Last time naked ! The Amazon is getting paint!

We're now in the making and closing hole business. Yet we spend some time in the bending flat surfaces and straighten out bent surfaces as well.  Here's the story.

Frank the Man, our reliable painter came in to our workshop and delivered a deadline. It was like a medicine, bitter but good for you in the end. The only problem is that we're not in the end of the story yet. Rather in the middle of the mess. The controlled mess.

Why not start up the work with closing some holes?

Anders in modifying mode, removing traces of hinges.

In moments like this, concentration is good. It means you can have all your fingers available for the next step. Which is a good thing.

Another hole that we have no use for anymore. At least not in this position.

So, I closed it. Once and for all.

So, what's next? Maybe making holes?

We have to put it mildly, discussed this move for some time. We've had fear. It has kept us awake at night. But now it was time. At some point in time, Magnus, Anders and I went wild and just started to measure, cut and bend. Magnus pictured in a shivering bending sheet metal moment.

Holes in the hood in place. Heat from the radiators are now free to flow through the hood. Ain't she sweet? Our Amazon.

Last pictured naked and assembled.

Before you can make a hole, you need to close the old one. Those were Magnus wise word. Seem to be words of good advise, since we now have a sealed front ready for air inlets and coolant ducting.

Milestone: No door, no fenders and no hood assembled anymore...

...because all parts are waiting for trip with Anders Hemi RAM before they all meet... 

The painter, Frank (left in picture) from Universalteknik, in Gothenburg is here once again confronted with our decisions anxiety regarding colors. But now we've made up our mind.

Saturday is alrigth for SSR

Busy hours in the Garage since we aim to have the Amazon painted and nice when we go back to Bilsport performance and custom show upcoming Easter weekend.

We have a lot of things to do before we are there and what is better than to focus and work hard ?

In what might look like total chaos we enjoyed our Saturday. Parallel with our work the color choice and accent colors was debated.......latest main track is Gold metallic, white scallops, black and white text.....

Welding and grinding is a good starting point for a lot of things.

Håkan is working on the beautification of the window fixation. Removing the ugliness with some filler.

The set up is to bolt plastic glass on the window frame, 

in order to make the car fast, the windows have to be smooth and flush.

Our new face ! Magnus has created the closing of the grill, 

we intend to open up some intakes for cooling and the engine air inlet
It will look cool to leave the aluminum parts unpainted.

I (Kalle) is welding the fixating flanges for the side window.

At the same time Anders created the fixation of the tail gate, 

I gave him a helping hand welded some spots.

You can do a lot with a M8 pin.

Ooops what is this ? It's Carinas Suffolk lawnmower engine which had been a little bit strange...

Carina point out a number of issues ! Ok a flathead always have some signs of strange burning

Håkan, who makes his living developing modern efficient engines for Volvo

was rather amused of the flathead issues and

 made a longer explanation about the benefits of a modern combustion chambers.  

Magnus evaluates the cylinder head, a lot of remains from the burning of gas, 

Magnus is a hard core flathead enthusiast in all shapes and saw no issues with the signs of how the burn had worked. Håkan didn't share Magnus view.  

Hmmm... -It look like a high altitude photo of Himalaya ! Is this good ?

Back to the tailgate fixation. Welding, Welding, Welding

Body guckelimuck makes all ugliness beautiful.

 Magnus work on some details connected to our upcoming air intake

Close of everything in the front! Turn indicators are not needed ! 

No Saturday at SSR is complete without some gastronomic events

 Here some smoked turkey...

Håkan did an attempt to promote Chicken liver. 

Nala the shop dog had to finish it off, she found it delicious.

What's the Color of Speed?

It time. We've reached The Point. The point when we have to make a decision. A decision about the appearance, looks and style. I'm talking about the color.

 

Some people have opinions about camshafts, some other people gladly express their view about clutches, but all of the people are happy to advise us about the Color of the Car.

 

In fact, the majority don't want us to paint the car at all. But we're gonna pain the Beast.

 

So, what's the color of Speed?  Red is the racing color no.1 and therefore somewhat worn out. Silver? Well, it least it was glorious, back in the days when Mercedes concurred the race tracks. But no, it would be like swimming with all the other Prius. Green? No, we're not British. White? No, that's for refrigerators type-of-cars....and so it continues...

Then Frank, the man, arrived in our workshop. Frank is a painter and a former Dragracer. He had a practical approach. He gave us a deadline, a color chart and carbon fiber filler and asked us following question:

- How do you guys like it? Altarpiece or Race finish? Show or Go? 

We said something about us not being religious and in need for speed, took the filler and started to work with the body again. Silently.

 

What color we'll chose? To be continued.

A Smooth Body needs Paper Work to Cool Down!

Our Amazon does not only need muscles to be fast and able to conquer desserts. It needs a Perfect Body to be fast and, when the time comes to perform, it needs to stay cool as well. On top of it all, it needs a good look.

 

Ain't life a bitch?

 

So we thought how can we help?  How can we make this happen?

Well, to start with I started up the MIG and closed all holes that once upon a time held mouldings in place. Meanwhile Kalle picked up Magnus work with the Window frames.

Anders went back to paperwork, or rather, revisited the Cardboard Aided Design approach. But after all, what the hell is he doing? 

Well, he's forming the paper mock-up of the Cooling air path that will transport the air from the nose up through the hood (or bonnet if you're from an Island) 

 

After a couple of hours, Anders reshaped the paper to a cooling channel. Next step is now...

...to make the beauty surgery and open up the hood.

We better hurry up because there are evidence outside the workshop that indicates that spring time is coming closer.

Let's get the Body in shape, eat and drink!

No, we're not on our way to the gym. It's the Landspeed Amazon that needs some body fix. For a long period we've been focused on Turbos, Torque and Tuning. But now when the powertrain is running fine, we've reached our 750hp on gasoline (yes, we should run a tuning sweep with high octane race gasoline as well to confirm 850hp) there were no more excuses. It was time to perfect the sheet metal and work with safety.  

We lowered the body over the chassi and started to walk around the car like quality inspectors from past. (No, we didn't wear white coats)

After a while the To Do list was completed. Finish the window frames, close all holes, bigger wheel houses in the rear...

...and maybe the most difficult task, enable a cooling flow thorough hood with air guides underneath.

Maybe like this? Nobody knows yet, design work is ongoing...but we don't to ruin the basic (and beautiful) Amazon hood shape but we need to have the out let where the pressure is low.

What is this? Well, Saturday evening is perfect for a small garage party. Especially if the workshop is equipped with a Paul Bocuse Range Cooker. Cast iron pots on gas burner feels just fine. 

No effort was spared. The white cloth is a must for a proper garage dinner. Magnus and Kalle as decorators.

Beer on a surface of steel.

Then eventually, the dinner was served while dreams and visions almost became real.

After a while, all technical problems were a lot easier to solve.

The Amazon from a different angle in a different light

Read about Salt Slush Racing in Gasoline

For sure, we claim to be something special and some recognition is alwas nice !

We have been building and wrenching our way forward the last years and we're now closer then ever to enjoy our Salt fever and how harsh it may sound, we have reached to the understanding that there is no cure to be found, which means that we will, in steps, surrender and accept our life long disease, the salt fever.

Today we recived the latest issue of  Gasoline Magazine which to a large extent capture our general illness in a six page special article about our Amazon and our dreams. We're proud since Gasoline Magazine is well worth buying and reading, even without us in it...

They passed by our garage last summer on a lovely Sunday talking and taking a lot of pictures. We had some fika ready, but were not at all prepared for the mental recap and debrief it was to become.

At the end of the day it kind of landed in a feeling of a revitalised commitment crisp and clear !

All in all, it was a very good day and we all got the opportunity to tell and describe what we are aiming for. You know when you speak up up make your point you repeat it for yourself.  So it became a day when we revisited our plans and straightened up our act.

It becomes a strong commitment when it's written, printed and distributed and on top of all bought and payed for by others who buys the Magazine. Compared to a bold statement on Facebook 1 minute and press the button this is bigger 

And as we always say;
-You ain't seen nothing yet!

The Salt.....Gives you fever....dreams and .....