So lets start at the beginning.. Once upon a time...no not that beginning. The team were going to sit out this year and make good on all the repairs on the trailer, tow car and race car. Well that was the plan! As all racers know once that little itch starts you have to scratch it so the chassis refurb has been put on hold till the end of the season. Steve desperately wants to defend the WB4 race number that the team are so proud of.
The trailer was in a sorry state it had been leaking badly and the wood inside was rotten in fact we were worried that the race car was going to fall though especially where the rear wheels sit. So first job rip out the old floor... not so easy as the side panelling sits on it so the side panelling had to come out and most of that was rotten too, The replacement wood was three times the cost of what was expected and now more wood was required to replace the side walls and on top of that it was not an easy job.
Once the hard work of removing all the old rotten stuff was completed it was then replaced by thicker treated wood which was a bit a trickier to fit than first thought, it always helps to have the right tools. Once the floor was down the floor covering can go in along with some new chequer plate for the rear for strength.
The rood vent was replaced as the one on the trailer was just plastic bag held together with duct tape. the new one came with an included fan, now that will be handy. Some of the aluminium panels had to come off as the joint sealer had hardened and was letting in water, problem was the screws had weird fitting so a special tool was ordered from the States which when used all the heads snapped off...! new screws were re-fitted and hopefully now there will be no leaks.
On top of that a solar panel was fixed to the roof to charge a recreational battery via a control panel which will power the interior lights. This evening Monday30th Steve's friend is going over to the trailer to fit a framework for a cupboard and work bench at the front of the trailer where all the fuels and oil will go so we wont have to empty everything out of the trailer every time we load and unload the race car.
Tonight Steve will remove the gearbox as we had have done more damage to the drivetrain than first thought when we zinged the motor on the axle stands at the Hot Rod Drags last year, The gearbox will be serviced and new seals and bushes fitted the axle is being re-assembled with the new ring gear by a company next door to where the car is being stored by experts. Steve has started the motor up already to warm the trans fluid up so it could be drained and it loos like no problems with the engine. the tow truck has had the LPG system fixed so if everything goes to plan and no more problems are found then with a bit of luck and a following wind the team may make the Nostalgia Nationals maybe. A huge amount of work has been completed in a very short time mainly by Steve himself, his wife Kerry must have the patience of a saint, Some help is coming Steve's way over the next few day's. The new fuel pipe has arrived and along with the new flex plate, as the old one was bent during the aforementioned problem will be fitted in the next day or two.
not many people know this but in 2005 Steve was involved in a horrible motorbike accident which resulted in him having some serious damage to his knee he had a hamstring and ligament graft with some metalwork that he never knew he had until 2019 he was also told he would need a knee replacement at some time n the future but he just put up with the pain.
But now but now his other knee is very bad and as I type this I have just received a txt from him at the hospital they have x-rayed his good knee and now he is now waiting for a date for a further MRI scan to find out what the damage is and what they are going to to do to fix it, hopefully after the Nationals. nothing keeps this lad down for long. Fingers still crossed.
So if it wasn't enough that Steve has to go to work full time and in his spare time he is tearing about like a loonie trying to get the car and trailer ready to race he is doing it a bit disabled? so will "Bionic Steve" be able to get to the Pod by the weekend?? Maybe!
