Sunday 8 September 2013

Day 13 (Evening)


Not updated the blog for a couple of days now as I've been back at work this week and haven't had much time to dedicate to the car. That said, I have managed to find a few hours between meal times to complete a few odd and fiddly jobs. Mostly I have focused on filling the car with fluids and getting those systems which needed bleeding finished off.

Bleeding the brake lines

A surprisingly tricky and time consuming job this one and definitely a job that works better if you've checked to make sure that all your union joints are done up properly! My 3 way union located on the Dedion wasn't and so the first time we pumped the brakes we had a nice pool of brake fluid on the floor behind the car. The stuff also has a habit of getting on to everything so be sure to have a bucket of water and a sponge to hand so as to dilute it and wipe it off anything that it later finds its way onto.

This job is easiest if you read the instructions properly and do it like it tells you to in the guide. First step, get a glass (pint glass is good for this) and put about a 1/4 of a pint of fluid in the bottom. Caterham had kindly given me a length of small diameter fuel hose which I assume was meant to assist with this job. One end goes into the glass being sure to get the end of the hose submerged into the fluid. Next step is to start at the back of the car and unscrew the bleed nipple on the calliper. you can see it in the image below, its the light silver bit poking out of the back of the calliper. Unscrew it ever so slightly, put the other end of the hose onto it and then pump the brakes making sure you have filled the brake reservoir so that it is full.

Once fluid starts to flow freely out of the end, close off the nipple and then repeat the process on the other callipers. The guide clearly gives you the sequence in which to do them but its rears first and then the front.

I found I had to take at least 2 trips around each calliper before getting all of the air out of the system. I also found that the hose, though good and getting fluid to go into the pint glass, did flick fluid everywhere when taking it off the bleed nipples so definitely worth having something ready to wipe things clean quickly as it does corrode paint work.

Bleeding the Clutch

Very similar process to doing the brakes however I found this one even more difficult. This is because the bleed nipple exits at the top of the bell housing. The issue is that it doesn't stick out of the top but is instead just visible through an opening in the top of the housing. Its easy enough to undo with a socket (spanner is too wide to get onto it) and easy to get a hose onto it but as you bleed the system, you are forced to take the hose off before you can close off the nipple again.

In the end, I resigned myself to the fact that I would have to fill the clutch reservoir with enough fluid to keep it flowing out of the end of the nipple even after the hose had been removed. I knew this would mean a bit would flow out of the end and down into the bell housing but I couldn't really see any other way of doing it. Oh and be aware that the clutch fluid reservoir is tiny so if you are not careful it will run dry and you introduce air back into the system again.

Anyway, done now and the pedal feels pretty good. Wont know if its sufficient until its on the road.

Filling the Diff

I'd left this job until after the rear axle, suspension etc was on the car before trying to fill it. In hindsight, I kinda wish I'd done it as soon as I'd put the diff in and there was nothing else impeding access to it. As it was, I was forced to take the boot floor up (glad I hadn't stuck down the carpet yet) in order to gain access to it. The main issue though is that the Dedion tube sits only about an inch behind the filler plug and so getting the filler plug out is a bit of an issue.

Part of the tools that had come with the car included a very large allen key specifically for this job. Unfortunately, the head of the key was just too long to make it work within the space available so it was out with the Dremel to make some minor adjustments...


Safety First!

Modified Allen Key

With that done, It was now a very snug fit but I could just about get some purchase on the plug and get it off. It was actually on pretty tight.

I then set about rigging up a way of filling it with oil, choosing to reuse some fuel hose that I still had which I then attached to a funnel. I then cable tied the funnel to the roll bar so that it would hold itself in place. Filling through the funnel was then very easy but a bit slow. It was a tiny funnel and the oil reasonably thick so it took some 20 minutes to get it filled. I was sure to add the LSD additive that Caterham had provided first to make sure I had all of it in there. In the end, I managed to get about 1.1 litres of oil in on top of the additive before oil started coming out of the filler plug. It was then a case of doing the plug up again using the butchered allen key.





Knee Trim Panels and Riveting

Believing I might have the wrong panels I'd gone and checked this out with Derek at the factory. Apparently they are the same for both car types so it was just a case of me not getting them to fit right. I had a few goes at this and couldn't get it to work, mostly finding that the panels seemed an odd shape for the space they are designed for.

Fiddly Knee Panels

There are holes in the trim panel that are already drilled and there are corresponding holes in the side panels of the car already. Its just a case of lining them up before popping rivets into each of the holes. In the end, I did manage to align them on the drivers side. but on the Passenger side, I could only get one end to align (left hand end as you look at pic above). I was hoping that, having put a single rivet into the hole, I would then be able to move the panel around, pivoting it around this point and therefore getting it all to align. I got it close but ultimately no cigar. In the end it looked a good enough fit though so I re-drilled the holes slightly and then fastened them with the rivets. the alignment is therefore slightly different on each side but as these are hidden underneath the dash and are black its really not noticeable or worth worrying about.

Edit  - 08/09/13 - Having spoken to Derek at the Factory, since writing about the Knee Trim Panels, I have realised that I have used the wrong rubber piping. The stuff you see in the pic above is for use on other bits of the car such as around the front cycle wings etc. This means I will have to drill out the rivets and replace the rubber for the correct type at a later point. Oh well!

And that's all I'm going to have time for this week as work is pretty busy. I'm going to attempt to fit the rear wings on and start her up this weekend for the first time if I can. I've also got some BigHeads and adhesive on order which I intend to use to bond the front wings on. If that turns up on time, I may also look to get that done too.

1 comment:

  1. Check out the clutch bleed tool.....
    http://fernlahone.wordpress.com/2013/04/30/gearing-up/

    ReplyDelete