Caterham 7 Superlight and specifically the history of No.: 106
Tag: Service
Mileage 44,609 miles (Last service 23/07/2022 at 44,361 miles by Sevens & Classics)
3,000 mile service with synthetic oil and spanner check.
MOT Test.
Ratrace Invoice No. 1903 Order No. 1844 £330.10
N/S/F wheel bearing adjusted
Rear diff is slightly noisy but does not warrant further investigation at this stage.
Brake slightly binding.
Invoice: 4191 COU001 Mileage 44,361, miles
£1993.80
and fuel filter changed £34.80 – seperate invoice.
Service schedule:
Change Engine Oil
Change Oil Filter
Check Alt Belt Tension
Check Coolant Hose Condition
Check all Lights
Top up Washer Fluid
Check Switch Operation
Check Horn
Check Tyre Condition & Pressure
Wheel Nut Torque
Wiper Condition & Operation
Clutch Operation & Adjustment
Handbrake Operation
Check Suspension Security
Check Suspension bushes for Play
Check wheel Bearing Endfloat
Check Air Filter & Clean
Check Battery Terminal Connections
Check Brake Pads & Discs
Check CV Gaitors
Check Diff Oil Level
Check Gearbox Oil Level
Check Steering joints & Gaitors
Grease Propshaft
Check ECU Diagnostic
Roadtest
I was keen for the seats’ patina to be retained when they were refurbished. They did an excellent job as the seats are far more comfortable and supportive but still have their marks present.
27/07: unfortunately, it appears that Sevens & Classics have misplaced the passenger crotch straps for the 6pt harness. I have e-mailed Tim at Sevens & Classics and will wait to see if he can trace them and what he suggests to get them fitted.
They also failed to stamp the service book but I have the invoices and e-mail trail, so not too concerned.
Update: Tim has e-mailed to say he has located the crotch strap and will post. Well done Sevens & Classics 👍
Mileage 43,784 miles (Last service at 43,417 miles on 03/11/2020)
3,000 mile service and spanner check with synthetic oil.
Ratrace Invoice No. 1853 Order No. 1802 £981.03
Replace sump foam and gasket
Remove seats, unbolt shock tops mounts, remove standard height track day rollbar and fit tall trackday rollbar.
Drill out inertia seat belt box side panels, remove inertia seat belt assembly. Refit panels.
Fit supplied x2 6 point harnesses, refit seats & refit high level brake light.
Replace rear brake pads.
MOT test.
Parts:
x1 Caterham Rover K sump foam baffle
x1 Caterham Rover K sump gasket
x1 Rear brake pad set.
Excellent service again from Rob at Ratrace, highly recommended.
Invoice 2843 £1446.90
Inspection 1 service (service book stamped) £140.00
Remove (tall) rollbar and fit std one £210.00
Fit up inertia seat belts (driver & passenger) £105.00
Remove drivers seat, strip and repair (weld) and refit £105.00
Brake fluid flush and bleed. Replace rod seal. £87.50
Oil & filter service £70.00
Fit up throttle pedal stop & set to 100% operation. £35.00
Remove, repair & re-route throttle cable. £35.00
Reseat fuel tank in brackets & tighten. £35.00
Remove mirrors on screen & replace with standard door mirrors. £35.00
Secure battery in holder (earth lead tightened too). £17.50
Investigate & rectify fog light not working. £17.50
Remove & replace front exhaust rubber. FOC
Parts:
Fully synthetic 5W50 engine oil. £80.92
Exhaust rubber. £3.34
Throttle stop. £14.35
Brake fluid. £26.18
Rod seal/boot – used FOC
Mirrors (x1 new x1 used) £45.00
Inertia reel seat belt set. £143.46
Cambelt, tensioner & pulleys – July 2022 (44,361 miles)
Oil & filter – October 2022 (44,609 miles)
Alternator belt – December 2017 (41,773 miles)
Sump foam – October 2021 (43,781 miles)
Sump gasket – October 2021 (43,781 miles)
Sump bolts 25 N.m, long through bolts from bellhousing to sump 35-40N.m. Baffle plate nuts 10 N.m. Watch the sump plug, I add a soft copper, washer, torque to around 25 N.m. the pan is aluminium so you don’t want to strip threads
Prop shaft greased – July 2022 (44,361 miles)
Spanner check – October 2022 (44,609 miles)
Fuel filter – July 2022 (44,361 miles)
Spark plugs – June 2022 4x NGK BCPR7ES gapped to 0.9mm + torqued to 25NM / 18 lb/ft
HT leads – April 2016
Rotor arm – June 2022
Distributor cap – June 2022
Coolant change – July 2922 (44,361 miles)
Brake fluid – November 2020
Nitron NTR1 suspension fitted and set up at RatRace Motorsport – May 2018 @ 42,317 miles. Service not due until 54,317 – 60,317 miles (every 12k – 18k).
Mileage 43,122 miles (Last service at 41,773 miles on 23/01/2018)
3,000 mile service and spanner check with motorsport oil.
Ratrace Invoice No. 1747 Order No. 1691
Speedo fault diagnosed as a seized gearbox speedo angle drive which was removed, cleaned and lubricated and now works fine.
Rob, also identified a slight leak from the O/S/R (inner) wheel bearing seal which is fine at the moment but I will monitor. Other than that he mentioned that the car is is excellent condition and like new underneath which was gratifing to hear.
Excellent service from Rob at Ratrace, highly recommended.
Right, collected the care from Rob at Ratrace and I am very pleased with the standard of his work, knowledge of all thing mechanical and specifically 7. His approach is just really good in my opinion, wanting to get things right but not reinvent the wheel unnecessarily. I will definitely be going back to him.
Upon collection Rob, adjusted the throttle pedal for me to be able to heel and toe on down changes and then set the rear anti-roll bar drop links with me sat in the car.
The car starts and idles very nicely. In fact, the engine is now so smooth. To start from cold it requires a little throttle until the engine starts to warm, at which point it is rock steady.
The fitment of correct track road ends has made a noticeable difference to the steering. It was good before but now is sublime, reacting to the slightest touch with a new found lightness and feel.
The engine needs to be mapped and Rob has strongly recommended travelling to Emerald http://www.emeraldm3d.com/rolling-road in deepest, darkest Norfolk, to get this work done. I just need to remind them that the air horn length (throttle trumpets) has been set at 90mm and may need a little adjustment. I also want to a sensible rev limit set as my K Series has a standard bottom end and the Caterham Super Sport rev limit (7600 rpm) is generally viewed as too high for sustained use, without a forged bottom end. To that end, I have been advised by both Dave Andrews t/a DVA Engines and Rob at Ratrace Motorsport that anywhere between 7,000 to 7,200 rpm should be fine; and will take Emerald’s advice on the day.
I also need new lower (front) wishbones fitted and new suspension all round. I think that is likely to be a set of the excellent Nitron NTR1’s. Typically Caterham are out of stock of right hand lower wishbones, with an expected delivery date of 9th February. Rob has a set on back order for me.
Watch this space for updates!
Phonecall from Rob at Ratrace Motorsport to say that he was wrong when he though the spherical bearings in the lower wishbones needed replacing.
Upon closer examination, he had established that the bearings were moving in the wishbone bearing carrier. Unfortunately, it appears that when these were powder coated (July 2016) the inner faces of the carriers were cleaned up a little too efficiently resulting in the carrier becoming oversize and bearing moving around.
This will require two new lower wishbones:
£189.00 VAT incl.
Reference: 75553A 
and
£189.00 VAT incl.
Reference: 75554A
Product is not currently in stock ….. As per usual
Ratrace Motorsport Invoice 1658 refers. £393 with P&P
Carry out 3,000 mile service (with anti-cavitation tank).
Replace cambelt and tensioner.
Replace alternator drive belt.
Replace sump foam baffle.
Replace both rubber engine mountings and fit uprated/barced engine mount to nearside.
Supply and fit uprated new design DeDion tube.
Fit 2x new track road ends.
Fit supplied Radtec radiator (and fan).
Grease and adjust both front wheel bearings.
Remove upper anti-roll bar and fit new spec anti-roll bar to lower mounts.
Fit Avon ZZS x4 and balance.
Remove front lower wishbones and replace as spherical bearing carriers out of spec.
Spanner check suspenesion front and rear.
Parts:
1x cambelt.
1x alternator drive belt.
1x foam sump baffle.
1x sump gasket.
2x rubber engine mountings.
1x Uprated/barced nearside engine mount.
2x track rod ends.
1x new spec De Dion tube.
2x lower front wishbones.
1x under slung rear anti-roll bar kit.
1x Genuine Rover Crankshaft sprocket.
Total: £2,677.78
Rob from (the excellent) RatRace Motorsport phoned last night with an update.
The throttle bodies are fitted and that project is complete (just requires setting up on a rolling road, which will be down to me – when it is a little warmer!).
However, having stripped the rear suspension down to fit the new De Dion tube and then set the car up, he identifed that the car required new springs all round (something to do with being the old style progressive springs… I think), and that one of the adjustable spring platforms had seized (at the front I think he said). In his experience it is apparently very dificult to free a seized platform without damaging the unit. Closer examination had also identified damage to at least one of the rear shock absorber units. He notes that they had been hand painted; womtehing I was aware of when Seven and Classics overhauled the suspenion last summer (2017).
His ris o fthe opinion that the current suspension is original and is at the end of its servicebale life and recommends that it should be replaced.
Original Bilstein suspension are currently very expension through Caterham cars and therefore this makes upgrading the suspension to something like one of the Nitron or Quantum range, a sensible proposition.
He is going to make some enquiries and get back to me.
I mentioned Simon at Meteor Motosport and that I was aware that he offers Caterham specific valving for the Nitron NTR1 and Quantum Zero One ranges. I think Rob was going to speak with Simon. I may do so myself as having read Simon’s excellent buyers guide he likes to tailor spring rates etc to the specific car and how it will be used / power level / weight of the driver etc etc.
Watch this space…..
As an aside, what concerns me about this, is that my car has only ever been trusted to marque specialists with strong reputations for knowing 7’s inside and out and also excellence. What is now apparent, is that they all without exceptions have missed things or in the case of the suspension damaged it and either not noticed or not flagged it up to me. This isn’t about proportioning blame or naming and shaming but is has been a salient lesson to me and I am pleased that I appear to have found someone who is really very good.
Phonecall from Rob to update me about the car, viz.
As a result of pts 4,5&6 car will need to be flat floored and geo checked. Will be flat floored for a 115 kg driver and 4.5 imp. gallons (20.5 litres) of fuel
I am very impressed with Rob’s diligence, SWMBO is less so!
Link to Alcester Racing article on changing your Fuel Filter
Link to the Alcester Racing article on Starter Relay Mod
Link to the ALcester Racing article on Starter Maintenance
Link to Alcester Racing article on how to change your coolant Temp Submarine
Link to Alcester Racing article on how to do a ‘Big’ Oil Change
Link to an excellent guide by Alcester Racing Gearbox Oil Top-Up
Dropped the car into Seven & Classics this morning for the following work:
Service;
Remove front suspension and powder coat wishbones , anti roll bar , springs , wing stays and headlamp brackets;
Remove rear dampers and radius arms , powder coat springs and radius arms;
Paint dampers ,callipers , uprights and fit new Powerflex bushes to wishbones A frame, front ARB and radius arms;
Flat floor (for 100 kgs driver) and geometry setup;
Fit new front discs and pads (D3000).
Check the dampers and callipers when they are removed to determine if they need servicing.
Investigate:
Slight oil weep from tail of the gearbox (probably speedo drive related);
(Random) starter solenoid click; possibly change solenoid;
Driver side rear brake light not working – not bulb.
Investigate whether engine mount(s) need changing – one appears to have cracks present;
Update (02/08/2016):
Work completed by Seven & Classics (Inv: 919 refers).
Gearbox was found to be fine.
LH rear wheel bearing replaced.
Repair made to brake light loom.
Car started faultlessly during their considerable time with the car.
Engine mounts are all good.
Comma 5W50 oil used
£1,664
Mileage 40,745 miles
Service at The 7 Workshop (Inv# 8665) @ 40,000 miles
Carry out annual service:
Remove sump pan and change foam baffle
Clean Apollo tank
Replace oil and filter
Fit supplied mechanical oil gauge and low pressure warning switch and light
Fit supplied Omex rev limiter and wire to vehicle
Dismantle front hubs, adjust and re-pack
Check rear hubs and re-pack
Carry out suspension ride height adjustment (flat floored for 110 kgs)
Replace fuel filter
Remove speedometer (Froze and turning over to 40,000 miles) and send to Speedy cables for repair
Rectify contact between horns and oil cooler thermostat
Replace (male) poppers on boot cover
Cost of work £553.38 plus £85 plus postage for speedometer (Speedy Cables)
£655
Caterham 7 Superlight No: 106 