Sunday, 10 January 2016

2016 prep part one

A bit of a boring post, that is only if you thought some of others were of any interest!  So on with the 'prep', some more essential than others, but in all honesty all of what I'm doing over the next month or two is clearly a 'necessity'!

1. Flat Battery
I tried to fire the car up when it returned, but it wouldn't turn over, so thought I'd give the CTEK battery conditioner I got for Xmas 2014 a try.

It comes supplied with some eye connectors that I fitted to the battery a while back, and have the connector neatly tie wrapped in place for ease of use.  Plugged it in, and the first orange light (l/r) was on, but after just an evening all the lights were illuminated meaning the battery was back in good condition.
CTEK Battery Conditioner.
The car turned over quickly and instantly, and the rumble of the exhaust was a great noise to hear again!

2. Headlight Glass Replacement
I think this happened on track at Snetteron last year, but strangely enough it's on the same side as the first cracked headlight and almost in the same position.
My 2nd cracked headlight, on the same side and almost the same position as the first one
My 2nd cracked headlight, on the same side and almost the same position as the first one
The fix is pretty straight forward, but as the design of the carbon headlights is to adhere the glass to the outer part of the headlight using silicone, it makes it somewhat more time consuming than changing the glass on the original Caterham lights.

I simply unscrewed the three grub screws, unclipped the connection blocks and removed the lights.  Then cut through the silicone until the glass was free from the carbon outer.  After removing any excess silicone, it was time to fit the new glass.

I ran a decent bead of black silicone on the inside of the carbon, and lined up the top hole of the carbon shell with the top of the glass.  Checked the front to ensure it was level, and left it to cure overnight.
New headlight glass siliconed into carbon headlight, left to cure overnight.
New headlight glass siliconed into carbon headlight, left to cure overnight.
First thing this morning, and the silicone had hardened as expected  Fitting the headlight glass section back, is just a case of pushing the headlight into place, the sidelight, covering with he rubber mount and attaching the connector block.  Then screwing the three grub screws in secures it in place.
New glass fitted to Caterham Carbon front Headlights
New glass fitted to Caterham Carbon front Headlights
Two jobs done.  Now time to get cracking with some more 'juicy' mods.  First up, removing the hoodsticks and fitting a new boot cover.

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