Thread: Hello from an old member

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Pel, you sure are staying busy! You're giving your ladies a very nice gift too. Congrats. The room with shelves sounds like a great idea. You need a good place to store all your stuff so why not?

Originally Posted by pel

A quick update folks!!
Next Friday 6th May my buddy with the Digger / Slingshot is going to the engine shop to collect my new block + crank rods and pistons etc along with his spare BBC engine which will eventually replace the SBC in the Slingshot. When its all delivered to my place I'm going to start blanking out weekend dates in my work diary. I'm already booked 7 days a week up to the second weekend of June now so i will be looking forward to going bck to working only 5 days a week for a while. The overtime is making me tired but the pay is helping to get more engine stuff and also to assist my oldest Daughter to move out. Sadly this means my Angel Grandaughter Faith will be moving out as well. Luckily the new house is only a 10 min walk away so Gandad will still be seeing her almost daily They wont be moving until July but I'm already feeling a sense of loss for some reason. Why is this? They will only be around the corner! I'm going to set my two girls up with the usual stuff like Cooker, Fridge Freezer, Microwave, sofa, dining set, washing machine and the basic crockery and cooking utensils etc as their moving in present. Thats what most of my overtime will be used for I think On the UP SIDE I get another spare room to convert into a Man Cave for my huge DVD and Record collection I'm thinking a Futon with a small chest of drawers + coffee table + bedside table + move my sound system and movie system into the spare room so it can still be used as a guest room. I have a mate who will build me a shelf unit to house my DVD's. It will be floor to ceiling and 12 feet wide to hold my 2500 (ish) DVD collection. On the opposite wall there will be shelves to hold my 1200 vinyl disks + 500 CD's. /And then another shelf unit to hold my 260 VHS tapes (I still have a VHS player).

I was talking to a computer expert mate of mine last week aobut this and he said "Why on earth are you doing that Pel? I could put all your media on a hard drive and it would only take up as much room as a small box of tissues" I thought long and hard about this and edcided that I still ant my shelves

Back to the new engine now!!
I have bought a plastigauge kit to use so I can be sure this new engine is assembled as best I can. I've never used this stuff before so its going to be another learning thing when I assemble?

Regards to all

Pel

Pel I too am into music and have a diverse albeit much smaller collection than you, maybe 200lp's, 400 cassettes, 300 cd's and a ton of vintage stereo equiptment. I rebuild and repair old 70's stereo equipment like Marantz receivers, Epicure and Warfdale speakers, old turntables, etc.

More presents have arrived at MGB HQ

Like xmas in july!

Quick upate!!

The Dart Block has been trial built. Some metal has been removed to make room for my bigger rods with the ARP bolt upgrade and it rotates with no clearance issues now. The block has been stripped and decked by 30 thou to get the piston to deck height correct. The block has been re built again now and all the rotating stuff goes round and round ok ! I sold my stock roller lifter set and am now waiting for my months overtime pay to come in so I can buy the new 300thou taller lifters from Comp Cams which suit the Dart Block. Things are moving on a little now I must remeber to take some pics and post them up !!

Originally Posted by pel

Quick upate!! Things are moving on a little now I must remeber to take some pics and post them up !!

YES! You must!!! You know how we get on this side of the pond if updates do not include pics....

A quick update on Pels life, Engine and Family stuff

I cant believe how much (sort of progress) has been made yet the engine is still not together?
The strange looking lifters from Comp Cams have arrived and been taken to Mikes workshop. He hasnt done much on my engine as he was waiting for lifters. While I was there he was getting ready to drop the new 434 Dart motor in my friend Daves Landrover So I hung aorund for 3 hours and helped him get it fitted. This means he can start on my motor very soon now as all the parts we need to get the block assembled are here
We have been having many discussions about the paint finish on the block. I dont want Orange as all my Chevy mates insist that the engine should be Orange !! I did have a mad idea about painting the block bright Pink. But then i gave up on that. Then one of my friends suggested British Racing Green! WHAT! That is the worst colour ever IMO. I'm not a fan of Green unless its Bright Candy Pearl etc.. Mike rang me last week to ask what colour as he wanted to move on with the engine. I just said lets go with a simple clearcoat shall we, as I quite like the look of a bare dry block that is spotlessly clean. He then said that he had an idea that should fit with my requirments. I just told him to get on with whatever he wanted to do. When I dropped in last Monday I saw my empty block on the stand and under a cover. I asked what he had done and he said to me "hold onto your hat mate, I've done what I think is a nice interpretation of a clean dry cast iron block" ?? Damn I wish I had my camera with me right then ?? He pulled off the cover so I could see my Dart block. I had to stare at it for several minutes to absorb what I was seeing? I could not really comprehend what I was seeing to be honest. It looked like he had wire brushed the block until it was clean as could be. Yet the metal was still a dark grey colour with a nice shiny finish ? . It had lots of sparkles in the finish. It looked like a sample of Iron Pyrites ?? In fact its hard to describe the actual finish apart from I love it !! Eventually I had to ask what the hell he had done. He said he gave it a 1st coat of clear laquer and then applied a coat of very small metal flake and then hit it with a 2nd coat of clear. The result is stunning as far as I'm concerned. The fact that the block was still empty paled into insignificance once I had seen this. I'm crewing at the UK Mopar nationals tomorrow at Santapod but after that I'm going to Mikes with my camera to see if I can get some pics to show just how simple but elegant the paint finish is on my new block!

I have 3 jobs to complete on Monday and then I'm off to Fuerteventura for 2 weeks to bask in the warm sea and have fun with my Grand Daughter who is now just 6 weeks away from her 3rd Birthday? Where the Hell did those 3 years just go? OH! I will also be with Faiths Mum and my wife Gill

Faith just did her first Horse riding Gymkana for toddlers. She entered 5 of 10 events and came home with three 1st place rosettes + a 3rd and a 4th place rosette

I was hoping to have my daugther and Faith moved into there new house nearby by this weekend but work has been manic and the cost of setting them up with all the white goods etc has hit the engine budget hard !! So I'm taking the both away for a nice summer holiday first. Then I can ge tthem moved in when we come back from the Canary Islands. To be honest... The longer it takes me to move them in means I get more time with my girls still living with me

I have also been helping a friend who has decided that his super cool Cobra replica is nice. But he also became a Grandad just over a year ago so he has sold the Cobra and has now become a Tri Chevy owner with a car that has a roof + a large trunk and plenty of space to take his Grand Daughter out with his wife for trips here and there. The Belair is a stunning restored car. It has a 454 bbc in there as well.

Pics of my new block to follow. But in the meantime ??

Gotta love Faith on the pony! You GO Girl!!

Great update Pel. The tri5 chevy looks cool, and the picture of Faith on the pony is priceless! Really intrigued to see the block after reading your description. A summer vacation sounds about what I need right now. Been plugging away since last year February when my wife wanted a divorce. after six months getting my old house cleaned up for sale, then moving twice once out of my home of 20 years, into an apt. and then a few months ago into my new house, I haven't had time or money for anything but basics necessities like painting new place, new roof badly needed, along with a heating and cooling system. I'm hopeful the contractors will be done in next few weeks with the last of the indoor stuff(drywall patching of out heating ducts, and pumping in wall and attic insulation, solar panels too!
I love reading this thread as it reinforces what is important in life, family time, and some fun in the hobby department. Keep on posting!

I hope that the contractors get done soon mate. Then maybe you can get your life back on track eh? The Chevy is a thing to behold I must say. It ticks all the boxes for me The steering was a little vauge and after a quick check I found that the bottom bush in the steering column was actually not there? We emded up fitting a whole new unit from the guys at "IDIDIT" who have an agent in the UK that happens to be one of my suppliers where I have a discount card so 10% off that for him The whole job only took 5 easy hours with the fiddly bit being making sure the bottom end shafts and UJ's were fitted correctly and making sure that when I cut the shaft to size is was the correct length. Then I did some tweaks on his Quick fuel 4 barrel carb to get a better idle, then I spotted the kickdown cable was way out of adjustment and got that fixed. We then took it for a spin around my town and a couple of local villages where we stopped so friends I had called could come out and see the car. The quick test drive took over 2 hours When we got out of his village onto a bit of decent road I asked him to creep up to about 45 in D and then floor it to see if the kickdown was working. The look on his face when the 454 dropped a gear was so funny. It actually took him by surprise and he backed straight off. I said that by his reaction I guessed the kickdown wasnt working before. He said "Erm You culd say that Pel, that was awsome"

I've been at the Mopar Nationals today crewing for the quick Capri while my mate did his observed licensing runs. Burnout and stage, Burnout + stage and launch on a sportsman tree to 60 foot + Same again + launch and run to 1/8th mile with parachute deployment then finally a full pass with chute.
All went well and after each pass the race director who was doing starting duties gave me a thumbs up. After the last licensing run he gave me both thumbs and said that he was happy with what he had seen. Half an hour later he signed the paperwork and my mate had his race license Job Done!!
The track was in great condition today as we had pro mods running as well. The video of the last run shows me in the white shirt doing startline duties for Austin in the capri. Jeez! I've put on a good belly since I stopped racing the MGB 22 months ago eek! You can see when i pull the safety pin on the chute it looks like I'm stumbling, but it was my trainer sticking hard to the track The fire marshall doing final checks around the car next to me is my Son Jason. He started coming to the track with (Pappy) as he calls me, back in 2001 when he was 14 years old. .............I've just realised I'm rambling again guys. Sorry!!
OK! Where was I ? Oh yes! Jason was 14 when he started as pit crew. Fast forward several years and he was building his own RWYB car out of scrap parts. By the time he was 21 he had a little Escort that he had pulled apart and converted to rear wheel drive powered by whatever spare parts he could find in my garage. Including my spare TH350 box and a junker 4.6 litre / 280 ci Rover V8 which I was going to throw out. But he bought all the parts to refresh the motor and nicked most of my spare nitrous stuff to fit a 150hp kit. The car was quite unstable but he got it down into the mid 11's for possibly only £600 in build costs. By this time he was meeting my friends at the track as well as talking to the race director and assistant race director and making contacts. Eventually I was asked if Jason might like to become a marshall. So I took him to sign on and he got a part time weekend job. He was thrilled as could be. But the marshall job meant he didnt have much time to race. Fast forward another several years to today when he is 29 and he is well and truly part of the Santapod family. I got him in touch with Richard who is the fire chief and he got Jason into training and now he is a fire marshall. He was on the startline today but he can also be at the big end collecting cars that have overshot and gone into the sand trap or he can be on the rescue quad as first responder to crashes and fires and all places in between. He is also now developing a new fire helmet and comms system for the fire marshalls to use. He has obviously had to deal with some quite serious incidents in the last several years including cutting racers out of cars etc. But he takes it in his stride and gets on with it. I'm very proud of my little boy
During the week he panel beats and paints cars. He has aksed his boss if he can repaint the MGB and his boss has told him to get my car to work so we can do it in spare time evenings and weekends over a couple of months for just the price of the materials if I will advertise his company on my side rear windows. I'm happy with that. I told Jason that i wanted to keep the car Black but I wanted the Black to be different. Without me knowing he took a spare fibre glass tail gate from the garage and did a test coat of this lovley Black with a subtle dark gold pearl metallic in there. From one angle it looks Black, from another anlge it looks very slightly deep red ish? Then the light hits it at another angle and the deep gold pearl makes some nice colours as it reflects the sun. I'm very proud of my Boy to say ther least. As he has not got much time to race his own car we have stripped it and I have taken my parts back. Apart from the weekend track duties he has a partner yada yada!! But his partner likes the race scene so all is cool! I have told him that he will come back to what we used to do back in the day and he will race my car again as my team partner. I never took his Driver name off the car when he started running his own car because I knew he would eventually come back into the team. He's already run the MGB into the 9's so he's ok with the car and he knows it going to become more of a beast on track next year.
I really need to stop rambling now eh?
Here is a vid of Austin doing his final license pass + a pic of my new block with its new paint finish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FalG...ature=youtu.be

Pel, really awesome to see Faith riding so early, let alone competing and winning! Congrats for her and you proud papa! That is one fine tri five too! I bet you sure are proud of your son. I bet the MG is going to look awesome! Speaking of unfortunate racing incidents, the other day, one of, if not the fastest diesel rails in the USA went off a track, through a sand trap and in to a creek due to its shoots not opening. The driver was ok and was really lucky. I'm not sure how it didn't roll or bend in half with the ride it took.

Thanks for the kind words Ryan.

But did I hear DIESEL RAIL??

Diesel?? Plese do tell me more and hopefully send some pictures !!

This sounds very interesting indeed

Pel

Pel, yes sir. This particular rail has had the diesel records for a while. I think the Hypermax rail may have beat their record once and then Scheid got it back. There are probably 5-10 running her in the states, maybe more. It's rare to see more than 4 at a major diesel event though. Here is a pic of the crash and an explanation I got off FB.

For those who haven't heard, the Scheid dragster had a bad crash this weekend at the Rocky Top Diesel Shootout in Crossville, TN. In the final round, the dragster started bouncing in the shut down area, and with only one parachute out, it went through the end of the track, and into the sand. "When we got to the end of the track and there was no dragster, that's when we got worried about the driver," said owner Dan Scheid. The dragster had enough speed to make it past the sand, and landed in a creek about 10 feet down. Driver Jared Jones was OK, and surveying the damage when the medical and fire teams arrived. Jared estimated he was still travelling at about 80 mph when he hit, but other than "feeling like I got into a fight," was otherwise alright. Scheid and team would like to thank Spitzer for making a great chassis, and minimizing the damage in what could have been a lot worse of a wreck. The word is still out on whether the front of the chassis can be repaired, or it is a total loss. In the end, we're just thankful that everyone is safe and in good health. Safety first!

Here's a link to their page.

Scheid Diesel Motorsports Dragster :: Scheid Diesel

Wow lucky driver!