So, things were progressing quite well until around a month ago, but now, most of the significant progress has halted, due to COVID-19.
The main thing that was in progress was the build of the engine and gearbox by VETECH engineering. That was progressing well during February and early March, however, since the lockdown, that work has stopped, as VETECH turn their hand to more important tasks, like making face shields for the NHS. I don’t know how long it will take before they’re up & running again, as that will depend on the spread of the virus and when lockdown restrictions are lifted, but I’m not expecting it to be any time soon.
As well as the engine & gearbox work, VETECH also have my new front and rear subframes, as they’re making some modifications to them for me with their purpose made jigs, before they get powder coated. Without an engine, gearbox or subframes, I’m a bit limited as to what I can get done on the mini.
I’ve been using the time in lockdown to do some planning and to order some of the smaller components that I’ll need soon after the engine/gearbox and subframes arrive. Things like subframe mounts, suspension and brake components, fuel tanks, that sort of thing.
One decision that I’ve been thinking about for some time is what colour to paint PJ once all the bodywork is completed. He’s going to stay red, but I wasn’t sure what exact shade of red. I’m looking for quite a deep red, rather than a bright Ferrari type red. I narrowed down my choice to two shades; BMW Imola Red, or Porsche Carmine Red. I saw a Porsche 991 GTS in Carmine Red at Caffeine & Machine earlier this year and I also saw a BMW E30 M3 painted in BMW Imola Red (the colour wasn’t standard on that car, but the owner had painted it at a later date) at a PistonHeads Sunday Service. Having seen both shades in real life, I decided I preferred the BMW colour. I ordered a couple of rattle cans of Imola Red and I tried them out on my boot lid, to get an idea of what it would look like on the car.
As you can see in the above photos, the finish was a little orange-peely straight after spraying. I’m not sure why that is, I guess I did something wrong, but it’s only a test, so not a big deal. A bit of a MOP with some cutting compound, followed by a regular polish and some wax and it was looking much better, so I tried it on for size on PJ.
You can see the area around the boot lid is all currently finished in red oxide primer, but if you look at the (somewhat dust-covered) front end sat on top of PJ, you can see that the boot lid is a deeper shade of red than the original Flame Red colour that the front end is painted in.
The boot lid will be replaced by a carbon fibre mk1 style bootlid, however I expect my order with Carbon Weezel will be delayed due to COVID-19, so I’m not expecting the boot lid, wheel arches or roof skin to arrive any time soon.
In terms of what’s next, I want to prepare for the arrival of the engine as much as I can. First on the agenda is fuelling. I originally intended to fit a fuel cell centrally in the boot, however as I want to use PJ for long trips to mini shows, including camping, I could really use the boot space not all being taken up by a fuel cell. What I’ve decided to do instead is to fit a 7.5 gallon MPI fuel tank. This can be modified with a higher-flowing fuel pump in-tank, which will reduce the noise compared to an external pump. I’ll then also fit a 5.5 gallon right-hand tank, which will increase fuel capacity to usable levels for longer journeys, whilst still leaving a usable boot space. I have the fuel tanks, fitting kit and balancing pipework on order from Mini Spares, so fitting of the brackets and cutting the filler neck hole for the right hand tank will likely be my next job.