Evening folks,
Ok, just a short update. In post #1122, I mentioned "other stuff" outside of this car project which was currently in play. Well, as of Monday evening, I resigned from my current job so that I could accept a really fantastic opportunity with a competitive company. As such, I'm now on "Gardening Leave" for a month.
The list of jobs to do in this spare month is long (and getting longer!), and I've now come to a decision on the next steps for this project.
I'm not going to be undertaking the rebuild myself, for all the reasons I explained previously. My new job will be extremely challenging, it's with a S/W start-up (although a relatively mature start-up, they're in Series E funding), and so it's all about getting out there and making a splash. All achievable, but it's going to need a lot of dedication. Added to which, I've been delaying a house project for almost 5 years now. My enthusiasm really isn't with the prospect of tearing down the engine again, but is with finally trying to get the house project underway, working with my Dad to do so.
Chris and I have spoken a few times the last couple of weeks about the "Rolls Royce" option, and much as I would love to send the car over to AZ, frankly, the money just isn't there to cater for that magnitude of spend. This project should have been done by now, no more spending, but after I received the costs from the shipping company, my estimated additional spend for this option would be approaching £20k/$26k by the time you take into account any parts needed (could be major), machining work and then the dyno time to presumably start again and complete a full calibration. I then need to fly over and test drive, make sure I'm happy, then wait another 50 days or so to receive it in England...Also, this is
assuming the £/$ exchange rate doesn't tank due to Brexit. That's a significant risk with the level of uncertainty in the UK at the moment. Available funds also need to be spent on the house project...
So, the way forward for me has been for me to re-aquaint myself with the guys at Fearnsport, based up at Silverstone in the UK "Midlands". I've known Matt for over a decade; they PPI'd a couple of GT3's including the one I then purchased. They then looked after servicing it whilst in my ownership, and have since gone over the 964 Turbo very thoroughly for the insurance assessment a few years ago. They're a good bunch, and certainly look after some lovely projects; for those who use Instagram, you may follow "Andy74b"...owner of some fantastic toys, and currently having a Singer built for him. In addition Fearnsport are building Andy a rather trick 993, and I *think* may have worked on his F40. Other stuff that I've seen up there belonging to some of the well known PistonHeads guys include 993 GT's, C-GT's, the 'Ring record holder (in the day)
993 "Black Snake", some Ruf's, and funnily enough another F40 belonging to a guy I know of, which has just left the workshops (freeing up a space on the lift for my car). Oh, and a 997.2 GT3 Cup engine swap into a 996 GT3 Mk1, which looks fantastic, just like a factory install (and wasn't as simple as you may think!). I was up there once when Matt was midway through rebuilding a 959 engine, for a car with an anonymous owner that sits in storage. Think it's safe to say that he knows his stuff.
So, I think (hope) I'm in safe hands. I know Matt is a perfectionist, and someone I've always got on very well with over the years. The added bonus is that they're only a stones throw (15miles) from Northampton Motorsport, so when rebuilt, it's going to be very easy to get it across to Troy for dyno completion.
Tonights job is to tidy some stuff up, mount the ECU under the passenger seat and get it presentable (vacuum the carpets...) ready for a drive up there tomorrow. Weather forecast looks unbelievably crap, but hey-ho, a light right foot and plenty of time to get there. I have to say, it's almost a massive weight off my shoulders. I know I won't have the satisfaction of doing it end-to-end, but in fairness I have done most of it - all the fabrication and "ideas" on how to do things, I've got my hands well-and-truly dirty over 7yrs, become intimately familiar with the architecture of the engine, but to now know that it's someone elses (a Pro's) responsibility to get it finished is actually a huge relief. "I've served my time"!! And there's still the other chassis stuff to do at a later date...suspension refresh, etc etc.
Not such a short update after all....