143. Nearly shhh!!!! don't want to jinx it...!

 So sometimes not everything goes according to plan that in itself can be very stressful but add in a tight time constraint and the stress levels end up astronomical. Steve has been physically ill with all the stress of putting the car back together in time for Dragstalgia next Thursday. So what happened to cause all this excess  stress? The axle and gearbox were fitted into the car on Friday, and the hubs were re-built. on Saturday the days work was to service the engine fill everything up with oil and start her up.

I got a call from Steve Saturday night to tell me that the car has first gear, second gear feels "Funny" and when the revs are built up the wheel speed does not increase and there is no reverse. I was out with friends at a local bar it was getting late so  I told Steve to pack up go home get some sleep and attack it fresh in the morning and if getting nowhere give out friend John O'Sullivan "Mr Mopar" a call and ask him to come over to the workshop and have a look. Now another problem was solved, because the team came fourth in the Wild Bunch series last year the car now has a new number however with no time to sort out stickers Steve improvised.......!

Now all racers know there are things called Gremlins horrible little critters that come out at night and fiddle with the settings on the cars, we know this because you can have the car set up beautifully all day, leave it overnight and in the morning nothing works properly, well in this case the reverse happened, Steve went back to the car in the morning and low and behold the gears all worked properly, thank you Gremlins. John O came round and told Steve to just up the idle speed a little bit and....da daa the trans brake worked as well so reverse is now doing what it should. The car was put back together and loaded into the trailer to find out 1. That it fits now 2. Where to put the tie down rings? and yes the dragster does fit but only just after Steve's mods to the trailer, and I have to say this...it was a tight fit!

The trailer was washed and scrubbed and the car put inside for the night so it now looks very likely that the team will be at Dragstalgia after all but it took some doing, a massive effort from Steve.

Only a couple of jobs left to do now fit the tie down rings tonight then tomorrow change the dragsters fuel lines on Wednesday load the trailer up and clean the dragster and of course Thursday head for the Pod ..Well done Steve.

The car is looking good and the engine sounds great, very crisp, here's hoping for a great weekends racing with The Wild Bunch. I wish I could attend but going to have to wait a little while before I return to the UK.

142. Getting closer....!

An almighty thrash by Steve with a little help from his friends has seen  a big step forward in the hope of getting to Dragstalgia. The gearbox rebuild kit arrived early, now this is because the kit that Steve ordered was found to be damaged and it was the last one of its type in stock so a more expensive and probably better replacement, a TCI kit was sent. A big thanks to Jegs who sent it priority post, it arrived in three days at no extra cost, now there's customer service for you. So Serve then spent a stressful evening repairing the gearbox I say stressful as Steve tells me it wasn't easy.

Next was to finish off the refurbishment of the trailer Steve, along with his mate manged to get the remainder of the woodwork completed and lights fitted in one evening another job ticked off the incredibly long "To Do" list.

Yesterday evening was a very long night for Steve the gearbox was taken from his work to where the car is being stored at the moment along with the rebuilt axle. First of all while putting the gearbox in place Steve heard a rattling sound the sort of sound that you shouldn't be getting from a re-built gearbox! so the box was put back on the floor and stripped where al oose bolt from the valve body had dropped out..phew! rather there than on the track. So back it went and then the axle was put in place another very heavy item, The process of aligning everything correctly was then undertaken and at that point Steve called it a night

So the wheels have got to go back on and everything tightened and checked then the car will be started up on the stands and the running gear checked over to make sure everything works as it should and no more rattling noises. The team have a just a week to finish it all off and fingers crossed no more problems and they might just make it. Steve has already entered the car for the fire burnouts again on Saturday night.

Like of lot of teams we run on a small budget everything comes out of our own pockets all the work on the car is down mainly to Steve which of course is many many days of unpaid hard work, but I have to say Steve has been a bit lucky just when he needed it with one of the main stream on-line bingo company's So I would like to say a big thank you to our unknowing main sponsor Gala Bingo.

141. We are, we're not, we are........

We did announce on Facebook that we would not be able to race at Dragstalgia this year and probably won't be racing at all for the rest of the year because of the ever increasing list of damage that we have found with the car and not enough time or money to fix it in time. I don't believe in miracles but! there is now a good chance the team will be there in fact the entry has already been sent.

The team should appear on the next update to the entry list, so what has happened then? with the gearbox casing now welded up Steve found damage to the brake band and the clutch plates when he dismantled the box.

A rebuild kit is on its way but the interesting thing is we have always complained that the change form first to second always seemed to drag the revs down and what Steve found was was the clutch pack had been put together with the wrong tolerances it was packed too tight!!! so fingers crossed this may help our ET's a little. a lot of the clutch plates were badly scored and burnt in some instances so again a rebuild may help a little.

So the trailer is nearly done, the axle is ready to be put back in place the gearbox is on it's way to be repaired new fuel lines to go in and the engine plate sorted. Lets hope that's it and the team can defend the WB4 number.

140. It's down to the wire....!!

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!

139.The start of a new season...or is it?

Here we are at the start of another exciting season of drag racing.... for some maybe but not for us... maybe??? as much as we want to defend our hard earned WB4 number there are a few things that are getting in the way for now. Over the last couple of seasons we have made temporary repairs to so many bits and pieces on our race operation that we can no longer continue without addressing these problems with a more permanent fix.

First is the tow truck our venerable Dodge Ram require some work, primarily the LPG system although I am finding out that there are fewer and fewer service stations provide LPG part of the lets make everyone change to electric vehicle rubbish I suppose. Thankfully in Swindon there is still one petrol station with LPG. The cost of the petrol for a return trip to the Pod now exceeds £200 so sorting out the Gas system is must. Also the old girl need a sill welding up for the next MOT and a general tidy up.

The trailer is also in need of some work, the floor needs replacing the back of the trailer where the slicks sit has just about calloused new struts need welding in underneath and a new wood flooring is required. There are a few leaks that need sealing as well as a clear out of un-needed gear. A wheel bearing needs looking at and the electric brakes need sorting out along with the rear light clusters.

And now the race car, I think I am right that it was built in 2004 ish then Turbo had a sort out around 12 years ago before we bought it we have had it around 10 years now so it's time for a strip down and a good going over. So Steve took a trip with is boss over to the trailer a couple of weekends back to remove the axle as we have the new gears for it.

The axle is now in the workshop being fixed ready to go back on the car, when that's done the trailer and car are being taken back to Steve's place where the car will be stripped and the chassis checked before being blasted and re powder coated. The car will then be re-wired and every nut and bolt gone through. New fixing points for the 6 point harness will also be needed. The gear box has a leak probably one of the seals which needs looking at then the engine will be gone over and checked. One problem that we do have is Hoosier no longer make our size slick, if we go up to the next size the slick will rub the body work...any suggestions anyone?????

Oh and our fire suit is way out of tag and the nice people at RJS will no longer re-certify a suit that hasn't been certified for over five years so that means we have to save up and buy a new one if we want to race in the MSUK series.

We want to race this year but! as you can see we have a lot to do on our "to do" list and it all takes time and money and as  a team we really want everything ready and certified for 2023, but never say never eh?