Hold the back Page.. Simons Hit the Road !!!!
Discussion
Stig said:
Si - a little bird tells me that a rather large 'DOH' is in order?
Little bird being Clive or Andy cos no one else knew!
A few rather large Doh's are in order! So far I have had a waterpump pulley dissintergrated and try and make its way through the bulkhead (at motorway speeds on the way home), I have had two 'new' fuel pumps fail (140 gallons per hour), a new MSD ignition unit, and a new alternator fail, all within about 48hrs. (Related as the alternator failed, spiking out the MSD). So at least I will have a spare after reconditioning.
Last night it threw another water-pump belt stranding me by the side of the road for an hour, then on the way home the ignition cut out requiring a tow back home for about half a mile
It's only a mish mash of teething problems and un-real co-incidences, but so far the car has failed every time bar once when it has been out! However, this I can tolerate because:
a) Everything is new, and it is just bad luck and component failure due to trying new things out which previously haven’t been done to this extent. These are not Ultima related problems, just engineering problems which were very bad luck.
b) On every occasion where I have had a problem, some member of the public car nut has offered to take me to a garage, or home or has physically helped me with road side repairs.
c) I have never driven such an attention magnet, and believe me I have had some weird and wonderful rides. The presence of the car causes people to stop dead in their tracks, and they follow you with their eyes until you are out of sight. I have had kids and adults wandering into my private drive at home and ring my bell to ask about the car. When I left it on the road to get some lunch in a pub, I found 20 people standing around it arguing about what it was and how fast it was. I had parked it next to a Jag XKR, and they ignored it completely :grin:
d) I was re-wiring the new MSD unit in the drive when some guy stopped in a cool looking VR6, and we got talking. I gave him a ride and we noticed some brake squeal from the front nearside. Later on that evening he brought me a carrier bag of anti squeal gel and a new large tin of brake cleaner thanking me for the ride – his comment, it’s the fastest ‘thing I have ever been in’.
It is quite simply a people magnet. I watch cyclists wobble and the car in front nearly hit the car in front because the driver is glued to the rear view mirror. On the street people wave, shout and one guy started dancing - no $hit!
The car makes a showman out of you, whether you like it or not, if you are not a people person, you soon will be when you drive an Ultima. I am normally quiet when in a decent car, but more and more I find myself “Doing a Clive”
and playing to the crowd 
Caning the damned thing hard is an entirely different story. I have a video camera going in that will watch my passengers face while they take a ride.
So far all passenger comments have been along the lines of: "Holy $hit!", or my mid 50's neighbour who is a large African motor mechanic and a Moreman (sp? religeous person) who gave me a good rendition of "Oh be Jesus..woa" at every gear change from second when I nailed it through to the red-line of fith...He has also bent my passenger "foot brake"
so I have had to straighten that out Quite simply, owning an Ultima IS a way of life, it’s another member of your family.
If you would like to become an overnight celebrity then this is the vehicle.
510 hp is cool, but I am getting used to it, so Clive, we will have to play with the NOS.
TOP CAR 12 OUT OF 10.
>> Edited by ultimasimon on Monday 18th August 13:14
Simon,
I just had a look at your site and WOW!!
Your car is immaculate!!
I once came across you site ages ago and have been unable to find it since. It is now added to my list of favourites.
BTW, The vid of Clive vs sit up and beg was interesting!
He had Clive worried for a while. I guess that that vid also highlights the GTRs biggest problem. Traction.
Has anyone fitted any kind of traction/launch control to their car??
Nice car Simon, seriously nice car
Andy
I just had a look at your site and WOW!!
Your car is immaculate!!
I once came across you site ages ago and have been unable to find it since. It is now added to my list of favourites.
BTW, The vid of Clive vs sit up and beg was interesting!
He had Clive worried for a while. I guess that that vid also highlights the GTRs biggest problem. Traction.
Has anyone fitted any kind of traction/launch control to their car??
Nice car Simon, seriously nice car
Andy
Cheers Doc; Blue Satin has launch control I do believe, and once set up works well. Thanks for the words of praise, although I did not build it, the factory did! I merely bought it second-hand and modified it as to what I wanted from the standard car.
Cheers Stig, just checking links, but slighlty wrong, was working on the Ult at my friends place after AA recovery from the previous night when the pulley gave way on the M40 motorway as previous post.
The car was actually in my mates drive for the afternoon, and both Clive and I were working on it when said guy offered help etc. He actually stopped because he was gob-smacked by the car, and not because it was broken down road side. He had not seen the car before in the flesh, and therefore not seen it appeared to be broken down as you say.
He is a quality petrol-head, and a genuine geezer which helped both of us out, and has put down a serious deposit on the new 3.0 TT model Noble and is expecting delivery of his new vehicle in March 2004. I guess that it is true to say that us car nuts are inexplicably linked. More confirmation that this car pulls people out of the woodwork, so to speak.
My friends Sony Video cam says it all after a brief blast - needless to say I can't give details for all the obvious reasons, but what I can say is that the my friend saw that the figures were in kph and not in MPH. It is, after all very easy to miss read a 185 km/h reading for a 185 MPH reading, and as you could expect this would simply not be possible as I am running in a new PETER KNIGHT dry-sumped race engine, and would not want to risk the new engine to this.
So in summing up; I am more than happy with the GTR performance so far. It's just bad luck that we have had the failures we have had. In my degree course many years ago, I have studied internal losses etc, so I fully appreciate the losses involved with a supercharger in respect of power gained against power lost (latent heat as one example, against driven power over gained power etc) in providing that etc, and would only be too glad in helping you achieve the correct figures to deal with the massive offset which occurs when using a blower.(Heat as well). I am duly excited as I have an additional 450 HP available if needed on top of my gross already attained, as my bottom end and fuel supply was originally meant to handle much more power if necessary from the Nitrous Oxide System. Our original target of 700HP has way since been substantially raised after we have added a progressive controller and opened our eyed as to what is readily available with the right equipment. It should be possible to add another 295 BHP on top of our 510 HP, if the management system is programmed correctly, and the new water injection system is set up correctly to prevent detonation. Nitrous Oxide IS an art, and we have to pay homage to our experienced American Gods who have been playin with this stuff for a lot longer than we have!
I was seriously cussing about modifying the factory dash 6 fuel lines to dash 8, but now that we have, I am confident (ask me again!) that we will not burn the pistons through due to starvation when we take the piss with our forged pistons and mad fuel expectations!
Cheers Stig, I look forward to meeting the 'blown' beast. It really aint about who's bigger or better, or willy waving in any form, but I am just interested in the chat from one car nut to another, and believe me we are both nuts.
Simon.
>> Edited by ultimasimon on Tuesday 19th August 22:39
Cheers Stig, just checking links, but slighlty wrong, was working on the Ult at my friends place after AA recovery from the previous night when the pulley gave way on the M40 motorway as previous post.
The car was actually in my mates drive for the afternoon, and both Clive and I were working on it when said guy offered help etc. He actually stopped because he was gob-smacked by the car, and not because it was broken down road side. He had not seen the car before in the flesh, and therefore not seen it appeared to be broken down as you say.
He is a quality petrol-head, and a genuine geezer which helped both of us out, and has put down a serious deposit on the new 3.0 TT model Noble and is expecting delivery of his new vehicle in March 2004. I guess that it is true to say that us car nuts are inexplicably linked. More confirmation that this car pulls people out of the woodwork, so to speak.
My friends Sony Video cam says it all after a brief blast - needless to say I can't give details for all the obvious reasons, but what I can say is that the my friend saw that the figures were in kph and not in MPH. It is, after all very easy to miss read a 185 km/h reading for a 185 MPH reading, and as you could expect this would simply not be possible as I am running in a new PETER KNIGHT dry-sumped race engine, and would not want to risk the new engine to this.
So in summing up; I am more than happy with the GTR performance so far. It's just bad luck that we have had the failures we have had. In my degree course many years ago, I have studied internal losses etc, so I fully appreciate the losses involved with a supercharger in respect of power gained against power lost (latent heat as one example, against driven power over gained power etc) in providing that etc, and would only be too glad in helping you achieve the correct figures to deal with the massive offset which occurs when using a blower.(Heat as well). I am duly excited as I have an additional 450 HP available if needed on top of my gross already attained, as my bottom end and fuel supply was originally meant to handle much more power if necessary from the Nitrous Oxide System. Our original target of 700HP has way since been substantially raised after we have added a progressive controller and opened our eyed as to what is readily available with the right equipment. It should be possible to add another 295 BHP on top of our 510 HP, if the management system is programmed correctly, and the new water injection system is set up correctly to prevent detonation. Nitrous Oxide IS an art, and we have to pay homage to our experienced American Gods who have been playin with this stuff for a lot longer than we have!
I was seriously cussing about modifying the factory dash 6 fuel lines to dash 8, but now that we have, I am confident (ask me again!) that we will not burn the pistons through due to starvation when we take the piss with our forged pistons and mad fuel expectations!
Cheers Stig, I look forward to meeting the 'blown' beast. It really aint about who's bigger or better, or willy waving in any form, but I am just interested in the chat from one car nut to another, and believe me we are both nuts.
Simon.
>> Edited by ultimasimon on Tuesday 19th August 22:39
Well, glad to hear you're getting it sorted and it's nothing too serious. All cars have teething problems, especially at this level of performance.
Now that mine's seen the track I've got a lot better idea of what needs to be done in order to get the most out of it, only part of this is power related.
700bhp with NOS is pretty hairy stuff! I wonder how long it will take you to get through a bottle of the stuff with 6.3l of displacement though?
It's going to be interesting finding out how you get on with it though. I'd never touch the stuff as I can't see the point on a circuit.
Good luck!
Now that mine's seen the track I've got a lot better idea of what needs to be done in order to get the most out of it, only part of this is power related.
700bhp with NOS is pretty hairy stuff! I wonder how long it will take you to get through a bottle of the stuff with 6.3l of displacement though?
It's going to be interesting finding out how you get on with it though. I'd never touch the stuff as I can't see the point on a circuit.
Good luck!
Stig said:
Well, glad to hear you're getting it sorted and it's nothing too serious. All cars have teething problems, especially at this level of performance.
Now that mine's seen the track I've got a lot better idea of what needs to be done in order to get the most out of it, only part of this is power related.
700bhp with NOS is pretty hairy stuff! I wonder how long it will take you to get through a bottle of the stuff with 6.3l of displacement though?
It's going to be interesting finding out how you get on with it though. I'd never touch the stuff as I can't see the point on a circuit.
Good luck!
In the side pods there is only enough room for a 5lb bottle, so it won't last very long! But the progressive controller helps as it meters the gas in much more effectively rather than just dumping the valve in the 'on' position.
I very much doubt if the gas could be used on a circuit as you would probably only get one lap out of it, but it was installed primarily for standing quarter strip use as I wanted a 10 second car. It's all well and good having this power but putting it down is an entirely different matter.
The rep said that they are under development and should be ready in the last quarter. They ought to pull their finger out really, cos there is a lot of cars running 18's and this size has been around for a while now. I like Dunlops, used to use them on my GSXR's, so I will have a look and see what's available.
In keeping with the fact that so far all Ultima's have run the strip with road legal tyres, I will do the same, as slicks are cheating a bit as you can only use them trackside. Also I do not have the slipper as I would rather the traction breaks before the G50 does! Hewland sequential is good, but comes in at around the same money as the engine, so that will have to wait.
In keeping with the fact that so far all Ultima's have run the strip with road legal tyres, I will do the same, as slicks are cheating a bit as you can only use them trackside. Also I do not have the slipper as I would rather the traction breaks before the G50 does! Hewland sequential is good, but comes in at around the same money as the engine, so that will have to wait.
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