It definitely feels like the pre Christmas rush is well underway in the Fraser Factory with too many cars and not enough space being the order of the day. We have been making great progress on some of our long term projects and managed to slip a few small jobs in between.
Over the last few years, we have been assisting a local customer who has been building a Lotus seven replica that was built by Peter Bruin. Alister has been working away on his car constantly and we have finally got the car ready to present to the certifier for hopefully it’s final LV inspection. Although not a Fraser, it is a bit of a blast from the past, running a Ford crossflow and a pair of Dellorto carburettors, narrow track suspension and a live rear axle. It is probably what working at Fraser Cars in the late 80’s and early 90’s was like!
Peter’s KE25 Corolla has had a new engine built and fitted on the hunt for more power. Unfortunately it didn’t go quite to plan…. When the car went to the dyno the tuners struggled to get enough timing into it for it to make power, got the inkling that something was wrong and pulled it before anything was damaged. After pulling the motor power it was discovered that an incorrect measurement was taken, resulting in too much stroke and the static compression figure being too high. This has now been remedied, the motor is back in the car and ready to go to dyno again next week. Fingers crossed this time!
Alun’s Cobra is part way through the installation of Jenvey heritage throttle body 8 stacks. We had a few issues around the intake manifold not quite being quite right but a bit of fettling sorted it out. It has now been wired up and we are just working through the last of the plumbing. Fingers crossed we should be up and running before we break up for Christmas.
Geoff’s BMW 2002 restomod is coming along nicely, the engine is now mounted, the cooling system is 90% done and we are now focusing on the firewall and tunnel modifications we require to get it all to fit. We are waiting for KW suspension to supply us the custom shocks and then we can begin work on the custom front end and steering. Projects like this are great, we have to try to anticipate all the different systems required and come up with ways that integrate everything as seamlessly as possible. It’s very rewarding when a plan comes together.
Stuart has dropped off his 1957 Jaguar XK140 for us to finish. This car was owned by a family member who was a panel beater. Stuart inherited it as a pile of parts and has put it together to the state that it is currently in. He has engaged us to complete the assembly, make sure it is safe and sound, run it through certification, repair certification and compliance and get it driving nicely. After Scotty, our trimmer has sorted out the interior, it should be a really nice car.
Callan has two of his cars in our shop currently. We are assembling a BMW E30 with a rotary engine and a superwide bodykit. This is a long term project with lots of fabrication, wiring, assembly and design still to go. We have the suspension fitted, the motor and box assembled and installed in the car and are now beginning to work through the fab work that is outstanding. His other car is a very powerful Mazda RX8. This car has just had a gearbox upgrade and we are getting the car re-certified for this. We have also got the brakes working as they should and will be modifying the intake plumping to remove the silicone joiners as these are ballooning substantially when it makes lots of boost.
We have just finished Jonathan’s Ariel Atom and are awaiting the LV certification to activate so we can run it through compliance. It is then being put on a truck and shipped down to Christchurch where it will live. If you are down that way and see a blur go past, it’s probably Jonathan!
We’re closing for a summer break on Friday 20 December 2024, and we’ll be back tanned and relaxed on Monday 13 January 2025.
