Carbon Aeroscreen fitting - Part Three.

Hi everyone, sorry for having to spilt this post into multi parts, the problem is using my iPad to create these posts, as once you have posted pictures, blogger does not allow you to scroll down to edit your post. It's a well documented bug, so I hope Google fix it soon.

So here's the final part of fitting my Carbon Aeroscreen. In the previous parts we covered removing the windscreen and preparing the Aero screen for fitment.

Now the final part is the mounting of the mirrors, which I will cover here first, then post the pictures.

The two carbon wing/door mirrors come with bolts and nuts to mount them on the aero screen, so that was all good.

However the larger centre mounted rear view mirror came with no bolts, so I posted a question on the Facebook lotus seven pages, to see what others had done and sure enough got a quick answer, with two people,telling me that theirs were riveted to the centre base of the Aeroscreen.

This made me happy, as that's what I thought I remembered from my previous R500, but could not really remember for sure.

So a quick trial fit to get the position correct, then on with some masking tape, and my trusty green marker pen to mark the holes. Once drilled it was a simple of getting the air rivet gun out and firing in the three rivets from the underside into the base of the mirror mount.

Next up was the same to mount the two outer mirrors. Now Caterham don't give any guidance on the exact location here, and I suspect that most are fitted where the owners feel,they seem correct. So this is exactly what I did, I decided I wanted them to be a bit lower that the centre mirror, but still wanted them to be able to " look over " the rear wings.

So with the screen all fixed in position, I sat in my normal driver seated position, and played with several postiitons of mounting to see which worked best.

Once happy I again applied masking tape, and used the green pen to mark out the locations to drill. In the pas I also drilled a third hole in the centre of the mirror base, I found the helps a lot with final positioning of the mirror, as it allows you to use an Allen key to adjust the mounting screw.

And that was it, the job was finished, and then it was time for a nice little Blat in the count to try them out.

Carbon Aeroscreen Fitting - Part Two.

So with the scuttle all prepared and nicely polished again, it was on to mounting the actual Carbon Aeroscreen.

I did a quick trial fit, and used the lovely new low profile countersunk bolts and washers, including mounting them in the now vacant rear hole too.

Carbon Aeroscreen fitting

So as previously covered, I ordered my car with both the full windscreen and the interchangeable Carbon Aero Screen.

I always prefer my cars with the Aeroscreen, but needed the Full screen for the longer euro trips that we have planned.

But for now with the summer looking like it might finally have arrived, it was time to fit the Carbon Aerosceen.

But first off the Windscreen had to be removed. If you have not done it before it's actually very easy, just pull off the wiper blades, then undo the four mounting bolts into the scuttle.

It now seems that Caterham have also improved the plugs for the heated screen wiring, as they now have nice little thin in line connectors, that slip out easily and through the rubber grommets.

What I was supprised to find, that after only 150 miles of dry Road use, there was still lots of dirt, debris and scuff marks under the screen on the scuttle, so once removed it was time for a proper polish with the Autoglym metal polish.

Looking after my Aero Wisbones

So I have to admit that I am starting to feel a bit like Daniel French right now, because I seem to be approach his levels of nerdy geekiness with my new Superlight! ( Sorry Daniel! 😉😉)
I decided to try and protect the front of my car the best I can from stone chips, and as you have seen of earlier posts I had Dave from Premier Paint guard fit the protection shield to my carbon nosecone and other areas too.

But that still left the optional Aero Wishbones I had specced on my car at risk, so I decided to fit some black electricians tape to them.

Once fitted, ( can you call it fitted for tape, or should it be stuck. 😇😇) they actually look almost exactly the same, and you would need to look really close to notice it's on there. It was surprisingly gratifying to fit too!

Starting to make some tweaks!

You know what they say about Caterham owners, they can never stop messing with their cars, well sadly I fit that stereotype perfectly!

So on the very day I brought her home, it was time for the first modifications.

Number one of the jobcard was to change the rear wheels.

Caterham decided to supply the Superlight Twenty models with standard 6 inch rear wheels and 175 tyres.

The reason given for this was that's were supplied on the original Suprlight models that were the inspiration for this new Superlight.

However both myself and many of the new owners felt they looked very unimpressive in the rear arches, and I can tell you that they are very very easy to light up too, so bigger wheels and wider tyre were a must.

Just as other owners had done, I went with a new pair of 8 inch rears with some nice new 215 width Avon ZZS tyres.

Here's the original wheel, looking very small in the rear arch.

And here's the rear of the car showing the rear track width as I jacked the car up.

 

And here by way of comparison is the old wheel and tyre compared alongside the new wheel and tyre.

And again for comparison the new rears fitted to show the increase in the rear track.

And finally the side view of the rear arch, now nicely filled with the wider rim and rubber.

Collection Day Photos

So the big day has finally arrived. After a long wait for the paperwork I have collected my car from BookaTrack at Donington Park.

Great service by Greg Smith and all the team at BookaTrack.

On display in the Showroom at Bookatrack

Hi everyone, a brief update, whilst we are waiting for the V5 registration process to be completed by DVLA.

My car had its Post build check done at Bookatrack Caterham Dealership at Donington, and now that the car is finished and the IVA all complete, it is now on display in the main showroom.

Here are the pictures, very kindly supplied by Greg Smith of BaT.

IVA Test now passed!

Just a very quick update, but no pictures this time sadly!

My car was taken by the team at Bookatrack for its IVA test at the Nottingham Test Centre.

I am pleased to report that it passed the IVA test first time yesterday, Friday the 6th May.

Now we just have to wait for the DVLA paperwork to be processed.

Still hopefully my car will be on the road some time this month.

Finally a big thanks to Greg and the team at Bookatrack for all of their help and support.