This week has been pretty exciting as the 7 starts to look visually like a 7. Having finished all of the major components around the rear suspension and rollbar I was finally able to fit the rear wings and also finish trimming the boot with carpet. Fitting the wings gave the car the definitive and recognizable 7 looks.
If you recall in an earlier blog I'd started the process of preparing the wings by attaching PPF protected carbon guards, there was however still a couple of steps before the wings could be bolted onto the car.
I needed to prepare each wing for each radius arm, prepare is probably the wrong term, modify is more appropriate. The wing has two circular cutouts for the forward connection point of the radius arm. During the build you have two options, remove the radius arm and bolt it through the wing, or modify the wing so that it slides over the radius arm bolt point. Caterham's build manual says to 'hacksaw' the holes to permit them to slide over, and this seems a commonly accepted approach online. You can't see whatever solution is used as the location is deep within the wing against the car. I didn't fancy using a hacksaw on a fibreglass wing, especially given the proximity to the edge of the wing. Instead I opted to use a new cutting disc with my Dremel.
First up protection, cutting fibreglass was definitely going to produce some dust. Luckily it was a breezy wintery day, so most of the dust was quickly removed into the atmosphere. I still took ample precaution, limiting skin exposure with a beanie, gloves, protective eyewear, and a dust mask.
I marked out the required cut as a rough estimate ensuring I used the lower hole given my car is an R spec, if an S spec is being built the top hole should be used. It was then a case of cutting the hole out with the Dremel, I used the cutting disc for the initial cuts in a similar fashion to cutting ceramic tiles and then smoothed the radius with a die grinding attachment. The end result looked pretty good, although I didn't get any photos whilst cutting due to the dust.
Having successfully prepared one wing, I moved forward with that wing only, including attaching the rubber trim and bolting onto the car. The logic here was that if my modification was incorrect, I wouldn't repeat the mistake. As it happens the modification was spot on and subsequently repeated on the second wing.
Next I attached the rubber trim which sits between the body and the wing. This was a pretty familiar process by now, cut out triangles to permit a smooth flow around the curvature of the wing, and also ensure the bolt holes aren't covered. I used superglue to secure in place. I did need to be mindful of the union with the edge of the carbon guard's rubber trim so as to ensure they were at the same height and looked aesthetically right.
Once the trim was attached mounting the wing was a case of bolting up with the fixings provided. Some of the rearward bolts can be fiddly to access but there is nothing complex with the process. Once finished it was a case of repeating on the other wing.
I believe there is fuel tank ground which needs to be secured to one of the lower bolts, I couldn't locate it at the time and so will come back to that.
Next up, finishing the boot trim, oh and washer bottle.
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