Comfort, Convenience and Death

When you are young you don't know what it is. As you are getting older you realize that it's what you've been striving for ever since you wear shorts in public. When in shorts age, you were obviously unaware about it, but you were unconsciously in search for it. Because deep in your mind you understood that this is what people are fighting for. To reach it, you learned that you need something called a career and not to forget another thing named cash.

When you reached it only death and boredom remains. In the opposite order.

I'm talking about Comfort and Convenience. To stay in bed. To look at another TV series. To get served and travel around in a comfy car. To relax. To get sloppy and get old too soon and die with a soft brain.

Can this be stopped?

Of that you can be sure. There's an endless and painful way forward that will keep your spirit alive and you body acing. Work hard and stay cool. That the general advice. Enjoy a beer while laughing at mistakes made when the day is done. Ignore the comfy daily driver available and enjoy a ride in the rattling rocket that you've created. 

Are there more precise guidance available? Nope. You've got to find your own rocky road full of dreams and schemes. Only you can start up your own exhausting project that will almost kill you while making you happy and healthy.  

Here's how Salt Slush fight comfort and confront boredom. 

 

Buy stuff, build stuff and get inspired. Pictured: Magnus and Petter in guitar making mode.

Make the world a more elegant place. The ratty old desert rocket is getting a new lease on life since we've spent 1500-2000 hours of welding, painting and wrenching.

Anders gave his somewhat boring BMW a new paint.

A paint that nobody ever used on a RT before.

He's now prepared for desert war.

German style.

My 80 year old farther was reluctantly admitting that he got inspired and energized after being forced to listen to the Blue Ardun V8 song for hours. Remark: He normally prefer bird song.  

What you want is not necessary what you need. That's all I'm saying.

When your turbo need is coming, when your surge for superchargers is there we can help.

Stay cool out there.

Forever.

Introducing: The Snoopy Hot Rod Dog.

There are all kinds of dogs. Big and small. Those who are annoying and the less annoying type. But dogs can do good things too. They can catch rats and help blind people. They should be recognized for that.

In addition, these critters normally have owners too. They vary on a liberal scale. The most liberal have a kind of Darwin approach. Which serves most of these animals just fine. Freedom is highly appreciated among dogs too. Not necessary responsible freedom, but still freedom.

So why all this doggy talk? We've got a garage dog. At first, it appeared to be a medium annoying dog in medium size, but after a while Chicco, - The Dog's name is Chicco- showed useful skills and proved to be a bad to the bone Hot Rod garage snoop.

The skill; he can detect misfire better than any other instrument. What?

Pictured: Chicco, the Snoopy Hot Rod Dog.

 

It was time to run the Blue Ardun V8 again. Now equipped with a new Aluminum Oil Pan and several treads sealed. 

In the background; The patient that will get new heart.

 

Before start; a silent street at Ringön, Gothenburg. People drinking coffee in Saturday chitchat mode.

 

After start; Excitement. Coffee stains on shirts, ringing ears. Happiness.

 

As said, excitement was in the air. Few were in analytic mode. 

I was euphorically running around. Looking for traces of oil. Sniffing after smoke. In vain.

 

 Due to a liberal introduction to garage life, the little bastard, I'm here talking about Chicco The Dog, is able to detect cylinder individual air/fuel ratio and misfire. He just point his dog nose toward the exhaust pipe with the poor combustion and nod his little doggy head when the misfire is gone.  

 

 Can he do V12? Nobody knows. So far he's only done Ardun V8 Engines.

Disclaimer: No dog nose vs. fast lambda sensor correlation done so far. 

It all might be a wishful thinking.

 

 

To Seal The Deal. We'll tell you all about it.

Fountain. That was the only word that my brain could come up with. 

Proud. That was the feeling. I was thinking about deleting a couple rows in my CV and add this event instead.

Trail and Error. A reasonable approach. To try again. To see, think and do while trying to make better next time. Not a perfect way forward, but still, a way to cope with complex issues when you and The Problem are alone and only one can win.

Lady Luck. She might come by too. If that happens you can call it a home run, a victory in advance and get soft. But she's often late and no-show is not unusual.

Let's clear the fog. Here's what; The Ardun V8 Engine was leaking heavily from the home made cobbled oil pan, but it was okay because we're already high, floating on clouds. The sound of combustion was too good to be true and no known leakage could make that combustion feeling go away. 

But as the adrenaline slowly vanished, it became obvious that the Ardun had to dry up. At this point various ideas crossed my mind. But all those thoughts were  in vain, because Lady Luck happened to pass by. 

Here's what. When it comes to luck, it's appropriate to talk about Tomas Tom from Germany, who have recently developed an aluminum oil pan for Ford Flathead 32-48 and French Ford Flathead (I'm here talking about an oil pan with more room for the bigger front main bearing that comes with a french Flathead). 

His oil pan fit's perfectly and looks great too. Will it seal it all and dry up our fountain? I'll let you know soon.

The Oil Pan in modification mode. Why? I need oil drain holes from the cylinder head. Since it's nowadays an OHV Hemi engine and not a Flatty anymore oil needs to find its way to the pan again after lubricating the valve system mechanism (rocker arms etc)

Oil pan looks good even in mock-up mode.

Sand cast aluminum vs cut, weld and hope kind of sheet metal pan. 

Hopeless hope in blue. 

As always.

  The aluminum Oil Pan for French Ford Flatheads provided by Tomas. 

Nothing is however ready until it's ready. 

A deal ain't sealed until it's sealed

But Luck seems to be around.

Which is good.

Really good

Internet of things. We'll tell you all about it.

At home. That's where we've been the last year. Working from home with loads of screen time. You've been sitting there, stressed; One application refuses to start while the WiFi all of a sudden becomes sketchy. For no oblivious reason.

You've gone to bed and while levitating between dream and reality you've heard; 

-You're breaking up...

What was recently a desire currently feels like purgatory. A distant voice from old days. I'm now talking about 2017 when the good ol' consultant boys was talking about AI and self driving cars. When I attended a conference where the CEO from Daimler explained that self driving cars could be such a breakthrough, because we could continue to read mails instead of driving.

Back in those days, a dream dreamt by many was about being connected to the refrigerator 24/7. To make sure that the lawnmower and the vacuum cleaner had a good internet connection. So long ago.

We've moved on. Now we want the real deal. To get out of the bubble and the sketchy WiFi. To get up from the sofa and raise a little hell. To talk, party and go racing. No more flimsy screens, just the real deal.

Coming back to the headline. To Things and Internet. We need it. We're addicted and we're support addition too. 

We can hear the eBay sirens singing and we can do nothing but being suck in to their song. We buy, thrive and strive. Besides, we're singing our own turbo and supercharger seduction tone. So better beware. Because we're trying to get you away from the screen (and paddle tennis).

 

Magnus with Things from Internet for those how have ideas and want to do, act and dream. It's a Chrysler Transmission that was used by GM. Magnus will use it for a Ford. Questions? Keep em to yourself. There's no answers. At least no obvious answers.

As mentioned. We're singing the Salt Slush Siren Song and it's all about boosting. About EFR, AirWerks and Magnuson Superchargers. There's just one BIG problem. We listen to it ourselves. Our Land Speed Racer is EFR 9180 equipped and two out of four Salt Slush vehicles are powered by Magnuson. Magnuson Superchargers. Pictured: Magnus in pre project phase mode. Here your reference should be Shakespeare. William Shakespeare.

You've guessed it. This steering wheel comes from Internet too. An amazing combination of eBay and Koch's in California.  At this point it's appropriate to mention Stendhal Syndrome. If you don't know what that is; Google it. But take my advice and don't look at this picture for too long.

Let's end up with some good ol' sirens. 

Directly from land of temptation.

 Now, break up the enchantment raise up and race.

Just Saying.

 

 

Waiting.

There was a time before it all broke loose. A time when we had to fight our own dreams, capacity and shortcoming only. When we were free and the blue sky was the limit. When head gaskets, boost pressure and economy was the only familiar stoppers. It was a good time and it's only two years from now. Feels like a long time ago.

We couldn't see the Pandemic coming because those who survived the Spanish flu are five feet under and not able to alarm or celebrate survival. 

Fast forward from 2019 to 2021. We're here and we're waiting. Waiting for a normal. I wouldn't say the new normal. I would rather say that we're waiting for  freedom. Freedom to meet, race and travel. To live our (yours?) dream again, like we used to do. To live fast, but not not necessarily die young.

Salt Slush Team at Bonneville Speed Week back in 2019. The 900hp Amazon was ready and roaring. The Salt was wet and we were somewhat sour since we were waiting for the salt to dry (you should here think of the painting process). But still, we were there, in the middle of a dream.

 

 We cannot enter the US of A. Which means that we're unable to prepare our race car, visit Magnuson Superchargers and Borg Warner Turbo System face to face. 

While waiting at home in the cold rain we're keeping our mind busy with stuff that we have at hands.

Like looking at the Serge Blue / Cream white dashboard of the Old Olds -49 Rocket that recently came back from the paint shop.

  

While in waiting mode, we study stuff too. Amusement and argument comes together. At the same time. Somehow.

- An eight stack! Nice!

- But how about the tolerances?

- There's no milk to the coffee!

- I have another idea...how about...

- Detroit Electric was trying too... really early on...and Grandma Duck liked it a lot, but it went belly up eventually.

- Where were we... 

- Shut the fuck up...here's an interesting project.

At this point I would like to quote, Carina saying: 

- The Big Lebowski. Not only a comedy. It's our friends on any Saturday. Which is good. Really good.

Why this post? Because we're waiting. For freedom, speed and boost pressure.

And the New Roaring Twenties. 

That's why.

 

First Fire, Easter Resurrection and to be relieved.

-You've got to let me know when you're starting up the Ardun V8!

Many of our friends have said that. 

And I always answered;

-I'll let you know, of that you can be sure!

Even though I meant every word I said, I knew, deep in my heart, that it would be impossible. Because to debug an Ardun Engine based on a French Ford Flathead would take days and only very few would be patience enough to hang around for so long. 

But anyhow. It happened today. Planning took five years. The actual build and machining took only three.  

Easter 2021 was fully occupied with finding and correcting errors. But finally, the old military engine was resurrected as calculations were confirmed and machining made was proven correct.

Victory. Carina and the Ardun Engine. After the fumes. Relieved. In comfort. Somewhat exhausted.

To fight to the end. Petter, Cina and Magnus all helped out to and made the Ardun First Fire happen. Today.

Cina captured the very first combustions and shall we say, the first fire.

I got a way.

I still need a haircut though.

No misfire. No smoke. Reasonably fast combustion. Sounds fast. 

I'm not happy...I'm euphoric inside.

But it's not ready yet. A few oil leakages needs to be sealed and vaccum to spark advance machined. But it runs and it runs good too.

That's all.

For now.

 

Story Served at Salt Slush Speedshop. By those who won back in the dark ages.

Before it all started there was darkness. Freedom was just a word. A seven letter word that some have heard but few have learned. At least not in Sweden. Because we were captured. Captured in a repressive system. A system who knew what was good for you. Some would call it repressive tolerance while others refer to Plato and the The Republic. 

Some others would call it bureaucratic torture. I'm inclined to agree to the later statement. Because basically everything was forbidden. If your dream was creative and you had a thirst for freedom, you were doomed. Heavy as lead. Hence Hot Rodding, Tuning and building cars was a big time annoyance for the socialists in charge back in the bad old days.

But when there's pressure from above, the underdog forces awakes. Guys with brains, balls and passion appears from nowhere. Because they were needed.

In those days I was really young, but I understood that freedom was not just any word. It was a word of importance.

 

There were a few, I would say two, who brought light in and creativity back to car and bike society in Sweden. The two that did more than many was Göran Ambell and Sture Torngren at Wheels Magazine. Yes, they started the magazine too. They relentlessly fought The System until they rightfully won. They found their way forward through the political jungle and made Sweden a better place to live. Think David and Goliath. Think Goliath RIP. The flow of young guns that felt the need to flee to the US of A to seek freedom stabilized. 

Why this story now?

Because this Good Friday we had the pleasure to offer Göran Ambell and Marie lunch at the Salt Speed Shop. We loved every minute of their company. Göran is a storyteller with stories to tell and yes, he's still building cars and he's still writing about it.

We didn't want to miss a out on any relevant contribution related to the creative side of the car (in this case military) hobby,  So we invited Tomas Terräng. A man who has done more than most of us and can tell us all about it.

To a lunch meeting such as this, it's of importance to arrive in an appropriate vehicle. Ford and Chevy pick up trucks was the choice of the day for most of us. I took the Olds.

Salt Slush Garage lunch. To events like this we would have like to invite more people, but the Pandemic stopped us from doing so. Pictured; Kalle, Göran, Marie, Carina, Tomas and Magnus. I took the picture...

 

Ragnar, our garage neighbor noticed the absence of howling angle grinder, rattling milling machines, got worried and came over.  Yes, he and Annika got lunch too.

 

Yeah, I almost forgot. Tomas Terräng gave us a present. A Table Candlestick based on a rear end transfer case. Serves a candy bowl too. It just needed some final touch. Which Kalle provided without protection in his Sunday best.

Overall, we had lunch from 13.00 to 18.00 and even though we exchanged a lot of good stories, there are more to be told. Believe me. Just pick a topic..

 

 We love it.