26. Replacement...29/05/2014

It looks like we might be lucky with the weather on Saturday so the RWYB will go ahead so,today I hooked up all the batteries to their chargers, they have two days to get to their respective correct levels, Mr Yates tells me my fire suit has finally arrived from the States so I have now got to figure a way of collecting it from him and returning the loan suit I have been wearing.

The other problem I have had is with my Helmet the one I bought first fits fine but has a ridge on the back which for some strange reason just gets in the way..I am a tight fit in the car. Sooo I bit the bullet and bought another one, from the same place this one sis a Snell 2010 as opposed to my other one which is a Snell 2005, which means it is certified for a longer period and it doesn't have a ridge on the back but it did cost a bit more so I am praying this solves the problem....

Fingers crossed we will soon find out...a lot of work has been done on t he car so the plan for Saturday is to get the car out  get it on its jacks and start it up and check oil levels, and go through the gears and check the wheel bearings if everything is ok and levels are fine and no leaks we will go for a run,, but it will only be a burn-out, launch into second and then back off..around 330 foot mark, then back to the pits and check everything again, you can never be too careful in this sport.

If all is OK then the backlash will done again on the valves and the timing sorted, we have taken the play out of the throttle cable and sorted the valve clearances properly, we will adjust the throttle peddle so my foot stops slipping off, then the engine oil will be changed, with the semi synthetic Red Line oil we are changing it every three runs.

Then we will be after it and when I say after it I mean an 8 second run not a 9 I will not be happy till we have an 8 on the board and I have a sneaky feeling we might just do it!!! I must remember my anti fog spray for my glasses this time as being able to see is certainly an advantage...don't you think?

25. More work done

Last Friday my crew chief (son) and my Brother  made their way to the car in Bedford luckily the weather was not as bad as it could have been and for the most part they had decent weather to work on the car, I on the other hand was stranded at home with three dogs and three teenage step kids as Lorni was working.

First order of the day was to get the car out of the truck and set up camp.

..then remove everything again including the bodywork, then it was a case of take the axle off empty the diff, and god knows what was in it as the colour of the oil?? was bight red,

the new end casing was modified??? hit with a hammer till it fitted. then the diff was re-filled,  the welded up tail piece of the gearbox refitted and filled up....

Then it was a case of tidy everything up, replace everything including the bodywork...which got a polish and shine  up and then put everything back in the truck.

So on Saturday the 31st all we have to do is check the oil levels and the wheel bearings adjust the throttle pedal and we are ready to make another run..then it's wait for Dragstalgia.....can't wait.

24. Problems problems always problems!

What a day today has been, the plan was to go over to the car in Bedford, change the gearbox oil, this requires taking the body panels off, and sort out the throttle pedal and replace the dodgy rocker arm for the new one I received a couple of days ago. As I said that was the plan!

So up at 5am and  load the car up and leave by 6am..meet Steve and al at the usual services and then on to the truck, we dragged the car out of the truck as it is easier to work on outside. As Steve was jacking the back end of the car up he leant against the Left hand wheel and slick and it moved..it shouldn't do this..

Not sure if this shows up too well

The hub bearing was loose, the amount of play meant that the wheel had been touching the bodywork which had resulted in a red line round the inside of the slick, so now the first job is to see what is wrong with the bearing, but we did not have the very large socket required to take the hub nut off which was about 58 mm, we identified the bearing but no-one had one or could get it the same day and no-one had a 58mm socket. so it was taken off using the engineers adjustable spanner..(Hammer and Screwdriver) what we found was the bearing had never been seated correctly in the first place the tabbed washer had not been in the right place, probably jumped out while being tightened so the whole thing was loose and probably dangerous.

Steve managed to sort out the washer, re-pack the bearing with grease after cleaning everything up first including the disk and calliper, then re-tighten again and low and behold everything is fine..phew!!

So now the dragster is naked..no body panels on at all...

..which is what we needed to change the gearbox oil, now here's the thing we emptied the gear box removed its sump replaced the gaskets and filter...but then more problems...

This is what we found in the filter!!!!  no idea what it is but Steve guessed it might be what is left of some type of gasket sealer..we just don't know, we cleaned it all out and put everything back together again.But! this is when we saw another problem, I know  this is getting to be too dam frequent now.....the gear box had cracks in it, this would account for the oil we found in the bottom body panel. the cracks are in the end of the gearbox where it is mounted onto the bodywork.

The gearbox is a power Glide two speed and the cracks are in the tail piece. There was nothing for it but to remove the offending bit and see what we can do with it, this meant undoing the UJ's and moving the entire rear axle assembly backwards to clear the prop shaft away form the gear box., looks like we might get away with getting it welded up, we will see. I was told that a previous owner of the car had UJ seize on them so this might account for the damage on the gearbox.

Next job..replace rocker arm and pushrod..next problem, the rocker arm is ever so slightly different from the rest so didn't fit, we didn't get the throttle pedal sorted out either, so we loosely fitted everything back together...as it has all got to come apart again in the very near future.

Al looking all alone and abandoned

So after 12 hours of work we packed her back up in the truck cleaned up and went home,,,

Tomorrow Steve will take the gearbox tail piece round to a local engineering company to see if he get it welded..here's hoping the John O'Sullivan can do it, I will phone round and try and get a replacement rocker arm and try and find out how much oil goes into the diff, I am hoping Roy Wilding can help me on this,,he did build the axle assembly on this car.

Got my fingers crossed that we can get everything repaired in time for the 31st May..we will see...I want to run an"8".

23. At last..a run

Sunday the 4th  May 2014 is a day I will never forget, first of all the sun was shining I was up very early at around 5am packed the car up and left at quarter to 6 on my way to Santa Pod Raceway. I picked my brother up around 6:45 headed out to Bedford and met up with the rest of the crew at the services on the A6 just outside Bedford, then it was over to the truck and away to the Pod.

The car was unloaded and "camp Slimline Racing" was quickly set up...

And my super crew where quickly up to speed and after a warm up and before I knew it I was in the pairing lanes getting ready for my first ever run.

Now I am not saying I was nervous but!!....I could have done with stiff drink. So this was to be the start of a new journey for myself and my crew...who are my sons Steve and Philip my brother Dave and Steve's friend Al who came to help us out on this day, I was about to embark on something I had dreamt about for 40 years and yes I was bloody nervous. This all started for me in 1970 when my Father took me to the Pod for the first time and after seeing and hearing my first ever fuel car fire up I was hooked. So I maybe a 56 year old grandfather but I didn't care this was what I had always wanted to do and it had taken me this long to get here.

The engine was fired up and I was directed round to the start line, the first problem I had was my helmet it has an aerodynamic ridge on the back that kept getting caught on the roll cage..need a new helmet already! the second problem was, I wear glasses and they got steamed up making an already nervous Russ even more so as I couldn't see a dam thing.The brief was...no burnout, gentle run up the track and get used to the controls and the way she handles..so the light goes green I hesitantly put my foot down count to three and try to change into second..I couldn't I was already in second gear oh well not to worry I made it up the track in a very slow 18 seconds at an unbelievable 55mph LOL I didn't care I was ecstatic. Something I will say is this, the track looks very narrow all of a sudden when you are sitting in  a car at the start line looking towards the finish gantry.

We didn't get any video of the first run, probably because everyone got bored and fell asleep before I reached the finish line.

The second run was a lot better in that I actually started in the right gear changed into second at the right time, this time I netted a run that was nearly 5 seconds faster than the first at 14 seconds at 88 mph...still with no burnout and another problem became apparent my right foot kept slipping off the accelerator pedal the pedal was too far over to the left and too high for me, a simple problem to fix for next time..

The video clips on this page were all taken on a smart phone so not of the best quality I will try and get a video camera for the next test session.

I am now feeling a bit more confident with the car so "Turbo" our race consultant suggests next time I  should try a burnout and to try a more aggressive start. So the nerves are now back with a vengeance I am steaming hot as, believe me these fire retardant race suits are dam sweltering. Anyway before I know it I am once again in the paring lanes this time I have smeared washing up liquid on my glasses a tip give to me by Sarah Howells from the famed "Wild Bunch" crew and it worked! I was directed round to the start line again but this time the marshals used the hose and put plenty of water down for me, I had to drive through the water and then stop once I had gone through and on "Turbo's" command.."Floor it" in second gear, which I did and if I say so myself it was a decent effort...

So now it was time for my third run in the car and time to get a little more serious....

So now I have managed to get the car into the 11 second range with a speed of just on 120mph so we are getting there..small steps and no damage to either driver or car. So for the next run pretty much the same but just keep my foot in a little harder and longer, which is still a problem because of the aforementioned throttle pedal problem oh well I will give it my best shot.

This time the burnout wasn't as good or strong I had to come off the power as the car was moving about a bit, and same on the run the car got a bit loose and as this has never happened to me before I got on and off the throttle a couple of times I "peddled" it as they say in Drag Racing circles. But even with all this I still managed a run of 10.8 seconds at 125mph which was brilliant for my first days running, so that was it, time to pack up and go home and look forward to the next runs, which will be the 31st May weather permitting where I hope after having the throttle pedal modified to be able to run a 9 second pass at 140mph if that happens then I will apply for my racing licence and give it a real go.

And for those of you reading this who think that drag racing is just a case of pointing the car in a straight line and flooring it..think again, I wish it was that easy?

22. Nearly there!

It has been a very hard few days for "Slimline Racing" on Friday I arranged with my son and crew chief Steve to take the truck from it's nice storage depot to his friends house just outside Sundon Village so that he could weld up the rotting exhaust on the truck....end of the season weld up the rotting cab too...

So I met up with my brother in Luton we made our way over to Bedford to where the truck and car are and we spent a while tying everything down with bungees and straps to stop anything from moving, then set off to get the truck welded, we left the truck over night for Steve to work his magic I dropped Dave back home and I made my way back to sunny Kent.

I took the small on board battery back with me to ensure it was charged in time for the next day, it wouldn't charge on my trickle charge so I put my car charger on it and again it was too flat to start charging so I took my motorbike battery out and paralleled it off with the dragster battery and let the charger do its thing for a couple of hours then left it to charge over night on the trickle charger....

It still was not fully charged by the morning....

Up a 4am back in my over loaded car and back to Luton pick Dave up again then over to the truck check everything is still battened down and off to Santa Pod Raceway, we arrived at around  9am and set up camp and waited for Ian Tuberville to arrive.

We got the dragster out of the truck for the first time in 6 months

We have had a few problems with the car we have had to have the front timing cover welded and machined and we have a damaged rocker arm Steve had to replace the rocker arm and set the gap wrong due to wrong information being given to him, when we fired the car up for the first time it sounded terrible..popping and backfiring,a wise and clever man came over and said "in my humble opinion you have a problem with an inlet valve hanging open for the engine to pop and bang like that" so! off came the rocker cover again and after a phone call and the correct tappet gap being found out they were all re-set then the car was fired up again....

Now it sounded really crisp and very angry it was now a drag racing engine, so time to do the one thing I had been dreaming of for around 40 years....take a car up the track....

I donned the fire suit trousers and jacket put the fire boots on and went over tot he car. now there is na have to climb up on to the slick over the top of the cockpit and place both feet on the axle then at the same time bend your back let your feet slip forward and if you can get your leg between the brake lever and the steering wheel you are in place, and its a tight  place to be in, now put the straps one over each shoulder one from each side and one up from the floor in the middle the on go the arm restraints the the gloves, neck brace and lastly the helmet, if I said this is extremely claustrophobic that would be an understatement I so very  nearly gave it all up and got out, but Turbo said it does take some getting used to but it will get easier..."Just breathe and relax" which I did so I stayed, I swear that both Steve and Dave thought is was getting frightened about driving the dragster but that was not the case I was just having a lot of trouble being in that confined space..I didn't call the car "Tight Fit" for nothing.  

We hooked the car up to the tow line and took it down to the start line, we got to the fromt of the line got the signal to fire up which we did..

As soon as the starter battery was removed form the dragster the engine died. remember that battery problem I mentioned at the beginning...well looks like that battery died on us, so it was back to the pits clean up and pack up ready to fight another day...

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.