Project 2002
| by Adrian Burford / Pics: Ross van Schalkwyk
Mission improbable
The problem with working to a rigid deadline is that everything
compresses into a very small timeframe as it looms, with the risk
that quality may suffer as a result.
E
ven worse, it makes overshooting
the deadline a real possibility and
you end up with both a bad and
a late job. We’re determined to maintain
quality, and to do so, have more or less
resigned ourselves to the fact that Project
2002 won’t be ready by July 9.
We hope to at least have it in the driveway,
looking complete, even if it isn’t driveable.
So the heat is on and, at the time of
writing, the BMW was at Zwartkops-based
APMachining, where the critical work of
fabricating engine and gearbox mountings
and modifying the crossmember to accept
a Citi Golf’s steering rack was taking
place.
Project 2002
APM is owned by Martin “Spyker” Venter,
an experienced machinist and fabricator
with a motorsport background. He will
make up mounting hardware for the front
brakes – using the work completed recently
on my green BMW 2002 as the template.
With its Ferodo DS disc/pad upgrade and
BMW E30 calipers, it now stops like a
demon and the Project 2002 car will have
the advantage of ABS and rear discs.
The key to success is going to be
having all our ducks in a row when
the car returns to Evolution 2, so
we’re chasing Supreme Springs
for the 19 mm anti-roll bar they’ve
made, keeping pressure on Bilstein
to source a missing rear spring,
and have given retail partner
Autobarn a list of parts that we
need.
Q ‘n’ A Gearbox in Strydom
Park, Randburg have got their
feelers out for a slightly lower
(numerically) differential and we
reckon that should improve the
car tremendously in terms of
refinement without sacrificing much in the
way of acceleration thanks to our torquey,
fuel-injected M44 multivalve engine.
And after years of removing heavy
insulating material from various racing
saloons, it has been strange to be putting
it back in, and our doors, rear side
compartments and rear bulkhead are now
fully-lined with stick-on rubber matting
from Pro Auto Rubber.
➲ Martin “Spyker” Venter takes some
careful measurements. Measure twice, cut
once as they say…
This will maximise the impact of our
desirable Rockford Fosgate sound
system.
Once done at Evolution 2, the car
will need to go to Cellsound, then
RGMotorsport for its exhaust and engine
management and then back to Cornights
for painting of the wheels, fitment of
boot and bonnet and a final polish, before
Bandit do the pin-striping and partner
branding.
As the title of this article
suggests, right now it is
Mission Improbable. But
as the Dad of the Lad in
question, I need to make
sure we give it a full go, and
if nothing else, ensure that
on the day James Burford
turns 18 there’s a car in
the driveway that looks
something like our vision
➲ A custom installation requires plenty of fabricating. APMachining will create the
necessary engine mountings, gearbox mounting, bracketing for the brake calipers, and
also mount the steering rack to the original crossmember
| words in action
36
june 2014
from a year ago.