Visited the factory today to take a butcher's at my new 3W. It was sitting outside a bit grubby after its road test, but looked finished. I'll add some pics when I can get the file sizes down a bit...
Generally looked great, but there were still a few bits that I hope will be sorted by the PDI team. Bonnet / cowl didn't fit very well, small stone chip noted near front end, tonneau fit not the best. Paint finish in some places was a bit dubious too. But overall looked pretty good, and can't wait to have a go. There was a note in the docs with the car (from the road test team) that the Bevel Box noise was "'acceptable' (just)" with the (just) added in by hand. Sounds like this isn't quite sorted yet! However the word was that they seem to be much better overall.
On the other hand there were some recent changes to the car that I noticed, and a couple I was shown by a nice guy from the QA team. Not sure when they all came in but thought it might be useful to note them.
1. Steering rack has been changed - the new rack looks fairly similar but there is a hole in the top centre of the rack. This is a very recent mod.
2. Shock absorbers are now Spax at the front - don't know when this was changed but not long ago. Possibly the 2 changes are to improve the bump-steer??
3. There's a small black box at the front of the car near the number plate with a ribbed front. Don't really know what it is (sorry!) but it is now mounted with better mountings.
4. 12V power outlet is now next to the centre of the car rather than on the outside of the dash.
5. Fixings for the body to the frame have been changed towards the front of the cockpit.
6. The front wheel arches have adjustable mounts and can now be removed much more easily than earlier cars.
7. The boot liner is now screwed in with better fixings.
8. The boot itself is now strengthened internally with a painted bar that is welded to the underside of the boot.
9. Engine is now a water-cooled V8 - the BMW lump from the Aero. This does make the car a bit nose heavy but improves the power to weight ratio and is actually more economical than the V twin. It also solves the problem of having a few too many of these engines lying around.
Hope you notice that one of these changes is a joke! Ha-ha.
Production line pretty busy - lots of cars left-hand-drive and bound for the US of A. 10 cars being assembled at a time. Originally the line was meant to accomodate 4.
All sorts of colours. To my casual eye the solid colours seem to be slightly better applied to the panels than the metallic ones.
Great to see the factory buzzing, and of course lots of trads and quite a lot of Plus 8s being put together too.
The factory is short of storage space at present and cars are being transported to a holding area before being sent to dealers.
