This is where I have kept track of all ¨manual corrections¨ – places where I have deviated from what the new build manual (v1.2) says to do. This can be for many reasons – such as build order, if things have changed since the manual was published, items missing from the manual, and torques missing from the manual.
There is obviously no guarantee that the below is correct… please use at your own risk!! Things change very quickly with Caterhams, as a couple of items in the manual seem to be out of date for me building in early 2020 and version 1.2 of the new manual was published in mid 2019!
| Page | Notes |
| 10/11 | Steering – Need to drill out hole in steering UJ to at least 9mm to get bolt through. |
| 14/15 | Uprights – Track rod end torque to 34 Nm (source: Old manual) – Remove and discard the washer and nut from back of assembly. |
| 20/21 | ARB – Use the red mounting rubber on the front ARB. This should be supplied in a pack with the ARB components. |
| 22/23 | Brakes – Use the wider copper washer which should be found in the loose bag with in the uprights box. – Use the longer adapter, it should have a slight ridge on it which will help seat the copper washer correctly. |
| 24/25 | Horns – Space should already be fitted to horns. Fixings should be in pack C |
| 36/37 | Bellhousing to gearbox – Torque to 55Nm |
| 38/39 | Starter motor – Torque starter motor to 37 Nm |
| 40/41 | Engine install – Engine mount to engine rubber : 41Nm – Engine rubber to chassis : 20Nm – Engine mount to engine : 28Nm – Engine mount to engine shows a plain washer and a split washer. If you only have split washer this is fine on its own. – If you have a 1.6L engine, the LHS mount is recessed as shown in manual, but it does not need a split washer, one will not fit. – The shorter bolt fits the farside (LHS) of the chassis, not the nearside (RHS) for 1.6L engines. – Ignore the washer bottle fitted to front of the passenger footwell. This is no longer done, it is now mounted in the boot (check that you have it there as well) – The comment that the shorter bolt fits the nearside chassis is out of date, the shorter bolt fits the far side of the chassis. |
| 42/43 | Gearbox Install – 5 speed – Large M14 bolts : 40Nm. Fit these first. – 4 bolts : 20Nm, install top down for IVA |
| 56/57 | Submarine – The hose from the submarine should connect to the bottom of the heater valve, not the top. You can see this reflected correctly on pages 59, 81 and 83 – The hose clip connecting submarine hose to engine should be 23-35mm, the suggested 17-25mm won´t fit on the engine. |
| 62/63 | Expansion Bottle Plain washer connecting expansion bottle plate to chassis was missing, did not replace |
| 66/67 | T-piece Connection for T piece to engine should be 23-35mm, suggested 17-25mm won´t fit. |
| 74/75 | Clutch Refers to 8mm water hose. I used 3/8 inch hose. |
| 78/79 | Battery The insert picture is referring to attaching black wire from battery to bellhousing. One of the top two bolts on bellhousing to engine is fine. |
| 88/89 | Steering I have suede quick release wheel, which needs drilling to fit the quick release bracket |
| 92/93 | Handbrake – Fixings from misc pack : 2x M8x25 bolts, 2x M8 nylocs, 3x M8 washers (for the fatter clevis pin connecting clevis to pulley), 4x M6 washers (for the thinner clevis pin connecting clevis to handbrake). – Fixings from bag with rear brake items : pulley, clevis and clevis pins. – Handbrake bagged seperately in one of the boxes -Do not tighten handbrake to chassis until differential has been fitted and handbrake cable on RHS threaded through differential. |
| 96/97 | Differential – Diagram should show a knorr washer (IQ) being used with two bottom bolts (IB). The diagram lists IQ, but doesn´t show it, easy to forget – Manual only shows IM (¨Free play on diff¨) for spacers. These are very thin (around 0.1mm) and there are only 8 available. You can also use IL (¨Fine tuning diff set up¨, 16 available), which I class as medium around 0.5-0.6mm and IN (¨Diff shim washers¨, 14 available) which I class as thick around 1.2-1.3mm. Combine as required to fill gaps between diff and chassis. – After washers are in place, measure distance between differential and edge of chassis where A frame connects. Should be equal both sides, was around 49cm on my SV chassis. |
| 104/105 | Rear Dampers – Do not do this until you have fitted the rollover bar! Rollover bar is on page 156/157 – to be fair manual does mention this. |
| 106/107 | Radius Arm – The lower bolt marked for R spec on the manual may not be drilled out. You may need to drill out using a HSS drill bit. I used a random 23/32in HSS bit which is approx 18mm. |
| 110/111 | Rear Anti Roll Bar – Manual asks for 8 HO washers (plain M6 washer). Only 4 are provided in the pack. I ordered my own on amazon, A4 stainless steel type A M6 washers. – 4mm pin punch may be safer than a screwdriver (no sharp edge) – Torque to 14Nm as per old manual. |
| 114/115 | Rear Hub – There is a bag containing various parts you need for this (caliper bolts, caliper pins, anti rattle shims for brake pads) – Torque droplink to 20Nm – Torque caliper bolts (bolts holding brake caliper (6) to brake caliper mount (7)) to 20Nm, apply some loctite. – Brake pads are all identical despite any different markings, there is no specific side that you have to fit each one to. – Rear hub is handed, it will only fit on one side. – You probably need to insert caliper pins (smooth black bolts with thread inside) into the brake caliper mount. – Diagram doesn´t show washers on other side of the anti roll bar bracket. I used washers here. – I fitted brake line to brake caliper before bolting brake caliper to brake caliper mount. – Don´t torque the hub nuts to 270Nm until car is on the ground and handbrake is working. Don´t fit handbrake cable yet. |
| 116/117 | Speed Sensor – Doesn´t show earth mod. You are supplied with a small black earth wire in the same bag as the brake stuff mentioned above. Swap out the earth and earth to the rear ARB mounting point. |
| 128/129 | Rear Wings – Fuel tank earth strap is mentioned on page 128 – this was already fitted on my car so nothing required. – Add some copper slip to the front bolts which screw into the rivnuts to make it easier to remove later if required. |
| 132/133 | Lights – Number plate light has changed – red wire from the light needs to be joined to the single red/black wire from the car wiring loom. The black wire from the light needs to be attached to car body. – Drilling hole for the front repeater – the middle hole can be drilled using a 13mm HSS drill bit |
| 134/135 | Knee trim pads – Fit IVA trim to the side off the knee trim closest to the transmission tunnel |
| 136/137 | Tunnel Carpet – There will be some excess tunnel carpet along the top, cut this off with a knife. |
| 146/147 | Harnesses (4 point) – Don´t need cardboard washer on shoulder harnesses (bottom most washer on diagram). – Don´t need topmost washer on shoulder harnesses – only need one washer above mounting plate. – Order is bolt -> thick spacer washer -> mounting plate -> wavy washer -> swivelling insert -> chassis. – Torque 47Nm for shoulder and lap – IVA diagram is to imply that you can see the bolt threads for shoulder harnesses in the boot |
| 148/149 | Harnesses (4 point) – Ignore these pages. |
| 154/155 | Race Seats – Caution if you have the full carbon seats (as opposed to composite). You won’t be given pack M or N – I was supplied with 2 x 3FV179A (¨Caterham Seven 620R Composite Seat Fitting Z-Pack¨). – I had to buy new bolts for the drivers side (as provided bolts did not work with runners). I also didn’t have any M8 nylocs! -Please read the seat posts (driver, passenger) for further detail – I torqued carbon fibre seats to 14Nm. Was given huge range of possible torque values. |
| 156/157 | Roll over bar – Diagram missing spring washer with bolt JB (JF), don´t forget this – Hole at JB may need grinding to solve alignment issues |
| 162/163 | Exhaust – Rotate the heat shield on the cat slightly outwards, it is designed to protect your leg from brushing against it – Plain washers marked GD were not provided in pack G. I sourced my own M8 plain washers. |
| 164/165 | Nose Cone Badge – This was already fitted on my car |
| 166/167 | Wipers – Manual shows wipers positioned ‘wrong way’. They should be ‘pointing’ towards the driver side, not the passenger side |
| 168/169 | Wing Mirrors – Use some loctite on the mirror mount stud (which screws into windscreen) – I was supplied with wing mirrors, but not the ‘wing mirror bag’ mentioned which had the various components such as the mount. Needed to email Caterham to get this sent out. |
| 170/171 | Starter Motor – I did not have two brown wires joined (listed as part 4), note I have battery cut off switch |
| 172/173 | Last Few Steps – This is missing bleeding the clutch |
| 173/174 | Last Few Steps – Minor panic as you read ‘You did remember to put oil in the engine and gearbox, right?’ in capitals no less!! For my 5 speed ford sigma 1.6l this oil was already filled by Caterham. You can verify yourself using the dip stick for engine, and the fact the cap was on the gearbox (to stop the oil getting out!) – Look behind the dash to make sure that the fuel, oil and temperature gauges are plugged in if they don’t move, mine weren’t! |
Build order changes :
- Heater and airbox after engine install
- Radiator after engine install
- Shoulder harnesses before roll bar (poor access otherwise)
- Roll bar before rear dampers (impossible otherwise)
- Steering column after exhaust (part 1)
- The entire plumbing order from pages 46-83 I shuffled around substantially
- All fluids added and bled at same time, once cockpit has been done (brakes, clutch, coolant), not at end
- Battery connected after fluids added
- Engine start at this time, not right at the end – allows time to rectify issues
- Fit wings after engine has been successfully started and cockpit has been finished.
- Fit rear wings before front wings
- Fit wing protectors to rear wings before fitting rear wings
- Fit IVA trim and repeaters to front wings before fitting front wings