Front Suspension Strip Down - how easy ?
Discussion
OK, confession time first. I've been a Caterham owner for 16 years and never built or stripped down the front suspension !
We are talking R400D 2008. I've noticed a slight oil weep on the front left damper (Bilstein adjustable). 1st off, I have my 1st track day of the year booked on Friday @ Abingdon with MSE (noticed the oil when prepping the car yesterday)....I'm going to go along anyway....but anything to watch out for on the day that would result in catastrophic failure ? (I know, stay on the black stuff :-)). Will take it easy at first and see how the suspension holds up on cornering and braking to see if I can notice any major difference. Advantage is it's mostly left hand turns :-)
Have researched on the web and it looks like you can get the dampers refurbed for ~ £100 direct from Bilstein.
Money is tight and I'd like to have a go at this myself, but the car is due MOT at the end of June so I need to get on with it.
So, is it very easy to strip down and rebuild ? How long will this take roughly ? Anyone point me to a 2008 R400 build manual ?
Any other "bits" I should look to replace whilst I have the suspension stripped (bearing in mind money is tight !).
Thanks for help. Need to get myself back on blatchat so I can post in tech-talk aswell !
We are talking R400D 2008. I've noticed a slight oil weep on the front left damper (Bilstein adjustable). 1st off, I have my 1st track day of the year booked on Friday @ Abingdon with MSE (noticed the oil when prepping the car yesterday)....I'm going to go along anyway....but anything to watch out for on the day that would result in catastrophic failure ? (I know, stay on the black stuff :-)). Will take it easy at first and see how the suspension holds up on cornering and braking to see if I can notice any major difference. Advantage is it's mostly left hand turns :-)
Have researched on the web and it looks like you can get the dampers refurbed for ~ £100 direct from Bilstein.
Money is tight and I'd like to have a go at this myself, but the car is due MOT at the end of June so I need to get on with it.
So, is it very easy to strip down and rebuild ? How long will this take roughly ? Anyone point me to a 2008 R400 build manual ?
Any other "bits" I should look to replace whilst I have the suspension stripped (bearing in mind money is tight !).
Thanks for help. Need to get myself back on blatchat so I can post in tech-talk aswell !
If money is tight: unbolt damper, send away to be refurbished, bolt on new damper. You don't really need to touch anything else.
If you do, though, it's not difficult.
The obvious additional items would be to replace all bushes, but if you do so you really ought to be having a full geo set-up at the end of it, which is the one bit that you can't do at home, and which would cost you considerably more than the damper refurbishment.
If you do, though, it's not difficult.
The obvious additional items would be to replace all bushes, but if you do so you really ought to be having a full geo set-up at the end of it, which is the one bit that you can't do at home, and which would cost you considerably more than the damper refurbishment.
Removing the shock is relatively straight forward - you can download the manual from the Caterham site (I think you need to register with them)
Shocks that weep small amounts of oil will behave normally for quite a long time so I wouldn't worry too much other than to plan refurbishment. Of course, it's an MOT failure so that might force the issue.
Shocks that weep small amounts of oil will behave normally for quite a long time so I wouldn't worry too much other than to plan refurbishment. Of course, it's an MOT failure so that might force the issue.
If it's Bilsteins, then I'd go here (first one obvs!)
https://www.bilstein.com/uk/en/about-us/locations-...
https://www.bilstein.com/uk/en/about-us/locations-...
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