It's gone!...

After 452 days of building my GTR the car has today returned to Ultima.

Tuesday was spent messing around checking electrics etc, among the checks were the Accusump system and the radiator fans. The Accusump provides additional oil to the engine under surge conditions (heavy cornering, acceleration & braking) and also during starting (very useful as @80% of engine wear takes place during starting). The Accusump can be heard to be working when the ignition has been turned on and this was confirmed. The Stack dash also displayed and increase in psi for the oil pressure, so all ok there. The engine as warmed to @ 90 degrees and the twin fans kicked in at about 85, ok there too.  Managed to geta little cleaning in also and the car looks a lot better for it.

         

The collection was scheduled for 8:00am this morning (04/02/2004) and at around 8:15 the now familiar Ultima trailer arrived. Within around 15mins the car was on the trailer (I drove it on, bit scary!) then secured. It was at this point that we said our goodbyes to what has been the biggest project of my life (and probably my fathers too!). Early reflections of the last 15 months or so reveal what a massive achievement it is and we are very proud of what we have done (lets hope the boys at the factory agree).
 

                   

SVA is next Tuesday...

Ultima's Impressed...

After much anticipation and worry, today at around 4:00pm I got the phone call from Richard at Ultima.  The car has passed its SVA test (yippee!).  While on the phone Richard was kind enough to pass several positive comments about the quality of the build.  Richard also made some very positive comments about the dash (the 3 months of hard work was well worth it!), thanks guys...

While on the phone it was confirmed that the front lights had been repaired and glazed, and also the accelerator cable had been moved (not too sure why).  Jobs to be done are rear wing, side front brake vents (read cut large holes in body, too scary for me!) and also they reckon they can clear up the mess I made of the windscreen (ooops!).  The good news is that they have a good couple of weeks now with the car (no need to rush, hint, hint...).

Next week it's time for the insurance (I'm not sure Third Party is gonna be enough)...

Insurance & Safety...

After much hunting and bartering I have finally sorted the insurance for the GTR.  The best deal was got through a company called Classic Line (recommended by Ultima) pretty damn good too.

£698.000 (£500 excess)    -    3,000 miles per year, Thatcham category 2 immobiliser (fitted by Ultima, TOAD I believe)

Also while on the phone to Richard today it was decided to fit a rear canopy warning latch system, this has now been fitted to all of Ultima's demonstrators.  This device warns you if you haven't fully latched down the rear canopy.  It works by having two LED's by the start button. These are connected to a micro switch on the rear latches so that if the rear latches aren't fully latched they flash warning you not to start the car with each LED for each of the rear latches.

                             

The cost for the kit is £48 plus VAT including instructions and the factory charge £35 plus VAT to fit it.