Praise the Conrods. Or how heat becomes torque and and get things going.

We received our conrods. Our debated conrod. Our special made conrods. Our forged H-Beam conrods.

They are beautiful , precious and dear to us. Why? Do you have to ask? Ok.

I know, I know...they don't carry the same iconic, magical touch as pistons. If they're engraved on serious looking men's upper arm, used as motor club symbols, crossed of each others like medieval swords, then it's because they carry pistons on the top. That's all, like the good servant.

But I tell you, the conrod makes shit happens. They withstand the weight of the piston and they are under serious pressure and stress. They halt two times per revelation while they are faster the most of the engine parts and they keep all these moving parts together nicely without too much whining.

If they get tired of their busy life in the crankcase and break loose to see what outside the engine block, then it's game over for us guy's who're looking for speed and power.

Therefore, we welcome the duty of these H beam conrods and we'll do what we can to make them feel good in our Volvo cylinder block. 

Here they are, forged and strong, 143mm long from center to center and a nice 23mm piston pin diameter bearing. Would it be appropriate to bless them? Or should we act more scientific?

Spreading the universal word of speed and brute power

We are trying to spread the Salt Slush Racing word to the World or at least Scandinavia.
The Gospel of Turbo Charging is our message carried by the state of the art BWTS EFR and Air Werks turbo chargers.

As all religions the language is universal and finds it way in to peoples heart and power plants.

As a way to spread and speed up our message we have a series of advertisement in Bilsport, from  number 21. Bilsport is the magazine to read for all charged go fast people in Scandinavia.

Below you see our state of the art extremely to the point and according to the all collected commercial wisdom advertisement…. hmmmmm…. ok ok according to our budget….

So listen to your heart and go fast God or i meant your passion for speed and brute fast delivered power talking to you .

If you are are up for a turbo take a look at our offers think it through and make your choice.

Breaking the Vicious Cycle and getting back on track! Eventually...

There is no such thing as a free lunch. We all know that. But deep in our souls we wish there was. This hope can lead to trouble. Let me give you an example...

10 years ago as I took over The Barn, a place where barn finds grow slowly, obstacles appeared. There was already a tenant in there. Another car guy.Which was ok, since we couldn't fill all the space at once.

He had two beautiful old Volvo 444's from late 40ties and a Ford Sierra from 1990. He paid his bills and we're all happy. Then all of a sudden he took away his 444's and just kept the Ford standing  there.

And believe it or not, the barn was slowly filled up with good stuff, which is why we started to cast an eye on the space where the Ford was sadly standing.

One evening the phone rang. Would I like to have the old Sierra? Even have it for free? Deep in my heart I felt that this was a bad idea, but I could still hear myself say YES.

Years passed by and the Ford was just standing there waiting. After a while the barn was full of nice stuff and... you're right, one day I realized that the Ford had to go. So we went there, equipped with tools, start gas, a fresh battery, new gasoline, hoses and the usual stuff needed to get something stranded going.

Out of the barn. Long crank time, but we're good!

20km later. After a BIG bang, there were no brakes. Why?

This is why! Half the brake disc broke loose. No good!

.

Back at home. Without the Ford, but with a souvenir. Horse shoe for good luck? I don't think so...

...because when we were in full rescue mode, the old faithful Chevy 454 Suburban breaks down as well.  

It was the water (coolant) pump that gave up without a warning.

A new counter clockwise big block coolant pump were found.

Friday evening dinner had to wait....

...since Carina and I had a mission.

Meanwhile, a friend of mine had started to prepare for us picking up the Ford Sierra, which was stranded in his garden. He had REALLY prepared everything.

But his effort was all in vain since I got a left wheel hub from the junk yard. Now I had two left hubs. I little bit like having two left shoes. Hard to walk. No good. 

A Fika (A Swedish procrastination) was needed. Before...

...the heat was on.

Gear to climb Mount Everest? No, barn find emergency equipment.

 Burb in the Barn. Sierra home at Bay. Two disc brakes, one wheel bearing, one puncture and one week later it runs like dream...while waiting for the next owner to show up.

In a temporary peaceful (car guy) moment I started to like the Ford. It's after all surprisingly quiet, it's rear wheel driven car, it has both nice front and rear end suspension, a manual 5 speed transmission and a Twin Cam 2,0L engine and it's actually fun to drive. Maybe a 6258EFR Turbo and transfer it in to a sleeper?  

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor, Richman, Poorman, Beggarman, Thief…………...

• Tinker :          Makes sense. Good to shortcut
• Tailor :           Maybe, but new underwear can be bought.
• Soldier :         No, we make race cars not War
• Sailor :           Yes. we need to ship the race car
• Richman :       Yes, very good when you build race cars
• Poorman :      That's what you become when you build race cars
• Beggarman :   No, better make some more money instead.
• Thief :           No, that sends you in the wrong direction.

Above was the the beginning of an English Counting chant which made its way in to a John Le carre's Novel.

If they had known better, they would have mentioned Welder, Metal man, Panel Beater, Leakage seeker, Grinder etc.

Why? Because that what makes sense when you build a water tank to the cooling system.

As we told you before, we are beginners regarding AL welding but with a steep learning curve.I spent last saturday cleaning up the welds since the tank leaked like a clogged strainer, now we passed the level of a slightly leaking tank so one more clean up day and we will be OK.

Blow and Sniff method. Takes two persons and some work shop Yoga.

Fill upp and inspect. Takes as well two persons.

Be reasonably proud. Takes only one.

To point out small weakness still there. Takes only one. Another one.

Pour out the water and prepare for the final adjustments. Takes only a couple of hours.

Tool time and a new twist of Don Quijote

Came across this at work 

The harder you try the harder it grips …..

or the harder you try the rounder it gets

Chicago tools Hedstrom industries it says in the casting

Googled it and found a US patent 2,351,821 it's probably a very good dramatic story around this.

When looking deeper in to it showed three patents from 1931 to 1944 all patents made by JV Larsson

I guess he was extremely convinced that this is the way to do it.

So what was one mans life long struggle to convince the world how to set up an adjustable wrench became a micro pause entertainment at work in 2015 before continue to convince the world about your state of the art ides. 

So why spend life fighting windmills when you can build race cars.

Ain't She Sweet?

As we cleaned up the shop this moring, before the team really got in to action we took a step back and looked at our creation. And we liked what we saw... 

The Amazon of Speed

Grim Grinder and Welder in trance

Autumn darkness is lurking out there as days are getting shorter. All enthusiast cars needs to fall in to winter sleep soon...but for winter active cars guys another season starts. The garage season. Filled with engine assembly, sheet metal forming and coffee & socializing. Will we hear the Amazon roar before Christmas? Well, that's the plan. But let's see. 



The Welder, Anders, here with a mix of concentration and determination. Smells like roof rail deletion. A strange smell of-god-knows-what. Rust protection from the past? Or is this the smell that comes when a Station Wagon looses its practical soul? Hell no, then we should have smelled it long time ago.

 Angle grinders in a victorious pose on steel table. Limited edition.

Surgery on-going. 

Roof suture ready. We just need for the wound to heal. The bad news is that it won't heal without many hours of fine grinding 

Wound healed. Surface soft as baby skin. Mission completed. Time for a cold drink and a shower...or two.

Alternative to Yoga, Golf or Drugs.. A Roadtrip!

Make cars not war this is our twist for the Automotive United Nation and we make for sure more noise than Ban Ki-Moon. It was a lot of Hala Baloo when we gracefully drove from Göteborg to south of the border or at least to Hallandsåsen. When Kalle (KJ) Brought people together to do good deeds.

 

Why?

We a all need to nourish our souls, find our work-life balance, find our way to relax and bring the world together.

In the seek of the holy grail of stress relief and peace making we're a group of people that, two times a year, raise to the occasion and announce a day of vacation and leave  our home really early, drive long distance in enthusiast cars, while we wait for sensations to appear.

A German, An American and an Italian, one early morning is autumn at sun rise. This is a political correct example of a successful integration in to the Swedish society. Something for all politician to reflect and learn upon.

Who the hell is driving the Burb in the back? Well, it's me Håkan. Someone needs to be the biggest and have a decent displacement. KJ's happy reeving 302 is not impressed, big and slow is what Big Block Suburban is according to him.

 Olle's Lotus one of three at the Beach represent the British part. 

Charming but cold. No one was up for a swim.

Joakim B's Beetle Bus at Beach is so nice now, a real hippie Killer.

Håkan J's Factory 5 Cobra, It has some serious motivation. 

But hey, doesn't the right Lotus look a little bit wider? That's because it has a V10 BWM mill onboard. Then it has to grown a little, its natural, nothing strange. Johan Zachrisson has built a really nice car. There is however a rumor...the BMW powered Lotus was hotter than a Soumi Sauna in the middle of a dessert inside the passenger compartment. But that's only a rumor.

Sweden is represented by Volvo Amazon built for classic car track racing.

Carina, the undisputed No.1 At least for me.

GT40 has a very inspiring cooling system approach. No compromise.

Yes, we care a little bit extra for Amazon´s especially in race clothes.

Frank Högberg and man with fuel in his veins, in story telling mode, here showing us pictures of his collection of race cars. Entertaining and engaging.

One of them race cars, Franks' Ford Falcon. 

Our friend Leif Tufvesson meet up with his latest cool light weight Hot Rod/Gokart, Powered with a Gold Wing engine. Representing Japan partly

Car guys and a frame. Or rather, car guys and a AC Cobra frame from Auto Fab in Bjuv, Sweden. It always encouraging with frames and dreams associated with frames. A nice visit.

The Lotus Exige is already from the start somewhat less comfortable than a Mercedes S-class, but it's still possible to make them even more oriented towards car guy psyche only. When a V10 is added the car is more like rocket on rail.

 

The only issue is that you have to be very very slim and practiced Yoga to be able to enter the car and for sure to get out of it. KJ tried and only managed to get his rigth leg in to the car.

Tool, Juice, Wife time and taking care of business

We are doing progress in many areas and securing the basics for the next steps. Why live today, just now, when you can prepare for tomorrow?

The Amazon develops smooth and steady a lot thanks to Anders focus and determination.The drip rails are history as one example.

But as you know key is as always to prepare and take care of busines to be able to have progress tomorrow.

Tool Time ! Plasma Cutter

To be able to take away everything that not look like a super fast Amazon we need a tool to do it fast and precise and what is better then a plasma cutter? Voila! Therefore we have a plasma cutter on board in the garage. Not the best and the not biggest but a good start.

Juice Time, ! magic Voodoo Vitamins ?

Vitamins are important. Tapio, the bravest of them all regarding eating strange stuff, brought a new juice to The Garage. Let's just say that it tasted better than it looked. Håkan refused to taste it and had a hard time to even look at it.

The tricky question was if there is a tomorrow after a bottle Fresh Grass Jelly Drink

Looks different but Ok, could be good for tomorrow.

O Noooooo what is in the Juice ? Mega spider ? There is no Tomorrow.

PS 

We Saw Tapio the day after he drank the Juice including the Mega Spider.

DS

Wife time !!!

To be able to spend time in the Garage, Very Happy Wife is needed. Therefore Wife Camaro is doing progress, front is on and it's getting there step by step. Still waiting for some more sheet metal which is on it's way from Taiwan and emblems from Year One in US….. Wife is happy still waiting for the Amex bills then it maybe will change….. maybe buy more parts to wife car will make her happy again ?

New sheet metal is nice even if some massage and TLC is still needed.

The plan is to set up all sheet metal with love and care and paint it apart.

Bonus & Taking care of business 

Besides of that we are discussing new dreams, as you maybe noticed a ramp truck is one of them. But what to put on it when the Amazon is in the USA?

We are now in to MB Race Cars more precise a SLC set up for the track racing. Let's see what happens, dreams are for free.

Maybe something like above, could be with German Beer sponsors like Bitburger or Königs pils,…. Hmmm the right 16" AMG wheels …. fender flares ….. spoiler …...

As I dreamt about a SLC race Car I was of to Verktygsboden in Veddige today and bought necessary spare parts to our TIG welder.   That is taking care of business.