On Sunday Annette and I made the short trip to the National Kit Car Motor Show at Stoneleigh, where my rolling chassis was being displayed on the Ultima Sports stand. Once again the chassis was surrounded by punters many of the not being able to resist the urge to tamper with something (Annette was not pleased).

But the bigger surprise was the fact that I was at first unsure that the chassis was even mine, why?  Well the first thing was the chassis was now on its wheels for the first time and this immediately transforms the look of the car. The petrol tanks had also been fitted as had the seats (not mine though). The side pod closure panels had also been fitted and looked damn good too.

The boys at Ultima also had a little extra work to do as well, as they had found the left hand (passenger side) aluminium coolant pipe to be protruding too far into the engine bay. This had prevented the fuel tank form fitting in position. The pipe assembly was removed and repositioned (thanks guys).

Also while I was there I spent a little more money, well it would be rude not to. Most Ultima owners/builders want to personalise their car in one way or another and I wanted to try and create my own style of interior. I have already ordered alcantara seats from Ultima with a yellow logo (Ultima) embroidered in the seat and while I was at Stoneleigh I ordered some custom made harnesses from Sabelt (these are Red with a yellow Sabelt logo). Please contact Steve Bennett at Sabelt for further details if you are interested. Please note these are not currently Ultima recommended harnesses.

I also purchased some switches these are also being made but I am hoping to use these to replace the black rocker switches normally located on the left hand side of the cockpit. As and when I get these I will post some piccies and contact info for people who may be interested.

So body fit will be taking place this week and next, will post piccies direct from Ultima as and when I get them. I have updated the Gallery with some new pics from the show.  Laters…

Here's a couple of pics from the body fit currently being done at the Ultima Factory.

More updates from the factory...

Have also now received the additional switchgear that I had ordered and on Monday will provide a full update as to my plans, with piccies of all the new switches etc...

Technology lets me down...

Unfortunately I cannot bring you any pictures of the switches as my camera seems unable to take any decent quality pic up close (snifff, sniff).  I am attempting to borrow a camera tomorrow so hope to post the pics then....

Dash info updated (at last)...

I have now updated the My Car section adding all the current info about the switches that I have had made for the GTR.  I will update further info (supplier/contact) etc over the next couple of days.  Hopefully it wont be long now before I get my car back (I've been missing it snifff,sniff)...

Dash info updated again & she's coming home...

I have added some further details to the My Car section, any futher questions the just drop me a email...

Also great news is that I will be getting the GTR back from the boys at Ultima on Monday 26th, will give full update on Monday (can't wait), bye for now.

She's all finished and on her way home...

Richard has kindly sent some pics of the completed 'full body fit', cheers guys.

It's arrived...

So the big day arrives and my father and I wait for our baby to be returned. The usual early morning start of 8:00am is the order of the day but Graham has been known to be early!. 8:30am and still no Ultima (read beginning to get worrying thoughts now), but minutes later the familiar van can be seen at the top of the road (its arrived!). And what's that behind it, it's a bright red race car, it looks awesome in the distance with the early morning sun bouncing of the bright red gel coat, as it gets closer my father and I exchange that glance that says (wow! (read lots of superlatives)), it is already looking that good...

The first job of the day is to get Graham a cuppa and for my father and I to remove the front and rear canopies. These will be stored in my garage while the chassis continues its build at my fathers. The canopies are easily removed, it's just a case of removing the 4 bolts holding the rose joints in place (don't be tempted to remove the rose joints themselves as these have been set for optimum panel alignment (thanks Andy)). With the panels now safely stored in the garage the chassis was transported the short distance to my fathers.

While Graham prepared the car for unloading my father and I set about emptying the van of the additional boxes, there were far more than I thought, still lots to do then. The GTR was then rolled gently (very gently) from the trailer and took up its new home in my fathers garage. With the goodbyes and thanks out of the way it was time to study the car, so much had changed it was difficult to know where to start...

The amount of work that the Ultima boys had put in was massive, there sure is a lot more to the body fit than one would imagine. The shut lines were perfect and it is a shame that I still have to remove the doors to spay the insides (maybe this should of been done at the same time as the 'full fit', hindsight, me being lazy...). After a good poke around it was time to call it a day and not jump straight in, this weekend I will start on the dash, and next week hopefully the updates will get back to normal. Until then enjoy the piccies...