Miscellaneous Questions

[polus]

I’ve been trawling the web reading about Ultima’s for some time and would like some opinions of people more in the know. You might find these are stupid questions but I’m going to ask them anyway

Q1. Why are Ultima so keen to have the kits built with their wheels. Is it because they are their wheels or is there some technical reason?

Q2. I understand that the GTR has been designed with an American Speed V8 in-mind (mountings, weight, position), and that the factory wouldn’t support others been put in there BUT would there be any real problem in putting an BMW S62 V8 or Audi V8 engine in there? Maybe from an SVA stance?

Q3. From the website the minimum main parts can be bought for 20K which leaves me missing and engine and gearbox and….? How much have people beaten the price down by getting other parts from elsewhere...etc (although as a development Engineer I can appreciate how these projects spiral upwards in cost).

Ok time to humour me


>> Edited by polus on Monday 28th November 01:35

[steve_d]

polus said:

Q1. Why are Ultima so keen to have the kits built with their wheels. Is it because they are their wheels or is there some technical reason? Q2. I understand that the GTR has been designed with an American Speed V8 in-mind (mountings, weight, position), and that the factory wouldn’t support others been put in there BUT would there be any real problem in putting an BMW S62 V8 or Audi V8 engine in there? Maybe from an SVA stance? Q3. From the website the minimum main parts can be bought for 20K which leaves me missing and engine and gearbox and….? How much have people beaten the price down by getting other parts from elsewhere...etc (although as a development Engineer I can appreciate how these projects spiral upwards in cost).

A1. There is only a fingers worth of gap between tyre and body in some places so the tyre size, rim size and offset are critical. This is why the factory don’t want the hassle associated with your trials and tribulations for sourcing your own. They also have to consider what image your choice of wheel/tyre will give to the marque.

A2. It is designed for any early Chevy V8. Again, they can do without the hassle of supporting your engine/’box choice. If you use a younger version of any engine type you will have emissions and cat issues to deal with for SVA.

A3. I tried very hard to force the price down by various means but in many cases you will find it hard to beat the completeness and hassle reduction of the factory packages.

Steve

[GTRene]

A1. There is only a fingers worth of gap between tyre and body in some places so the tyre size, rim size and offset are critical. This is why the factory don’t want the hassle associated with your trials and tribulations for sourcing your own. They also have to consider what image your choice of wheel/tyre will give to the marque.

Steve
[/quote]

I thought there only where those tire/lights "problems" with the older sports?! when you wanted to change the wheels and tires...
But the man from the Technocars GTR told me he also wanted to change the front end of the car with the lights because he also had some "problems" when the tires hit the back of the lights at some point! so he wants to reshape the front and use other headlights! not four behind glas but completely different, I think more like TVR tuscan I guess?? don't know how to translate all from Dutch to English in my head but it promise a lot better things? to come, we wait and see.
René

>> Edited by GTRene on Monday 28th November 14:35

[polus]

I’ll continue to research the engine choice. I can understand that Ultima prefers to draw a fine line on what parts are used so as to control the quality of the final product. Some of the kits cars I’ve seen at shows are appalling.

I can’t find the picture but there was an Ultima with BBS style split rims. The inner pattern was like this: www.performancetyres.com/BBS_Wheels-Rx_Enlarged.jpg

Steve, if you don’t mind me asking how much (ball park figure) has your Ultima cost you.

Do you have a build diary?

Thanks.

[steve_d]

polus said:

.....Steve, if you don’t mind me asking how much (ball park figure) has your Ultima cost you. Do you have a build diary? Thanks.

£48K.
No build diary just a site with a collection of photos.

Steve

[steve_d]

GTRene
I'm not saying the 'finger wide' gap is an issue or problem but a design feature. The body being that close a fit is asthetically pleasing and probably took some time to achieve. A change to a different wheel/tyre combo could either be a problem in rubbing on the body or spoil the looks with over-large gaps.

Steve

[GTRene]

steve_d said:

GTRene I'm not saying the 'finger wide' gap is an issue or problem but a design feature. The body being that close a fit is asthetically pleasing and probably took some time to achieve. A change to a different wheel/tyre combo could either be a problem in rubbing on the body or spoil the looks with over-large gaps. Steve

Oké I understand, but the man at the Essen carshow talked also about that the backend of the frontlightunit is very close tho the tire? and at some point they hit that back end, and that also hapens? on some older sports if I was not mistaken, so its very narrow...and he want to redissign and fix that? if I understand that man good enough.
And ofcorse I like close fittings to! and not like lets say, an older Jaguar E-type when you look at the big gaps between tyre and bodywings
René

[polus]

steve_d said:

polus said: .....Steve, if you don’t mind me asking how much (ball park figure) has your Ultima cost you. Do you have a build diary? Thanks. £48K. No build diary just a site with a collection of photos. Steve

LOL I cant raise that kind of money... 30k is pushing it.

Ill keep dreaming

To aid this may I take a look through your pics?

>> Edited by polus on Monday 28th November 18:21

[polus]

Scrub that found it in your profile

[menostig]

A suggestion that you probably discounted because you want to build one. But so did I, then I bought a 4th hand Sports for ~£23k, and spent a happy 6 months (and £2k) debugging it and altering it's appearance a little. It is definitely 'my' car now. And I still have some money left in the kitty in case I decide to develop it for track-use.
Beats dreaming.

[polus]

Yeah that sure is an idea. Though building it is something I really want todo but it sure does beat dreaming