Pro Bono work !

 The old device “The Power of One” is nothing we believe in at Salt Slush Racing. Instead we waited for a fantastic spring day to happen. Then we called in some old friend to get some help. Some good old pro bono work. The open garage door was open, the sun was shining from the blue sky and sweet songs from the angle grinders were howling busy melodies.  A memorable moment. 

 

Mario "The Smokey German" Felker removed old paint and filler....

 

 

...until Ringön was foggy...

 

 

...then he started to add some heat instead.

 

 

Olle "The Gadget Man" Nyström was there to properly document the process ...and as well to make use of something he bought recently.

 

Dr. Dahlander, known as Mr. Angle Grinder (since his face is associated with this specific tool and corroded old Volvo’s) took the opportunity to warm up for the coming season.

Coperation and heat makes thing happen faster....

 

 Anders adds another heater. Olle is fighting with 5 layer of paint. Meanwhile in another part of the workshop Magnus...has decided...

 

..to simulate the driver position. Like Dr Livingstone he cuts his way forward...  

 

..until he finally made it.

With the driver position 100% confirmed, the thinking and measuring could contioune...

 

 

...while the background activietes continouted towards completion.

 

A wonderful Sunday in the spring...



How a short cut became a big D-tour to Skene or at least a lot of work for nothing !

Let me start with below quote from President Obama's wife Michelle Obama, 

we would later on understand that he has a very smart wife just as we have.

We learned about honesty and integrity - that the truth matters... that you don't take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules... and success doesn't count unless you earn it fair and square.

Michelle Obama

But lets start by the beginning of the D-tour.

We were in need of a serious front end that also had to be almost for free since we so far hadn't reached any significant fame and fortune and the few kronas we have we preferably spend on something that gives speed instead of stoping and turning.
Land speed racing is al about going fast straight ahead so why waste money. 

We picked up a rumor about a XJS V12 with no motor that we could have for free if we took it away.

Of course a front end from such a high profile car has to be perfect, what could go wrong. 

See below picture to get a flavor of what we started to imagine. 

Looks Good and must be fast with style and class. 

Jaguar XJS looks SO GOOD !

Big Hart Friend
A friend of Håkan, Carina and Anders know a guy who had the Jaguar without V12 engine that he where willing to give to us for free. We where all very pleased and agreed that he was a very talented  and farsighted person with a big heart.  

A November day last year the drive started, my Volvo XC60 with a borrowed car trailer.

It is alway fun to do trips like this a small adventure between our duties.

We arrived after a 1,5 our drive to the garage. The garage was opened and Yes there was a Jaguar but with some more tear and wear. All tough still a Jaguar and a pinnacle for British engineering ! 

Jaguar XJS looked OLD and YESTERDAY !!

For Free

Since it was for free we started to load it on to the trailer

Anders and Magnus starts to persuade it and our sponsor is preparing the heavy farewell.

A Jaguar XJS is very heavy even without the motor.

Almost done, as you see a number of high tech tools where used to make it happen.

Victory !  

It is on the trailer ! I can tell you that we all felt very Good. 

This is big game hunting ala Ernest Hemingway.

Håkan (behind the Camera),  Magnus,  Anders and Me are all very happy. 

The observant person can also notice that our sponsor is very pleased. 

Civilization and Grey Zone

The drive back to civilization (The SSR World Head Quarter) can start, as always all serious transports take place within some legal grey zone. Will not explain this further.

Delivery

We are safe and sound arrived without any discussions with Harry Haffa.

Since no rear axle or wheel, creativity had to come in place,
and yes as always Jaguar XJS is big and Heavy

OK let see what we find

LOW LIFE 

This i what we found, we started to understand that we in front of us saw the evidence of a journey from high life to low life ! Even the plaque for the membership in the Swedish Jaguar Club had lost it's shine

No Shine ! 
or at least has lost it's glory.

Below you see the stickers the last driving owner had beautified it with

seems in line with its elegance and style. 

Odd Ball engineering
Ok what about the front end ?
This is what it looked like. You should be aware of that already here Anders started to hesitate it was big and clumbsy combined with a number of very strangely engineered solutions.

British Engineering
To make a long story short we choose after a couple of weeks discussion and evaluation to not use the front end from the Jaguar XJS. All and all we where in full agreement to not rely on British engineering.

No Good
The no good parts from the Jaguar were transported to a Junk Yard around the corner.

Norway
We now have doors, hood, trunk lid and a strange front end for sale.
Been out on blocket with a few calls mostly from Norway which has made us even more sure on that we toke the right decision. But it costed us 5 garage days of work.

Lesson learned
To always check with Michelle Obama or at least our wife's before any important decisions.
The short cut didn't work, so once again.

We learned about honesty and integrity - that the truth matters... that you don't take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules... and success doesn't count unless you earn it fair and square.

We will later on explain how we with outstanding honesty, high integrity,  according to the rules in a fair and square way solved our front end via Mr Ola G.

Shop till you drop

To Chop the Top might seem difficult. But it is after all doable. It’s very mathematical, practical and it involves getting dirty in the workshop.

Basically, a relaxing activity close to a SPA experience.

It is however impossible to only build stuff and enjoy the rewarding garage atmosphere. There comes a time when concept needs to be decided.  Technology needs to be selected. 

After intensively been thinking about Rearends and Transmissions for a couple of weeks we started to dwell on the subject until our dream circled around torque, speed and gear ratios.

Should we have a four speed Muncie and a Quick change? Or a BMW manual transmission from a 6 cylinder diesel engine, (the one with series sequential turbo system) and a quick change? Or a Richmond…or…

We wore out calculators.

We drank coffee until our hearts was beating irregular.

We talked until our throats were dry.
But one day the fog disapered.  We saw everything clear.

A T56 Magnum 6 speed transmission and a Tailormade 9’ Currie axle was the final selection. As well a 4-link was now on our shopping list.
We were ready to Shop Till We Dropped.
 
We gathered around a telephone and the seriousness in the room was almost physical.

First we called Summit Racing:

-Yes Sir, we have everything on stock, the parts you’ve asked for can be shipped within 24 hours, they answered with their usual professional voice.

We ordered.

Then we called Currie Enterprises to order our tailor made 9’ Rearend.  We did that since we thought we were ready to order.

We were not. Those of you who have tried to order a hamburger or a steak in US know what I mean. The options and alternatives never end…but five calls later our race rearend started its journey over the Atlantic.

Decisions was taken. Orders was sent. Our money was gone. The blood pressure went down.

Peace of mind. After some recreational grinding in the sun were all very happy.



 

Power

 A sleek body might be attractive and the fashion jury's nodding is alwasy desirable.

But let's cut the crap.

A substantial amount of power is what makes life vibrant and sparkling.

As well The Salt Slush Amazon needs The Power to be faster than its own shadow.

Let’s, for a while, think about how to get out of the dark slow shadow.

Are there any low hanging fruits suitable to carry to the altar of speed? Are there any compact engines out there with reasonable displacement that can be boosted to appropriate power levels while still being as reliable as a door stop?

An LS engine with a pair of turbochargers?

The Salt Slush Amazon is in need of something else. An engine designed for high boost levels and a long life.

The N-series Volvo engines:

With piston cooling jets

With forged crankshaft and pistons

Robust enough to make a grown man cry

Recipe
Take: 
1.      One Volvo N3 engine (6 cyl Natural aspirated, 3,0L) from a Volvo an old Volvo 960. Se picture below.

2.      One Volvo N3T engine ( 6 cyl Turbo  3,0L*) from an old S80 (1998-2005). This is it:

 3.      A boosting system and a fuel system to match the Need For Speed.

Take the oil pan and the engine mounts from 960 and mount it to the stripped N3T. 

Add the appropriate size and numbers of turbocharges.

Heaven awaits.

OK we are cheating !

We admit we have talked to an aerodynamic specialist.

We need something to hold on to

Best way forward was discussed. Unibody, as it was, or a frame?

Frame was decided!

Why ?

Stronger, easier and faster to create; a geometrical structure which we could attach everything to.
Since we are from Volvo safety was a part of our thinking -  it's easier to build a good role cage on a frame.

How did we do about doing this?

We needed something to build on! Luckily we had the old frame table From Lazze J (see link http://www.lazzemetalshaping.com) from when he lived in Varberg.  Now he lives in San Francisco and has become an Hot Rod and Sheet metal wizard famous from TV, Rodders Journal, Youtube etc.
Me and Lars-Martin has set up our 32 frames on that table so we know that it's good.

Me and Magnus picked up the table at Lars Martins place a rainy cold evening in November.
As a sign the table was totally smeared in Salt slush during transport to Salt Slush Racing World Head Quarter, it needed a lot of cleaning before we could use it.

Steel table - also worked good as dinner table for garage parties. 

A well thought trough solution and a proper drawing.

Here Anders and Magnus scientifically figures out where the rear axle is going to be relative to the chassis and the frame. 

A front end 

The one on the picture is modified Volvo 140 front end from our colleague Ola G.

Before this front end we had an idea to use one from a Jaguar XJS, a good story in itself which turned out to be a real D-tour and a proof of British odd-ball engineering.

We will tell you more about Olas front end and the Odd-ball D-tour later on.

A mock up engine to build around. 

Of course we got it from Amazon Harry -  a 6 cylinder, 3 liter engine with transmission, from a Volvo 960. The intention is to use parts from this engine to the real one later on.  Just now it work's just fine as a mock up.

This was Håkans first contact with Amazon Harry. The engine was the first part we bought from him. Later on we would buy more from him, like the extra roof to the body. His place is worth a visit in itself especially if you are in to old Volvos.

Good motivation deserves good transportation.  We think this will help our motor to come in to the right mode later on. Sun is shining, Chevy PU truck…...

Deliverey to Salt Slush racing World Headquarter.

No worries dear engine, you will have a good home here, saved from who knows what -

maybe a Volvo 245 with under body neon light in Grums.

Is it dead or alive ?

Below you see a critical moment for the engine when it arrived to the head quarter. 

For a short moment it looked weak, we thought we had lost it, big worry !!!!

It seemed almost dead, but suddenly it showed signs of life, what a relief !

Håkan and Anders are preparing the alive power train, meaning oil etc out and off. 

We do carry a ISO proven environmental certificate, in line with the high standards we use for almost everything at Salt Slush Racing.

Now we needed material to the frame !

During lunch, a Monday the week before Christmas me and Håkan managed to squeeze a drive to Göteborgs Handelsstål to Pick up material, several 6 m long RHS beams.
It was raining a lot, borderline to snow. We got totally soaked and looked like dead drowned cats. On top of this Handelstål was browned out and we got the feeling that Thor was talking to us. We hope that he mention us when he met Sleipner, could help to pick up speed later on.

Some more thinking and drawings and we where good to GO.

As you see we are using the latest state of the art Catia and computer aided support.

Precision is the key to a good result, Magnus is cutting with NASA precision. 

Notice the high class fixation. 

No Guts No Glory, or at least a lot of DUST and NOISE !

Let's see, could this be a way forward ?

With some help it makes sense ! Anders is Helping.

Don't you understand ! Karl-Johan is helping !

Precision pays off, perfect fit, fantastic !

Back to the table, rear kick up in place. Front end still lost in space.
The expert can see our rear axle mock up. The beginning of the frame has been welded fixed to the table here to secure it is straight and as it is planned to be.

Lars-Martin and Magnus are reflecting and trying to get in contact with the front end.
Carina is monitoring this scientific moment.

Scientific moment turned in to measuring and guidance for our front end. 

Magnus is adjusting the mind of the front end. Anders is calling for attention.

Now we need to clean up the front end to match the frame,
Håkan with his skills take on to mill away what we don't need.
Took some time and effort to fixate front end beam to the table since we wanted to avoid having it flying around in the shop.

Håkan is happy !
We will later on add some strength back to the front end.

Now Anders brings it in to place and fixation, I can tell you that we have measured more than once here. Combined with some thinking to support ride height adjustment.

We weld some more !

More the come regarding everything like

The frame !
How we spent several day's finding a useless front end.
How we found our modified 140 front end with racing heritage.
How we toke away what didn't look like a land speed body from the body.