It only took him 10 minutes to discover there were a few spots where the painter missed so we sent it to a local paint shop in Northridge, RNJ Customs, to get that rectified. We can’t have bare metal exposed. After getting the car back from the body shop with all the bottom facing areas that were missed now painted, it was time to get the GTV on jack stands so Anthony could remove the front and rear suspension and install Dynamat throughout the interior. Dynamat will make the car sound and feel less tiny and keep temperatures more constant. While that was happening, Anthony sent all the hardware parts out for plating.
We had a delay with the rebuild of the SPICA fuel injection system because APC neglected to send it and the injectors to Wes Ingram. Normally that is not a problem but, in this case, it was a huge problem. Wes is the only guy in the U.S. who rebuilds the systems, so his backlog is 9-12 months. Anthony jumped on it right away and made sure Wes received our old parts and suggested we tune the system for a higher output engine. Of course, I loved that idea. With high compression pistons and a hotter cam (11/10.6 from Centerline) we will need improved fuel and airflow. I am sure you’ve heard the saying, two steps forward and one step back. Well, that applies to us. The more we thought about the work that APC did on the car the less we think of APC’s workmanship. So, we decided to pull the motor and have Anthony go through it to make sure it was rebuilt correctly. It is better to do it now while the car is apart. Its amazing what a little plating can do. Now that the differential has been rebuilt, the brakes and suspension installed, it’s starting to look like a car again.
More updates coming soon as the GTV progresses.