Most evenings this week have been about the build of the car. I have
1) installed the oil breather system (worth reading the Build tips as this is not straight forward)
2) move the 7 infront of the grille on the noce cone (see the build tips section for some pictures)
3) installed the Fuel Tap (again there are some pictures and instructions on the Build tips section)
4) Installed a power supply socket to the boot
5) Sealed the boot with aluminium tape and fire sealant
6) added the padding to the roll cage
7) installed the second mirror to the drivers side windscreen stantion (and removed the door mirrors)
8) adjusted the wrist restraints ready for use (I may try them at donnington)
9) Fitted the upgraded front brake pads
10) finished the plastic bolts for the rear wing (only had the passenger side to do as i had already fitted the drivers side when I fitted the side impact bar)

All in all a busy week which means that the car is very nearly ready for track. I need to decide on the seat, get the HANS device fitted and get teh flat floor setup done (but will find out about that in more detail tomorrow as we are off to Caterham for a talk on Setting up the car). 

Well I have started on the list of things to do in order to get ready for the racing, which has involved

- Putting the seven in front of the grille in the nose cone
- adding the Fuel Tap to the fuel line
- checked that there is yellow tape on the black battery leads
- Putting tape between windscreen and Roll cage to stop rain
- Fitting the second Mirror i purchased from DEmon Tweeks in the week
- Changing the nose cone Seven to be in front of the Grille (I also painted the seven red)
- Starting the breather kit installation... which i will say is extremely hard....
    ***** once I have completed the installation of the breather kit (I am waiting for some hose from caterham) I will put up how it was done as it is not a simple installation, and involves getting the wife (or someone with small hands to help).

Even with all of the above there is still plenty to do....

Well i have been reading the "blue book" and looking at the flags in preperation for next weeks ARDS test.
I have also been looking at what else I need for the car, so looking at the blogs and recomendations i have purchased some racing front pads, and a "race" cap for the brake fluid so that it hopefully will not throw out all over the car.

The next thing has to be tyres... everything i have seen seems to indicate that there is a need for more than the "one set" caterham tell you that you need for a race season. so i am on the hunt, i may have missed a couple of bargains earlier in the year as i was in the hope that i could only need one set of tyres, so I am now probabily  going to have to look at a good set of tyres and hopefully wheels what ever the cost (hopefuly not new ones)

Once I get the car back i am also hoping that i will be able to fit the "oil breather kit" that is manditory for the academy, so that will be the next thing to do with the car (it does seem never ending).

If there is one thing I would recommend if you are thinking of entering the academy and going to build the car yourself, is get your car as early as you can, and be prepared to spend a long time getting the car to the IVA, and then even more time getting the car race ready.
(but having said that... it is great fun ! ! ! ! !)

Well time to go and register the car today and get it road legal.
Firstly filling the forms... mmmm seems to be something missing here the V55/4 form is there, but the example is not... I called Caterham and they kindly emailed me a copy of an example form. So it is off to the local DVLA office (well not so local in Northampton, but since postal registration can take up to 2 weeks it is worth the trip to cut that down to 72 hours (ish).
the Guys at the DVLA were extremely helpful, especially since I was registering the car in my Daughters name (it is an Xmas pressie for us both).. I get to do the build and race season, she gets ownership and all the track days she wants.
Well the car is registered and all is good.. waiting for the post so that I can keep the surprise until Xmas will be the hardest part...
wish me luck !

Today was a long day, i Got up at 5am to make sure i was at Caterham North for 8.30. The plan wsa to collect my car from thier and drive it to the Nottingham VOSA centre for the IVA.
Well I got to caterham on time, and I even got to the IVA centre with half hour to spare. I will say with just the doors on and no heater, an hours drive up the motorway is a cold experience on a chilly day.
Once at the IVA centre i put the car in place and waited for my alloted slot. There are a number of checks, both visual and technical, from checking the finish of the vehile, to setting up lights, checking brakes on Rolling roads and emmisions tests. The IVA guy was extremely helpful, and happy to explain why they do the checks, he helped set up the car's headlights and the only other thing that needed to be altered was teh angle of the catalyser heatsheild (it needed to be less on top of the cat and more around the side and top to stop people catching themselves on the devices.
Well i am happy to say i now have a pass certificate and about 150 miles already on the clock as I drove the car home on the motorway back to Bedford.

I am now looking forward to filling out the V55/4 for registration... if i can figure out how... (there may be a call to Caterham on this as i cannot see any example which should have been in my dopcument pack.... )
Well happy days, and hopefully happy motoring days...

I went rhough my check list of all the things i new were not complete or wrong when i handed in the car for the post build check, and yesterday i suddenly realised i had not mentioned that the Wheels were un balanced.. so i had to call them to let them know.
Seemed a little strange that three of the wheels had no weights on them but one fo them did, when i spoke to sean a couple of weeks ago he said occassionally they get wheels sent in which were not balanced by their suppliers. but they should have been. So caterham will do the changes as a part of the post build checks for me.
Monday is D-day, and i am starting to get a little nervous about getting the car into the IVA test centre and hopefully passing the test. Tomorrow i will do some prep and make sure i have everything i think i need liked
- proof of insurance
- proof of test date and time
- tools to do any alterations
- cable ties
- Tape incase they think i have to tape something

I may just give Caterham North a ring and make sure that i have everything they would normally take to the centre.

anyway wish me luck.......

Well finally done as much as i can, and tomorrow i have the post build check. i am going to trailer the car to Caterham tomorrow morning, and get the car checked with them.
Yesterday i also had the nottingham test centre call me and i have provisionally booked the car into the IVA for the 28th, so if the IVA gods are willing i will have the car ready for December (I hope). I am still undeceided whether to take the car for the IVA myself or to get Caterham to do it, persoanally i like the idea of doing it myself, but not sure what to expect). 

To make things even more of a hectic week, we have the first Academy meeting on Saturday, so i am lookig forward to a week of focusing on what the racing is going to cost me for next year.
 

There were a few items missing in the kit for the IVA, and i have had a few little problems which i hope we can sort out at the pst build check stage.
1) rear fog and reversing lights have to have rubber seals, i stuck these on, but could not get the len's back into the lights.. so not sure how to do this.
2) the front grommet for the wiring, i have spent many hours on trying to get this in place, and will ask Caterham if they can do this
3) I have run out of rubber strip for teh friont flares around the wishbone holes.. so i will ask Caterham to do this as by the time the semd me more, i will be taking it to them.
4) there were a couple of peices missing which Caterham will put on for me
there are about 4/5 minor things that need to be completed here, but de to time i will ask midlands to comeplete these little bits ready for the IVA.

STARTING THE ENGINE
no real problems here, except the oil pressure was not there... the guage seemed ok, but there was no pressure reading. So time to switch off and ring Caterham.

Adendum -
Caterham are convinved teh engine is sound and i sould run to temperature, so have done that, and they are sending me a new oil pressure sender to replace the existing one.. lets see how that goes.
SOUNDS GREAT... after a little fine tuning on the idle screw it runs well (it doers seek a little whilst cold, but will get Caterham to check that out at post build).

Well engines in, electics are working, transmission completed wheels are on and the interior etc is up and runninf ... so the time now to see if it all works...
Brake fluid -  had a major leak when i filled the brake fluids up.. the fron joints between the brake flex hose through the skin of the car into the brake lines would not tighten and leaked all the fluid (clearing up was painful) (see build tips for more information).
Once the leaks were fixed this has been fine, had to blead the brakes 3 times to get any level of firmness in teh system, but will see what it is like once start to drive it and once it is checked.
Engine oil - no problems here... filling was fine (just over 4 litres to max)
Clutch fluid - well this filled ok, but had to be bled 3 times to get it operating properly
Coolant - this was not an issue, one minor leak from teh top of the engine rail, but it has been fine
Petrol - 15 litres of petrol later it was time to start the engine