Day79 - Destination... Exeter

I took a couple of days off and drove down to the Murtaya Sportscars Workshop.  I picked Stuart up on the way and met up with Andy at the workshop.  Andy was great and couldn’t do enough to help.  We searched around the workshop and found a few items I was outstanding. Andy also explained the current situation with MSC which was the Ben and Graham had been forced to find other jobs.  Whilst they have made massive improvements to the Adrenalin Roadster, having started a new budget car project and built a demonstrator there was not enough business to sustain the development work being done on the cars.  This is the situation facing all kit manufacturers at the moment.  So although the business wasn’t bust it was basically being put up for sale - with a couple of interested parties negotiations were continuing.  It is a shame that all the work and effort these guys have put in raising the level of quality that this kit has evolved into has come to this. I hope the new owners can continue the development.

Stuart and I went through the photos and details on MSC’s PC and found the folder Ben had been using to build the manual up.  We took copies of all these then went to where the Orange demo car was being housed.  Andy said it just needed a Simtec ECU for the high customised engine.  However after closer inspection some of the parts I was hoping to photograph weren’t actually complete. One of the things I wanted a picture of was the fuel pipe route after they come out of the “hockey stick” slot under the car.  Part of the problem is that I have an inline fuel filter to replace the large donor unit for, which I can’t see any room for and the simplest route is to bring it up and round under the fuse box.  This in itself is not a problem. However, I am concerned that the IVA assessment might have an issue though.  There were a number of other minor issues which I hope the photos from Nick, another Murtaya owner, will point me in the right direction.

I took a number of photos under the dashboard and in the engine bay.  I noted some of the pipe changes which I had already worked out and cable routes which were different to mine but this was originally a non-ABS donor car.  I looked at the arrangement of the rear lighting again confirming my own thoughts and the cutting out I had done which I thought had been excessive. But it turns out that they had done the same.

 

We went for a drink in the local pub and met up with Ben where I put a a number of questions to him about structural PU, wiper blade, wiring, door glass seals, neutral issues and how to avoid problems and a host of other queries.  We went back to the workshop and went back through the data to see if he had anything else we might have missed.  So with all the parts outstanding accounted for by either what we had found with Andy or to be credited as required and I’ll order them from CBS online or other supplier.

The windscreen wiper had apparently been ordered but not supplied nor the payment taken by the supplier.  The suspicion was the company had gone bust so when asked what was the alternative, Ben suggested I take the one on the Orange Demo car. 

We were just about to call it a night when Graham popped his head round the door to say hello.  We chatted briefly about what we had been agreed with Andy and Ben and called it a night.

Stuart and I left feeling more positive about what we have to do and assured that the Murtaya story will continue, if in the guise of new owners, and with support assured and a wealth of build photos we met up with Stuart’s wife at a local restaurant.  Pity about the copper on the bridge over the M5, guess I’ll have to wait for the fixed penalty notice.