Time spent: 2h
Culmulative time: 41h
Main activities:  Airbox and parts identification, internal trim

With the engine install on hold because of missing fixing bolts [they weren’t actually missing but were on the engine] and I am pause mode whilst I wait for these to be sent from Caterham. I have been doing what I can to keep the build moving.  I am indebted to the guys at Krazy Horse who have kindly lent me an engine crane which is currently sitting in the back of the car until I am ready to do the engine install.

The airbox didn’t take that long to do once I had found the parts.  This is one of those jobs where you need to do a bit of drilling which is always a bit worrying.  My electric drill is a bit ‘all-or-nothing’ so I have been using some drill bits that will fit into my electric screwdriver.  The much lower speed makes it much easier to control and it will  still go through soft material fairly quickly.

Getting the gasket on the inlet to the airbox was tricky. It has to go around a very tight radius which proved difficult but I got there in the end. [I have found that this seems to come away quite easily. Its held in place by the bonnet but with hindsight – some glue here would be good]

I am not sure I have the right washers for the top of the airbox but will see what I have left over at the end of the day and swap them out to something slightly smaller if there are suitable ones available.  The bolts in the airbox have a relatively wide clearance around the hole so you need a largeish washer.

I fitted the IVA trim to the dash which was a simple task. I used a junior hacksaw to trim it to length and the heat gun to soften it a bit (its pretty cold out there at the moment), which made it easy to get into place with a few light taps with the rubber mallet.

I have also been looking at the front and rear wings. I was pleased to see that the rear ones seem to have been drilled to the correct size to take the lights. I was dreading having to drill these, as noted in the Assembly guide, in case I damaged something. And I didn’t really want to spend £30 on a stepped drill bit if I didn’t need it.

Thinking ahead to the back axle, I have been trying to sort out all the bits.  I have lots of bags of completely anonymous parts (most of the fixings were sent together rather than with the actual item they go with) and I am really struggling to work out what goes where.  I am sure they are different for a reason so I don’t want to do the wrong thing.  So another email off to Caterham.

[Message to Caterham: – if you asked me what you could do to improve, the first thing I would suggest would be to label these fixings.  Some (but not all) of the parts bags have an inventory and some (but not all) of the inventory listings include where the items actually go.  Something that helped me understand what goes where would transform the process]