Stock vs. Modified. Purist vs. Hot Rodder

Make no mistake; they are both car guys. There's a car aspect in every essential part of their life. They can do whatever to all system in a vehicle and fix whatever. If existing these guys would get top grade in any eBay /Blocket or Tradera exam. 

In addition they tend to hoard exiting rare car parts and they always lack space that can cope with the the latest project. 

On top of that, they always have a new project idea or a new dream car to catch.

So are they alike? Nope. 

One of them, let's call him Mr. Stock want to find the ultimate rare stock Volvo Amazon in a barn. Why not a green Volvo Amazon 1962 Station Wagon in almost nice condition?  

Then we have Mr. Hot Rod. He get's a bit nervous when a vehicle is all stock. Even though he get a positive feeling as he finds hundreds way to make modifications to the vehicle in question, a stock car gives him the creep. He thinks, not natural. 

In the Salt Slush garage/workshop we have two extremes and some in between stock and modified. The other day, when Peter the Professor (Mr. Stock) bought another Volvo Amazon the different personalities came to the surface.

While Mr Stock was concerned about modifications and repairs made previously...

...Mr. Hot Rod (Magnus Börjesson) in a fraction of a second flipped up a folding ruler to find out if his friend, a OM605 Mercedes engine and Airwerks S200SX-E turbo, would fit the engine compartment. 

-It will be difficult, but some cutting in firewall...then it might fit, he concluded calmly, while you could see fear and unease in Mr. Stock's eyes.

Now finally, we like cars in stock condition too, but at the same time it's an amazing experience when the old slow ride get some breathing support and manage to produce some positive speed and power fear. 

As most of you know, we have tested to add 800hp to a Volvo Amazon. 

Take my word, it became a very different car...exiting.

Enjoy Yourself!

We've had extreme weather in Gothenburg for a week. Which means no rain, no clouds, dry mild weather and sunshine.  It's not even been gloomy. Now that's extreme for Gothenburg.

 

On this rare occasion you want to suck in the last breath of summer, open up the garage door, but let the wrenches stay where they are. 

 

Instead you fumble for the car keys while you open up the driver door and squeezing your body down (or up) in your favorite ride. At this point the quietness around you is almost disturbing. Because you want that engine wall of sound to come at you. In fraction of a second your inner mechanic is going through a check list that would make any airline pilot jealous. 

Then you turn the key and hear how the starter motor engage. How the engine revs up. How it returns to steady idle. You blip the gas, put it in gear and adjust the sunglasses.

 

No need to talk about the rest, because now you're enjoying yourself. You're now way beyond your 9-5 work, all private tasks and even the cosy workshop that will keep you sane through the winter.

Take our advice; Fire up your street racer, hot rod, vintage vehicle, pickup truck, sports car or motorcycle and GO! Doesn't matter if it's fast or slow. Just drive.

Word of advice from Louis Prima.

Carina and I drove around in many of our vehicles this weekend. 

That made us happy.

A joyful shakedown of our Rocket ride. Since it was Sunday we didn't work with the car we just enjoyed the ride. Except for a few roadside stops and some minor ignition system adjustments. 

 

Here's our advice; before you go back to the garage to execute your coming car dreams, enjoy the last sun rays. Let them shine through the windshield of the car that spent so much time with. Bring your spouse, your friends and go somewhere before it is to late! Get inspired!

 

 

Is it over now?

It feels like we're getting back on track. It's not 2019 yet. But we're getting there. Step by step. 

Soon we'll be singing the Covid blues for the last time, while we open up our hearts, minds and garage doors and head out on the highway that ends at the race track. We'll get out of the shelter that kept us in shape while our project progressed. Now we're ready to travel to a peak where there's people, party and power. 

 

The Salt slush Team couldn't make it, but we're so happy to see that two very different car communities kicked off events this weekend.

 

Gatebil at Rudskogen Raceway in Norway...

 ...and Gasoline revival in Grängesberg, Sweden.

Perhaps these were not like they used to be, but still, it's a new beginning that we want to be part of and support. Therefore our shelves are full of AirWerks and EFR turbos from BorgWarner and when the time is right we're the go to company for Magnuson Superchargers too.

 

Coming back to the shelter topic. Carina and I have spent 2000h during the of pandemic on our private -49 Olds Rocket and today we could finally take if for a spin in the sun.

Interior is 95% complete. Rocket engine was running just fine.

'

 After +2k hours of welding and working on all subsystems it still...

...looks approximately like it did when we bought the Rocket in Wendover, US back in 2019 during Bonneville Speed week.

Anyhow, there seems to be light in the pandemic tunnel.

That feels so good.

Does vacation make you feral?

Some get sloppy. Others nervous. Some others just enjoy their time off in a neutral manor. But there are those who get wild when not tamed by rules, routines and regulations.

I'm on the topic of vacation. In particular longer vacations that goes beyond a long weekend in Paris.

Are there indicators? Obvious risk behaviour to avoid? Like; Your rather heavy drinking? Your summer sex appetite? Your howling at the moon? Nope. None of that. Consider it normal for the season.

Instead, you know that you're getting too wild and leaving the domesticated life behind when you feel uncomfortable and stressed out in a modern nondescript A to B car with A/C and instead start to go shopping and drive long distance in your old or new cool, wild or speedy ride (-s). 

When you're driving around with windows down to feel the warm summer wind in your hair and hear every tone in the exhaust melody (or misfire) loud and clear. 

When the sun tan on your left arm is more advanced than on the other. (If you're living in UK or anywhere else in the Commonwealth the colour of the right arm is what you should pay attention to).

When you feel that a T-shirt a proper protection as you rev your motorcycle to red in the blazing sun.

When all clothes have a smell of gasoline, diesel and exhaust fumes.

When you, as a car girl, have a 1/2' (13 mm) wrench in your handbag.

When sunglasses has replace reading glasses even after sundown.

Then you're in the danger zone. 

You're living a great life, you're on top. But you better beware. Because if all of the above is your everyday, your way back to a normal 9-5 life might be painful, because you've adopted to wilderness, your eyes are wide open and you're feeling fine. But like Mowgli, you've have to get back to the normal grey and behave again. Period.

The Salt Slush team have to adopt. Shape up. Find the daily driver and let it pass the inspection. It will be painful, but we're reporting for duty.

While on vacation, you can take a tour. To places where you're welcome. 

Places like Germany. Where there's Speed, Beer and Hamburg.

You can move around in your Magnuson equipped C6 and philosophize about slow moving traffic.

Or drive barefoot to DHL several times per day with EFR and AirWerks turbos in your 1941 Buick Business Coupe.

Magnus is wild at heart and haven't heard about civilisation, therefore he uses a 1970 Ford F100 as his daily drive....

... but he too gets wild (wilder) during vacation. When that happens, he commute in his low, chop top AD (Chevy) pick-up truck. A concept where rattle come with the concept.

The car guy wilderness. Ringön, Gothenburg, Sweden. A place where the sun goes down gracefully. 

If you still have question about the topic of this post, ask yourself if you think anybody with spare transmission in the luggage compartment have a smooth way back to civilisation.

No, we're not on our way to a rally or show. We're just on our way to pick up some grocery.

Summary; if you experienced freedom, if you've taken a walk on the wild side, it's now time to shape up and get things straight.

Remark; Mild or Wild, we've delivered turbos and supercharger as if there's no tomorrow throughout the summer, because we know that if there's a surge for boosting devices we need to support no matter if it's vacation or not.

And so we will continue.

We will come back to normality too.

Eventually.   

We celebrate Ruth's and Rick's amazing records at Bonneville Speed Week 2021!!

Victory is counted sweetest by those who never succeed. That what she wrote. Two hundred years ago. I'm here talking about Emily. Emily Dickinson. Dead poetess.

Over to Bonneville Speed Week 2021. Since we're stranded in Sweden, we followed every move that the amazing Scandinavian Street rod race team did this year at Bonneville Speed Week.

It's not only because we couldn't participate at Speed Week ourselves, it's because these guys are our friends. In addition to that, we're interested from a technical stand point too, since we matched and delivered the EFR turbos for their Ardun V8 equipped P38 belly tank. The first turbo belly tank ever? The fastest wheel powered Ardun V8 engine? Most certainly the fastest BorgWarner EFR Turbo equipped Ardun V8.

Since we were not there, we forward the story from the team (Erik, Ruth and Rick) [remark: I added some clarifications for people who are not familiar with landspeed racing]

"Eric worked super hard on the roadster and we ran it at El Mirage a couple of weeks prior to Bonneville Speed Week  At that time Ruth ran a record run putting 1 mile on old record.

Eric pulled motor out and went threw it completely. Up pulled heads and did valve job 3 times to get the best results on leak down. That dammed flathead engine just leaked.

Eventually, when got to Bonneville and it's all about Ruth because we all really wanted to her get a 200mph club membership (red hat) and a speed record in her class. 

Ruth started with a 197mph (317km/h) run on Saturday. To get the record and join the mentioned club, she needed 204mph (328km/h) to back up for the record and get that red hat.

She ran a 194mph (312km/h), so we went to inspection. Eric pulled the spark plugs on right cylinder head and found one to come out hard. He knew right away the cylinder was hurt. Engine passed Tech and Ruth got a record but motor was hurt badly. Done.

Next day was my turn. So we went out on the track Monday 9th of August and ran 213.476mph at line 2. We went to inspection for four hours and everything looked good. No complains. Went out next day early in the morning to go for the record. Then I jumped on it too hard and manged to spun at 1st gear. 

Consequence; I had to go back to pits. Tech came by, inspected car and tires. Everything was ok, but I had to go back and line up in line 2 on the Tuesday 10th. Ran a 224.629 mph lap (360km/h) and had to go back to inspection same day.

Wednesday 11th early morning; I ran a 231.57mph (342km/h) lap and after the run we celebrated with high fives at return road, went to timing tailor, got our ticket and asked if we had to be back to Tech in an hour for inspection. 

The guy said; 

-You have as much time as you want. 

So we watched Montana Dodge Boys break our record in same class but since we got our record first, we could get the hat, have it in books and go to banquet anyhow. 

Well, when we got back to Tech I pull the valve cover off...and managed to hit fire bottle wire...and the bottles did go off... gezzz...they pump engine then the official came over and says; -You guys were15 min late to Tech you gotta leave...

So back at it again. Put everything back together, remove fire bottles from Ruth's roadster and go back out again. In that afternoon cars were spinning out and I were sitting in car for 2 hours at 100 plus degrees F (38degC) at lane 1, the long course,

But finally, I go out on the track and managed to run 245.165mph (395km/h). So back to inspection...

Early morning next day; Back in the car. Ran super straight with an a egg on gas pedal. I was super easy on accelerating with very smooth shifts and reached 243.21mph!

So our average was 244mph (393km/h)

So Happy. 

We did this with only 12-14 lbs of boost (0,83-0,96bar)!

Well now we're back in California. Ardun motor still runs fine, but we're pulling it out so can clean everything up and inspect it. Erik has already started working on Ruth's flathead...El Mirage race is coming up soon!

Nevertheless, What a Speed Week! Two records and one hat with this amazing team!

          That special moment, when the red hat is handed over (a record over 200mph) and a lifetime 200mph membership is yours. A really happy team!

Rick and the Ardun + EFR turbo equipped P38 belly tank on the salt.

Ruth's Roadster in race ready mode before the race.

The hat, the record and the race car on a surface of salt. 

The final target.

The 200mph membership card. Something that doesn't come for free.

 

The kind of speed ticket that you really want to have.

Overall, we're so happy for Erik, Rick and Ruth who  got two new records, one more 200mph membership and an unforgettable Bonneville Speed Week 2021.

 

As we at Salt Slush Racing team follow this success story, we get even more exited to experience that post pandemic moment when we can fly over US of A, dust off our Amazon Land Speed Racer and eventually go racing again!

Are there alternatives?

That feeling. When there's a cool party and you're not invited. With a left out feeling you start to think about tomorrow and after all, you know that you're better without a hangover. In addition to that, you've read somewhere that late nights are not good for you. At all. What so ever! Scientist say so too. In public radio. Always.

Then, all of a suddenly, there's an indication. Or worse, of a clear evidence that the ongoing party is super and more fun than ever before.

How to cope with a situation like this? Should you be happy for the guys and gals who're having fun, fun, fun right now and hope for an invitation to the next party? Or is it better to get bitter and sour as vinegar and stay in pain?

Back to the feeling and our real issue; I'm obviously not talking about a party, instead it's about our broken Bonneville Speed Week 2021 dreams. The race conditions (i.e the Salt) seems almost perfect while mother nature is again helpful, but of course unpredictable and stormy as usually. But the US administration (old Joe) does not open up the gate for EU.

What can we do? How to find comfort while Instagram is full of happy Bonneville Speed Week pics?

The answer is...help others and then yourself. How? Let me tell you...

1. Help customers in need. We're at the end of the pandemic and racing are coming back strongly in Sweden. When the race is on, new engines and new turbos might sometime be needed on short notice. Since Salt Slush Racing is always open, come hell or high water, we deliver turbos from our shelf same day as ordered. Sometimes several times a day. Pictured; Carina, the Salt Slush CFO, and the 1941 Buick Super Coupe at DHL in Gothenburg.

2. Gran Turismo. Fire up the Magnuson Supercharged Car of your liking and go to high speed area like Germany, have few beers and relax for a couple of days.

3.  Stay hard. Go flat out and take your race tuned 90 year hot rod for a night ride. Word of advice; this alternative should be avoided by the non adventurous, comfort seeking types.

4. Drive around in a Buick 1941 (behind Magnus hot rod). There are however another set of warnings associated with this type of straight 8 rides...you become more a. more of a Gentlemen. b. a Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin fan and c. when coming home you ignore the cold beer and start looking for a Dry Martini. 

Let's face the facts. If you're not invited, you're not invited and you've got to find new ways while waiting.

I guess the text (Dylan) below concludes the situation we're in...

"Every man’s conscience is vile and depraved
You cannot depend on it to be your guide
When it’s you who must keep it satisfied."

Bonneville 2021.

Our plans for 2021 were great. At first, a squad of Salt Slush engineers should arrive to sunny California in the early spring. Just like we did back in  2019. The purpose; to prepare our 449 Amazon landspeed racer for Bonneville 2021. 

Eventually, just a week before Speed Week 2021 the full Salt Slush team should come together in SoCal to get our stuff in shape and make us all ready to haul the Amazon through the wilderness, find the famous salt desert and make us all race ready mentally. In addition we should SMOG the big block Suburban, wash our race suits, update the safety stuff and prepare our souls for the race.

Failure. The Pandemic forced us to reschedule...to early summer...then to late summer when vaccination in US and EU was complete. Or at least almost complete.

Didn't help. Biden stopped our final fully vaccinated attempt to race at Bonneville and do boost business in the US of A. Because we're not allowed to enter the US. Not welcome.

Hence we're stuck in Sweden, dreaming about the day when slow Joe open US to EU. In my mind that decision will come soon, since EU already opened up to US. I'm just thinking that the virus is not contagious in one direction only? Or is it? An inquiring mind just want's to know...

The initial plan for 2021: Prepare our Amazon at Erik's and Ruth's place like we did 2019 (pictured)....

...then go to El Mirage desert for a test drive...to make sure that we're ready to race. Again, like we did back in 2019...

Meanwhile, Erik, Ruth and Rick are getting thier race cars ready for Bonneville. Both the EFR turbo equipped Ardun Engine as well as the supercharged Flathead are getting race ready when you read this. We're thinking of them all the time...will the they overcome all inevitable technical issues? Will mother nature be kind to them? Will they break a speed record? Nobody knows. But or minds are with them. Of that you can be sure.