Nice new crank and good luck with the parts sales! How's everything else going for you?
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Nice new crank and good luck with the parts sales! How's everything else going for you?
Hi Ryan
Life is going well right now Buddy!
Still doing 6 days a week at work so garage time is limited as i not only need to get both the Rover snd the SBC engines finished, but i also need to complete the addition of a convervatory to the house which is now 7 weeks behind schedule :( My main problem seems to be that I was expecting to get a builder in to do some work for me. But it seems that at this time of the year in the UK if you ca
n find builder with no work booked uop for weeks on end then he is probably no good??
Holy Cow!! Has it been over 2 months since I last looked in here??
I was working 6 days a week uo to my holiday in August. I got back to work on 17th August and have been working 7 days a week since then. Hell! I got my brand new truck to drive on 17th August and today it clocked 6400 miles !!
On the Home front:
I have a builder arriving on Saturday 3rd October to lay the foundations + base and walls for our new Conservatory. That will be done over 3 weekends so by November I can start assembling the new addition onto its base at last. We may have Christmas lunch in the Conservatory if all goes well ?
On the Engine front:
The Rover will be ready fo assembly in 10 days time so I can sell it.
The SBC block is now back from the machine shop. It has been cleaned and honed and decked and it is now in the workshop doused in heavy oil. These iron blocks do go rusty quite fast in our climate in the UK. So I can now set about fittng freeze plugs etc. I was told that I should blank off the oil drain holes in the lifter gallery on the SBC as this would gain horsepower? My thought was that this would also block off many crankcase vent holes. So I bought some tubes that fit these holes which I had to thread so the oil does not go down these holes, but air air still vent from them ;)
I now have a front motor mount plate for the SBC which will fit the MGB chassis rails. Today my TCI SFI 168 tooth flex plate arrived.. I was surprised as i forgot that I ordered it a few weeks back. So it was a nice surprise :)
I have found a fully forged rotating assembly at Summit Racing which seems to be rated for 750hp. But if I fit the ARP con rod kit they say it will be good for 1500hp ? So my goal of around 800hp with a small shot of nos seems possible. I wont buy the rotating assembly until I'm sure of what I need. At this time I'm thinking that I may run race fuel with a CR of around 12.5 - 13:1 to the best bang from the engine. I ideally want 700hp on the carbs and then add a small shot to top up as required to find my 8 second goal ?
This is all getting very exciting for me now. But the best part is!!! I just email suppliers in the USA to tell them what Engine I have and they advise on what parts I need to reach my goal ;) I was hoping to have the SBC ready by this month but due to work and home issues I have now pushed that date back to June 2016 to roll the car out for shakedowns. And i think I may just make that date if all goes well and we dont have a horrible winter as the car is still outside and I have to work outside unless I can some friends to free up some garage space for me and the MGB as I need to do a little work on the cage and the chassis to make it a little stronger.
So thats the Home front and the Garage front dealt with.
On the Family / Grandpa front:
My Darling Grand Daughter Faith was 2 years old on Tuesday 15th September!! Where the hell did that 2 years go guys?
She is now talking very well and she is having swimming lessons. She loves the water.
Gill and I took Faith and her mum (my eldest Daughter Vicki) to The Canary islands in August for a week in the sun. We had such a great time. Faith was in 7th heaven on the beach in Fuerteventura. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfo339amR58
Medical front:
I went to the doctors a few weeks back to get him to look at my damaged knee as I partly dislocated it when trying to move a heavy grease digester tank on a job for a client. He said the knee should be ok if I took care of it. He then said "your records show that you have not had a general check up in 15 years" I asked why this was required as I felt fine. His reply was quite funny... He said "You only seem to come here when you are broken, but we do need to give you a genral health check I'm afraid" So I got a lung function check which was fine. I had my blood pressure checked and to the Doc's surprise it was perfect. Then I had 4 blood samples taken. I went back a week later for results and they took the blood samples again and told me that they thought I had not fasted for 12 hours before even though I had. Another week later and I go back again to find that I am Diabetic? So I now have to take pills every day. Since then I have cut out chocolate, halved my beer consumption, cut out crisps (potato chips) And now only drink Diet soda. Fast forward 2 weeks and I'm 13lbs lighter ?? I have to go back to the Doctors next week to see the Diabetes nurse so she can school me on how to eat?
By the time I roll the car out in June next year I may be 40lbs lighter :) That can only be a GOOD thing eh?
Regards to all you folks over the pond !
Pel
Hang in there Pel we want to see tose Lower times in the near future, and don't be a stranger!
Pel, sorry to hear of the diabetes, but at least they caught it. It sounds mild since you don't need inculine to treat it? That's great everything else is going great. Good luck with the conservatory and getting it all done.
I am so looking forward to the possibilty of sitting in the new conservatory for Christmas Day ;)
It may not have any heating or lighting though ??
Run an extension cord and use one of those oil/radiator heaters for the time being.
I will do whatever I can to make sure I get the unit assembled on top of the new base and walls when they are done in a few weeks. I'm happy to at least see stuff being deliverd today ready for the start of the work tomorrow while I will be in London working for Merryl Lynch. :)
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OH My!!
I got home from work today to find a large trench in the back yard that was filled with concrete ! I guess my foundation is now underway ;)
My immediate response was to have a cup of Tea and then depart to a friends workshop 2 miles up the road so I could help with working out what I need to make to get his power steering system working on one of his modified cars as he needs all new hydraulic hoses made and I know a guy who can do this stuff?
I got back home in time to be lucky enough to head up to my study to chat to internet friends on Drag Racing sites while i avoided the whole family downstairs who were shouting at an England Rugby match tonight ! I think England may have lost. But I won big style as I sold some V8 stuff on Ebay and privatley to go towards the SBC build ;) I'll take some pics of the garden work tomorrow. For tonights close of play I got to say goodnight to my Darling Grand Daugther Faith as she was shouting up the stairs "gunnite Gandad" So Gandad did the usual trick of sitting on the top step while Faith crawled up the stairs to me with her worried mother at the bottom of the stairs telling her to "be careful" :) Then Gand Dad and Faith came down each step on our backsides shouting BUMP as we came down with me holding Faiths hands as she bumped each step in front of me. As we got to the bottom step Faith said " I dun it Gandad" then we had hugs before she went to her bed... Dagnabbit that little girl has me wrapped around her little finger :) Tomorrow I will be up at 7am to make sure the builders have Tea, Coffee and fresh baked bread for their Bacon rolls ready for when they arrive at 8.30am.
You're gonna be spoiling those builders with treatment like that, Pel! Sounding like me, out cooking burgers & brat's for the guys who were pouring the slab for the shop a few years back! And they thought they were going to be sending a runner in to town for lunch!! I expect you'll get your investment back with interest, in attention to details that otherwise might well be forgotten.
And give Faith an extra hug next time it's off to bed, just for grins! Tell her she's got lots of Grandad's out there who know that she's special.
Hey Roger !
I know jusy how much I appreciate it when I'm on a site working and the site engineer makes me welcome with the ability to have Tea and Coffee. Some of the sites I work on have decent kitchen facilities and the site engineers will tell us we have to use the local cafe to keep ourselves fed and watered. Some of these guys even make Tea in their workshop in front of us without offering a cup for us. They often have a microwave which they wont let us use? Some folk can be Aholes eh? So on these site we do what we have to as quick as we can and get out. But on 80% of the sites we visit we get looked after and we also go the extra mile to make sure the client gets a first class job. The sites that look after me and my team best in London are all American banks ? And Bloomberg let use us their facitlites for drinks and snacks and its all free. They just ask that we are clean and presentable when in the breakout area, which is huge :) The guys this weekend really appreciated being kept fed with drinks and food as required. I made out a timetable for my girls after I did breakfast for the builders as I was going out. The timetable laid out how often to ask them if they wanted a hot or cold drink and also to make sure that biscuits and cakes were on tap from when I gave them breakfast at 8.30 this morning up to 1.30pm when they should have another batch of rolls baked with nice bacon and Cumberland sausages cooked so they could stop for a lunch break. When Gill and I got back from a few hours out with Faith they were just clearing up and making sure all of their stuff was tidied away as they knew Faith would be playing in the garden before next weekend when they come back. What a nice bunch of chaps they are. All of them fell in love with Faith as she spent a lot of her time banging on the patio doors shouting "hello mans" and waving to them.
So yesterday we ended up with the site being lowered and a trench full of concrete. Today we have this :)
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...pssaf4h0x4.jpg
Yep, I subscribe to the same approach. Treat the workers better than you'd want to be treated, and they'll look after you! The Conservatory is going to be a great addition, and I expect that Faith will enjoy the warm sunshine on a cold winters day!
The additonal room will give Gill (a primary school teacher) a better workspace Roger. And it will be Faiths toy store and indoor play area so she can enjoy the warmth of the sun even on cold winter days ;)
Then I can have the other half of my lounge back so I can move my big sofa back in front of the fireplace where it belongs ;)
Faith was two years old last month and she still only weighs 22lbs. She is a petite little girl but she has the heart of a lion and is now so so determined to do whatever she wants. And boy does she let folk know when she wants to do something. The terrible two's are well and truly upon us now :) This afternoon I was supposed to be doing some welding on the race car, but as the sun was out and it was warm I decided to do an interior clean on the people carrier I bought 4 weeks ago as this is Faiths car now. She insisted that Nanny let her out to help Gandad. So she sat in the drivers seat with some wet wipes and copied what Gandad was doing as she wiped everything she could reach. After an hour she got bored so I asked her if she would like to paint the car? She aid yes so I got her little bucket from the garden and put warm water in with some soap and asked her to paint Gandads wheels. This kept her happy for a good while as long a I answered her comments about what she was painting next. So the doors, headlights, tyres and eventually the rear seats got painted with soapy water ;) Nanny was looking on with raised eyebrows asking why I would let her paint the seats? What else could I say except.. "They are dirty and she is having fun. I can clean them properly when I get some time Nanny" !
Then it was bath time and more fun with the little girl... She loves to do swimming in the bath as she is now on her 4th week of swimming lessons and she loves it. She called me when she was out of the bath to tell Gandad that "I swimmin Gandad" :)
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I agree with you and Roger that it is important to reward those wh work for you. We had barbeque Wednesdays for 9 months while the construction of the addition to our house was under way, I made the whole crew burgers, ect.. and we also frequently went out to lunch together. Mt crew are all my friends, wouldn't have it any other way!
So!!
Some race buddies came over last Sunday and kicked me to one side so I could take care of making sure the food and drinks were laid on for the day :)
They got to working on my plans and instructions for the Conservatory and got me and the kids unwrapping stuff. Luckily two of the guys are pro builders who had never met before but they got on well. We ended up with two teams working each side of the build at the same time. After just 4 hours I went from a bare brick wall base to having all of the glazing sections and door frame in fitted in place just at the rain came !
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So you really are one of the richest men in the world!!
Looks great.
It does feel that way for sure :)
I'm lucky to have a good bunch of mates. I had to limit the number of guys from the pits wanting to come over as there would have been around 20 guys tripping over each other. So I chose the ones who lived less than 15 miles away. I'm working every day now up to Monday 30th which I'm having off for my birthday. Then 3 more are coming over to help come rain or shine ;)
Actually I am having the 25th off as I'm at a dyno session with my mate and his 74 year old Mom to set up the nitrous on her new drag car. She's just bought herself a 94 Mustang and wants it gassed up and dyno'd asap :)
It does feel that way for sure :)
I'm lucky to have a good bunch of mates. I had to limit the number of guys from the pits wanting to come over as there would have been around 20 guys tripping over each other. So I chose the ones who lived less than 15 miles away. I'm working every day now up to Monday 30th which I'm having off for my birthday. Then 3 more are coming over to help come rain or shine ;)
Actually I am having the 25th off as I'm at a dyno session with my mate and his 74 year old Mom to set up the nitrous on her new drag car. She's just bought herself a 94 Mustang and wants it gassed up and dyno'd asap :)
Pel, very nice! Your granddaughter is growing up fast, and she is such a cutie! Nice work on the sanctuary! That will be a great space! Man, you sure have this fat kid's interest with these bacon rolls. Have any pics or a recipe for these? :LOL:
HMMmmmm.. bacon and a fox body Mustang.. dyno'ed and ready for the drags..
not much better than that!
Sounds like a wonderful group you guys have! The conservatory is springing up fast! A 74 year old drag racing Grandma with a nitrous dragster....just one word comes to mind, "AWESOME"
Ha Ha!! Old Gwen came to the track with her Son (my good mate Stevie) a few years ago for a day out. By 1pm she decided that she wanted to have a go in her Nissan micra. So we signed her on and got her on track. She just went round and round and only stopped in the pits when her low fuel light came on. One of the guys went to the local gas station and filled a Jerry can so we could top her up. Since then she has had a Rover 75 V6 which then had nitrous fitted, and then a Mitsubishi twin turbo station wagon which we also fitted nitrous to. And then she got a Skoda Diesel estate which we fitted nitrous and propane injection to. She has fun for sure and my mate Stevie tries to keep it safe for her which is why her cars have never done better than high 13's... When she had the sation wagon she got told by the start line marshals that she could not leave her zimmer frame in the trunk next time round. On the other cars she hid it but the station wagon has windows in the rear :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNU_...tfRrjw&index=3
Zimmer frame = walker for the Yanks :) She's the infamous Lil' Ol' Lady From Pasadena, retired across the pond and still running the track!:LOL::LOL::LOL:Quote:
Originally Posted by pel
Walker! OHHHhhhh.. Now it makes sense!:LOL::LOL::LOL::p
That's awesome!
Ha Ha!! We took Gwens new Stang to the dyno and the Ford Mod 4.6 engine made 219hp on the dyno. I activated the nitrous system with a mild 50 shot and the Mustang hopped up to 273hp with no problems :) This will be enough to see the old lady hitting new PB's for 2016 !
When I got home from work today at 3.30pm I heaved a sigh of relief as I got home to find that my Son Jason had been at my house since 9.30am getting on with the Conservatory build. I had to only spend an hour with him to get the last two roof panels fitted. He had already fitted and set up the doors so the build is now water tight and wind proof :)
Its far from being totally finished but we will be having our Xmas lunch in the new addition on Xmas day now :)
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/b...ps6v53wg96.jpg
The Conservatory looks great! Glad that you'll be having your Christmas Day celebratory meal in the new space! I expect that the addition will be a wonderful new space for many family gatherings. Thanks for the update!!
Congrats! I'm sure there is a bit of relief for you knowing it is water and air tight now!
Yes, it does look grand with the finial on the peak.
So a message popped up saying that the Shakespeare County Drag Strip complex had closed, and was going to be developed into a housing subdivision? Does this affect you & your weekend racing? Seemed to be a message that was not being received kindly by the car guy & gal crowd....
Yep!
Thats not good news for Shaky Drag Strip to be honest. :(
Shakespeare county raceway AKA Avon Park has been a favourite of many folk over the years. Its a grass roots drag strip and quite a SCENE place to race at. I have only ever been there once to race but it rained so I had to go home. Mainly because they have no drying equipment for the track apart from brooms from what I saw ?
The folk who use Shaky will now have to travel to Santapod when Shaky eventually shuts down, and i think they may like the change in some ways regarding how fast a flooded track can be swept and jet dried to get racing going again. These guys may not like the clinical feel that the Pod can have regarding "Get as many cars through asap" ?
The pit area at Shaky is very small. It would fit in the small drift car circuit of the pits at SantaPod.
However! When at Shaky to race you have just ONE queue.. And bikes have to take their place in that queue behind cars. At the Pod Bikes just run down the middle of the cars in the pairing lanes and queue up in a small area at the front. On a busy day we can be in the queue for 1 -4 hours and see the same bikes coming past us cars several times before we get a run?
Yet Shaky had all cars and bikes Scrutineered before they can run as does York Raceway and North Weald raceway. But the the Pod (which is an international Drag Strip) any car or bike can rock up at the lights and as long as its not dripping fluids and looks ok to the start line marshalls it can run ?
I'm sure the Hotrod SCENE guys from Shaky who have to eventually come to Santapod will get used to the atmosphere in time. A lot of them do already use the Pod now and then for event weekends such as the Mopar Nationals, Dragstalgia and Retro Cars show.
I hope that Shaky stays open as long as possible so follk can have fun. When the time comes I will try to have my car there for the last RWYB event before the track has to close the gates.. RIP Shakespeare County Raceway :(
Hi folks!
As its only 2 more sleeps to the Big Day I thought I should pop in to say that I hope you all enjoy the holidays with family, friends and cars etc...
Its just gone Midnight here now so its actually Xmas eve for me. I only have to pop into London in the morning for a few hours to investigate why one of my clients has no hot water to their restaurant kitchen. These folk are there at work every single day of the year so they need hot water. Its one of my secret goverment sites which i cant mention. Its actually good that I'm hitting London tomorrow as I can collect Mother in Law on the way home to save me a journey.
I collected Faiths Xmas present from GanDad today and its hidden in the MPV. She enjoys playing in her electric VW Bug and now he can play in her Airplane. But i dont think she will be able to reach the pedals for a while? Its an Amercian made all steel toy and I love it. If she does not like it I will hang it from the Garage ceiling :)
A very Merry Christmas to all of you guys and your families. And a Happy New Year to all of you.
Regards
Pel
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I have a feeling that Faith will be an Amelia Earhart clone, darting about the house wreaking havoc with squeals of joy! Have a Merry Christmas, but don't take all of the fun out before it gets over to us..... ;):LOL::LOL::LOL:
Ha Ha!!
I'm so looking forward to the morning now. Christmas day officially starts in 3 1/2 hours for us. The kids are all in their rooms doing last minute Wrapping. Faith has just gone to bed with Mummy after leaving milk and mince pies on the fireplace and a pack of reindeer food on the front lawn.
I have been mega busy as I had to write up several gift tags for the wife. My middle Daughter has managed to do all Daddies Shopping for him as I gave her a list two weeks ago and all of Gills presents are now wrapped and will be under the tree before midnight. Gills mother is now downstairs with Gill getting food prepared for breakfast and the Big Xmas lunch tomorrow while I pretend to be working upstairs in my office ;)
I prefer to make the Xmas dinner for the family but since Gills Pops died several years ago we have Gills Mum with us for Xmas Eve and Xmas Day. She likes to busy herself with all the preparations and we like to see her being happy with taking charge of the festive dinner for my family. Then on Boxing day all of her kids and grandchildren and boyfriends and girlfriends and husbands and wives all meet up in one place to have another Xmas day with Mother in Law. Its way too much for her to handle without Pops so we take it in turns to host the annual family get together with Gills siblings. This year its our turn again so we have I think 24 bodies in the house for the family Boxing day dinner and festivities. Its always a good laugh and when the dust has settled after dinner we have all sorts of games going on. And despite alll the hi tech toys etc that are purchased we still end up playing I spy, Whats my trade (mime game) and one of my faves which is "keepy uppy" with just a balloon where most of the family sit aorund the lounge and the object of the game is to keep a balloon in the air by any means while passing it around the room to each other. Its sounds boring but it is great fun :)
YIKES!! Its now only 3 hours and 3 mins to the Big day :)
I will stop rambling now and again wish all of you folks over the pond a very merry Christmas.
Peace and love guys
Pel x
We have already started the day here and it is overcast,grey day but dry so far. I am still full of a head cold so glad it is only Mum and I to worry about today.
I hope all my friends and family here on Club Hot Rod have an enjoyable Christmas day.
God Bless Mark.
Have a great day mate.
Pel
Sounds like fun! Happy Holidays Pel
Well I've just made time to read this and while a bit late.. I still would like to wish everyone a happy holiday season.
Pel, I hope you and your family had a very Merry Christmas! I'm sure the plane was a hit!