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It has been an long time coming for the European market, but as they say…good things come to those that wait. We can’t believe it’s been the best part of 10 months since we met the guys from Old & New at the TAS 2017 Tuning show in Japan, we really hit it off with those guys straight away and since then we have been looking to build their beautiful slant nose 997 conversion for the European market but unfortunately this year we have had our own build happening with the Z4 GT3 V8, which has taken a lot longer than it should of done so consumed a lot of our time not to mention funds, although we would like to, we simply cannot build everything we promote and sell, its just not feasible.

Our good friend Iby from Speedwells looked at the possibility of building the slant nose, but he already had a love affair with our very own Porsche GT3R conversion for his own Turbo 997 chassis, and to be honest we are pleased he went that route because that car build is a game changer, and the fact that Iby knows how to build a show stopper, so our R conversion is in very good hands, but that was another opportunity to build the slant nose 997 gone, so it’s been a case of waiting for someone to pull the trigger, and although we have had lots of interest in building a slant nose for both 996 & 997 chassis

no one stepped up to the plate, well until now…enter Reflex Auto Design.

For the people that haven’t heard of RAD and need an introduction, they are a Daventry based custom fabrication and paint specialist, as well as insurance approved body shop working on all marquees, you want it they can make it and they are extremely good at what they do, we should know as they are the company that painted the old black and White VAD 957 Cayenne Gemballa Turbos, the VAD Premier 4509 wide body Bentley GT and the UK’s first RWB Porsche 993, unfortunately it has never really been documented what they have done for VAD in the past, mainly due to one of the old VAD Partners preferring to keep them out of the limelight, but as he is no longer part of the VAD organisation we have no problem telling the world who they are, what they do and what they have done, in fact this is the company we have chosen to work with painting our very own BMW Z4 GT3 V8, these boys will be laying down the paint on our Z4 unicorn, so we have a lots of history and utmost respect for this company and all of its crew, we are extremely pleased and very excited to be collaborating with them on the old & new wide body Porsche programme, but also happy that we will be involved with them on many more up and coming builds we have planned for the future.

The Old & New Porsche 997 Slant Nose

They have already acquired the Porsche 997 base model, which is a 2005 C2 and it’s a beauty, it seems a shame to pull it to bits and change the colour, but that is exactly what they have planned, in fact I don’t think any part of the car will remain stock, with what they have in store for this build, the renders we have seen on the plans are mouth-watering and ridiculously original, we can wait to share it to the world, something old, something new…something different, 2018 is looking pretty exciting.

 

With the quieter festive time upon us we thought it was a great time to get Project Z4 GT3 V8 to first base, and that meant a trip to the wizards at Emerald M3D so this week we took the drive over to Watton in Norfolk, and catch up with the ECU gurus and entrust them with their magic, it was also an excuse to stop over at the Bentley Hotel & Spa and unwind with a beer or two.

BMW Z4 GT3 V8

This is the most important stage of the build as we have to make sure all of the BMW Z4 electrics, work with the all new V8 engine, it’s imperative if you want it to run with the BMW idrive factory oem set up, this is the first process we have to go through, as well as building the engine loom and ECU upgrade, whilst it sounds like not much is going on, this is the main ingredient to make sure this car and conversion works correctly, so it’s a pretty important parts of the conversion.

With the car at its new home for the few couple of weeks, it will be mid to the end of January before we get to collect the car from the Emerald crew, that’s when phase two of the build will kick in, as its off to Dynotorque, Craig can then get creative with our install, and boy oh boy do we have some Great plans for the overall finished package, pure quality being added, brakes, engine, suspension, will all come in for some changes, he will leave no stone unturned in his quest for the ultimate Z4V8 build.

We are working with quite a few people on this build, well they do say “teamwork makes the dream work” and we are happy to welcome another company onboard the build, Reflex Auto Design from Daventry, who will be responsible for the painting this beast, these boys need no introduction they are extremely well known for their paint qualities across a wide spectrum, from restoring old classics, to custom one off body work modifications, their credentials speak for themselves, so we are happy a company with this much talent are involved with the task of painting our beauty.

We have now decided on the final wheel choice and finish, and it was such a hard decision to make, a lot harder than we ever thought it would be.

Our wheel partners on this build is AVANT GARDE (AG Wheels) as we have been the Exclusive European importer for the brand for the last two years it was a no brainer, so it was just a few weeks of backwards and forwards of what to build.

The front wheels is a 10x19, the rear wheel is 13x19, and we have decided again to run with a different design on each side of the car, we have done this a few years now, it’s a great talking point, but it also shows what two designs and finishes look like on the car.

The first design we decided on was the AG F422 we like this design a lot, plus the fact we have only seen the design in the spec 3 concave profile, and we decided on the Spec 2 with reverse lip, this will be finish in the all new Monaco Copper, with a brushed matte centre and gloss inner and outer barrels, with brushed silver hardware and logo. On the other side we will be fitting the AGL23, from the Luxury line up, finished in black, with matte centres and gloss barrels, with Monaco Copper hardware and logo, we chose this design, because it’s very reminiscent of the race wheel that is fitted to the Z4 GT3 Race car, tyres we are using Nitto in sizes 285/30r19 front and 345/30R19 rear.

This is going to be the long four months … roll on the spring.

 
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OFFICE
Unit C20
Rose Hill Industrial Estate
Rose Hill Road 
Market Drayton 
Shropshire 
TF9 2JU


WORKSHOP 

Unit C21
Rose Hill Industrial Estate
Rose Hill Road 
Market Drayton
 
Shropshire
TF9 2JU


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Art...Some people collect it, We like to build it
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