Took some pics at fancy tuning/fabrication shop where my buddy is welder/tuner/mechanic/fabrication artist:


Ferrari getting twin turbos with wastegate mounted between them...





Little 1" long chamber on downpipe just after turbo is muffler:




Rear Brakes:




The shop:





Audi R8 getting twins:







Another one waiting for fab:




Ultima awaiting engine:



Vroom vvvrrroooomm!




My buddies tweekin' and tunerrin'

 

sex

 

I'll take the Ultima please.

 

That'd be an awesome job to have, I envy your buddy.

 

TT r8 for me please kthxbi

 

(Good to see he got the work on the GTR done.)

This.

 

I'll take the Ferrari.

 

I hate people who can weld straighter than I can draw.

With a ruler.

Very cool ****.

 

quality ******* work. nice pics

 

Beautiful fab work and cars!

 

I want to go to there.

 

I'll take the NA Ultima, please.

 

I always wanted one so I sat in it and my head hits even without a helmet. So disappointed. And the seat is on the floor so it won't go lower. Maybe it could be leaned back, idk. I can tell you to never get into or out of it with people watching you, because you won't look cool. It is a really convoluted process involving stretching at odd angles.

Not done yet. Had issues with strength of charging system of all things. This was the second dyno tuning attempt. The first time the fuel system came up short under higher boostststs. He's using the newest AEM ecu and it controls all sorts of nice things. He is using dry NAWS as a spool aid and it is controlled by the AEM to only come on after a certain wheel speed, and rpms are achieved and then cuts off at a certain boost level after spooling is accomplished. A 50hp nitrous shot yielded him a 150hp bump in his spooling up section of the pull at the same rpm level in preliminary tuning. More to come on that as things develop.

Yeah, he is very meticulous. He builds a permanent jig for every system he builds so that if another LP540, Superleggera, or Ford GT comes in wanting a kit after the first one he can build it quicker and more precisely. All of the cars under black covers in the background are Lambos of various sorts. Some are already TT and some are getting kits built and installed. He is very meticulous as a tuner as well.

No.


I deleted the picture of the twin turbo Viper I took because it was a little blurry. I guess I should have kept it for you guys.

 

So, what do all these great cars do when they leave the shop? Do they sit in a garage and collect dust? Do they run the TX mile? What do you do with a $300k Ferrari with $100k of turbo? Probably un-Ferrari-like things.

 

Call me crazy, but I really prefer the look (both inside and outside) of the Factory Five GTM over the Ultima.

 

You get bitchez

 

The Factory Five looks way too much like a over-kitted Corvette.

 

Yeah, I guess I can see that. The fundamental stance is similar.

To me, it evokes more of a Noble / Ford GT / Koenigseggisseggggnignigsegigisegggg sort of image.

The Ultima just seems like it's trying too hard. The bubble canopy and outlandish front fenders just say "Batmobile" to me.

 

Mmmmm Noble. The M12 is such a good looking car. I do see the Ford GT in the windshield/a-pillars though. I think I like the Ultima because it's rather small.

 

That's the real tragedy of any kit car that isn't specifically a replica of something. No matter what you do, people are always going to be dissecting it and fan-wanking about what bits of the design you stole from where.

That said, I would already own two 550 Spyder kits if somebody made one that didn't weigh a ton and didn't also use the shitty torsion-beam suspension and swingaxle transmission from an early-model VW Beetle.