21. One setback after another!!

I really don't seem to have much luck at the moment well not good luck anyway, The plan was...we were going to fix the trucks exhaust, change some gaskets on the race car to stop the oil leaks and race it this weekend...but! my son had a wee bit of an accident in his car the day before all this was due to happen and seeing he is my crew chief we had to cancel.

Ok so on to plan B go up and sort the car and truck out this Friday and if anything goes wrong we still had Saturday as well, So I was up at 4:45am left the house with the car loaded by 10 to 6 am....

Generator, tools, tool box, welding gear, axle stands, jacks etc etc. I met my son in Bedford at 9am and by 9:20am we were at the truck, and from that moment everything went wrong ..really wrong.

First job get the bottom pulley off and change the oil seal that is leaking rather badly and take the timing cover off and change the gasket, first thing we noticed was the fuel pump was a bit loose we took it off removed the battery box and then got well and truly stuck as the bottom pulley refused to budge...so we travelled the length and breadth of Bedford and Kempston looking in every tool shop there was trying to find a different pulley puller, did we find one...no, in Steve's shop in Swindon he has them on the shelf LOL Two hours later we went back to the truck and with an almighty effort Steve managed to get the pulley off and then the timing cover.

While Steve was getting the pulley off I took the injector stacks off ready to clean them off and also if we got time we were going to take the inlet manifold off and reseal it, Steve also took the rocker covers off as we were going to change those gaskets too, one of the rocker boxes was loose and I mean loose I could undo the nuts with my fingers and when Steve looked he found a bit of damage to one of the rockers..boy oh boy all I wanted to do was drive a dragster not to strip it and replace tons of parts..

Then on top of that when we looked at the timing cover we found out why the pump was loose there are cracks going through the tapped holes which hold the pump onto the cover which means we are never going to be able to tighten it up properly.

I have now got try and source another cover and a new rocker and push rod as someone has ground the end and I believe they are either toughened or heat treated either way grinding it will weaken it.

My generator was not man enough to power my sons welding gear so we cant fix the rotted exhaust on the truck and I can't afford a new one so I have no idea what to do now? and then it wouldn't start again..getting depressed now after all the money I have paid out so far it looks like my dream of travelling down the sacred tarmac of Santa Pod is fast evaporating...!

20. Tools and stuff

First of all I am so chuffed, this morning my SPRC membership card and gear turned up, so does this mean I am at long last a real racer LOL......

So now I have my membership number I have sent off  my membership application the Wild Bunch, so Slimline Racing is now on the map with it's car..Tight Fit.

As I mentioned in my last post I have now started to get together another tool kit for the truck some fo the tools have arrived and some are still on the way but this is what is on order already....

My son has a small torque wrench for me and I have two battery chargers to pick up as well I am hoping that we have enough tools to do the job now as I am fast running out of money LOL I have one month to get to the gym and lose some weight before I have to see the "Blood Pressure" nurse at my local surgery so fingers crossed I am yet be able to get my licence before the middle of the season.

19. More stuff

I received my registration pack from the Wild Bunch and the car now has a number yaaaa WB64 I have had to join the Santa Pod Racers Club first though so as soon as my SPRC registration come through then I can send my money off to the Wild bunch guys,

We are getting nearer and nearer my arranged/hoped for first try out in the car, still hoping my race suit turns up on time and that I can get the exhaust welded up on the truck fingers crossed that will all be done on the weekend of the 14th to 16th march.

I have ordered up some tools as I do have an imperial and metric tool kit at home...Harley users know that American bikes don't use metric sizes but the thought of carrying all the tools back and forth to the truck is not a pleasant one so I have got some more on  the way which I  will leave in the truck I also found a book that I thought would be useful bit is but not in the way I thought it would be LOL

Time is marching on and I have an awful lot on my plate at the moment but it looks like we are getting there at last!

I am running out of room at home, I live in a small 3 bed mid terrace house and even though I do have a garage that is full of motorbikes and bike trailers so at the moment  I have stuff for racing stuffed into all sorts of places, behind the TV on top of the freezer, you can't open a cupboard in this house without something falling out to do with my racing endeavour, Lorni is getting real fed up with it so most of it is destined for the truck as soon as the last bits and bobs have arrived which should be within the week,,,fingers crossed.