Shiny Bits

Hi y'all. So, there's been some progress on the car since I last wrote. Firstly, the car has gone to the painters to get turned green. This should take about 2 weeks, which is excellent news as the original estimate was 8 weeks! So I should be back on the car soon to actually start adding parts to it, rather than taking bits off....

The other news is that my parts from the UK have arrived. There are some good points and some bad points. Without labouring the point, it appears that the "kits" from Raceline haven't been developed into proper kits, in that the maps don't exist for the kits yet. So you buy all of the component parts, then there's nothing in the car's brain to run them. Hence the computers and looms are on their way back, and we'll develop our own maps using Motecs.

Given that the components could have all been sourced locally, thereby by-passing all of the exchange rate issues, shipping time and cost etc, this is somewhat annoying. However, I'm a pretty calm individual so I won't let it bother me. Frank's confident that with Motec ECU's, we can get these things running well in no time.

However, the other parts form a nicely comforting (if somewhat small for the money) pile of goodies. I've got:

• Kent cams, verniers and valve springs for the top end.
• Some Jenvey direct-to-head throttle bodies for the intake.
• A nice light-weight flywheel and AP racing clutch.
• A new water-rail (neater than the standard)
• A new fuel rail (with a fuel pressure regulator)

Just need to get the injectors and the engine parts are all in hand. As discussed before, with some engine work on the head, this should take it to around 220-225 bhp. I'll take some photo's this weekend and add them to the blog. However, Frank might be ahead of me and sent these off to the engine builder (Peter), so perhaps the next time I see them they'll be on the engine.

The other progress is courtesy of Kerry, who's building a chromed Birkin, as he owns and runs his own chroming company. Kerry has chromed all of my front end suspension, including the springs. Now, apparently this isn't recommended for hardcore racers, as the suspension can become brittle as part of the etching process, and cracks can appear underneath the chrome without appearing in the chrome itself (as it's a relatively plastic coating). However, given I'll only be doing the odd track day, this shouldn't be such an issue, and I reckon it'll make the car look damn good. I'll also polish the windscreen mounts and frame, plus chrome the rear roll bar to make the whole thing coherant.

I'm also thinking of getting a frog stitched into the boot cover, but I'll have to think on that.

Anyway, photo's will be forthcoming, especially once everything is painted. Can't wait!!!

Wow, I cut a hole (OK, someone else did really....)

And the parade of photogenic developments continues. The hole for the exhaust has now been cut. Yes, now hordes of people will flood to this page to see this wonder......

OK, so not too special, however it was a big moment in that it was probably the first obviously progressive thing I've done so far. Plus, it means that the car is now ready for painting - except the painter is now flat out with other work and will not get it to it for several weeks. Oh well.

On the flip side, Kerry is chroming my front suspension components, including the springs, which will mean a nice, shiny front end ;-) Much appreciation owed there. I asked in the spirit of the black market what I could do for him in return, but we worked out that he didn't need the services of an SAP Program Manager after all.

Apart from that, not a great deal else to report. I'm working in Melbourne a lot these days, and spending a few weekends over here as well which is cutting down on the car-time, not that there's anything left to do anyway as it's now waiting on painting. However, progress is progress.