Singapore LS7 GTR
Discussion
I dropped in to see Bernard and Willy in Singapore yesterday.
This is the first car these two have ever worked on and they have done a GREAT job!!! They've jumped straight into the deep end.
Apparently they stumbled accross the Ultima website and thought it looked like a good idea, so ordered a kit from UK, and a bunch of tools and got into it. They bought just about every tool you could think of direct from a manufacturer in China for under USD1000....
They've done some cool stuff inside.. they've retrimmed it in VERY nice black nappa leather with yellow stitching and yellow ULTIMA script.
I'm sure one of them will chip in and tell everyone what the dash and ICE is... they have it linked to the ECU
They had new cat + mufflers made in Malaysia in stainless that are quite nice.
Trying to sort out a few thing with the engine... we took it for a quick spin up the road with no windscreen and scared the locals. We're going to get together again next weekend and try to sort out a running problem, seems like a sensor might be at fault.
I think this was the first time Bernard had been in the passenger seat... it was not running anywhere near 100%, but I feel that we were lucky the seat still had the plastic on it....
I only had by phone with me so sorry about the crappy shots.
If any of you guys are passing through Singapore look them up.... good guys with a very cool Ultima.
They have a little finishing off to do, then they have to work out how to get it registered in Singapore... like Hong Kong there is no set way to do this... but they are working on it.




This is the first car these two have ever worked on and they have done a GREAT job!!! They've jumped straight into the deep end.
Apparently they stumbled accross the Ultima website and thought it looked like a good idea, so ordered a kit from UK, and a bunch of tools and got into it. They bought just about every tool you could think of direct from a manufacturer in China for under USD1000....
They've done some cool stuff inside.. they've retrimmed it in VERY nice black nappa leather with yellow stitching and yellow ULTIMA script.
I'm sure one of them will chip in and tell everyone what the dash and ICE is... they have it linked to the ECU
They had new cat + mufflers made in Malaysia in stainless that are quite nice.
Trying to sort out a few thing with the engine... we took it for a quick spin up the road with no windscreen and scared the locals. We're going to get together again next weekend and try to sort out a running problem, seems like a sensor might be at fault.
I think this was the first time Bernard had been in the passenger seat... it was not running anywhere near 100%, but I feel that we were lucky the seat still had the plastic on it....
I only had by phone with me so sorry about the crappy shots.
If any of you guys are passing through Singapore look them up.... good guys with a very cool Ultima.
They have a little finishing off to do, then they have to work out how to get it registered in Singapore... like Hong Kong there is no set way to do this... but they are working on it.




Sorry guys, didn't see the post until just now. Thanks crafty for putting up the pics!
As crafty mentioned we ordered tools directly from http://www.torintools.com/ in Shanghai. Was not that difficult. Bessie from sales writes good English and it doesn't hurt that Bernard speaks Chinese. They were kind enough to accomodate our teeny weeny order. When we first asked about ordering a toolbox she asked how many 20-ft containers of the stuff we'd like to have ... ummmhh, 1 item only please ... In any case PM me if you guys have further questions about Torin Tools. I can only recommend them.
As for the interior we actually copied quite a fair bit from crafty's awesome GTR. Early in our build we made a trip up to HK to see his car and came away with a couple of top tips:
1. Putting in a nice leather interior. Getting a local craftsman to do everything can be tricky down here. There is hardly anyone who's willing to take on the job. In the end Bernard and I had to do a good deal ourselves. We found a Malaysian wholesaler that had nappa leather in stock for about GBP200 a hide. And finally we managed to convince someone to do the stitching for us. Good knows that's something we REALLY didn't want to do ourselves!
2. Removable instrument dash. We followed crafty's example by cutting a big rectangle into the front dash GRP. Then we designed a simple CAD drawing of what we wanted our dash to look like, handed it over to a company that does acryllic, perspex related stuff for laser cutting. Cost about GBP20-30 all in. The beauty of this is that you can remove the whole front end section without much fuss and gain access to all the wiring behind it. This is a MUST DO ... IMHO!
3. The electronics. That's where Bernard's expertise comes in. We got ourselves the Aimsports MXL Pista. Hooked it up to the ECU. Added a "carputer" from Korean company Infill which is basically a fully functional PC that you can link to your ECU, SatNav, telemetry system, etc. We also couldn't help to stick in a 6.1 sound system. This may put off the purists but our goal was not so much to make a pure track day machine but something that will compare favourably on all fronts with those GBP200k+ cars
Hi Paul,
sorry I can't give you much detail on the buttons. I was trawling through one of the electronic stores (outlets for wholesalers, there are tons of them in Singapore) and I believe they were originally lift buttons. Yeah, I liked the fact that they light up nicely
... Will keep you posted when I come across them again!
Hi Simon,
do let us know when you're in Singapore. We'd be happy to bring you around and get your opinion on the car. As crafty mentioned we're still fixing a few bugs. Unfortunately work (the one that pays the bills ...) has kept us so busy such that we haven't gotten much done lately.
Cheers,
Willy
As crafty mentioned we ordered tools directly from http://www.torintools.com/ in Shanghai. Was not that difficult. Bessie from sales writes good English and it doesn't hurt that Bernard speaks Chinese. They were kind enough to accomodate our teeny weeny order. When we first asked about ordering a toolbox she asked how many 20-ft containers of the stuff we'd like to have ... ummmhh, 1 item only please ... In any case PM me if you guys have further questions about Torin Tools. I can only recommend them.
As for the interior we actually copied quite a fair bit from crafty's awesome GTR. Early in our build we made a trip up to HK to see his car and came away with a couple of top tips:
1. Putting in a nice leather interior. Getting a local craftsman to do everything can be tricky down here. There is hardly anyone who's willing to take on the job. In the end Bernard and I had to do a good deal ourselves. We found a Malaysian wholesaler that had nappa leather in stock for about GBP200 a hide. And finally we managed to convince someone to do the stitching for us. Good knows that's something we REALLY didn't want to do ourselves!
2. Removable instrument dash. We followed crafty's example by cutting a big rectangle into the front dash GRP. Then we designed a simple CAD drawing of what we wanted our dash to look like, handed it over to a company that does acryllic, perspex related stuff for laser cutting. Cost about GBP20-30 all in. The beauty of this is that you can remove the whole front end section without much fuss and gain access to all the wiring behind it. This is a MUST DO ... IMHO!
3. The electronics. That's where Bernard's expertise comes in. We got ourselves the Aimsports MXL Pista. Hooked it up to the ECU. Added a "carputer" from Korean company Infill which is basically a fully functional PC that you can link to your ECU, SatNav, telemetry system, etc. We also couldn't help to stick in a 6.1 sound system. This may put off the purists but our goal was not so much to make a pure track day machine but something that will compare favourably on all fronts with those GBP200k+ cars

Hi Paul,
sorry I can't give you much detail on the buttons. I was trawling through one of the electronic stores (outlets for wholesalers, there are tons of them in Singapore) and I believe they were originally lift buttons. Yeah, I liked the fact that they light up nicely
... Will keep you posted when I come across them again!Hi Simon,
do let us know when you're in Singapore. We'd be happy to bring you around and get your opinion on the car. As crafty mentioned we're still fixing a few bugs. Unfortunately work (the one that pays the bills ...) has kept us so busy such that we haven't gotten much done lately.
Cheers,
Willy
Buttons are click on/off switches, with a led ring (comes in blue or red).
Bought them at local electronics store, I think about $15 USD a piece if
I remember correctly.
Btw, some other info handy:
- bought extra VW headlamp flash relay (good idea)
- extra nylon (or metal) eyelets for gas struts for the doors def a good idea
- looking at a voltage regulator / car capacitor as the startup cranking
drops voltage, and reboots electronics that are on
- ensure cats are clean
- extra o2 sensors handy (comes at cost of about $70 USD / pc)
Extra InfillG4 unit for sale, if anybody wants.
Still debugging engine at low revs (i.e. <800rpm)..
Bernard
Bought them at local electronics store, I think about $15 USD a piece if
I remember correctly.
Btw, some other info handy:
- bought extra VW headlamp flash relay (good idea)
- extra nylon (or metal) eyelets for gas struts for the doors def a good idea
- looking at a voltage regulator / car capacitor as the startup cranking
drops voltage, and reboots electronics that are on
- ensure cats are clean
- extra o2 sensors handy (comes at cost of about $70 USD / pc)
Extra InfillG4 unit for sale, if anybody wants.
Still debugging engine at low revs (i.e. <800rpm)..
Bernard
Edited by DiscUltima on Monday 6th April 16:35
Hi, I see you hooked up your AIM dash to the ECU. Which ECU are you using for that LS7, I all see that your not using a MAF sensor, so I take it it's not a GM ECU ??
I have a LS7 and want the same Dash as I fitted one the GTW and loved it. Using the Can hi/lo sending all the ECU info to the dash made the dash simple, but I no Aim had trouble getting the CAN Protocol for the GM ECU's ....
They sell Torin tool boxes here in Costco, I wounder how much they are from the OEM ??
I have a LS7 and want the same Dash as I fitted one the GTW and loved it. Using the Can hi/lo sending all the ECU info to the dash made the dash simple, but I no Aim had trouble getting the CAN Protocol for the GM ECU's ....
They sell Torin tool boxes here in Costco, I wounder how much they are from the OEM ??
crafty, aim for following weekend (apr18-19).. would be good to catch up.
- o2 sensors replaced (i'll hv to upload a pic of what semi dirty o2
sensors look like)
- hoses replaced
- maybe i'm not applying enough gas, but still hving some stalls
at low revs.. idle is at 800-900 rpm and not on long enough to
consider engine warm
gtrclive, our ecu (after a subproject in googling) is acdelco part#12597121
yes, connected to AIM Pista MXL (can protocol implemented, hook-up all ok)
(just heard CJulian/Rduart at their stage of hooking their
schwartz ecu/harness to RacePak setup)
i'll hv to contact u later re speedo sensor..
how do you see we're not using MAF sensor? (it shd be there, standard
MAF sensor and MAP sensor ard the throttle body area)
TorinTools px fyi -- tool box w 16 sets $350 usd, crane/hoist $60-70 usd
then u hv to deal with all the shipping/documents/etc/etc costs
- o2 sensors replaced (i'll hv to upload a pic of what semi dirty o2
sensors look like)
- hoses replaced
- maybe i'm not applying enough gas, but still hving some stalls
at low revs.. idle is at 800-900 rpm and not on long enough to
consider engine warm
gtrclive, our ecu (after a subproject in googling) is acdelco part#12597121
yes, connected to AIM Pista MXL (can protocol implemented, hook-up all ok)
(just heard CJulian/Rduart at their stage of hooking their
schwartz ecu/harness to RacePak setup)
i'll hv to contact u later re speedo sensor..
how do you see we're not using MAF sensor? (it shd be there, standard
MAF sensor and MAP sensor ard the throttle body area)
TorinTools px fyi -- tool box w 16 sets $350 usd, crane/hoist $60-70 usd
then u hv to deal with all the shipping/documents/etc/etc costs
Edited by DiscUltima on Wednesday 8th April 16:45
gtrclive, think after checking with US sites we came to the conclusion that getting stuff directly from torin tools is about 50% cheaper than US internet prices. Our order list was:
1. Complete range of 16 tool tray sets – 1 item each of SXTS01, SXTS02, SXTS03, …, SXTS15, SXTS16.
2. Tool cabinet – 1 item of SXD2132-X
3. Tool cart – 1 item of SXC321A
4. Car creepers – 2 items of SRC4021
5. Car seats – 2 items of SRS6762
6. Garage jacks – 2 items of SJF3502
7. Jack stands 3 tons – 6 pairs of SJD0130
8. Jack stands 6 tons – 6 pairs of SJD0160
9. Engine stands 1500lbs foldable – 2 items of SLE6801
10. Engine cranes 2t foldable – 2 items of SLG0220X
The whole lot for about US$470 excluding shipping. Pretty good deal. So if you've got cheap shipping options and you want to buy a lot at one go then this is a good option.
1. Complete range of 16 tool tray sets – 1 item each of SXTS01, SXTS02, SXTS03, …, SXTS15, SXTS16.
2. Tool cabinet – 1 item of SXD2132-X
3. Tool cart – 1 item of SXC321A
4. Car creepers – 2 items of SRC4021
5. Car seats – 2 items of SRS6762
6. Garage jacks – 2 items of SJF3502
7. Jack stands 3 tons – 6 pairs of SJD0130
8. Jack stands 6 tons – 6 pairs of SJD0160
9. Engine stands 1500lbs foldable – 2 items of SLE6801
10. Engine cranes 2t foldable – 2 items of SLG0220X
The whole lot for about US$470 excluding shipping. Pretty good deal. So if you've got cheap shipping options and you want to buy a lot at one go then this is a good option.
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Might be out in Singapore with work later in the year........I'll be sure to give you guys a shout!