91. Looking forward to 2017

Slimline Racing had a mix bag of a year in 2016 we sustained engine damage at the end of 2015 so at the beginning of this year we had to put it right which meant Steve taking the motor to little bitty pieces and learning to hand hone the bores luckily we have some decent head gaskets which can be reused so the team only had to purchase a new set of rings. We headed for our first MSA event where I was hoping to licence, we only fired the car up the night before in the back of the trailer the first proper fire up happened at the track, now that's you can call cutting it fine...

We then found other things wrong like the fuel tank breather wasn't large enough,,the tank was expanding, we couldn't get the revs we needed to run properly etc etc so never finished my licensing ever though we ran  9.2 equalling our best ever run to date. At a later date we found a problem with the ignition system  which gave us our rev range back so we attended the Retro Show just to prove to ourselves that we had "fixed her" which proved to be the case so next came Dragstalgia the one we were waiting for the team had worked hard to get the car ready and what a meeting we broke our personal bests 8 times I believe, at the next meeting we found we had more problems torched head broken valves two pistons the wrong way round no compression on one of the cylinders on the other bank wrong plugs and on top of this we found out the timing mark on the front cover was 10 degrees out and we ran all those PB's at Dragstalgia with this damage so that was the end of our short season which can be seen on this video I put together...

So once again Steve had to take the motor out and strip it his shed this time the team had to fork out for new rings again and a set of bearings and gaskets and the block had to be professionally re-honed thankfully again not costing too much, we desperately tried to get everything back together again in time for the last RWYB of the year but we missed it by one weekend, but at least we had her running again and boy did she sound better....Thanks to Steve Field for letting us use his property in the middle of no-where to fire her up.

Now we had some decision to make as a team owning and running the truck was getting too expensive even though she has been a home and a garage for us for nearly three years now so after a talk with the team it was decided it's time to let her go and go get a trailer instead which would be far less restrictive..

So a deal was done with another racer and we purchased a second hand trailer which will make getting the car in and out a lot easier and of course there is no restriction on Low Emission Zones for a trailer and of course no tax , Mot or Insurance, the next thing is for me to get rid of my Berlingo and buy a van with a tow bar  again to reduce the running expense eventually the van will be bought from me by the team.

After this was done Steve took the axle out of the car and sent it down to Zane Llewellyn to change the ratios for us so can hopefully get more speed out of her.

So what's left to do before the new season starts well the axle got to be put back in then we need to clean out the truck and put her up for sale swap the race car from the truck to the trailer, I would like to clean the race car up a wee bit as well, some paint on the chassis wont go amiss. Once we have a tow vehicle we need to get her to the track to put some heat cycles through the engine then complete a few low rev runs to run everything in properly, could really do with a cooler for the trans brake and a catch tank for the fuel but we can live without them for the time being.

Then hopefully with the engine running right and the new ratios in the axle it would be really good to hit the 7's and top 170mph, well we can all dream can't we...roll on the new season.

90. Most boring time of the year...!!

Right! so we didn't make it tot he RWYB on the Sunday after the firework meet even after an heroic effort from the team. I think I can say we were all a little disappointed but never mind always look forward.

So fast forward to the following weekend, a very early icy start to Sunday morning 4:20am Sunday morning, the start of a 470 mile one day journey. I left the warmth of my home and made my way tot he M25 and headed for the M1 and Luton where I picked my Brother Dave up. Then back down the M1 back onto the M25 and then the M4 to Swindon to my sons place. The truck is parked outside his house on arrival and after a much needed cuppa we loaded the truck back up with the generator and fuel. Then it was time for me to drive the truck over to Marlborough followed by Steve in his car and Dave in my car. We were headed out to the middle of nowhere to Steve Fields Fieldcraft Fabrication premises. because of its remote location it was a great spot to fire the car up..hopefully...!

After we got the car out there was still stuff to do, the valve back-lash had to be done and the firing order and ignition sorted out and to some point we had to get the fuelling near right, this took Steve a little while to sort out then...dah dah daaaah! it was time to fire her up, so it was time to get back in the office hit the button and after a couple of splutters as she drew the fuel through the empty fuel lines...she barked back into life.

So we let her tick-over for a few minutes so we could run through a couple of heat cycles, all part of the running in procedure, we are going to have to do this a few more times at the track when we get back there next year. I shut the fuel off turned the ignition off got out of the car with a great big grin on my face, matched by both Steve and Dave's grins and we made our way into Steve Fields workshop for a cuppa while the car cooled down.

After about 20 -30 mins we were back out in the cold and dam it was cold, back in the office and start her up again, first turn of the starter and she was off and running, dam she started easy.......

This time we gave her a few revs and boy did she sound sharp and angry so much better than before, but then she had to sound better really after what we had found wrong with her, so after stripping the engine down to every single nut bolt and bearing and then re-assembling with all the new parts we had one tiny oil leak where the sump meets the timing cover, an easy fix. Steve once again has done a great job.

Just to put everything in perspective I have found the video clip of the first proper start-up of the engine after it's last rebuild and with the new injection system fitted. I think it is easy to tell the difference.

This video was taken at the beginning of the year with most of later found problems in place and to think we ran a best of 8.7 at nearly 151mph like this, can't wait for next season!!!!.

After a very long day we put the car back in the truck loaded up and left for the M4 Steve went straight home Dave followed me all the way back to Bedford where we dropped the truck and car off I then took Dave back to his place in Luton and then headed home where I arrived at 21:40 exhausted!

That's where we are at the moment a good head start on what was a bit of  crap season this year, apart from Dragstalgia of course, there is still work to do but I think I can say the team are happy at the current state of play.

89. So much damage....

It has been a while since I have put anything on here, some of you know the reason, I am hoping that that by the time you read all this stuff everything has been sported one way or the other! let go back a few weeks, dam it seems like forever already, we had a good Dragstalgia and a lousy July Shoot-out due to Engine damage, much of which we were carrying at Dragstalgia which makes the string of 8 second passes even more incredible.

Lorni and I are supposed to be living in Spain now so the season before last I signed the car over to Steve for a nominal fee as by now it should be him that is driving and running the car, which has always been my plan, But we have had to put that off for 18 months,,sorry Steve I will get you in the car soon I promise.

The damage tot he cars engine was quite severe a bit more severe than we firs thought, the good thing is the cost of repair and parts is not very much it's just the time to strip it and rebuild and set her up again which is the real pain. Once we knew exactly what was needed Steve and I pooled our dosh and ordered the parts.

We knew the heads would have to be welded up courtesy of Mr. John O'Sullivan who also pressure tested the heads for us, this is where we found there was a problem with valves seating on the other head the left bank. hmmm! All pistons were fine including the ones that were getting hit as they were the wrong way round, the valves however were not and in the end we had to replace 5 of them. We ordered a new set of piston rings this time with a better top ring set (will still accept nitro if ever wish to try that stuff LOL ) We had to order a new flex plate as our old new one had been hammered, we also found some wear on the bearings..shells so we decided that seeing we had the engine in bits we would change the big end shells, the mains and the cam shaft bearings again nothing very expensive just a pain to do.

The parts turned up in time we thought, Steve started to put the many parts back together again, the engine was in bits in his shed.

But then problem number 1 they hadn't sent the crankshaft oil seal oops it would take too long to send one from the States as we were trying to get the car ready for testing at the RWYB on the Sunday after the Firework show at the Pod. So I ran round the usual suspects in the UK all had sold out?? one last chance Real Steel and bless them they had the correct ones in stock..phew saved and it was delivered the next day,  Steve could now get on with the rebuild, well it was slow progress as once again he had to file fit the rings and there were 8 sets of them!! he managed to file his fingers as well and get through the first cutting disk in short time...

Time was running out, the engine was still in Steve's shed, the rest of the car was still in the back of the truck at Steve Fields place a few miles away..

The plan was to build up the bottom end of the block and then take it with the rebuilt heads up to the truck and fit them in the car..time as running out...

In steps John O'Sullivan again who lets us use his workshop so we can bring the truck down to Swindon and work on the car till late..it is now Saturday  evening we wanted to run the car the next day, Brother and fellow crew member Dave then high tails it Swindon to also help out I stay awake until the early hours waiting for the call to come and get her and take her to the Pod...

... the last couple of photo's is where they got to at around 5am!!! so we called it quits, a valiant effort but, just too much to do in a short space of time.

So Steve will continue to put the car together over the next few days and fingers crossed we hope to fire her up soon and check everything over before putting her away for the winter, this is why I have voted for my  own crew in the Wild Bunch Ballot..they deserve it.