Still unbuilding......

The problem with this stage of the project is that everything seems to go backwards. Plus it isn’t photogenic, unless you really want to see what a bracket looks like once it’s been ground down. However…..

The main activity at the moment is to get the car prepped for painting. As mentioned before, this involves pulling everything off that can be reasonably removed, and drilling some holes. I’ve replaced the fuel filler cap with a much nice, flush mounted model from Meridian Motorsport. And OK, I know I was a little uptight about getting it straight, but you get one shot and it would have driven me insane to get it wrong….

The bonnet clips are off, and I’m looking at replacements. The one’s everyone else are using aren’t supplied in WA any more, so it’ll be the US or UK for those ones. I also rather like the spring-loaded ones – except that the OMP units I’ve looked at look huge and chunky. I guess having them nice and solid is what’s important, but still…..perhaps if I chrome them up.

There are a few more things to do before it goes to the painter – I need to drill some small holes in the back for the number plate light, but most importantly I need to cut the hole for the exhaust. Birkin are now shipping cars with no exhaust holes cut, so they can be set up for exhausts on either side. What they haven’t sent yet is instructions on where to cut the hole! Kinda important.

Mind you, John Watson (Birkin’s founder) was in Perth the other week, and he’s promised these will be available shortly. Of more interest is the ram air pod unit that’s being developed – this is a tube-like construction that sits over the throttle bodies, and provides a smooth, consistent airflow over all the TB’s rather than having the front intakes steal airflow from the ones behind. Plus, I think it looks really cool ;-) You can see some photos of what this might look like at http://www.birkin.com.au/imageview.php?iid=2092 – this isn’t the final version, as it’s a unit bolted on from another vehicle class. Hopefully the Birkin model will be a lot slicker.

One day soon I shall be bolting a piece on rather than drilling it off - can't wait for that day. In the meantime, I'll be taking a short break to attend and engagement party, a wedding, and the Australian Grand Prix all in one weekend. Two-Day Hangover + F1 Cars = Bad Idea, obviously, but oh well....