R500 with carbon aero screen fitted

• Having an article about my build published in the August 2014 issue of Low Flying magazine. 

• A 636 mile blat from Stevenage to Aberystwyth and back... in a day!

The Caterhams' lined up on the promenade at Aberystwyth

• Chasing down an 997 GT3 on a track day at Bedford Autodrome (video below)

On track at Bedford Autodrome in my Caterham R500

• Being asked to be in a picture in Auto Express Magazine (issue 1,333 20-26 August 2014) 

Taking part in the Auto Express SEAT Leon SC track review photography

• Having my picture published on the front cover of October 2014's edition of Low Flying magazine.

My picture of four Caterhams' at the western end of the Elan Valley, B4574, near Cwmystwyth on the front cover of Low Flying Magazine in October 2014.

• Getting out for my first blat of 2015 on 2nd January! (video below)
 
• Fitting the carbon headlights - which look extremely cool!

Westermann Motorsport Carbon Headlights fitted to my Caterham R500

• Taking my nephew for a blat around the local B-roads (video below)

• Finishing off my orange rimmed track day wheels and tyres

Orange rimmed, 8 spoke 13 inch R500 track day wheels with Avon ZZR tyres and painted tyre wall lettering

• Going to Folembray, France on a group blat with the subsequent speeding ticket, beers, banter and track action that go along with all things 'blat' (video below)

Around thirty Caterhams' met at Maidstone services for the blat to Folembray, France



• And most recently a track day at Cadwell Park (video below)

On track at Cadwell Park - great picture showing the orange shocks and wheel rims

 

So there's been plenty of upgrades, parts removed, action, good times and 3,000 or so blatting and track miles put on the odometer. However... there's a few issues that need addressing...

• The fuel tank gasket has some dampness on the outer edge which is making my garage stink!  So a new gasket has arrived, I just need to find the time to drain the tank, remove the old gasket and replace (properly).
• The car is being collected for its first annual service at Caterham Midlands at the end of this month.
• My gearbox oil weep has started again, so the gearbox may well be removed when the car is at Caterham Midlands whilst being serviced.
• The weight problem will be addressed.  I'm working out ideas on how to remove weight, and how I can double check the weight figures at home.
• The car will be rolling road tuned with a bespoke map by Steve at Track n Road in July (post service) so that will be interesting to see the bhp results and power curves.

All in all I'm still thoroughly enjoying the ownership and driving experience(s), the track days are great fun and a testament to a well designed car. 

And.. Naturally, I'm very much looking forward to the rest of this year's activities.