The Traditional Salt Slush Racing New Year Chronicle. This time it's about 2020...

It was a rather good year. 

Except for...no racing, no parties, no travel, no car meets, no car shows, no hugging and a general sad social distance, it was all fine. Oh I forgot, we have to exclude massive pain, sickness, death, grief and mourning too to stay on the positive side. Other than that, it was a really good year. Oh I forgot, the economy broke down too. But anyhow...

As we were locked up, boxed in and working on a distance we could focus. So we focued on what was close to us. On our private projects as well as Salt Slush customers. We worked hard as hell to wash away the sorrow of a normal having-fun-life.

The guiding principle has obviously been parallel projects. 

Magnus, the Mastermind of Parallel Projects, has mainly but not only been working with:

..creating a Baya Style Colorado. Yes, it's daily driver. 

...a Ford F100 from 1970 (a second daily driver) and building up an Ariel Motorcycle from 1928. 

I managed to get both in the same picture.

...creating several exotic & tuned A and B Ford engines for various customers. 

A first Fire start up!

Kalle has during 2020 been occupied with a...

a Vespa from the fifties (-59) (Yes it's in pieces)

and waking up s Volvo Military Vehicle (VALP) from the early sixties (-62)

as well as working remotely on a Camaro from the late sixties (-68). Paint shop pictured.

Carina and I have survived the pandemic by being busy...

...bringing an old Oldsmobile 88 fastback from the late forties (-49) back to life.

...while working on the Ardun Engine

...where there are Devils in every detail.

And yes, Cina has refurbished her Suffolk Show Mower.

And restored another aluminum Suffolk Mower too...

Anders has spent his pandemic isolation on...

...adding EFI to his Matra Bagheera from the late seventies (-78)

EFI (PFI) by Anders.

...and refining his Magnuson Supercharger equipped LS El Camino from 1970 to (almost) perfection.

...and building various machines, among them this CNC plasma cutter (to serve our Customers with tailor made parts)

In addition, we really would like to thank all our customers, that basically has been in the same situation as us, for their orders and the time they spent to build various amazing race cars, street cars and various crazy but amazing contraption that we all will enjoy.

The most outstanding Salt Slush Turbo delivery this year is 2x AirWerks S500SX-E turbos to the Merlin Interceptor Project. Something that we, together with Andreas Marklund tried tofind a proper turbo matching for. Looking forward to the 3000hp result that might be available 2021...

Let's finish 2020 with Kalle in Turbo Trance A pictured taken when he was confronted with AirWerks S500SX-E turbos first time.

And Let's hope for a Much Better Year Next Year!
So, Happy New Year from Salt Slush Racing

The first Cure. Make Love not War

It's complicated. Here's what; To make things work, you need to start somewhere.I started with the hydraulics; because brakes are good....to have.

Priority 1; Take off all wheels, then take it all apart...

But first, thorough cleaning with high pressure.

All grease, dirt and more had to go.

Please note the crash friendly padding around the clutch cylinder. 

No expenses were saved to keep troops alive for one more minute.

Another proof of care for those in war. A padded close-to-knee brake master cylinder.

In addition, the Valp is equipped with an ABS brake system prior to Mercedes / Bosch ABS. Suitable for times when men were men. I'm talking about the absence of brake booster and soft, small drums.  

Hydraulic work. All cylinders honed and all new sealing mounted. 

No cost were spared to make it fit for another 10 or 20 years. 

All cylinders were full of guckelimuck. Here I'm talking about a strange mix of brake fluid, grease, dirt and water...

Pictured: A mess up

The biggest challenge so far has been to get the right rear brake drum off the rear axle. Here's  the true story; I started with my old puller and nut runner. 

1. No success.

2 Next try. Added heat. Made it orange. 

Same old puller and nut runner...

Kaaaa-fucking-BOOM. Puller into pieces. 

Sadness.

I bought the puller around 30 years ago

I assume it was made of early Chinesium alloy....slightly stronger than cheese. Soft cheese.

3. Next try. With a new puller, heat and an appropriate amount of violence. Meaning a big hammer and same nut runner ...nothing of significance happened.

4. Last try.....borrowed Håkan's nut runner from hell, called the Beast, and added heat and some more violence:  Voila! Success!

Pictured; Success. 

A nut runner from hell, combined with a heavenly strong puller. Victory!

 

Repairing each wheel cylinder honing and new parts

The front wheel new socket was 56 mm. Not easy to find, but figured out that some modern MX bikes has of that size on the rear wheel, so I ordered one...

The socket.

The socket tuning. The thickness had to be reduced.

The adjusted socket. Ready to make a difference.

Borrowed a cool transporter from a friend to move the military machine to Ringön.

Ta da!  Easy. Just push it a little, and it was in its new home

Finally in position. This baby has, for a long time been searching for a dry and warm place.

Now it's ready for the cure. 

A cure that includes;

1. Something to sit on which is less soggy then the old VW seats! 

2. To hunt all electrical gremlins... out! (The impression is that two electrical systems 

has been created under some type of negative demonic influence) 

3. Adding some fun stuff to the Valp 

4. And of course, Ladies and Gentlemen, start up the engine!! 

More to come soon!

...

A Christmas Postcard from Salt Slush Racing!

 

A Warm Desert Christmas Greeting

From 

The Salt Slush Racing Team.

Merry Christmas!  

 

The Beginning of Make Love Not War

Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. 

A saying that sums it all up.

View from Åre, out over the lake 

When my wife and I visited our son Johan in Åre, where he and his girlfriend Elina lives, I stumbled over this Volvo Valp (Valp in Swedish means Puppy). It stood far out on a field and it had been sitting in the same spot for years.

On a distance it looked kind of ok, but bearing in mind that these contraptions are normally extremely rusted out and often beyond what makes sense to repair, it pays off to take a look closer.

Questions were asked; Can I take a look at it? Who owns it? Is it for sale ?

Like always life, is full of questions to straighten out. 

Looks ok, not any major rust, although weather beaten with some authentic charm 

Everything was there,  looked OK 

Nice patina 

Here you see traces of its history

The green is from its Swedish Military history, when it was dealing with the potential Sovjet invasion, something that was the in focus during its early history.

The white and blue comes from peach keeping service under United Nation umbrella, somewhere outside Sweden.

The grey, origin from its later day's running as civilian in Åre.

The hinges almost looks like those on an old American school bus,

look at them and reflected on it's robust charm, then you'll understand the beauty.

All in all, I ended up buying the Valp. It turned out to be owned by Johan's boss, Jonas, who owns Pizzeria Torvtaket in Åre where my son works.  

The story is that they had used it to drive up goods and waffle batter to a mountain side restaurant that they operated years ago.

Ones I got back home in Gothenburg, I started to plan how to get it home

It is a rater long drive, around 900 km (600 miles) one way.

When you look at the navigation system, it's half way up north in Sweden 

A couple of weeks later, in August 2020, I drove up to Åre with a rented car trailer

it was a very nice drive, took around 10 hours, 

some good music, pods and some fika, I was good to go. 

Sweden is a country of dark forest, here taking a pause while checking the trailer

Nice scenery ! Sweden is beautiful with a lot of empty space !

Here loaded on the trailer, we had to give it a push with the yellow digger to get in on to the trailer since the wheels were rather stuck.......

The Valp loaded and we were ready to start the long haul back to Gothenburg.

Good bye Torvtaket, its home for many years. 

An early more agriculture warlord Volvo "SUV" behind a modern state of the art XC90 T8. 

First stop for fuel in Järpen close to Åre

Stopped for a fika at Noppikoski in Dalarna! A cool and nice place !

Fuel up in Sveg. The consumption was not that bad. Somewhat over 10L/km

I drove according to the law since the Valp is rather big and heavy which I felt on the winding country roads.

All in all, I drove all day in to the night !

The drive to Åre and back with the Valp had been good and without surprises. Landed at home in the middle of the night,  parked the trailer and went to bed for a good night sleep.

Unloading. Kristian our neighbor gave me a helpful hand.

Parked out side the garage at home...first surprise...the car is too high for the doors.

Looking, checking and thinking about the next step.

More to come soon..

Hippie Killer , Volvo Valp, Terränglastbil 903, War Lord, Memories from Your Military day's, Four Wheel drive, 4X4, Peacemaker, Valp, Valplycka,............