Factory OD

[Captain Slog]

Sunday, 03/08/2008 11:am (ish)

More to follow

[eliot]

Note the huddle of disinterested wives/gf's

[LuckyP]

Great day had. I'd say at least half of the cars were PHers, so I'll retract my statement of a few days ago where I said we are sometimes guilty of thinking that Pistonheads is the centre for all things Ultima.....

....It definately is!!!

Thanks to Ricard and Ted for putting of a brill FOD. Good grub (although the cheesy Wotsits were missing )

Richard another thumbs up for playing ball with the presentation of the 'Lifetime Achievement Award'....a worthy winner!!!

I hope we see a few of those guys asking all the questions and taking snaps of our cars, on here to get to know the product and the people that own it. I've come to the conclusion that we are a really nice bunch of people...
....except Wayne, who again, half scared some poor lad to death when joking to Dave that he shouldn't take photos, 'It's 'dem eyes!! :roll eyes:'

News just in....apparently it was gay pride Sunday in Brighton........that'll explain the lack of Can-Ams!!

[LuckyP]

eliot said:

Note the huddle of disinterested wives/gf's

I can't quite make out whose car they are all huddled around

[bluesatin]

Lucky

They where waiting for mine to arrive!

[LuckyP]

[gingerpaul]

Hi all. Thanks to those of you who took the time to chat to me about your cars, particularly Steve for letting me try his car for size. Very interesting to talk over the car with people who have put them together. I must say that a lot of my concerns and queries have been sorted today and now I'm fairly certain my next project will be an Ultima. I'm building a spec in my head already.

I was surprised by how against personal modifications the factory are though. I would have thought that they would encourage people to experiment so that more can be learnt about the car. Even with regards to engines they seemed pretty keen for everyone to use American Speed engines. It made me a little uneasy about the support one might expect should you deviate from the standard build.

Also, how much work does the factory actually do with regards to fabrication? I was surprised by how small their premises are compared with someone like Dax, who I've visited many times whilst building my Rush and who do a lot of fabrication on site. It looked like the factory was large enough to support the assembly of production cars, but not really to make many of the components. This isn't meant to be a critisism, I was just surprised and was wondering which bits they themselves make.

Thanks again. I think I might frequent this little corner of PH a little more often now.

[V8OWNER]

gingerpaul said:

Hi all.

Gingerpaul, im guessing your the same gingerpaul from the Dax forum then..!

Sounds like your going through exactly what I went through! Dax's setup is very slick and 'customer is always right approach'.. Ultima seem a little more set in there ways..

Give me a shout if you fancy a chat and a nose over a 1/3 built car..!

[durbster]

Other than ogling them at Le Mans a few years back and knowing that they are bloody quick, I didn't know too much about Ultima so I wandered down the road to the open day and really enjoyed it. Had a good chat with a staff bloke who was very friendly and answered all my questions. I noticed half the cars had Pistonheads stickers on too so I guess it might have been your car I was staring at

Cheers for putting it on. I think I'm going to get to more of these sort of things because although it's out of my price range I really enjoy seeing them up close and also seeing where it all comes together.

One thing I didn't work out was how havingtwin fuel tanks works, can anyone elaborate?

[donkeasy]

Hi Guy's

Wanted to meet some peopele at the OD.
Left on saterday early with the campervan
and had 2!!! flat tires (one exploded) in france.
The french assistence on the road is a really shame.

Maybe next year....

till then

[Steve_D]

durbster said:

.......One thing I didn't work out was how having twin fuel tanks works, can anyone elaborate?

Both tanks have their own pump and level sender. A switch on the dash selects the tank to be used and the level sender so your fuel gauge shows the level in that tank.
Depending how you do the plumbing they can be independent or joined so they work as one tank.

Steve

[GTWayne]

^ If anyone was in any kind of doubt that Steve_D was not a worthy winner on Sunday, ' shame on you ' , he has not even stopped to catch his breath look, how humble is this man ?

[durbster]

Steve_D said:

durbster said:

.......One thing I didn't work out was how having twin fuel tanks works, can anyone elaborate?

Both tanks have their own pump and level sender. A switch on the dash selects the tank to be used and the level sender so your fuel gauge shows the level in that tank.
Depending how you do the plumbing they can be independent or joined so they work as one tank.

Steve

Thanks for that, so it's kind of like a boat I suppose,e xcept in this case it's all about weight distribution.

[gingerpaul]

V8OWNER said:

gingerpaul said:

Hi all.

Gingerpaul, im guessing your the same gingerpaul from the Dax forum then..!

Sounds like your going through exactly what I went through! Dax's setup is very slick and 'customer is always right approach'.. Ultima seem a little more set in there ways..

Give me a shout if you fancy a chat and a nose over a 1/3 built car..!

I am the one and the same.

I'd really like to have a look at one in progress so I might take you up on that. You're in Staines aren't you?

[Cerberus90]

Some very nice cars there on sunday. I especially liked the black one with the carbon fibre wheels.

I noticed that the one inside the unit/factory bit had the gear stick on the right hand side, next to the door. Is this the normal way, or can you get them in the middle. Both my dad and I said we thought we'd never get used to it being on that side if we bought an ultima.

I was actually surprised at how little they cost too. £35,000 for a full car, granted its only the base one, but it'll still be stupidly fast.

Just wish I could afford some insurance on one, it'd probably be more than the car,

[Steve_D]

Cerberus90 said:

.....I noticed that the one inside the unit/factory bit had the gear stick on the right hand side, next to the door. Is this the normal way, or can you get them in the middle. Both my dad and I said we thought we'd never get used to it being on that side if we bought an ultima........

Most cars are built with the shift down the side and have the Porsche G50 gearbox. It takes very little time to get used to it.
The centre shift is normally cable operated and is used with the other choice of gearbox made by Getrag but also for a Porsche application.

Steve

[toohuge]

I attended the open day and had a great time, a big thanks to Ted and the team for putting on the lunch etc and the the customers cars looked incredible. LuckyP i especially liked your wheels, very nice ;-)

[GTWayne]

Cerberus90 said:

I was actually surprised at how little they cost too. £35,000 for a full car

You are young and you have MUCH to learn

[kylemrushall]

GTWayne said:

Cerberus90 said:

I was actually surprised at how little they cost too. £35,000 for a full car

You are young and you have MUCH to learn

Aye.... Mine was 64k to build and im sure Waynes was a lot more!!

I cant believe the factory still quote that figure!!!!

[Fat Arnie]

Keeps the used prices in check Kyle ;-)

Edited by Fat Arnie on Monday 4th August 15:06