I had the opportunity to spend some time at Absolute Pace last Monday and was given a complete tour of the operation by the owner Craig White.
Pace is as I imagined it to be from looking at the quality of the products. As one would expect, it is a very professional and well laid out organisation from the fabrication, body shop and assembly area and seeing the design and quality of what is being produced laid out in component form has convinced me that my decision to go with Pace has been the right one.
Before leaving Pace I went through the build sheet (build No.27) and ordered the upgraded carbon fibre/kevlar light weight body. This body is very light and has additional strenght and the finish on both the outside and underside is remarkable. I also ordered the urethane rod ends over the sperical type as this will improve the ride quality and reduce mechanical noise and vibration. Motivation will be provided by a new 5.0 Coyote Aluminator coupled to a TKO-600 5 speed with 0.64 overdrive 5th gear.Ultimately I would like to fit an 8 stack injector system along with Cammer type valve (coil) covers and a good tune. The rear differential supplied as standard is a ZF aluminium housed 2.92 non-LSD type but to me, having a non-LSD in a car as light as a Cobra and having over 450 plus hp on tap would create some unexpected and unwanted excitement at the most inappropriate time so I have gone with a 3.70 LSD. I think the higher ratio with an 0.64 overdrive 5th gear would result in a car that performs very well and also provides economical cruising. Another option I settled on was to have Pace carry out all the cut outs for lights,side exhausts,windscreen posts,roll bar etc as they have the templates and the right tools and without the right knowledge, errors will eventually happen and that would not be good. The colour scheme I have chosen is black with silver stripes and all black interior. The side pipes will be coated in the aluminized colour. Standard wheels for the Pace is 15" Halibrand style pin drives which look sensational the way they fill out the fender wells and as I am going for the traditional look, this is what I will use. I originally wanted to run live side pipes but have decided to use them for looks only.The more I spoke to people the more I could see the dangers with them. My reasons for this is primarily the risk of passangers getting severely burned and children, in their excitement standing on hot pipes to get a better look at the car. Contributing to third degree burns on some poor soul is not an exciting prospect. With this in mind, Pace have incorporated under car exhaust tunnels on either side to drop the pipes just behind the rear wheels and out of site.
The delivery schedule is expected for March 2014. When the car is ready, I will go to Pace and assemble it into a steerable roller and trailer it back to Geelong. I have been offered the use of a trailer with a front covered section so that most of the bonnet will be enclosed inside this section and I would feel more comfortable with the car being in my care. Once production has started, I will be provided with photos of the build from Pace which I will post as I get them and will continue with updates right through construction to registration and maybe post some of the adventures we get to have. Until next time...
