WEEK SEVENTEEN

Monday, 10th March

Under pressure !! In the office I’m still praying, trying to keep out of the boys way so they can work their butts off !!

I keep having a look in the workshop on 3 hour intervals, to keep an eye on the build. On top of the race truck we’ve got to prepare the Kenworth and trailer this week for test next Monday.

The last of the original ERF cab tunnel has dissapeared and Pav is stood in the hole roughly seeing where the radiator and intercooler will fit, it’s too much in full upright position to get ground and cab clearance, together with the intercooler pipes to wrap over the top of the rad, so we go for the "on the slope" version.

Then out of a straight section of metal 2 ½ " pipe. Pav, as if by magic makes a shaped top and botttom hose, with his hack saw, vice, hammer, grinder and welder, all hand made. When this is completed Ben fabricates a new hand made cab tunnel.

Pav moves onto making, setting up and fitting a gear selection linkage to the top of the gearbox

Ben then has me back in the cab to locate the correct position for the gear lever remote, all in easy left arm reach, at a similar height to steering wheel for added speed of hand movement, wheel to shift stick.

The inside of the cab shell needs to be finished for Roger to paint the inside this coming weekend !! Extra roll cage to fibreglass roof and cab panel brackets pop up all over the place for added support of the panels at 100 mph. The upright windscreen support bar is in plus the last part of my safety cell, I now have a 3 inch pipe across the cab on my left hand side as well, that the gear lever is mounted on. An added section goes in to the rear of the roll bar to run the safety belts through the roll bar, through the seat, round me and to the cab floor, with the roll bar, bolted through onto the chassis. All this should keep me safe anyway, in a heavy roll over situation.

You can see by pictures 5 and 6 she’s starting to come together!!

Meanwhile Jim and Gary are full bore on Kenworth and transporter trailer, getting her ready for next Monday. We’ve got a drive axle hub oil seal gone all over the shoes, a leaky dome air brake valve, a leaking brake foot valve, air tank brackets broken, front hub oil gaskets leaking oil, about 6 lights out, the handbrake hand control valve not securing properly in the on position and the 1st propshaft badly worn on splines and U.J.’s. Piece of cake - apart from her being American with one of a kind parts. No time to import parts therefore make or modify parts as necessary. The air brake valves are not available so these go of to be reconditioned up country somewhere !! Coming back done Saturday morning without fail. The props gone to a man called Wilson in Nottingham and a new one made same day !!

The trailer needs a couple of tyres, a mudflap, bulbs, air brake hoses, and a jolly good clean underneath. If we can build a complete race truck within a specific set of rules, an English MOT should be no problem would you think, with a whole week to prepare !! I’ll let you know Monday how we get on.

Roger and Ben prepare the inside and underside of the cab for painting Saturday AM, leaving just Roger to paint and laquer up Saturday PM and Sunday.

End of week 17, 3 weeks to go. I think I will try and find a local magician in the yellow pages, to help out next week.

Week 18 - 17/3/03 - Jim’s on holiday for a week. (sensible man)

It’s 6 AM Monday morning. Pav and Gary are in early to fit the reconditioned air brake valves to the Kenworth, ready for a booked 11.00 AM MOT. Only trouble is Securicor lost the one of a kind reconditioned foot valve which did/nt turn up Saturday AM. All the best laid plans still go wrong if you rely on a parcel carrier. We decide to take the trailer to meet the test time, bring an ERF tractor unit booked for test Friday forward for today to take the trailer with and hopefully the valve will turn up sometime to test the Kenworth by it’self Friday !! All that work out of the window !!

To round the morning off, by 8 AM a road motor breaks down with a rear air brake chamber gone in Tewkesbury on a new sensitive contract, on trial. So by 8.30 AM I am completely stressed right out, needing therapy to cope with Monday AM, let alone all week. I’m off in the car to collect a new chamber from the main agent in Oxford for the road motor stranded in Tewkesbury by 9.00 AM - while Gary is getting his tools ready for the roadside assistance morning we hadn’t planned, while Pav finished washing and coupling up my old ERF tractor and race trailer for a quick getaway to test at 10.00 AM when I get back, with the chamber and do a hand over to Gary. Who’s champing at the bit to get to Tewkesbury in record time.

These are the times I’m glad I’ve got my fast response Mercedes E55 V8 350hp family road car, for minimum time on the roads around Oxfordshire, when in a hurry.

When I get to the test station half an hour late, I get huffed at for being late. So we all get off to a good start. Well todays modern truck MOT testers never fail to amaze me. With all the moving parts on a 5 axle outfit that worked efficiently, they still failed both the unit and trailer to get re-test fees from me, to wind me up a bit more for the rest of the day. How about this then - the nearside headlight aim of the tractor was just a bit too low (not too high!)

and one mudflap was ½ inch too narrow to the tyre tread width. (Remind me not to go out on the public highway if it’s dark or raining!!)

There you go - my faith in modern MOT’s confirmed - not advised or anything helpful like that - failed !!

You’ve got to come back with both tractor and trailer after 5 minutes work back at base to rectify as if I’ve got nothing else to do all week !! Can’t wait to take the Kenworth on Friday to see them all again.

When I got back to the yard Ben checked I didn’t have a yellow coat wrapped round a Ministry man still hanging by his collar from the rear ramps of the transporter, giving him a ride round in the country at high speed by his neck, as a bit of a pay back !!

Anyway, back to the race truck. We’re waiting for crucial parts like the mounting rubbers for the rad, the fuel tank to return from Sheffield, all the electrical bits for the cab, as well as special fabricated parts made at Cherry’s machine shop, and the electrician to wire up the engine management system so "Rolling Thunder" will actually start and run in a fortnight !!

The cab is off again on it’s stands after the interior paint job with colour to match the chassis. But there’s still enough for the boys to keep busy while they’re waiting.

Water tanks go on. Intercooler trunking pipes to manufacture and fit which they hit a snag. The direction of intercooler to inlet manifold is all wrong. We would have to use a higher degree of bend than we are happy with to couple it together, so stop, remove inlet manifold, cut and shut it with a friendly local alloy welder called "Winny" to make the angle much more friendly, for 5 bar air boost pressure to arrive at the valves in a swept hurry !!

The turbo’s on, with the manifold re-seated and faced for minimum loss of exhaust gas and power.

It’s much easier to see and work on these parts without the cab on in the way.

Parts vans just keep arriving on a ½ hour basis. The electrics for the cab and chassis, the air brake valves and pipes and various other weird looking things have arrived together with front shock absorber brackets, and hand made parts from the machine shop. When I think of what we’ve spent on parts this week it’s similar to a complete 4 year old road truck in just a few boxes on the workshop floor !!

This new race truck is going over budget on a daily basis. I just hope I pick up a decent sponsor soon to help with it all !!

Meanwhile the foot valve has turned up 3 days late for the Kenworth, so Gary should be able to spend Wednesday and Thursday getting her ready for D - day (Friday)

It’s now Wednesday and I’m off to the Commercial Vehicle Show at the NEC, Birmingham with my portfolio and video, to meet the Managing Director of ERF Trucks to discuss the possibilities of marketing opportunities for his brand. Wish me luck !! I’m looking for backing to run "Rolling Thunder" on the track !!

Ben and Pav are flat out putting the race truck together , still making what they can’t buy - the cab’s going back on for the last time Wednesday PM. (photos next week)

Nearly the end of week 18 (Weds) The magician didn’t show up so I’m now looking for an illusionist !!