Sunday, June 29, 2008

Randy on 1410 am Radio Listen Live!

Join us by listening on your computer
just click on this link,
click on
"LISTEN LIVE"
(Blue box) on the main page.
Randy will be interviewed "live" tomorrow morning
30 June 2008 at 6:30-6:45 am Pacific Standard time
**** Be sure to turn on your speakers!!!****

Mad Dogs & Englishmen





"Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon day sun"! That was written by a very wise person and today, Sunday, I understand what they meant.

I was early morning when Kevin and I began to remove the body panels, the set up engine, transmission, steering box and power train frame from the car. The sun was already boiling at 9 am and by the time we put the tools away it was 2:30 pm. The engine/transmission is in the back of Kevin's thundering big Dodge and awaiting delivery tomorrow to our "skunk works" machine shop. They will pull it down and prep it for the big ponies of the twice turbocharged engine, commonly called the backup motor. After some cleaning up the sharp edges of the power train frame we will take it to APEX FINISHING LTD. to be redone before final assembly.










Thursday, June 26, 2008

TOM THE TIRE GUY in Surrey



Twenty five to thirty years ago I went to CANADIAN CASH & CARRY store in Burnaby to get 16x16x36" Slicks mounted and balanced for my Twim turbocharged dragster. It was at that time that I met a Dynamic young man, with a line up of people waiting to receive his bright smile and happy helpful service. I recall spending my time looking through photo albums of all the race, custom and show cars he had put on the wheels and tires. I soon discovered that Tom Erickson was the go to guy for all hot rodders and racers, he knew the product available and to this day will give you a super deal on tires and wheels. That's why I insist that the Goldenhawk GOODYEAR LSR 330 MPH+EAGLE Landspeed tires are carefully mounted balanced and check for true surface, no run out.
Honesty, Good prices, Great advice, and Tom's Great personality make it your best choice
for tires and wheels.
13550-106ave. Surrey,BC. V3T2c5
call 604-581-8550

BEWARE HOT HOT PIPES!



One more scallop cut and the exhaust is to be hauled out with the power train, A couple of welds and it will be off to get ceramic coated by KOOL COAT to keep the heat in and the turbos HOT. Kevin will fasten the heat shield to the body. Pretty hot looking heat shield Kevin sculpted into the body panel.
Good Work as Always.

Federal Battery Decal hides a hole

FEDERAL BATTERY OF RICHMOND is our battery and electrical sponsor. Chris Scullion the owner gave me a lot of the FEDERAL BATTERY decals along with the equipment. They came in handy to cover/the damaged spots.
Kevin Knox is fixing small dent in the panel from unknown forklift strike!

DIVERSIONS Heals the BODY


Kevin Knox takes care of his body (the PLASTEC body) that he built hand last year. It is a one of a kind adventure into ABS plastic body fabrication using vacuum former and heat guns and raw proto typing talent and nerves. The body and paint sponsors are going to have it easier now that he has taken the bumps, dents cuts and bruises that appeared in the car over the winter stored in the steel yard at AGGRESSIVE TUBE BENDING LTD, in Port Kells. There was nothing that panics Kevin, as he is the best plastic fabricator around. He is always forming, 3D scanning and rapid
proto-typing FDM models for manufacturing industry. He also makes many laser exact parts for customers in large volumes. He is now planning to add welding equipment for MIG and TIG to round out his humble shop. His very understanding wife, Tina, has excepted his tool addiction quite well and is not planning an intervention at this time. Thanks Tina for sending him out to pay with us on the GOLDENHAWK.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The LAST POST


This is not the last post, but it is the milestone I have been pressing for in the project. It is now time to remove the mock up engine and send it to be bored, balanced and blueprinted, to be installed later with the twin Holset turbochargers for the 330mph attempts at the worlds fastest diesel record. The power train frame will go to APEX FINISHING in Burnaby for a fresh powder coat. The cockpit will be the focus for a week or so and then the final assembly can begin. The Cummins 3.9 turbocharged race engine awaits at Piers Harry's equipped with Colt cam, Zoltan ported head, Peak Diesel parts, Dynomite injectors ,Hamilton push rods,NX nitrous Fluidampr, ARP studs, all the good stuff! All donated by the sponsors. Please email me if you need directions to build a mega power plant for your project.
It is at this time I would like to express my gratitude to Werner Sprenger and Kevin Knox who have stuck in for the long haul of the last 16 long months. I can see the toll it is inflicting on them and yet they complain not!

I would also like to say thank you to the approximately 40 sponsors who have donated time, assets and money to the project, asking nothing in return. To the persons, owners and volunteers who have worked many days and weekends to build the car, thank you. To the media who have reported the project to the world and to the fans all 23,000 who visited the website and pass emails around the globe, thank you. To the estimated 200,000 blog visitors thank for you encouragement, and please keep forwarding the blog post notices for your friends to enjoy.

I too am exhausted but happy to have all the effort, enthusiasm and support of everyone.

This is truly a tribute to the great flying team

the Royal Canadian Air Force

" GOLDEN HAWKS"

Monday, June 23, 2008

The last welds?



Here is the final steel bracket welded in place for the drive mount of the oiling system for the front wheel drive. Werner makes " the last weld"! Kevin doesn't believe it and he is right there will be more but for this phase of the build this was the last brackets that had to be weld in place. Oops, Kevin is right we still have to mount the canopy latch.

Exhausting is exhausting!




It seems like exhausting would be as easy doesn't it? Why it is just sort of a way of passing gas. Wrong! At first the task seemed straight forward. Simple put the turbo in the precise location so that the single and dual turbochargers can be interchanged when changing the engine. Throw in the fact that the body of the car lifts 4 inches, (that's 10 centimetres in Canada), to adjust the running height and install the landing gear for transporting the car. This is accomplished by dual air cylinders that operate from the cockpit. However it is the body and not the power train frame (engine tranny and overdrive, and steering all stay together, but the exhaust goes through the body panel and must be aligned in such a way as to allow the movement. Well after several exhausting weeks of trial and error, with different configurations and several types of flexible pipe and "multi" manifolds being fabricated and then cut and re welded and chopped and then thrown out only to try another way we finally got! The bonus is that it will protect the PLASTEC body from the 1600+ degrees of exhaust gas that must past by and it will also imitate the design of the F-86 50 calibre gun ports that will be airbrushed at the nose and uses no flexible tubing. A little art and a little practicality. Good work guys. The crew is exhausted and the work is not over.



Sunday, June 22, 2008

Nitrous Express our valued sponsor






Fan ride of the month.
Mike Woods, owner of NX
Nitrous Express is (on left) busy on his 94 Musclestang prepping it for the racing season. Mike is also busy opening a warehouse in Mexico to service all the hot rodders in that country. That about covers the whole North American territory!

It costs to be a Proud Canadian. BIG TIME!



A picture is worth a 1,000 words and gas is $1.48.9 a litre in Vancouver and they are going to add .10 for a carbon tax next week. (for our American friends that is about $6.03 a gallon!!)

OTT INDUSTRIES in Final Act



A is for axles short and sweet,
B is for Birfield a joint that is neat
C is for almost complete
D is for drive axle at Ben's feet
E is for great effort,
F is final drive
Yalta yatta aytta I am not a poet but OTT is the place that make beautiful parts and the Goldenhawk will be the better for all their works. Thank you for being a major sponsor, BEN and CHRIS!
Those are fine pieces of machinery Ben is holding, a little more splining and heat treating and the job is complete.
Final assembly will be done by OTT INDUSTRIES to make sure that it is RIGHT.
When you need something special for the love in your garage visit OTT's website it is:

Fuller Bros. Give tires - TireLife

Notice the decal from the 1973 Stock car. SEAL-ZIT this product solved all our tire inflation problems by eliminating the rim porosity and reducing the tire temperatures on the long runs at the track. Naturally when I thought of going to high speeds on the salt flats I went looking for
SEAL-ZIT and found a new name TIRE LIFE, same good product and a sponsor to boot!
Special thanks to Fuller Bros. makers of TIRE LIFE for sponsoring our tires in conjunction with Goodyear's Competition Tire. It is nice to know that we will have a spare when we get to the salt. Remember, SEAL-ZIT is now TIRE LIFE

APEX FINISHING LTD. Get it right!

APEX FINISHERS is powder coating the last two wheels built by
GREEN"S AUTOMOTIVE. Brian is photographed here checking the high speed custom wheels before beginning the coating process.
Brian Johnson is the owner of APEX Finishing Ltd. and besides being a good sponsor has a good sense of humour. This is evidenced by the fact that every time I print his company name I seem to get it wrong.
I have called it Apex Refinishers, Apex Powder Coating etc. and each time Brian laughs and say
"You spelled our name incorrectly, again!"
You would think that it would be simple to look at his trailer with the name on it, considering we borrowed it for almost a year.
Anyway, Brian is an avid racer and restoration buff for the likes of old Mini Coopers and such. When we have some time I plan to get more details of his hobbies to share with you, but for now when you think FINISHING think
APEX FINISHING LTD.
in Burnaby BC. 604-431-6633
Thank you Brian.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Attention Diesel Owners,Drivers & Techs.



If you are an owner, driver or heavy duty technician you will benefit to visit the web site for our sponsor and supplier of the fuel systems for our race engines. Gord Reid is the main man and owner of NW Fuel in Port Kells, Surrey, BC

Race Engine completed at PIERS' shop


Mike Nichols, 29 year old mechanical technician for Piers is installing the "FLUIDAMPR" on the completed race engine.
June 9 2008 Piers Harry has completed the build of the first of the two 3.9BT Cummins engines for the Goldenhawk. The back up engine is still in the chassis as a set up jig for the exhaust.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Body to head for paint next.


Can you guess which body is not built by Kevin Knox and the team at Plastec?
Frank Vaski came by on Saturday to work out the body and paint logistics for our sponsor COLLISION PLUS.


Pat"s DriveLine 10,000rpm shafts

Werner is installing and aligning the drive shafts.
Trevor Jewkes is the branch manager of PAT'S DRIVELINE, #4, 18771 - 96th Ave, Surrey BC.
a member of the
GEAR CENTRE GROUP
Trevor built two shafts for the Goldenhawk that fit both transmissions . They are 1" different to allow for the use of lock up or standard torque converters and shaft speeds at 330mph of 10,000 rpm.
Not an easy order to fill!
To all the people at
Gear Centre Group Thanks

Brilliant Tank?


The oil tank for the cycling of the differential lube is almost complete and as you can or can't see it is being lovingly polished by the crew. This is the last of the fabrications in aluminum, just the exhaust to complete and the car is ready to be disassembled for final cleaning and Power Coating at APEX Refinishing in Burnaby.

APB - APB all points bulletin

check them out!

ALL THESE SITES WILL LEAD YOU TO THE MOST
INDUSTRIAL, MECHANICAL, 3D DRAWING, RAPID PROTOTYPING, CNC
and LASER CUTTING, COMPUTER GRAPHICS and Model Making
Business in CANADA.
Owner and humble creative/genius Kevin Knox.
Doing something special??
Call him at 604-930-2120 for quote.

Diversions Custom Oil Pump Cover

Kevin Knox was up to his creative DIVERSIONS again! This time he has designed and built a clear inspection cover for the Differential oiling system that Werner built. Now we can check the belt and pulleys at a glance. (If you click on the picture it will enlarge and you can see the Goldenhawk by Diversions inscription.) Now we will have to weld the bracket to the frame, then reshape the aluminium, smooth and polish the parts.
"NICE WORK MEN!"
Custom parts for the creative builder.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Fan ride of the week.

While visiting TRUCK SPECIALISTS we met this guy, Marcel Larouche, from Surrey,BC. He was happy to show us his special creation for his company to haul trailers of all sizes. He started with a MACK that is usually built for concrete mixer service and made a customized tractor.
BEWARE OF THE WATCH DOG if you are admiring it along the roads. It would make a suitable rig for transporting the Hawk, don't you think?



LONG LOAD and Heavy!

FRANKFORTH'S WATERJET CUTTING

FRANKFORTH'S WATERJET CUTTING is a our newest sponsor. Sean Frankforth is the man for the job when it comes to quick and accurate cutting of any materials. He donated his time to cut our exhaust manifold and turbo flanges. See the photo of the neat way he cut the plugs for the end of the steel log manifold, just insert and weld. Pretty slick!



Sean works in conjunction with his father, one of the brightest guys in the truck transmission, differential and suspension business since the 60's. You may know him as Dennis (Frankforth) of TRUCK SPECIALISTS
in Port Kells, Langley, BC.
Call Sean or Dennis
604-8884606

Darryl's Drag Car is GOLD Chevy II

Fan and sponsor rep ride

This beautiful 1962 Chevy II with a 383 stroker small block and a turbo 350 spinning 411's gears in the diff, is and like its driver/owner Darryl Tippe a "mild mannered racer". A street machine in 62 that ran 10.40's with a hydraulic camshaft and leaf springs would have made the mighty Hemis take notice! For me it is nice to see that nitrous oxide injection is readily accepted and used for fun racers because that was my vision for it back in 1976 when I first showed it to the crowd at the old Mission Raceway.
(see photos below of the demo cars and the 150hp unit from INSTANT HORSE POWER INC)

Sunday, June 1, 2008

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY




"Sunday SUNDAY SUNDAY !"
THE RADIO ANNOUNCER'S VOICE CRIED OUT TO STIR THE YOUNG BLOOD IN RACERS EVERYWHERE from California to Newfoundland. THOSE WERE THE BEST DAYS OF MY TWENTIES AND THIRTIES. I LOVED THE SMELLS OF THE DRAG STRIPS , THE SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF A WORLD FULL OF ACTIVITY AND EXCITEMENT.
Bonneville brings back those feelings and adds a new calmer excitement and it is not as charged by competition, but rather a feeling of camaraderie.
Kind of like living in a small town as opposed to the big city.

Kool Jewelry at KOOL COAT







Talk about turning a sows ear into a silk purse!
Spence Kimberley and his assistant, Brian Prystarz have done a big up job on the old stock manifold, remember, I ported and flow bench tested it on previous blog. With two coats of ceramic inside it is very slippery and will increase the flow as well as
'IT LOOKS GREAT!
Thanks guys for doing all the interior parts of the engine to give us better control of heat.