154. Nearly there!

OK so this is the last update until Dragstalgia is in the can, the last few weeks have been.........Hectic! to say the least. Once again it all comes down to the last minute. Steve has been working like a man obsessed, burning the candle from both ends for weeks now, with help from his friends of course.  A few days ago the car was a chassis with an engine sitting in it...that was all. So! where are we now. In the last four days the wiring has been completed, the fuel lines and tank cleaned out and rebuilt.

The rear body panels were fitted, then a trial fit of the main cowl proved to be a bit of a problem, the new motor plate was a few millimetres  taller than the original so that none of the body pins lined up with the catches. The main cowl could do with a clean after spending nearly four years being stored.

An awful lot of cutting and grinding later and the cowl fits perfectly. Next job sort out the trailer? the trailer was emptied of everything including the fridge which had a surprise in store for Steve, a four year old carton of milk had at some time exploded inside the fridge hmmm tasty.

A lot of sorting out to do, next job retrieve a barrel of Methanol from our friend John O´Sullivan and then fill the tank and fire up the motor, hmm first attempt didn't seem too healthy.

Didn´t sound too good so Steve took all the injectors out and cleaned them, they were all bunged up! then he tried again and this time the engine sounded just like the 1000hp 421ci monster should sound like...phew!!

With the car out of the trailer time for a quick clean up and polish, it´s a lot easier to do this outside rather than in the trailer. This is the first time the car has been back together in a while complete with red chassis.

Next, un-seize the generator and get that up and running ready for Dragstalgia, there is still a few things left to do, attach chute, make new pipes for the breather to puke tank and when the new cage padding turns up attach that, as the old padding fell apart when it was removed. Fingers crossed once the tow truck is sorted that everything goes smoothly at the event.

153. I dont belieeeeeve it!

This latest update is being typed with a bloody big grin on my face, it has been a while but! I think we may just have cracked it. Its been nearly 5 years since I last sat in the car at the Hot Rod Drags in 2021 its been nearly four years since the car last went up the track with Steve in the cockpit and three years since the engine last ran. Since then finances, time and life got in the way. On more than one occasion Steve has threatened to cut the thing up and quit, it has been that hard.

So once again I need to thank a lot of people, dedicated people who have helped out in the last year or so. without who this car would be in a scrap heap somewhere. So many thanks to Jim, Nigel, Moss and Moss's boss, Wayne Colliver for sorting out the chassis for us, Mr Mopar John O'Sullivan Steve's wife Kerry who has had to clean up the mess Steve makes and put up with him out of the house for days on end and of course anyone else that I might have forgotten

So Yesterday evening after a monumental effort Steve re-wired that car with the drive train in place. Just about everything checked out, he couldn't start the car yet as he still had to fill up everything with the appropriate oil.

On the following video clips please click on the " Watch on YouTube" Link

Then this evening Steve filled up everything that needed filling up and with a little help from Jim and Nigel the first attempt to try and fire up the sleeping monster was tried.

Now obviously the car usually runs on methanol but with an empty tank a quick squirt of three year old petrol was used. So onto the second attempt this was far more successful and gave Steve the sound he needed to prove the car or more importantly the engine was OK.

 I can just about make out a wry smile on Steve's face OK so the car runs folks, now all the little bits need to be buttoned up and the floor panels and bodywork replaced and then.......... ......Dragstalgia here we come. Well Steve and the team, I will have to watch the live stream

152. Still trying...!

As usual with us nothing goes to plan and the last few weeks have been no exception. OK so Steve took the chassis to a professional painter as he could not get the paint to set right. After a couple of days the painter seems to have the same problem. The culprit..contaminated paint. So the chassis was collected and bought back home now in an even worse state, So a lot of money just went down the drain , as we supplied the paint there was nothing the painter could do without being paid more money of course, nobody works for nothing. Back to work for Steve and his mates and once again the chassis was rubbed down in the back of the trailer, The trailer was then cleaned and re-painted with fresh paint, Steve was still  not  happy with the finish as even though he cleaned the trailer out within an inch of its life a lot of dust had still settled on the paint. After a lot of discussion the decision was made to just put the car back together and go racing.

Front wheels an suspension went on first along with the steering so far so good..hmm! Then the rear axel was collected cleaned up checked and even the end plate was polished.

The axel was then mounted back on the car along with the wheels so now at least it was a roller, next job was to mate the engine and gearbox along with the new flex plate and new motor plates ready for installation. This when Steve found the gearbox mount need to be coiled as the threads were had it.

Next the whole drive train was re-installed in the chassis and......this is where it all went a little pear shaped again. For some inexplicable reason nothing lined up again, this was just a bit more than frustrating after so much work had been done, mainly in the pouring rain.

This all happened on this Thursday 4th and Steve was more than little agitated in fact he was furious, he was going to have another look at the car on the weekend and if not resolved he was finished with it all. I waited all day today Saturday 6th for a call from Steve to let me know which way everything was going and low and behold a minor miracle occurred with the help of Steve's friends Jim and Nigel and......everything is now lined perfect. Also Before the engine fitting disaster Steve had refurbished the braking system.

So now the rush is on to try and get everything back together again and running, just like the Nostalgia Nationals it my be a bit too late for entry to Dragstalgia.

It maybe a tall order but Steve and the gang are on it but no matter what happens the car will hit the track sometime this year,  badder and faster hopefully, See you all at the track very soon.