Caterham Academy 2012 - Build (Day 5)

Day 5:

The aim of today was to get the engine and gearbox in, which I managed to do....just. I spent the morning sorting out random things such as the engine mounts, horns and other things that are inacessable once the engine and gearbox are in. I then spent some time protecting the sides of the engine bay and transmittion tunnel with cardboard to protect them from any damage when lifting the engine and gearbox in.

I roped my stepfather John into helping me with the lift itself, which was a jolly good idea as it is very definatley a two person job when you do it for the first time. We took three or four attempts to get the angle of the engine and gearbox right, the axle stands in a position that wouldn't get in the way of the legs of the hoist and the garage door in a position that it wouldn't catch on the arm of the hoist! We took our time as this really isn't a job to be rushed, but by angling the car down and getting the engine and gearbox at approximatley 30 degrees we got it in.....only for me to realise that I hadn't put the gearbox mounting bracket on first! Luckily there was enough wiggle room for us to pull the engine forward, put the bracket on the gearbox and then slide it all back 6 inches.

We then put the engine mounting brackets on and set about fixing everything in position, which is where it all started to get interesting. With the gearbox positioned exactly right I torqued up all of the bolts for the engine mounts, only to find that it had pulled the gearbox 2 - 3mm off centre. We had 3 goes at getting this right, but it kept moving just away from centre, which is very annoying. I am going to have one more go tomorrow, but if it repeats itself then I will phone Caterham and see what they suggest. I don't think it will cause any issues as the prop has a CV joint in it and the gearbox is clear of all obstructions in the tunnel, but I want to satisfy myself that it will all be OK.

I then completed a final few jobs, putting the gearstick on and the reverse light switch in. I then started on some of the engine wiring before calling it a day tired but satisfied. Today was a good day, with real visible progress made and the old girl starting to look like a car rather than a collection of boxes.

Tomorrow I hope to get everything in the engine wired up, before moving onto the rear suspension and diff.....which I think will be great fun if all of the stories I have read are to be believed!