http://www.xmembers.co.uk/forum/blog.php en Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:55:59 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.xmembers.co.uk/forum/images/bluefox/misc/rss.jpg http://www.xmembers.co.uk/forum/blog.php http://www.xmembers.co.uk/forum/blog.php?b=38 Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:08:41 GMT BMW ’s new Sun God, the 6-Series Convertible, is the perfect vehicle with which to worship the rays, sand, water and sky. And what better place than... BMW ’s new Sun God, the 6-Series Convertible, is the perfect vehicle with which to worship the rays, sand, water and sky. And what better place than Cabo San Lucas to test it in. With a surprising number of very good roads south of the border, who were we to turn down the offer?

Introduced ahead of its coupe sibling, the 650i Convertible is a derivative of the E63/E64 models that debuted in 2003. This model, seen in concept form during the Paris Motor Show in 2010 and introduced simultaneously as production models during the Shanghai and New York shows of 2011, takes on the internal designation of F12/F13. With the 6-series dating back to 1976, this is the third generation of the touring car from Bayerische Motoren Werke AG.

North America initially gets only the 650i, but an M variant is just around the corner.

So pack your roll-aboard, and come along as we go topless in BMW ’s new flagship droptop.

Two-plus-two equals more
A two-plus-two personal convertible with obvious sporting pretensions, the 650i is revised to include more power, better handling and efficiency. Add to that a cockpit that has been revised, for more rear seat passenger comfort. BMW engineers have managed to accomplish this feat with the use of a fabric soft top rather than the folding metal hardtop often found in this segment. We can’t complain; there’s something romantic about the contrasting shades offered by a soft top.

Of course, the 6-Series convertible is a mere version of the 6-Series coupe. With two separate bodies-in-white, and a higher take rate on the Convertible, it was only natural for the company to introduce its newest ragtop first.

The field of four-seat luxury droptops is decidedly thin, with most rivals in the segment offering either a strictly two seat affair or a back seat meant for Foo Foo, your prized poodle.

Digging through the newness
BMW’s long-maligned iDrive control is back and works so well, it has actually become a non-issue. Its ease of use is now supplemented by a redesigned display measuring 10.2 inches. Stretching wide across the center stack, it offers 3-D views of the terrain (well, not so much the Mexican desert in Baja California Sur), with buildings and streets recognized in urban and suburban settings.

Also in the techno-realm is the addition of a Head Up Display for the driver. We have a love/hate relationship with these devices. On one hand, we love what they offer. On the other, like the HUD system found in the 650i, the use of polarized sunglass lenses cancels the ability to see the speeds and data reflected from the windshield. BMW engineers are supposed to be addressing the issue.

Good things come in small packages, with 4.4-liters of V8 powerplant being the package despite the 650i nomenclature. In this case, it’s the twin turbo engine seen in several other BMW models – one of our favorites.

Integral Active Steering combines the previously available active steering system found on the outgoing 6-series, with a steerable rear axle. The net effect of this optional equipment lengthens or shortens the vehicle’s wheelbase allowing for more precise turns and enhanced maneuverability.

Shark nosed
Now a clear identifier of the BMW 6-series coupe and convertible, the shark nose is back, this time with a stylized waterfall structure on the grille uprights. A larger air intake spans the full width of the under-bumper area, and is topped off by low-profile LED fog lamps on both sides. LED halo rings surround Xenon headlamps to continue the theme.

Newly creased sheetmetal resembles the waves coming off the bow of a boat, BMW says. We squinted and asked for another Tecate. An extreme swept-back windshield continues the impression of movement. The chrome waistrail that encircles the cockpit carries on the nautical look especially when outfitted with white leather inside.

Side gills form the beginning of a side strake that runs the length of the 6 and finishes at the wrap around taillamps. It is quite a contrast to the rear that characterized Chris Bangle’s 2003 model.

Finally topping things off is a canvas fabric soft top that, while possibly not as sexy or rigid as the cargo-compromising hard top roof, manages to allow enough space in the trunk to accommodate a pair of golf bags. As we have seen, soft tops can look awkward in the closed position. Thankfully, that is not the case with the 6. Movable at speeds up to 25 mph, it takes 19-seconds to stow, and 24-seconds to replace. Additionally, expect 10.6 cubic feet of cargo space with the roof down, and 12.3 with it up. The added bonus to all of this was the closed feeling and absence of road noise when driving with the roof in the up position.

Creature comforts
A two-toned interior with contrasting-stitched leather awaits those who enter. With controls canted toward the driver, we found everything exactly where we expected it to be, based on our experience with other BMWs.

At the center of it all: a sport leather-wrapped steering wheel with paddle shifters and Black Panel Technology for the main gauges. The aforementioned freestanding Transreflective display for good bright-light visibility is located at the top of the center stack for navigation and infotainment functionality from BMW’s iDrive system.

The “sore thumb” is back! Actually, there is nothing wrong with how it functions, but the by-now-familiar BMW gear selector just reminds us of that particular digit. Holding sway in the center console, just north of the iDrive controller, it is operated by pressing the unlock button on its side, and then moving the lever into its desired position.

Seats were very supportive and offered the greatest invention since sliced bread in the ventilated driver and passenger seats. Rear seating was easy enough to get into and allowed adequate headroom, but we wouldn’t like to be there for rides that could potentially become all-day affairs.

In the engine room
What would have been a five-liter engine in days gone by is now 4.4-liters of direct injected twin-turbocharged power that manages to produce 400 horsepower and 450 lb-ft .of torque. With the turbos located in the valley between the heads and cylinder banks, the engine is capable of rocking the 6 from 0-60 mph in 4.9 seconds. Size does matter, we suppose, but you can’t argue with that power, which is available from both the six-speed manual and the eight-speed automatic transmission. When pressed, the throaty roar of the engine was as intoxicating as a siren song coming from the nearby Sea of Cortez.

All our test models were equipped with the eight-speed automatics, which shifted flawlessly in normal, but seemed to really come alive when we opted for the paddle shifters to row it ourselves. Speed was electronically governed to 155 mph, and mileage ratings are 16 city/24 highway, which is a 2-mpg improvement over the manual tranny in this 4,531 lbs. rod. Combined average for the manual is 17 mpg, with 19 for the automatic. But if you are playing in this sandbox, chances are that mileage is not at the top of your list of daily concerns.

The 650i’s suspension continued to prove to us that “the ultimate driving machine” is not just the marketing hype for those who don’t have a clue. Comprised of a double wishbone setup in front and multilink kit in the rear, and sprung with electronically controlled dampers, it is driver adjustable via an electronic switch in the center console. Road surface feedback is sent to the damper’s CPU, which in turn tailors the ride at the rate of 2.5-milliseconds.

Providing us with the direct feel we love in enthusiastic sporting vehicles, and combined with the Active Steering system’s steerable rear axle, it was just what was needed to avoid the various dead animal carcasses and potholes that could potentially swallow small children. We would generally see these obstacles at the last second, while following leading vehicles. The function basically moves the vehicle’s yaw point behind the car for quicker response especially in an evasive driving maneuver.

Leftlane’s bottom line
BMW continues to refine its flagship 2+2 sports droptop, excising the Bangle design once and for all.

That it’s as stout as its coupe sibling, and able to drop the top at a moment’s notice is an added bonus, even if the look is more conservative than before.

2012 BMW 650i Convertible base price, $91,375.

________________________
[URL="http://silkpathhotel.com/"]Hotels in Hanoi[/URL] - [URL="http://silkpathhotel.com/"]Hotel in Hanoi[/URL] ]]> aloso13 http://www.xmembers.co.uk/forum/blog.php?b=38 http://www.xmembers.co.uk/forum/blog.php?b=16 Mon, 22 Aug 2011 18:25:21 GMT shot back from the boat yard tonite.two turkeys in front one in a scoobie other in a mondao .audi up me trumpet floored the fairlane blew the doors... shot back from the boat yard tonite.two turkeys in front one in a scoobie other in a mondao .audi up me trumpet floored the fairlane blew the doors off the monkeys ,bounced the needle off the end made audi man look like he was in slow motion .nowts better ........ ]]> fairlane http://www.xmembers.co.uk/forum/blog.php?b=16 http://www.xmembers.co.uk/forum/blog.php?b=7 Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:44:24 GMT *25th July 2008*: Andy, accompanied by his wife and 2 sons flew out to Halifax, Nova Scotia. *27th July 2008*: The ship containing Andy?s...
25th July 2008: Andy, accompanied by his wife and 2 sons flew out to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

27th July 2008: The ship containing Andy?s transporter with Red Victor 2 arrived at the port in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

28th July 2008: Andy?s motorhome/transporter and Red Victor 2 had to be collected from the shipping agents in Halifax and clear customs.

29th July 2008: Andy has a breakfast TV appearance for CTV at a studio in Moncton to help promote the Extreme Drag Race Shootout and the World Street cars which will be attending it. Then it?s back in the transporter for the drive to Miramichi Dragway Park in New Brunswick.

30th July 2008: No more travelling for a while, it was a great feeling and a great relief for Andy to wake up at the strip knowing that he?d made it. He started to get excited at the prospect of competing on a world-wide stage.

31st July 2008: On the Thursday night there was a cruise and welcome barbeque held within the car park of Sobeys, a large supermarket in a retail park in Miramichi. Unfortunately, by late afternoon the heavens had opened and the rain never let up. Undaunted, the world street cars and many others (bravely) drove the 6 mile trip in torrential rain over the bridge to the other side of Miramichi to take part in the cruise. It was a surreal sight and sound standing in the pouring rain of a supermarket car park on a Thursday night amongst lots of regular families and shoppers as many 1,200+ BHP street cars thundered into the car park to park in amongst the estate wagons and SUV?s of the shoppers.

1st August 2008: Friday was the World Media Day and the various representatives of the media who were present attended a trackside presentation hosted by RPM Magazine?s Editor, Chis Biro and Ian Rae of HeadsUpRacer.Com. After learning the theoretical side of things the media members were then offered the opportunity to try the practical side when Chris asked ?who fancies a trip down the strip?? ? yes please we all answered! The media representatives were allowed to go and get their own cars (sadly!) and, after they had cleared tech inspection, an elimination event then took place resulting in the UK?s Steve Wilson (yours truly; representing American Car World magazine!) taking the title in the Worlds Fastest Media event. I did have the great advantage of my rental car ? a hemi-powered Dodge Durango. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my race sponsor ? Alamo Car Rental out of Boston Airport!

Later that afternoon the strip was open for business and a great many cars started queuing to do some shakedown runs.
At this point, and for background, it is important (and fair) to say that although this area of Canada is very passionate about its drag racing, Miramichi Dragway Park is more of a ?local? drag-strip and does not have near the same levels of attendance as the likes of Santa Pod or Shakespeare County Raceways; nor the same level of facilities that we enjoy here in the UK.

The strip itself had no electronic timing/terminal indicators at the end of the strip so it was up to the voice in the tower called ?Rooster? to keep the audience advised of everyone?s speed and time.

That afternoon Andy managed two shake-down runs and despite further de-tuning his engine for the second run he still overpowered the track. His tyres could be heard spinning down the length of the track as he got off the gas then back on again trying to find traction.

Boo King of the USA and Rod Saboury of Canada were always going to be Andy?s main threats to the title and it seemed that they were also experiencing similar problems in getting traction. It became apparent that this event was likely to be decided not on who?s car was out-and-out fastest but on who could get the correct (de)tune and win the on-going peddlefest ? a true test of the driver?s ability in getting their car down the track.

The American racer Rod Saboury is someone who Andy greatly respects from his early years in drag racing and there was a surreal moment that afternoon when photographs were taken of them together wearing each other?s T-shirts. Andy was also filmed and interviewed by a reporter from a TV station to do a local news segment to promote Sunday?s final.

The rain started and everyone retired for the day with the prospect of the World Street Cars doing the cruise the following day then coming back to the strip for three back-to-back passes to see who would be going through to Sundays Finals.


2nd August 2008: It had rained a little overnight but by mid-morning Andy had been told that the cruise was about to head off so my friend Ger and I headed off to a vantage point on their route to film some of the cruise; I was shooting stills and Ger was covering the video footage.

We managed to get a vantage point on a large grass banking at the side of the road which approached the Miramichi Bridge. Listening out for the cars so we could start filming we only had one false alarm ? it tuned out there was a quarry on the other side of the grass banking and the low rumble of the machinery initially fooled us!

There was no mistaking when the cruise finally did arrive as it was even louder and escorted front and back by the Miramichi Police Department ? they even have their own C3 Corvette drag car. The cruise seemed to have grown significantly as other racers had decided they wanted in on the action too so they had joined the cruise ? a few of them didn?t appear to be road legal cars but the Police didn?t seem to mind at all. Many of the racers spotted us and there was a lot of horn blowing and flashing of lights as they went by.

When the cars returned from the cruise the sky was still ominously dark and it looked like we were in for more of what the locals described as ?liquid sunshine?. Rather than run the World Street cars straight away on their return, it was decided that they should park up and allow the other classes in the event to run in an effort to get some heat in the track.

When the World Street cars were finally called there was only one elimination run completed before it started raining. The rain turned in to a downpour and after 2 hours of constant rain it was decided to end the event for the day as parts of the strip were forming puddles and the grandstand spectators had all scrambled into their cars and left before they were stuck in the mud.

A local drag fan arrived at Andy?s trailer and asked Andy (who hails from Wolverhampton) if he stayed close to Birmingham. When Andy replied yes, the chap gave Andy an engraved Policeman?s whistle from 1910 which had come from Birmingham and said ?you can take this back home, it?s been over here long enough?. There were many other memorable conversations that afternoon including that of a biker who had come over 3,000 kilometres to see Andy race and, rather more sadly, a drag fan who was terminally ill and who had come to see the event and was sleeping in his van.

All this time the rain kept falling and in time everyone made their way home for the day.


3rd August 2008: When we woke up on Sunday morning it was to more rain although to be fair some people who camped in tents at the strip were up most of the night because of the rain.

When we met up with Andy and his family he had remarked that although he was parked on Tarmac it was slightly off the level and at one point last night they had sat and watched the water cascading through their part of the pits as it ran off into the grass and mud.

Again, a happy hardcore of people milled around the racers? trailer canopies but they were all in no doubt that there was absolutely no chance of racing that day. Sadly, by the end of the day some of the racers, including Rod Saboury, had to be on their way and others had given up earlier.

The only thing that could be done was to hole-up for the day and hope that if the rain had stopped by the following day and the track could be cleared there may be some way of running a short event.


4th August 2008: Monday morning was still wet and those who had remained at the strip were advised that the event was officially cancelled.

Naturally Andy was very disappointed having come through so much and travelled so far to attend the event but he was also very positive about the whole experience and he had met so many new people (both racers and fans) that the event had turned into a very memorable one for him and reminded him what the true spirit of racing is all about for him.

It was an unfortunate end to an event which, if the weather had prevailed, could have been very special and would no doubt have brought a lot of pleasure and excitement to an area of Canada that would have appreciated it greatly. The event had everyone and everything there to make it an outstanding success and everyone was grateful to Chris and Trish Biro of RPM Magazine for their tireless work in pulling this event together which had taken two years of their time to achieve.

There was nothing more to do than pack up and swap cards and email addresses with those who had shared the experience and helped make it what it was. ]]> Steve Wilson http://www.xmembers.co.uk/forum/blog.php?b=7 http://www.xmembers.co.uk/forum/blog.php?b=6 Mon, 12 Jan 2009 11:49:44 GMT Part One of a two part diary and behind the scenes look at the challenges faced by the UK?s international street legal racer Andy Frost with his... Part One of a two part diary and behind the scenes look at the challenges faced by the UK?s international street legal racer Andy Frost with his preparations for the second World Street Race which was held in Canada on 1st ? 3rd August 2008.

Background: Andy Frost who is based in Wolverhampton drives his 1972 Vauxhall VX 4/90 known as Red Victor 2 in the Street Eliminator Class of drag racing. He had previously attended and co-organised the first World Street Race which was held at No Problem Raceway in Belle Rose, Louisiana, USA in 2005 where the four fastest ?street cars? from the USA, Canada and the UK competed to see which country had the World?s fastest street-driven cars. Andy helped win the team event and bring the title back to the UK.

February 2007: Andy received emails from Chris and Trish Biro of RPM magazine advising that a second World Street Race was to be held as part of an event called the Extreme Drag Race Shootout at Miramichi Dragway Park in New Brunswick Canada in August 2008. After the first successful World Street Race it was felt that the format of this type of racing would work once again, particularly in an area of the world that had not seen any international street events before.

The rules for the street cars that would be competing in the Extreme Drag Race Shootout in Canada were to be more relaxed than the first WSR so as to allow less scrutineering than is normal and a more ?heads-up? attitude to the racing. Really it was back to the ?old school? fastest street car in America days. This meant that all World Street Race cars were now allowed to run race fuel in their cars and were allowed to compete with wheelie bars/ET Street tyres etc. The cruise portion of the race is what made it a ?street? event with a 20 mile cruise, a 45 minute wait and then 3 back to back ¼ mile passes!! All crews were only allowed a fuel fill-up the nitrous bottle install, a front tyre change and ice water change. No bonnets could be lifted for any reason apart from a monitored fuel fill up.

At the end of the 2007 season Andy finished in 2nd place in the Street Eliminator championship standings and then immediately started making his preparations for the World Street Race. He knew from the outset that he would be unable to compete in the 2008 Street Eliminator season as he would be required to fully focus on the WSR2 only and make the necessary suspension and gearing adjustments.

March/April 2007: Andy knew he would be required to dramatically alter the way the car reacted at the start-line to gain the ET that was always in the car. Running with race fuel and the ET Street tyres would require some serious track time to find out how he could best get the power down. This was quite an exciting time in prospect as Andy has owned this car (in various guises) for 26 years and although he has broken speed and ET records and personal milestones along the way, the changes he had now made with the fuel and tyres would mean that he could potentially take the car to a whole new level.

There were originally to be other cars from the UK competing at the World Street Race event but for a number of reasons the others all withdrew at various stages along the way placing the responsibility of defending the UK?s title solely on Andy?s shoulders. This event was clearly something that meant more to Andy and he was relishing the chance to compete again on a world-wide stage with the rest of the best street cars. There was also a withdrawal from a car owner/driver from Australia who had originally agreed to attend.

It?s fair to say that most of the withdrawals were simply due to the amount of money requiring to be spent to get your car, your equipment and your crew out to Canada to compete in the first place. Andy spent a lot of time on the sponsorship trail and had a reasonable degree of success but could not raise anything like the level of funding he would have to spend to get to Canada; this was going to be an expensive trip but one he was determined to make.

23rd ? 26th May 2008: Andy attended The Main Event at Santa Pod Raceway and entered under the Comp Eliminator class so he could get some ?seat-time? in the car and see what he could achieve. Early in qualifying Red Victor 2 pulled a decent wheelie which was not something it was previously prone to but that was only the start of things. Later in the day the car pulled a monster wheelie nearly scraping the back panel on the track ? the car still managed a respectable 8.22 seconds @ 190mph! The data from the run was very encouraging though.

Needless to say after those passes it was back to the workshop to get a set of wheelie bars fitted as soon as possible ? whilst the wheelie?s made for great photo opportunities they did nothing for the car?s ET?s or front suspension! Luckily Altiss engineering and Jon Webster were on hand to help craft/design the wheelie bars and Gaz shocks did a sterling job of fixing the broken shocks in record time.

8th June 2008: Andy attended the Performance Vauxhall Show at Santa Pod Raceway for another test and tune session as part of his on-going preparation for the trip to Canada. This was Red Victor 2?s first outing since the series of wheelies and the car was now sporting it?s new 90? wheelie bars in the hope of going straight rather than up!

After a couple of test 1/8mile passes he made a full 1/4pass. After quite a short burn-out the run was a credible 7.66 seconds @ 191mph ? his best run ever in terms of time and terminal speed. This was on a VERY lazy tune and the car was now launching straight and true.

Then on the next run???CAR-NAGE?..the engine self-destructed. In Andy?s 20 years of racing this was, without doubt, the worst failure of an engine he had suffered and at absolutely the worst time ? the car was due to board the ferry to Canada in only 5 weeks time!

14th June ? 6th July 2008: The engine was pulled and the damage was as bad as he expected and feared. Pretty-much everything south of the valve springs was going to need to be replaced.

The heads were cracked, 11 of the valves were bent, and the view from the underside when what was left of the oil pan was removed confirmed that the shopping-list was going to be pretty big and very expensive. They say a picture paints a thousand words?..most of them are un-printable!

The silver lining to this mother-of-all-clouds was the amazing out-pouring of support, sponsorship and assistance that followed; verbally, physically and financially. To get everything together parts-wise and get it all assembled within the little time remaining would have been an impossible task were it not for the many parties who all helped in one way or another. It all started with the immediate (and generous) offer of a block from Paul Marston, the ordering and very prompt supplying of numerous parts by Pete Knight at Knight Racing Services and the invaluable assistance with the rebuild from both Pete Knight and Tim Jackson and of course Nigel Colwell at Altiss. Even Martin Taylor of Taylor Machine/Holset got on the phone immediately wanting to service the turbo?s.

Andy even received letters, cheques and cash in the post from people who had heard his sad news and who wanted to, in however small a fashion they could, help him on his way again. It?s fair to say that throughout all of this it would have been very easy to accept defeat and give up hope of ever reaching the World Street Race ? Andy would hear none of it; he stayed focused throughout the whole ordeal and never took his eye off the clock as he moved heaven and earth to keep his dream alive.

6th July 2008: It lives again! The car was fired-up and sounded strong although it transpired that even though the old oil pump was checked through it still required a new one??doh! Again, Knight racing services came to the rescue and had one in the country and ready to pick up in 3 days!

12th July 2008: With a matter of days to go the engine is finally finished. Leaving nothing to chance the engine had been checked over numerous times; the filter had been off five times and the sump twice to ensure all is ok and that there were no more surprises lurking anywhere.

Ironically (and despite the stress, man-hours and enormous cost incurred) Andy now has the best chance ever of trying to be the world?s fastest street car as his engine is fresh, the turbo?s have been serviced and the car is sounding even stronger than it did before. Also, given that the car now has its wheelie bars fitted and the data logger had provided the valuable information for the lazy tune that previously yielded a 7.66 second pass @ 191mph, Andy had the perfect start-off point with which to begin his campaign against the best of the cars and drivers from the USA and Canada.

18th July 2008: Bon Voyage! The last 5 days were a blur as all the shipping and customs paperwork was finalised, the car was re-checked then everything packed and taken down to Liverpool Docks. After everything that?s happened the car was finally going to be on its way and Andy could now concentrate on his responsibility of solely representing the UK at the Extreme Drag Race Shootout at Miramichi Dragway Park in New Brunswick, Canada on 1st ? 3rd August 2008

Andy acknowledges that he could never have ]]> Steve Wilson http://www.xmembers.co.uk/forum/blog.php?b=6 http://www.xmembers.co.uk/forum/blog.php?b=5 Mon, 12 Jan 2009 11:44:49 GMT I had owned my Chevy for over three years. It had provided me with a lot of good times and reliable service but I really wanted it to have that V8... I had owned my Chevy for over three years. It had provided me with a lot of good times and reliable service but I really wanted it to have that V8 rumble - for me the only thing it had missing.

Luckily, a 1978 Chevy Caprice came up for sale which was known to me and which had only covered 66,000 miles. I knew the guy who had previously owned it for years and knew for sure that it was "never raced or rallied". The car was taxed and MOT'd and was only £600 so I bought it not so much on impulse but more that I knew the money would have been utilised elsewhere if I didn't buy something with it!

On a very cold Saturday morning in January at 7.30am the Caprice made its final trip (ironically back to Dundee where it had spent half of the miles it had travelled). It was then stripped down at my friend Donald's garage in Dundee- engine/box/front and rear axles removed etc.
The Sunday of the next week saw me driving my '55 Chevy to Dundee for the work to begin the next day. It felt funny driving the car up to Dundee knowing that it was the last time it would be "as original" and driving with it's engine which had lasted 50 years. The work started with the removal of the bonnet, radiator grille, suspension, steering etc - it was a very sorry looking car in a matter of hours. To give the car credit there were a good many bolts and pieces removed which would never previously have come off the car and they were removed without difficulty.
The "new" engine and box got offered in (it sat nice and low) and the engine mounts and gearbox crossmember were fabricated to suit. After that was done we tried to see what clearance I had with my new headers - not enough! They foul the steering box and the engine mounts, doh! That was pretty frustrating given that there's guys run big blocks with headers and I can't even get in a little 305 with headers on - I wouldn't mind but the headers are block huggers, the collectors were fouling my mid-mounts for the engine - I probably could have heated and massaged the bends (read "hit with a hammer"!) if it was just the steering box but it seemed like a lot of time and fuss at that stage of my week and being conscious of the ticking clock I decided to put the standard manifolds back on.

A big "boost" day was Friday when I got to see the firewall and inner-wings painted body colour - what a difference!

I spent a bit of time deciding what pipes/tubes/vacuums I didn't need on the engine and it started to look more like what I'd call an engine. I cleaned and polished the old alloy sump off the spare 305. We swapped over the steering box in the '55 and stripped down the rear brakes on the back axle then de-greased and dried the back plate ready for painting. I also looked out all my new parts which I had previously bought when I was at Danchuk's which will completely renew the rear brakes.

The Holley inlet on the spare 305 engine was just too intricate and oxidised to polish properly so I dropped it off at our local powder-coaters to get a high lustre silver on it.

Something I then did to the car which I've wanted to do for a while and which gave me a great buzz was to put a custom vinyl sticker of some song lyrics on my boot-lid (or is that trunk-lid?!?) They're from the Bruce Springsteen song "Racing in the streets" which is an old favorite and which is quite an emotive song for those who've heard it - for those who've not then I recommend you hear it. I never put it on before because my straight six didn't "rumble" but now seemed like an appropriate time.

The front suspension and steering were all refurbed/repainted and were put back on once the crossmember/chassis/wheel wells etc had been wire-brushed and sprayed with body-schutz.

I managed to get a new set of leaf springs so they will get painted along with the rear axle etc. It was a pretty quick week with a lot achieved. The exhaust system was looked at and ordered, a lot of the parts used being from a Volvo of all things! It will have to adapted a little to cope with my dyna-flow cut-outs. All in all it was a pretty productive week with considerably more highs than lows. I feel that I've been very lucky and that things have gone quite well.

There were, as expected, some things which didn't go according to plan and some minor niggles but suchis life, overall it was all good!


Well, that's pretty much it for the time being. It's really going quite well and in a very short space of time so I'm pretty happy with things - can't wait to get it wired and fired but there's a a wee bit of work still to do before that.
I will update this in a little while.

7th March 2006 (a little while!)

My '55 has progressed a bit since my last update. As I said, there have been a number of delays and problems as you would expect with trying to do so much in such a short space of time. I'm still really pleased with the progress, my friend Donald in Dundee who's expertise and premises are making all this possible has been invaluable with suggestions/options every time we hit an area that makes me want to go home, fire-up the PC and send a request to the guys at www.chevytalk.com for help!

The engine bay now looks incredible in comparison to how it did in January. The underside of the hood even got painted and looks great.

Donald also made a great job of the exhausts - he even managed to get them tucked inside the chassis rails so they can't be seen from the outside, great for clearance of speed-bumps too.

I bought exhaust cut-outs as they were a "planning-ahead" move for the next engine to go in, also they sound fantastic when just cruising around the camping area at the Supernat's. I can't wait to get the car "wired-and-fired" so I can hear how the exhaust system sounds with (and without!) the cut-outs.

Having got a new(er!) engine and box, power brakes, suspension (front and rear), brake & fuel lines etc. I decided that I may just as well get the car re-wired. I managed to pick up a full new re-wiring kit on the NSRA forum and have got an electrician on stand-by who is also a keen car enthusiast. Hopefully between us we can get it re-wired adequately. Given that there is no central locking/alarm/power windows etc it should be a relatively straight-forward job. That's all my "current" news!

May:

For some reason I buried my head for weeks and did nothing more with the car - no excuse really other than (boring) lifestyle things which seemed to take priority.

Weeks were spent trying to get an auto electrician and for various reasons I couldn't get anyone to re-wire the car - not at least for many weeks and I wanted my car at the Supernat's. This was pretty frustrating but after a chat with Gareth he agreed to tackle the re-wiring of my '55 - bet you regret it now eh Gareth? ;-)

Wednesday 21st June:
Here's the latest on my car:

After the 4th set of leaf springs went on and STILL weren't right I was ready to tear out what little hair I have left. Long story short - sets 1 & 4 got butchered by Donald and merged and I now have a 6 leaf set up which is probably too hard but which I now know won't need to sit on 9" shackles. Also means I can put luggage/people in the car without worrying about the back dropping. My ride height with my 14 stone of weight bouncing on the back bumper remains unchanged.

The wiring was started by Gareth and his girlfriend Leanne (how cool is that? a girl who knows about cars!) last weekend (17/18 June) and started out being a bit of a nightmare.

I'd gone the cheap way (spot the Fifer!) with the wiring kit too as it looked like a '55 wiring kit was going to work out at about £400 all in - and I still have a fair bit to do to the car before the end of July. I picked up a '34 corner kit which was NOS, complete and looked great for just £100. In reality, fitting a British right hand drive wiring kit into a left hand drive American car was a problem (as Gareth pointed out to me on occasion) further complicated by the fact that my sole rear lights are tail lights/brake lights/indicators.

Initially it seemed to be very slow going with one problem after another then in a short space of time there were head & tail lights, indicators, brake lights etc. Given the prospect of having dash lights I'd bought some funky blue LED's to use as indicators/main beam on the dash to match my interior, they look pretty good. I even have a glove-box light to illuminate my new glove-box interior! ]]> Steve Wilson http://www.xmembers.co.uk/forum/blog.php?b=5 http://www.xmembers.co.uk/forum/blog.php?b=4 Mon, 12 Jan 2009 11:32:45 GMT We?ve all been there before, you?re at a Rod or Drag event in the UK with your mates and well into your tenth beer outside of your tent and talking... We?ve all been there before, you?re at a Rod or Drag event in the UK with your mates and well into your tenth beer outside of your tent and talking about how you?d like to go to the States to see a Rod Meet or Drag event. Those type of chats usually finish with the words ?yeah, one day?. Well after many years and a significant amount of Budweiser-fuelled talks ?one day? finally arrived, and became 17 days for me, my best car buddy and our respective other half?s in October and November of 2003.

We were booked to go to Las Vegas, Nevada then Sedona and Pheonix in Arizona and finally a week in Los Angeles, California before heading back to Vegas.

We had deliberately planned the dates of our trip to cover the last two NHRA Drag meetings of the year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October and Pomona, CA in November. We had also planned to take in as many speed shops and rod shops as possible. In addition, I had a ridiculously long want-list of items to get from Danchuk for my ?55 Bel Air and Ger had his eye on some goodies for his ?40 Willys coupe which were light(ish!) enough to bring home but expensive enough to buy at the favourable exchange rate and bring back as luggage thus saving on carriage, duty (pronounced doody!!) and good old British VAT (Has anyone ever legally challenged their use of the word ?value??)

We arrived in Las Vegas on 23rd October and collected our hire drive car which ended up being a Chrysler 300M.

We were going to be living with Dina?s friend and her son in an area called Henderson which is about 15 minutes away from the famous ?Strip? in Las Vegas. We did all the tourist-type stuff initially walking up and down the strip and looking in the Casinos. We visited the Stratosphere at the bottom of the strip one afternoon, the girls chose to sit on the ground floor and drink coffee, us boys decided to hit the Sky Deck near the top of the Stratosphere. We rode the High Roller which is a rollercoaster bolted to the outside of the building about 950 feet above ground level and several floors above the Sky Deck. We then got the lift up a few more floors to the roof where we then got blasted up the Tower ? forget caffeine, what a rush!

Ger & I set off early on Saturday 25th October to Las Vegas Motor Speedway to make the most of the day. En-route we noticed two ?scrap?(?!?) yards filled with ?40?s and ?50?s cars and trucks which we never got the time to explore. Las Vegas Motor Speedway is set outside Las Vegas towards the more desert country and with a spectacular mountain backdrop.

Having only ever experienced UK Drag events this place was truly mind-blowing. We had been there for only ten minutes when we went for a tour of the pits and saw John Force (my hero) cruising around in his new Jaguar. As the man himself has said: ?not bad for an old truck driver!?

It took us a long time to cover the pits, trade stands and food & drink places before we even thought to sit on the bleachers and watch the racing. Hot sun, cold beer, stunning scenery and then imagine our surprise when we later turned a corner and met friend and fellow Scot Alan Mearns with his buddy Terry Clifford. We arranged to meet up later for a drink to share our experiences.

We returned to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the finals the following day with the girls. It was a memorable weekend for me as not only was it the first time I ever got to see John Force racing without staring at the TV but, unfortunately, his side kick and fellow team driver Tony Pedregon took him out of the eliminations and points and therefore out of contention for his 13th NHRA Funny Car national championship. I?ll never forget the buzz of the huge crowd and watching the night-time racing with the flames shooting out of the car's headers from over 40 Top Fuellers and Floppers ? awesome! You can never get tired of watching side by side four second runs.

A few nights later we were in a taxi trying to decide where to eat that night when we asked the taxi driver if there were any places to eat with a car-related theme. He said he had heard of a place called the Hot Rod Grille and called his friend on his mobile (cellphone!) and got directions ? it turned out it was located in Henderson, not far from where we were staying.

When we got out of the taxi we immediately noticed that adjacent to the Grille was a garage with the most amazing selection of Rods and classic yanks all illuminated in the showroom. Ger and I simultaneously lost our minds and our appetites as we ran across the car park both talking (neither listening) and switched our camcorders on. The garage was closed for the night but we still filmed through the glass grinning like a pair of idiots whilst the girls waited patiently. We looked further up the industrial units and could vaguely make out a garage which had Rods in it and was still open so we made our way up there. When we got there my friend Ger was dumbstruck ? up on the ramps was a gorgeous pro-street ?40 Willys coupe. We went in gibbering incoherently and giggling like a couple of schoolgirls and very quickly realized that we would need to speak clearly and slowly to be understood ? just like when we come down to the Drags in England!! We explained that we were from Scotland and that Ger was building a ?40 Willys coupe back home.

We spoke to one of the mechanics who had said that we were welcome to look around and film whatever we liked. Another guy had heard our Scottish accents and came over to chat ? he realised we were fellow Rodders and ended up telling us he loved what we said even if he couldn?t understand it! The guy then disappeared muttering about getting us a couple of posters. When he returned with the posters he unrolled them and asked our names, and then proceeded to get a magic marker and write on the posters finishing with a flourished signature. We thanked him and then looked at the posters which he had given us and he laughed as he saw our faces change from gratitude into shocked amazement ? the ?guy? in this garage was non-other than renowned hot rod and drag racing artist Kenny Youngblood! His studio was a couple of units further down. We spoke to Kenny for a while and left with our autographed posters of his original portrait of Kenny Bernstein?s Top Fueller entitled ?Beyond 300?.

We finally went into the Hot Rod Grille itself and were very impressed by it. For any Rodders who are ever going to Vegas you simply must visit this place ? the food was varied, delicious and very reasonable priced. If truth be told they could have served us cold beans on toast washed down with carbonated racoon?s piss and we?d still have been delighted just to have been there for the décor alone ? the bar had an actual black ?55 Chevy and a yellow '32 five window deuce overhead in the Bar area reminiscent of the race between John Milner and Bob Falfa from American Graffiti.

We were introduced to the owners of the Hot Rod Grille, Paul Wells and Randy Donald (same name as a guy from Dundee we know!), and it turned out Paul Wells was the owner of the ?40 Willys Coupe which was being worked on in the garage we had just left. He said we were welcome to go back to it and pour over it anytime we liked ? we liked!. After our meal and several 25oz draft Bud?s in frosted glasses we just wandered around the restaurant and the bar looking at all the pictures and artifacts and wondering how securely they were fitted to the wall (Mental Note: hide screwdriver in shorts next time). If you?re ever near Las Vegas the Hot Rod Grille can be found on 1231 American Pacific Drive in Henderson. It?s definitely worth a visit.

The following day when the girls asked for suggestions for where we should go for breakfast there was only one choice ? back to the Hot Rod Grille please! Just when we thought things couldn?t get any better, they did. Not only did we find out their breakfasts were as good as their evening meals but we also got into the showroom with the Rods and classic yanks which was shut the night before. We spoke to the owner, Tom Calabrese, who was quite happy to let us wander around for as long as we liked. We filmed and carefully tried not to let saliva drip onto the paintwork of his stock and I fell in love with one of the cars - Eleanor, one of the remaining Shelby look-alikes made for and used in the remake of ?Gone in 60 Seconds? with Nicholas Cage and Angelina Jolie.

We then took advantage of Paul?s invitation to have a closer look at his Willys (stop it!) At this point our new best friend, Kenny Youngblood, appeared again saying ?I thought I heard a Scottish accent? and proceeded to get his pens and a pad of paper. He sat down at a worktop in the garage and asked Ger and I what we drove and then, as he chatted, he drew before our very eyes a picture of Ger?s Willys drag racing my ?55 Bel Air. All this time we took the opportunity to film him and ask him questions about his background, interests and love of drag racing. When we mentioned we were also Drag fans and were going down to LA and hoping to attend the Pomona meet (subject to the fires in LA and the resultant smoke problems which were still on-going at that time and threatening our ever getting to California), he then drew us a map of how to find it and of where he would be staying. He added his cellphone number so we could meet up for a few drinks when we got down there. We probably outstayed our welcome but when we left we were touched by getting such a personal gift from a talented and well respected guy, it was heartening to find someone so well known but so genuine with no hint of self-importance.

That was a great send-off to our time in Las Vegas as we were now getting ready for the next stage of the trip which was Arizona and California. ]]> Steve Wilson http://www.xmembers.co.uk/forum/blog.php?b=4 http://www.xmembers.co.uk/forum/blog.php?b=3 Mon, 12 Jan 2009 11:18:53 GMT _Arizona and California part of my holiday:_ From Las Vegas, we headed over to Arizona for two nights and on the way we took the opportunity to...
Arizona and California part of my holiday:

From Las Vegas, we headed over to Arizona for two nights and on the way we took the opportunity to travel along the most famous and certainly most historically significant road in America, Route 66. We stopped in at The Route 66 Place run by a Dave and Lugene Pouquette in a little place called Williams to buy yet more souvenirs from a fantastic range of memorabilia of both Route 66 and The Coca Cola Company. Attached to their shop is a Diner called Twisters 50?s Soda Fountain which was like stepping back in time. Their food was amazing! Given that we were now about 4,000 feet above sea level it was getting noticeably cooler so I tried their homemade tortilla soup which was gorgeous. Also, they had the original equipment for making a proper milkshake, I had a cherry one. I ended up having to finish it with a spoon because the chunks of real cherry were too big to get up the straw.

From Arizona we had a 400 mile cruise headed for California to stay with more of Dina?s friends in Huntington Beach, LA. As we drove through the desert we saw the tall Cacti and Joshua trees and very little else other than sand and fellow road users. In the UK a long motorway drive can be boring. Not so for us, the range of cars, pick-ups and SUV?s to look at with the occasional classic yank or Rod, kept us guys entertained all the way. As we got closer to LA we saw the San Bernadino mountains and all the smoke that was still evident from the fires which had still not stopped but which had, thankfully, now been brought under control.

Ger and I let the girls chill out and/or shop for two days while we went off to feed our car addiction. We went to Danchuk in Santa Ana, my new spiritual home, and looked at their impressive range of 55-57 Chevy parts and display vehicles. I bought about as much as I could afford (and carry!) and then we went on a tour of Speedshops and Rod Builders.

We visited the Moon Equipment Company in Santa Fe Springs, then swung by the Limeworks Speedshop run by Steve Dennish who kindly took time out from what seemed an incredibly busy schedule, given the vast array of Rods in his workshop, to give us a guided tour.

On our way to Hot Rods By Boyd we saw a number of smaller but impressive Rod shops and speedshops who were just as friendly to strange talking foreigners who weren?t likely to buy much. Just around the corner from Hot Rods By Boyd in La Habra we found an engine building shop run by Brian (Slick) Anderson with the coolest name ? Pro Street Terrorist.

When we got to Hot Rods by Boyd we never spoke for around 10 minutes as we just switched on our video cameras and went off in different directions. We wandered around the showroom just staring at quality Rod after quality Rod. I have never seen such a collection of show-winning cars in one place. Thankfully, Boyd (Mr Coddington to us!) never appeared and offered us a free Rod each or we?d still be there trying to decide which one ? although to be fair we?d have probably narrowed it down to about one of three cars by now! We were allowed to film the workshop through the glass but not enter the workshop itself as it was already full of camera equipment filming the series American Hotrod for the Discovery Channel which was being shot as we watched.

What I really enjoyed was visiting the John Force Race Station in Yorba Linda. There was so much to see and buy I just didn?t know what to look at first.

Another day was spent doing the touristy stuff in Hollywood which allowed us to visit the Peterson Automotive Museum on Wilshire Boulevard. They have an amazing array of cars ? over 150 ? covering race cars, hot rods, classic cars, celebrity and movie cars including the twin-engined Hot Wheels car all on three floors. Unfortunately for us, we only found out there was a third floor full of hands-on, interactive exhibits until we got home and read the brochure ? doh!

The last major things we did car-wise was to go to the final 2003 NHRA Powerade meeting at Pomona and then visit the NHRA Motorsports Museum which is within the grounds of the Pomona Fairplex.

I met and spoke to John Force which was a personal highlight of the holiday for me. His hands were still bandaged as he had burned them the week before after the Vegas meeting and was only cleared by a doctor to race at Pomona a matter of days before the meeting. We shared a joke and he kindly autographed one of his publicity flyers for me which, amongst many other things, is now framed and hung in my ?Den? at home.


I had also bought an NHRA sweatshirt and managed to get Shirley Muldowney and Kenny Bernstein to sign the shirt on the chest. This was a great momento for me as it was their last competitive race meetings after decades of entertainment and it happened mainly by chance.

Unfortunately, time was against us. Ger and I still had to see the NHRA Museum within the Fairplex at Pomona before driving through the desert back to Las Vegas to join the girls who had flown up the day before. We had limited time available and the prospect of the drive back to Vegas and then trying to pack all we had bought to get it back home safely the following day was starting to weigh heavily on our minds. This meant that we missed seeing Tony Pedregon take his first and last title for John Force Racing?s Castrol Syntec Mustang team and side by side 4.47?s at 330mph of Tony Schumacher and Doug Kalitta . We did however see a 4.48 second ET and we certainly enjoyed the visual spectacle of the Race Girl team!

Ger had previously fallen in love with a drag racing candy apple red ?41 Willys coupe with Muscle Machines decals when it was parked-up back at Las Vegas but had never got to meet the owner. When we got to Pomona there was the same car parked next to a wicked ?55 Chevy drag car. Ger got to speak to the owner of the car and team, O?Bannon Racing, so we took lots of photos.

We then got the shuttle down to the NHRA Motorsports Museum which was very quiet due to the racing nearby. This gave us ample opportunity to wander around and take photographs at our leisure. The museum is 28,000 square feet of wall to wall hot-rodding and drag racing history and we saw the Stone, Woods and Cook Willys, the actual Top Fuel car which Kenny Bernstein drove to be the first to break the 300mph barrier (per our signed Kenny Youngblood poster), and even Ed Iskenderian?s 1925 Model T roadster which graced the cover of Hot Rod Magazine as far back as 1948!

We then left and headed off on our final road trip, back to Las Vegas. The trip seemed quick as we talked about all we had seen and done and although we were nowhere near home we were already starting to feel a little sad as we realised that the holiday was all but over.

When we got back to Vegas we all went out for a last supper and cold Budweiser on draft.
The next day, we packed and said our goodbyes at the airport to Dina's friend Rhona who had kindly looked after us.

We were entertained by the security guys at the airport who x-rayed Ger?s case and wanted a closer look at the thing which caught their attention. He explained that it was only a fuel pump for a car. They wanted it checked to make sure there was no gasoline left in it ? no sir, just some petrol!

I thought that it would take me forever to get back into the swing of life at home and work after such an amazing holiday but it didn?t ? mostly due to my excitement that my wife, Iona, was carrying our first child who was due at the beginning of May 2004. Also, between Ger and I, we had around ten hours of video which we could watch at anytime to bring it all flooding back and a lot of photographs I still had to bore people with. I?ve still got to get my finger out and do something with a lot of the bits I got for my Chevy. ]]> Steve Wilson http://www.xmembers.co.uk/forum/blog.php?b=3 http://www.xmembers.co.uk/forum/blog.php?b=2 Mon, 12 Jan 2009 10:59:55 GMT 3rd December 2007:

A good day information-wise. I'd more-or-less decided that my paint scheme will be the yellow/white combo which would let me away easier with powder-coating my wheels, bumpers & grille as opposed to the expense of re-chroming which my budget may not allow for.

I went to IPF in Glenrothes and they had quite an array of colours although I was only interested in their metallic silver. The chap said he could spray my grille no problem but I'd need to get it stripped myself. They can only get things blasted as prep for powder-coating which would be too damaging to my grille so I said I'd bring it back next week. I was heartened to hear that they're (still) using Geordie Crichton out at Strathendry Mills By Leslie - he blasted some stuff for my 100E 21 years ago!

I then headed for Fordell (by Cowdenbeath) as there used to be a plater/chromer there many years ago. Kingdom Metal Finishers are still (thankfully) going strong. The guy there was really helpful and informative so I gave him my grille to dip and strip and told him it'd be going to IPF for powder-coating. I also told him he'd be getting my wheels and bumpers to dip and strip but I hadn't made up my mind what I was doing with them. He said to chrome a bumper would be £200 which doesn't seem too bad considering their size, hmm, indecision again!
I think I'll just wait until I've got the grille powder-coated and see how it looks. I wish I'd taken a "before" picture of it for contrast because although it was straight it was none too bonny.

8th December 2007:

White frost in the morning - coldest morning in ages. Donald came down with the transporter and took my '55 back to his garage in Dundee. I'll have to find time to get up there and start stripping bits off it - especially the bits I want chromed or powder-coated (headlight surrounds, hood-bird etc). At least the '55 is under cover now and will be getting started upon shortly.

16th December 2007:

I went up to Donald's garage today and started stripping out the '55. I started by removing the interior (seats, carpeting, door panels, roof lining etc) then I removed the various bits of chrome/stainless which need to get off the car for it to get painted. It's amazing how big a difference you can make to a car by stripping it for a couple of hours:-

18th December 2007:

I collected the original '55 grille from Kingdom Metal Finishing today, it looked nice and straight and ready for it's powder-coating. I'll keep it until I have everything I need to get powder-coated.

28th December 2007:

Back up to Donald's garage again bright and early and spent most of the day pottering about scheming what I'm doing with the car. We went and ordered all the paint/materials etc and I removed both bumpers.

I had a bit of a head-scratch over what I'm going to do with the bumpers - originally they are 3-piece bumpers; a long, straight bit in the middle and the two wrap-around ends on either side. Where they join is hidden behind the over-riders - the trouble is I don't want to put the over-riders back on again as I'd (ideally) like one piece bumpers to "smooth" the look and visually widen the car.

Unfortunately, 52 years ago Chevrolet never anticipated that I'd want to do this so the joints behind the over-riders overlap rather than butt together. Just to complicate matters further, if I welded/filled them I can't get them chromed by the place that I want to use as the one-piece bumper will be too big for their tank. And to get them powder-coated instead would mean that the filling of the overlapping joint would all have to be done in metal with no filler as they couldn't get it up to the desired tempreature otherwise. More thought required on that one!

Moving along (or just to avoid the issue!) I then started on the bodywork trim. Thankfully, the majority of the trim on the Bel Air is stainless steel so I should be able to polish it up quite well before putting it back on the car. Most of the mountings underneath the trim were quite rusty so I'll be ordering a lot of new mountings for all the trim pieces to make the job of putting them back on much easier than some bits have been to get off.

After a bit of exploratory grinding it was apparent that the headlight brows (a common rust-trap) had previously been repaired at some point by grinding the rusty metal out and glass-fibre had been used to fill and repair it. This will all be cut out and new steel headlight brows will be welded in.

I must say that having been over the whole car I am still very happy with it's overall condition given that it is steel and 52 years old. The only places requiring new metal will be the headlight brows, a section of channel in the boot (trunk?!?) and - worst of all - the inner arches behind the driver's and passenger's rear doors. It appears that replacement/patch panels are not available for the '55 (not in a 4-door model anyway) so it's going to be a trip to the local paintshop/panel supplier to see if there's any modern panel with a similar curvature that can be used or adapted to suit.

I left Donald's feeling very excited and upbeat about what lies ahead [remind me of that later on in weeks to come!] and can see in a few more days work that I will be getting to the stage where there's not much more I can do before it's over-to-Donald to transform the car.

I have my door-cards at home now as I'll be looking at what I'm going to do with them when Donald's doing the bodywork and paint although I fancy a little attempt at some fabrication work and bodywork until I get in his way and he tells me to leave him to it!

31st December 2007:

I thought I'd spend the last day of 2007 working on my car but despite getting up to Dundee and making a start I had to return about lunchtime when Iona fell ill with the stomach virus that I'd had over the Christmas period. Damn, it'll be a whole year before I can work on my car again!

3rd January 2008:

Quite a good day, I removed my speakers and the parcel tray and compared it to the Jaguar one I have - it should fit with minimal trimming. I'm going to look at how to mount the speakers on the parcel shelf properly this time so as I don't get the annoying rattle/vibration I used to get when it was loud.

I removed the rear quarter windows and the rear windows; once I have the other windows removed tomorrow I'll use them as templates and try to get new ones cut from toughened safety glass but with a tint on them.

I also got a fair bit of the stainless trim removed after a bit of head-scratching and consulting my '55 manual. One more full day's attack on the trim then it'll be all removed. I must say my car's looking a pretty sorry sight just now but it'll soon be at the stage where it's looking it's absolute worst which will be good because each stage thereafter is progress and a move forwards towards making it better.

I bit the bullet and had an exploratory "dig" at the arch/floor/sill just inside the driver's side rear door - they were always likely to be the worst bits and they didn't disappoint! To be fair, the pictures I took made the car look worse than it is (so much for "the camera never lies"!); the inside of the doors all have just a light coating of surface rust so I'll wire-brush them and get a coat of the red oxide primer on them just to make them prettier and give me peace of mind.

Sunday 13th January 2008:

Back up to Dundee again to finish "my bit" for the next few weeks as I'm off to the Isle of Lewis next weekend and working at my sister's house the weekend after.

In short, all the interior, windows, trim etc has now been removed and I had a "dig" at the rusty bit on the other side of the car. It's every bit as bad as the other side but I'm still heartened by the fact that it's pretty good for 52 years of use and abuse.

I'm waiting on the new steel headlight "brows" arriving from the USA but, for the time being, it's over to Donald now to start working his magic on the bodywork and to get it in primer. It look very different now to how it did last month when it arrived as a complete car.

I found lots of little rust-traps of moisture behind the trim pieces and window rubbers. After removing the side windows and quarter windows from the front doors I was happier with the visual difference and it gave me a much better idea of the overall look of the car with one-piece front windows.

There's a wee bit of modification required to achieve this but I'm convinced now that the quarter windows will not be re-fitted to the car so that coupled with the one-piece bumpers I'm planning should help the overall look of the car and add some of the custom touches I want to achieve. ]]> Steve Wilson http://www.xmembers.co.uk/forum/blog.php?b=2 http://www.xmembers.co.uk/forum/blog.php?b=1 Mon, 12 Jan 2009 10:50:26 GMT Foreword:

This is a wierd thing to start typing because I'm doing it for myself like a diary/snapshot of my life over a [unknown] period of time which, hopefully, I'll have occasion to reflect on and update as time goes on. Also it's likely to be a long-running Blog given that I don't know how long my project will take and when (dare I say "if" ?) it will be completed.

As with most things it depends mostly on finance, spare time and motivation which don't always appear simultaneously. In reality the real "work" on this project will not begin until January 2008 (at the absolute earliest) and a lot of it will not be completed by me personally due to time, lack of facilities, but mostly - skill constraints.

Background:

Having had my '55 converted from a 232ci straight six to a 305ci V8 from January to April of 2006 (see my other Blogs) I found that driving the car during the Summer of 2006 gave me an immense buzz and the increase in it's performance was fantastic in comparison to the previous "stovebolt six" which it had for the first three and a half years I owned it.

Unfortunately, as the Summer progressed I quickly realised that the improvements made to my '55 had made me aware that I hadn't done nearly enough to it or spent enough on it and that what I'd actually achieved had turned it into something which both excited and dissapointed me in equal measures. The bitter-sweet experience of what it had now become but what it should have been opened up a few desires and regrets that made me ignore the car for a period.

In ignoring the problems which I had with the car I [stupidly] left it in my drive, untouched, from August of 2006 until January of 2007 when seeing it one day thick with frost and dead leaves made me feel even worse and not out of consideration for the '55 but to get the problem out-of-my-sight a friend helped me stick it back in it's garage where it was no longer a visual reminder of my failings.

Time and money went elsewhere and I got out of looking at anything car-related including the magazines I had subscriptions to. This was very out of character for me and it was the first time in 20 years of owning and driving various hot rods and American cars that my enthusiasm was at an all-time low. A number of car-related friends had noticed my lack of enthusiasm and had remarked that it was strange that I hadn't used the car having done so much to it the previous year. I knew within myself that come the Summer or however long it took the motivation would return and that I'd eventually snap out of this lull as quickly as I fell into it.

Long story short - I went to Billing with a crowd for my mate's 40th, then the NRSA Supernat's and came back knowing that I had to find the money and time from somewhere to make the car what I really wanted and what it should have been last time out.
So I now had a list of what I wanted and a plan - all I need now is the money!

The plans for the car are:

Body work and paint in a new colour scheme
New interior
Installation of a crate motor (ideally a torquey 383ci stroker engine)
Installation of TH700R4 overdrive autobox
Fitting of newer rear axle.

Progress:

This will be updated periodically when I can or when I have anything of merit to report. Basically, after a lot of thought and looking at pictures on the internet (of '55's!) I fancied a orange/yellow with white.

Early August 2007 - the purchases begin:
I managed to buy from ebay (in quick succession) a B&M Z-gate Shifter, a new Rev Counter and a complete Jaguar XJ40 Sovereign leather interior which after much research and measuring seems to be the best candidate for a replacement interior with the minimum of modification.

I'd had the chance to look at a Jaguar interior whilst my friend Angelo was negotiating the purchase of his '32 Roadster in the Cotswolds and I came home with the plan that this was likely to be the best option to modernise and improve the interior of a car my size without spending thousands in handing it over to an interior specialist.

28th August 2007 - Interior:

I got in at 1.30am this morning from an awesome long weekend at Shakespeare County Raceway with my friend, fellow drag enthusiast and Barstool Buddy - cheers Ger, top weekend!

On the way home in the van I had hired espcially I had arranged to drive via Haxey (near Doncaster) to collect the grey leather Jaguar XJ40 Sovereign interior which I had bought from a chap on ebay.

I'm delighted to say that the interior was even better in the flesh (no pun intended!) and should look amazing in the car making it not just classier but both safer and more practical too.

I'm hoping that the facia of the centre-console of the Jaguar interior can be re-done in polished stainless panel instead of the walnut effect and that my B&M shifter and the new silver-faced guages which I bought at Summit Racing in Sparks, Nevada in September 2006 can be added into the console without much difficulty.

I'm hoping to use some shiny bits inside and, ideally, aiming for a look for my interior which is semi race-inspired but comfortable at the same time. I've also bought a set of interior window surrounds in chrome which should help with the look I'm after. I'd like a shinier, more contemporary and user-friendly interior than my current 52 year old saggy bench seats provide.


2nd September 2007:

I removed the two bench seats (for the last time) with a view to offering in the Jaguar interior to see how much modification was involved. Out of curiosity I tore off part of the seat covers which had been on the car for the 58 months I'd owned the car and the original interior was underneath. I took a picture for posterity.

I then lifted in the leather interior and I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised by both how good it looks and how little in the way of amendments it appears I'll have to make.

20th November 2007: (update)

Ok, firstly I suffered some computer glitches which resulted in me losing my web-log hence the lack of any further progress with this until I could locate and recover it.

Secondly, I splashed out and bought a new daily driver (a 2006 Chrysler PT Cruiser Route 66 limited edition in solar yellow with the 2.2 Mercedes turbo diesel engine).

I figured I'd like something modern, nippy and economical but without looking too much like your average Euro-box so it ticks all the boxes. It'll be used at weekend and for my (many) planned trips to and from the drag racing next year. Unfortunately, that now means that the crate motor will be on next year's shopping list

Thirdly, I'm now having serious mis-givings about painting my car in the colours I'd originally planned. Mainly because the feature car in the October 2007 issue of Custom Car was (unusually!) a '55 and it's paint scheme was very close to what I had in mind. I just don't fancy having the car in those colours anymore and I am struggling to think of another colour scheme. I've tried using my daughter's colouring pencils on some blank '55 pictures but there's just nothing that's really appealing to me other than a colour scheme which I've discussed with my friend Donald who has the job of painting the car.


30th November 2007:

I was toying with a more "classic" colour combination of a silver/grey metallic on the roof & rear quarters and a nice British Racing Green metallic on the bottom. Then, yesterday, I got this picture sent to me by a guy in the USA in response to a Chevytalk posting I'd made about converting my front windows to one-piece and what it looks like. I really liked the deep yellow colour - it's not unlike the Solar Yellow of my PT Cruiser when the sun's not on it. It looks nice against the crisp white and the tints on the windows help the colours leap off the car too. Hmmm, more indecision! ]]> Steve Wilson http://www.xmembers.co.uk/forum/blog.php?b=1