Jetlagged...

Sorry for the late update but we have been suffering from jetlag for the last few days after our hols. But now we're back its time to crack on with the build etc. While I was away unfortunately my father could not be kept away from the car and in my absence has actually completed the build!!

Just kidding, but it has been almost 4 weeks. On a more serious note while I was away my father did get around to making a bracket to hold the speed sensor for the Stack dash. The sensor needs to be positioned 1-2mm away from the bolts on the rotor (no easy task and a little too close for comfort). But this has now be sorted thanks Dad (see pic), it has been positioned on the passenger side to allow the wiring to run through the main positive battery hole (save adding another). Also while I was away my father manufactured a couple of other brackets, one for the horn receiver (see previous update), this has been positioned to a chassis rail up under the dash on the passenger side and will be powered from the radio wiring (ignition switched live). The final bracket was for the 2 relays I need to operate the fuel change over switch that I have (not the same as the Ultima one, making life more difficult), more on that in the next update.

Also while I was away Chris Morris took delivery of the monster 7 litre V8 from American Speed with 550.2 bhp & 575.7 lbf torque (wooaahh!).

Until next time...

So Saturday came and a 10:00am start so further progression on the build front. Further dash wiring was the order of the day and I wont bore you with the details. Highlights (if you can call it that) are as follows:
The receiver for the horn was wired up using the ignition switched live & earth from the radio wiring. The starter button was also wired up with one side connected to the white & red wire and the other to the brown wire as per the Ultima wiring instructions (the white & red needs to be cut and both sides connected together). We also powered the starter button illumination from the illumination wire (red & black). Finally the red & white wire was removed from the back of the ignition barrel. With so much wiring to do/check we then decided to work from the front of the car to the back and check of all that had been done.

We used the Ultima wiring instructions and started at '1 LH Headlamp Hi/Lo Beam', now as there are no front or rear canopies on the car we can currently ignore 1 through to 9 and 75 through to 88. This resulted in the radiator fans both being connected up (make sure the fans rotate the correct way, we powered them up to test). Also while working our way through we came to the indicators and there were duly wired up and the side lenses fitted. Eventually we got to the horn so it was time to put the final master plan (remote control horn) into practice this resulted in the key fob (transmitter) being disassembled and the main button being replaced by a couple of wires. These wires then exited via a small hole that was added to the fob casing and the whole thing reassembled. The wires were then connected up to the buttons of the steering wheel and the whole fob was embedded inside the steering wheel boss and protected by foam (ream old car sponge, thanks Mum). The wheel was then bolted back into position and voila one remote control horn complete (well chuffed!).

After working our way through the rest of items it became apparent that quite a number of wires were going to be obsolete, these wire were each individualy taped up and then bouns together and position/loomed out of the way.  The result of all of this effort can be seen in this updated chart.  I will keep this update as I progress...

On Sunday we took a trip from Bristol to Devon in order to pay Chris Morris (fellow GTR builder) a visit.  Now here's a brave man, for this car has as yet to go anywhere near Ultima, yes that right's everything has been done by Chris himself (with some help from his parents, of course!).  The car looks real good as you can see from the pics below, but of course he'd had a little help from another source...

Also of note is the completion of Brian Stanley's CAN -AM in August and as you can see from the pic below, a damn fine looking machine it is to, we wish him all the best and drive carefully...