Feeling Blue.

It's January. The gloom outside is extreme. The cold rain is in your face. Continuously, horizontally, painfully. The man in the mirror is a ghost. Streets are full of zombies. Gloomy zombies. They're at your workplace too.

You're thinking about sun, speed and heat. Palm trees, a blue sky and friends with a tan and determined mind. Will this happen this Easter?

Meanwhile, we're escaping to our workshop where the weekend is warm and Rockets soon will turn blue. Serge Blue.

Our old Olds. A survivor from Wendover is getting a second (or third) life.

The faded blue color from late sixties, applied to please a home coming son will be replaced. This old son is happy to see Olds Berta's new lease on life. 

Cina in Mordor, just before the gate to Salt Slush heaven.

Where wrenches are warm, 

troubles are few 

and no feeling is blue.

Stay Stoic and Enjoy the Experiance

Can a disappointment, turn in to something else after a while? I guess the answer is; Yes. When I started to look a pictures from my camera, it all came back to me. I started to reflect on expectation, rain and not the least the journey as such.

 

A journey without a purpose can of course be interesting and fun too...but a journey that's built on a dream, require hard practical work and makes your wallet thinner brings something else. 

 

Hardship, makes the beer taste better and the hunger come back if you ever lost it. After in total three post pandemic trips to the US of A to prepare us for Bonneville Speed Week 2022, it was of course one hell of a disappointment to sail out in the salt sea with our Suburban to pick up our race ready Amazon. 

 

But when I look back I realize that it was not failure. We did what we could and more than that to make it happen. We're about to go fast. But mother nature was of another opinion. 

 

After I accepted that the race was off, it all became social, a bit sad but as well poetic. How? Perhaps the random pictures below can tell. 

When we had successfully had picked up our race car from the lake that was once a race track and we were on safe, dry ground we met up with our friends to eat some Mexican food. Under a blue clear sky.

 

 

Wendover downtown is full of vehicle of various kind during Bonneville Speed Week. Those race cars, hot rods and contraptions are driven by people with passion. Love it.

While waiting for and SCTA statement we socialized with others that were waiting too. Yes, a parking lot can be a very nice place.

I had to take this picture for the record. I guess, this was when we realized that the race will be cancelled. Pictured: Carina and Magnus

 Nisse and Trazan from A-Bombers outside the historic military airport in Wendover. Two enthusiastic guys who does not get depressed over a little  setback.

 

 Record race cars like the Scandinavian Street Rod's EFR turbo equipped Ardun lakester were waiting too in the warm summer night. In vain.

  

Then there was this car show in Wendover. Come hell or high water...it's an amazing show.

On Friday, before the heavy rain fell, life was good. And as usually, a lot of cool hot rods on the salt.

 

Rolling Bones vehicle at the Car Show in Wendover....

 

...and at the gas station at Ely. Nice to be surrounded by hot rods on tour.

I'm not a morning man, neither is Magnus, but meet at Donut Derelicts at Huntington Beach is really nice and relaxed.

Coffee and Donuts were consumed, cars of all kinds came and went and the sun was rising

Coming back to time before we left L.A area for Bonneville...it's obvious that the hope, expectation and excitement is the fuel and energy for us all.

But it's all about people who have a goal, who work hard and relax. All at the same time. Almost.

And all the amazing people who help you along the way. Like the Ohlin Guy.

 

 When there's no race and you can do nothing about it, see it as an adventure and make it into an experience.

I mean when you do something, something will happen. 

Which is good. In most cases.

Modified vs. Stock. Who are we to judge?

This is can be a sensitive topic. So, let's take a step out on the thin ice and start walking without any fear. But let's start with definitions. With Stock I mean a vehicle that is not modified at all. It looks, feels and behaves like when it driving out from the factory where it was born, or like some insensitive people might say; were produced. 

When we're talking about Modified, everything is more open. For some people, a vehicle has been modified if it has been taken apart and restored, for some other people a new engine, a new engine management system, a supercharger or a turbo mean that the vehicle has been modified. Some other people, does not see a vehicle as modified until is has a role cage or/and chopped top.

There are good reasons to keep things stock but it make sense to make modifications too. If you find the missing fourth Bugatti Atlantic in a barn that you just bought, consider to keep it stock. But if you've been stealing something from nature, like the remains of an cool mass produced vehicle that's been sitting for decades in the forest, a humid barn or in a too dry desert, consider modification. Perhaps build a race car?

If your tachometer is pointing north while your emotions is heading south on that long cool car tour, reconsider the original equipment gear ratio and transmission.

If the car that you once knew as fast starts to feel slow. If it lost its growl, if it makes you embarrassed at the track and does not deliver when the lights turn green; Consider boost pressure.

We had to do it. We had to convert the remains of what was once a Volvo Amazon Wagon to a +900hp turbocharged, Tremec Magnum, roll cage, chopped top; land speed race car. 

Before mother nature would have killed it.

What was once fast, was in need of a couple of hundred extra horsepower to continue to provide a kick. 

I never ever get tired of that howl & growl that it delivers since many years by now. I must admit that I've been thinking about a smaller pulley. A smaller supercharger pulley.

Olds -38 Business Coupe. Harley Earl Art Deco Design. Not too slow either. But the engine rpm at 100km/h is far too high. Would I like turn it into a street rod. Nope. Would it be nice with a modern transmission? Yes.

Am I going to keep this (in total) 3 owner 1941 Buick stock? Yes! Well there's an exception...the second owner, 1975-2021, installed a Blaupunkt CD. I was just going to throw it out, but just before I did that I happened to throw in Frank Sinatra record. I kept the CD and haven't changed music since. Instead I've started to drink Martinis. Dry Martinis. Shaken, not Stirred.  

  Recommendations? If your ride is too slow, tune it. If it revs too much change gear ratio. If it's stock and has carry a piece of modern manufacturing history keep it stock. 

Most importantly; Drive it!

Happy New Year from Salt Slush Racing!

 We just want to take the opportunity to wish all our customers, readers and followers:

A Happy New Year!

Let's make 2023 a better race, ride and wrench year!

The Salt Slush Team after the 2022 Annual Turbo Inventory

 

Donald Duck, Landspeed Racing and Politics

Yesterday, on Christmas Eve, I was paralyzed. In shock. It all came back to me. My brain was overheated. Boiling. Overloaded.

Why?

Here's why; When I, way back in time, was a young kid trying to not get caught by the cops as I was speeding with my Zündapp thing were different. At least in Sweden. 

Back in those days Sweden was governed by Socialist, or rather Social Democrats and they decided what was good for their citizens. The imperialistic Duck called Donald was not part of their culture agenda.

But the western world and democracy was pounding on our door and hence The Swedish National Television allowed Disney to appear on the screen for one hour on Christmas Eve. To show that The Party had an arms length distance to culture.

Since these dark years a lot has happened and Sweden is today a western democracy. But a tradition was established and since 1960 approximately 50% of all Swedes are looking at the same show every year. At this point you might again ask yourself why. Don't do that. It just gets complicated.

I was sitting there too. Looking at the same show for the 50th time. A bit bored. But then, all of a sudden...like a flash of lighting from a clear sky....

...a short carton from Pixar. About Land Speed racing!!

 

A nice surprise! 

 

 

 

 

 

Crawl, Walk, Run!

We've obviously all been born. For many of us the tentative teenage period has been forgotten and the first love is long gone too.

By now we look like grown ups and most of the time we behave maturely. But deep in our heart we wanna have fun. Enjoy ourselves.

This human development path applies as well to companies. Here's what;

Back in 2014, we had thi beer soaked barbecue party when we started to talk about Speed, Amazons (I'm here talking about the car) and an old School Speed Shop based on know-how. 

  Little did we know... 

Meanwhile we knew a lot about engine boosting. Could we make use of that? A garage friend, Mario proposed to create a business based on boosting. And so we did. At this stage we were not walking. We were crawling. Technical wizards but stupid when it came down to speed shop, business and land speed racing. We were rookies learning how to walk.

 

The first EFR turbo finally arrived and we were amazed. We looked. We turned the turbine wheel slowly while we understood that we had a business with amazing stuff to offer. At this stage we took the first wobbling step as speed shop. Oh, I almost forgot, we installed an EFR 9180 turbo in out Amazon Landspeed racer too.

Fast forward; I have been involved in many Supercharger or Turbo investigations. Useless beauty contests. Because is all depends on the application. At this same time, I got in contact with Magnuson Superchargers and we really liked what they could offer us. We immediately installed Magnuson Supercharger in my C6 Corvette and in Anders LS3 equipped El Camino. Pictured: Customer vehicle. With portfolio of superchargers and turbochargers and a bit of business experience we were up walking as a company. 

But how to start running? Well, we had the ambition to expand our business and we began to think what other skills we had, which products and brands we liked and had experience of.

Tremec Transmission was the answer. Why? Well we had already a transmission expert onboard (Kalle) and we already installed a Tremec Magnum 6 speed in our LandSpeed Amazon Racer and a Tremec TKO in Kalles Camaro and we liked what we have learned. Therefore we now have a deal with Silver Sport Transmissions, which means that we can offer a huge assortment of Tremec Transmissions and Mcleod Clutches.

Are we now running at a high gear? No, not yet, we still some need time still to calculate all prices and update our webshop. Need a clutch or transmission? The best way to get a new business area going is customers, so just contact us and we will give you a price! Learning by doing!

 

We started to crawl 2014, but determination took us to Bonneville Speed Week 3 times. 

The journey? Painful, but absolutely amazing. Mind blowing.

So, what's next?

New adventures and next gear.

Did I mention high speed?

 

 

Good News! We're shifting gear...

The Boost pressure is high at Salt Slush Racing. We already have our eyes on the road and our hand upon the wheel.

But now is the time to push down the clutch and put in a higher gear.

I mean, that's what's needed if you want to gain serious speed.

Consequently, we can proudly announce, that we from now on will provide the Nordic and European market with:

•  Tremec Manual 5 and 6 speed Transmissions (T5, TKX, TR-4050, Magnum, Magnum F and Magnum XL)
  

• McLeod Clutches, Flywheels,  Bellhousings, Cross members and more... 

•  Complete Transmission Conversion kits (Ford, GM, MOPAR and more) from Silver Sport Transmissions!
  

Tremec TKX, 5 Speeds, 800Nm capacity and available with different gear sets. Kalle in the Salt Slush Racing Team has just installed a TKX in his Camaro and he's soo happy. Easy to shift, low revs on the Highway, sporty and comfortable.

 

 

 

 

Tremec Magnum. We love this transmission. It works perfectly since 2017 in our 449 Amazon landspeed racer with +900Nm. This durable six speed transmission can handle up to 1000Nm and is still easy to shift.

 

That's just two examples...in addition we will sell all Silver Sport Transmission kits for a lot of different vehicles. We will build up our webshop with Silver Sport products, but since we're so eager to get going...go to Silver Sport Transmission homepage. 

Because what they can offer, we can offer.

 

Please note that the Perfect Fit Kit's come with all the parts necessary to convert your Ford, GM, MOPAR car or truck into a modern overdrive 5 or 6-Speed. 

 

Since we are enthusiastic and eager to get going, we haven't established a price list yet ( we're working on it...).  But if you send a mail to hakan@saltslush.se we'll give you a price that won't make you disappointed!