Wednesday, 30 April 2008
Tuesday, 29 April 2008
Big Bang Report
Big Bang at Santa Pod was an awesome weekend and the sun even shone! SRW club camping was a bit of a squeeze for the many that arrived but that just made the camp vibe better. Five of us managed to get some strip action in, two Bugs - mine and John Walkletts, and the three buses of Kev Donlon, Steve Turnbull and Mike Reilly.
After a hard morning on mine with a very bad misfire and a best ET in the low 16's I ripped out the Mallory dissy which had a cracked cap and installed a new 009 c/w pertronix & new coil. Et dropped straight down into the 14's with a best run of the day being a 14.2 @ 93 mph.
Johns 64 only managed one run up the strip with John trying to take it easy - he ran a 13.004 @101 mph but had to leave it at that due to a gearbox problem (thought to be a diff bearing failure). John managed to pick up two of the three awards netted by SRW at the weekend, 'RWYB Type 1' and the 'Show & Go' classes.
Kev Donlon's new motor did the business for him, running a 15.2 second quarter. I don't need to say how awesome that is for a full weight VW Bay camper and even more impressive when you bear in mind that this engine is still being tested & tuned. Kev was also trying to take it easy because of the newness of the motor and also he has been experiencing a bit of oil down from his breather system.Look out for a 14 second quarter mile from this in the not too distant future.
Steve Turnbull got his bus down into the 16's with a few rapid passes down the quarter mile. Again this is in a fully weight van that Steve and his family camped in over the weekend.
Last, but by no means last, we come to Mike Reilly and his wicked Samba. Mike was up against me on my first run of the day, and he did quite an impressive burnout in the box and came into stage in the left hand lane. The lights went and I was gone. Half way up the strip I looked in the rear view mirror to see Mike still sat on the line. At first I thought I had dreamt seeing the green light and thought I had run the biggest red light in drag racing history, however it turns out that Mike had actually left the line, but only got about 6 inches down the qtr. Everyone from SRW would like to offer their condolences on sad the loss of your gearbox Mike, he will be missed by us all (but I suspect by you the most). Mike was last seen heading into the garage muttering something about a Porsche box...
the rest of the racing was awesome as always with some great times posted by a lot of racers - see this link http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/showthread.php?t=448981 to the VZi forum for a 'post your time' thread. Congratulations to all who ran and commiserations to those who managed to break their cars!!!
After a hard morning on mine with a very bad misfire and a best ET in the low 16's I ripped out the Mallory dissy which had a cracked cap and installed a new 009 c/w pertronix & new coil. Et dropped straight down into the 14's with a best run of the day being a 14.2 @ 93 mph.
Johns 64 only managed one run up the strip with John trying to take it easy - he ran a 13.004 @101 mph but had to leave it at that due to a gearbox problem (thought to be a diff bearing failure). John managed to pick up two of the three awards netted by SRW at the weekend, 'RWYB Type 1' and the 'Show & Go' classes.
Kev Donlon's new motor did the business for him, running a 15.2 second quarter. I don't need to say how awesome that is for a full weight VW Bay camper and even more impressive when you bear in mind that this engine is still being tested & tuned. Kev was also trying to take it easy because of the newness of the motor and also he has been experiencing a bit of oil down from his breather system.Look out for a 14 second quarter mile from this in the not too distant future.
Steve Turnbull got his bus down into the 16's with a few rapid passes down the quarter mile. Again this is in a fully weight van that Steve and his family camped in over the weekend.
Last, but by no means last, we come to Mike Reilly and his wicked Samba. Mike was up against me on my first run of the day, and he did quite an impressive burnout in the box and came into stage in the left hand lane. The lights went and I was gone. Half way up the strip I looked in the rear view mirror to see Mike still sat on the line. At first I thought I had dreamt seeing the green light and thought I had run the biggest red light in drag racing history, however it turns out that Mike had actually left the line, but only got about 6 inches down the qtr. Everyone from SRW would like to offer their condolences on sad the loss of your gearbox Mike, he will be missed by us all (but I suspect by you the most). Mike was last seen heading into the garage muttering something about a Porsche box...
the rest of the racing was awesome as always with some great times posted by a lot of racers - see this link http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/showthread.php?t=448981 to the VZi forum for a 'post your time' thread. Congratulations to all who ran and commiserations to those who managed to break their cars!!!
Thursday, 24 April 2008
News
Well my Oval is running and back on the road, Kev's turbo'd bus is running strong and he'll be driving it to Big Bang (although not racing) and John Walklett is heading to a chassis dyno session in his 2387 bug on the way to Santa Pod this weekend. If the weather brightens up it should be classic!
And Happy 40th to Kev!
Monday, 21 April 2008
Doh!
Dropped the motor out of the black 54 on Saturday morning, stripped it down and found the source of the scary noise that developed during the week - I had dropped a small washer down a carb throat while fitting the velocity stacks. Amazingly no damage done, but while it was out Lee at Kraftwerk ported the heads. They started off life as 42x37 CNC round ports and were then ported to a very good standard by the previous owner. After having considered a change to wedge ports and having had a look at a set I felt they could take a bit more porting still, so took them to Lee at Kraftwerk. Lee took them out to a similar port to wedge ports. I then spent what seemed like forever porting the manifolds to suit the modified heads. Have a look at the pictures for a before and after of one of the manifolds during porting - apologies for the picture quality but it was in a dark garage! The engine is now back in and fully built up but I didn't finish til late so have not started it up yet - tonights the night!
Friday, 18 April 2008
A couple of local business plugs...
John Walklett, Performance Engine & Gearbox specialist - John's built a few of the engines within the club & many more besides and can be found skulking on the Volkszone forum under the 63ragtop username. Contact him at john@jwalk.freeserve.co.uk
Kraftwerk (aka Lee Palmer), the Quality Restoration & Performance centre, Parts supplies - from from Stock to Race. Lee has also worked on many cars within the club - engine, chassis, body and paint. Contact Lee at oldspeedracing@ntlworld.com
Xodus Professional Car Transport - perfect if you break down as often as I do! John & Chris Lovatt both have awesome old bugs themselves, so know how precious these cars are to us all and treat them accordingly. Why leave it to a greasey monkey who doesn't care when you can entrust it to fellow enthusiasts? Contact for a quote - John on 07814 420 642 or Chris on 07814 420 950 or email sian.elliott3@ntlworld.com
Kraftwerk (aka Lee Palmer), the Quality Restoration & Performance centre, Parts supplies - from from Stock to Race. Lee has also worked on many cars within the club - engine, chassis, body and paint. Contact Lee at oldspeedracing@ntlworld.com
Xodus Professional Car Transport - perfect if you break down as often as I do! John & Chris Lovatt both have awesome old bugs themselves, so know how precious these cars are to us all and treat them accordingly. Why leave it to a greasey monkey who doesn't care when you can entrust it to fellow enthusiasts? Contact for a quote - John on 07814 420 642 or Chris on 07814 420 950 or email sian.elliott3@ntlworld.com
Thursday, 17 April 2008
Jamie's 54
The oil pressure problems are now sorted on my 1954 Oval, but that problem has been traded for another - a loud ticking noise from the engine. Fingers crossed it's something minor - hoping for a broken lashcap or something small and soft falling down an open stack!
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
Couple of updates...
Mike Reilly's samba has had its new stroker motor fitted and is being run in as we speak - having been out in it I can confirm that its quick! Oh, and pretty loud Mike ;) Also a very neat install. I'll be uploading photo's soon!
Kev's turbo'd & injected 2332cc bus is now running and is being dialled in this Saturday and will hopefully be done and running up the strip at Big Bang.
I'm still chasing an oil pressure problem on th'Oval which may (or may not!) be finished tonight in time for a club meet in nearby Stone. The extra time spent on the engine will probably mean that it won't be signwritten in time for the show...
I was also around at John Walklett's having a look over his Oval project and that is one straight bug! Almost ready to roll into the paintshop its a sure fire future winner.
Pictures from tonights club meet will be uploaded tomorrow, watch this space!
Kev's turbo'd & injected 2332cc bus is now running and is being dialled in this Saturday and will hopefully be done and running up the strip at Big Bang.
I'm still chasing an oil pressure problem on th'Oval which may (or may not!) be finished tonight in time for a club meet in nearby Stone. The extra time spent on the engine will probably mean that it won't be signwritten in time for the show...
I was also around at John Walklett's having a look over his Oval project and that is one straight bug! Almost ready to roll into the paintshop its a sure fire future winner.
Pictures from tonights club meet will be uploaded tomorrow, watch this space!
Friday, 11 April 2008
th'Oval will be signwritten this week!
Should look a bit like this, only will be done in Gold leaf.
Thanks Andy @ Planet Signs for the signwriting work!
No explanation required....
Lee's car will be carrying a bit of sign writing ;) shoud be fun...
Also, Lee is on the look out for a pair of 3.5" x 15" Weld Pro Stars on 5 x 4.5" PCD to finish his set of wheels.
Lee's Racer in the making...
Another garage scene, this time Lee Palmer's swedish import 64 bug currently in the workshop.
This will be running a 1955cc turbo motor, 76mm crank, 90.5's, tcs 10 cam, 1.25:1 rockers special Kraftwerk heads based on cb 044 magnums with custom port job and a side draft 40 DHLA on a Garrett T3 at Bug Jam this year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
