Monday, July 28, 2008

Instruments Panels Made Easy?

How many times have you tried to do something that looks simple but takes a very long time and then turns out less than perfect? Well if you are a hot rodder or creator of things you know what I am talking about.
Now this is the way to do it!!
First you contact Kevin Knox of 3D Diversions (www.kevinknox.com) tell him what you want, he will make a 3D computer drawing, when it is the way you want he emails the file to Sean Frankforth at FRANKFORTH WATERJET CUTTING and like magic it appears just like you imagined it .



The instrument panel for the Goldenhawk designed by Kevin Knox
and made by Sean Frankforth.
Now all you need to do is stuff it full of instruments.

Thanks for the great service!

Cockpit seat check!

Werner is checking the final install of the seat and harness as we measure for the helmet strap (3/16x1" mild steel) to be installed in the roll cage and the standoffs for the lateral support of the drivers head will attach to it. Werner has been taking some time to look after his health issues and is undergoing tests to make sure he is in condition to co-drive the Goldenhawk. he is also attending to the required electrical harness, instrumentation, and switching gear. He has prepared the brake lines and much of the many details that I haven't even thought about, so it will make the assembly of the car much faster.

Dan & the Doc & Nx Express


Glenn Dyck our team "eye doctor" and sponsor of nitrous gas for the testing are admiring the installed bottles at the end of Sunday afternoon. Glenn is an avid motor sport enthusiast and motorcycle guy. His practise is on King George Highway in Surrey BC. (Surrey Optical Centre). He has offered to provide free eye exams for the team. Does this mean we are all getting really old and blind? Maybe I am because I didn't foresee how long it would take to get to Bonneville, but it is in sight now!

Driller Dan Nayoski

Dan was on hand to give a hand on Sunday at Diversions shop. Kevin was busy making pieces for the cockpit while directing the build process. Dan is not as large as Kevin or myself so he fit the bill of being the driller and thread tapper man in the cockpit.
Here he is preparing cockpit floor to mount the 1/2" grade 8 bolts to secure the safety harness/crotch strap.


He said he enjoyed the time away from his business which is Vacuums Plus (see the sponsor links). He will supply the vacuum system for the trailer whenever we acquire one.
Dan is also preparing to do some embroidery work for the team.
By days end he had the seat and belts all in place.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Where do race specs come from?

This was sent to me by a fan and old racer. He says this is true.
Randy

AN INTERESTING HISTORY LESSON
Railroad tracks.
This is fascinating. Be sure to read the final paragraph; your understanding of it will depend on the earlier part of the content.
The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.
Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England , and English expatriates built the US railroads.
Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.
Why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.
Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England , because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.
So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (and England ) for their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge> of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever.
So the next time you are handed a Specification/Procedure/Process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with it?' you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.) Now, the twist to the story:
When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRB's. The SRB's are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah . The engineers who designed the SRB's would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRB's had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRB's had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.
So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass.
And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything.. and-----> CURRENT Horses Asses are controlling everything else!!

Frank Noses Best



A visit to Collision Plus shop in Walnut Grove and a quick hello to the owner Doug was all he had time to spare. When you are turning out good quality high volume repairs and paint you are in high demand. Able Autobody is that kind of establishment.

Richard showed me the finished nose cone that Frank Vaski spent many hours filling and sandin to take out the dimples that showed up as the foam cured in the nose section. Tomorrow Richard will finish the tail section and then the coating will begin.
Good work guys!
It will be golden soon!

Cool COOL Kool Coat


The gentlemen at Kool coat have ceramic coated the exhaust system for the Goldenhawk. Here you see the changing of the guard as the new Mr.Fink takes the reins while Spencer and Dave are on tour with their race car in Edmonton.
Thanks guys for the good coating job.

Frankforth Waterjet to get new website soon.



Sean Frankforth compares the finished product against the image on the screen of the Water jet Cutter.

Watch the blog for his NEW WEBSITE coming shortly. I will give you a link, so you can now start thinking of all the neat stuff you can make of almost every material.

Phone 604-888-4606

Cockpit for a KING


This cockpit is very large and protective of the driver. The brakes are 4 wheel and 4 piston high performance discs to stop the car and they are applied by a Corvette manual master cylinder. Of course for maximum driver comfort on those hot days waiting in line to make a run at Bonneville we have "COOL-IT' Hiway services sponsored air conditioning. We might not go fast but we are stylin!
The instrument panel was redesigned by Kevin of Diversions and emailed to Frankforth Waterjet Cutting to be made.

Brake pedal fitment


In the world of custom building even the simplest car with lots of room we are finding everything has its challenges. Fortunately the Goldenhawk team supporters/workers always come up with a solution. Here Jake is posing to get the brake pedal travel and placement correct for taller driver like him and Yuri and still fit Kevin, Werner, and Landspeed Louise. mean while Kevin's drilling the final mounting for the fuel tank.

Gee "TANKS" for the tank!


As Kevin mounts the fuel tank you can see the neat flame/smoke arrests he fabricated up at the top of the firewall.

Just smokin!

Last week we made huge gains on the final fabrications. Many of the tasks involved reworking tanks and other parts. The fuel tank had to be rearranged to fit in the front of the fire wall and the mounts adjusted accordingly.









However, Kevin's keen eyes spied a dark line and our worst fears came true. In an attempt to make pretty we had created the opportunity for a welded seam to leak.
But in true Goldenhawk spirit Kevin made some table saw cuts and Jake welded it up. A test proved worthy of fuel so ..............................Kevin remounted the fuel tank and crossed it off the list.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Scot Kalitta dies 21 June in NHRA Funny Car


SCOTT KALITTA LOVED DRAG RACING!


ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. - Scott Kalitta died Saturday JUNE 21`2008 when his Funny Car crashed and burst into flames during the final round of qualifying for the Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.
The NHRA said the 46-year-old Kalitta - the 1994 and 1995 Top Fuel season champion who had 18 career victories, 17 in Top Fuel and one in Funny Car - was taken to Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, where he died a short time later.
Witnesses told The Star-Ledger of Newark that Kalitta's Toyota Solara was travelling at an estimated speed of 300 m.p.h when the crash occurred.
The Palmetto, Fla., resident started his career at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in 1982. His father, Connie Kalitta, was a long-time driver and team owner known as

"The Bounty Hunter," and his cousin, Doug Kalitta, also drives competitively.
Scott Kalitta is survived by wife Kathy and sons Corey and Colin.
"Scott shared the same passion for drag racing as his legendary father, Connie. He also shared the same desire to win, becoming a two-time series world champion," read a statement released by NHRA officials. "He left the sport for a period of time, to devote more time to his family, only to be driven to return to the drag strip to regain his championship form."
"Scott was a terrific driver and perhaps more importantly a better person and a great father to his two kids. He will be truly missed by the entire NHRA community."
NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Brad Keselowski - a native of Rochester Hills, Mich., about 20 miles away from Kalitta's hometown of Mount Clemens - learned the news from a television report Saturday afternoon.
"That really hits close to home," Keselowski said after winning the pole position for Saturday night's race at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wis. "(He was) a friend of my family's, and I send my thoughts and prayers out to him. That's tough to hear."
Last year, Funny Car driver Eric Medlen died after an accident in a testing session at Gainesville, Fla.
ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. - Scott Kalitta died Saturday when his Funny Car crashed and burst into flames during the final round of qualifying for the Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.
The NHRA said the 46-year-old Kalitta - the 1994 and 1995 Top Fuel season champion who had 18 career victories, 17 in Top Fuel and one in Funny Car - was taken to Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, where he died a short time later.
Witnesses told The Star-Ledger of Newark that Kalitta's Toyota Solara was travelling at an estimated speed of 300 m.p.h when the crash occurred.
The Palmetto, Fla., resident started his career at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in 1982. His father, Connie Kalitta, was a long-time driver and team owner known as "The Bounty Hunter," and his cousin, Doug Kalitta, also drives competitively.
Scott Kalitta is survived by wife Kathy and sons Corey and Colin.
"Scott shared the same passion for drag racing as his legendary father, Connie. He also shared the same desire to win, becoming a two-time series world champion," read a statement released by NHRA officials. "He left the sport for a period of time, to devote more time to his family, only to be driven to return to the drag strip to regain his championship form."
"Scott was a terrific driver and perhaps more importantly a better person and a great father to his two kids. He will be truly missed by the entire NHRA community."
NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Brad Keselowski - a native of Rochester Hills, Mich., about 20 miles away from Kalitta's hometown of Mount Clemens - learned the news from a television report Saturday afternoon.
"That really hits close to home," Keselowski said after winning the pole position for Saturday night's race at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wis. "(He was) a friend of my family's, and I send my thoughts and prayers out to him. That's tough to hear."
Last year, Funny Car driver Eric Medlen died after an accident in a testing session at Gainesville, Fla.
"LIVE FAST, LOVE HARD AND DIE YOUNG AND LEAVE A BEAUTIFUL MEMORY"

Give The Hawk a Brake!




Nothing is for free! Well the Guys at RALPH'S Used Auto & Truck Parts (Royce, Gerry and Chris) were generous and said if we wanted to take out the brake pedal assembly from a Dodge van, they would donate it to the cause. (Now I am sure they thought it would be easier to build one than pull it out because as we found out the brake pedal has a lot of welds to the firewall.) So with generator, extension cord and cutting tool Kevin and I began the extraction. After 90 minutes of cutting, unbolting, bending and BLEEDING plus destruction of 5 cutting discs we achieved the goal. Thanks men!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Hawk stripped bare by crew and sponsors?

LANDSPEED RECORD STREAMLINER
available for promotional opportunity
(SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED)

The title is meant to be attention getting!
It sounds like everyone took their stuff and went home, but the truth is the parts will get the final touches and be reassembled in preparation of our ATTACK on the Bonneville Salt Flats/BNI/SCTA landspeed record for four liter diesel powered streamliners, E/DS.
You can see that the car breaks into four separate assembles each can be moved about on its own under carriage. This is the car with just the cockpit section and the landing gear set up to be a trailer with the jeep moved to its forward most point. The power train frame can be added to this configuration. When the tail section is installed the jeep moves to the tail end and that could be trailered as well, granted it is 32 plus feet long and would make a strange site in traffic. So in the interest of public safety we will keep trying to find a sponsor with a large flat deck trailer or a drop frame transport truck.

PLEASE let everyone know we need another sponsor or two to solve this issue.
THANKS FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT THROUGH THE PAST 18 MONTHS.

Welcome! Jake Skocylas to the team.



The young gentleman is Jake Skocylas, besides being full time employee of his family business,
INLINE Sales & Service, he has jumped on board to be a full team member with the Goldenhawk. Jake is a friend of Werner's and has been performing welding on his time off for the Goldenhawk for the last month. Now, he has joined we thought "if he is working double hard we should show him twice!"
That is the completed exhaust manifold that he has finished and is ready to go for ceramic coating at Kool Coat on 96Th Ave in Port Kells. There Spencer will be coating inside and out just the way all turbo manifolds should be done.

Hawk to get BASF Water borne Gold



A picture tells the story, arriving at ABLE AUTO BODY / COLLISION PLUS #2 - 20120 _ 92A Avenue, Langley,BC. OH yes note the name on the transporter. Thanks to Diversions.

At the far end of the complex is the body shop crew contemplating how they will graft the aluminum tail the fibreglass fairing that
Murphy Aircraft Manufacturing built and donated, to the Plastic ABS body material supplied by PLASTEC.
I have every confidence in their ability to deal with the situation because they are the pros at all kinds of body work and restorations.
Look for more about
COLLISION PLUS in the days ahead.

Goldenhawk Able to get Gold BASF


In response to a call by Collision Plus technical coordinator,FrankVaski
We removed the removable tail section designed and built by Aggressive Tube Bending, was loaded in Kevin's Thunder Truck, along with the nose cone that Kevin hand built with the team at Plastec last year and transported to Collision Plus shop in Walnut Grove, Langley, BC.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

The latest print exposure


This is the article from the Vancouver Province newspaper.
JUST CLICK ON IT TO ENLARGE IT. (all the pictures can be viewed that way).
The CFUN 1410 Radio interview is 7megabytes so I am trying to find a way to send it out with out having to resort to burning disc. Perhaps I can ask Judy to put it up on the website so you can download it.
IF YOU are interested in hearing the interview send me a reply,

Thursday, July 3, 2008

RAT"S ROB KNOWS TRANNY PIECES


I was very impressed by the neatness and organization of the parts room. Rob was very kind and often paused to explain what most race car engineers would know

Finally we agree on a plan of action and by the smile on Rob's face he is happy to be involved.
Thanks Rob and Colleen for your help! Stepping up to fill the spot left by a previous sponsor who could not fulfill his commitment leaving us at a critical time.Considering that you are still a small operating business, it is a huge commitment.
THANKS FOR COMING ON BOARD!

"RATS" is the fondly used name (Rob's Automatic Transmission Service) in the heavy duty diesel transmission circles . Rob and his wife ,Colleen operate a small farm and Colleen helps with most of the things that require two people.

When I was given their names to call on for sponsoring the transmission build and installation, Rob and Colleen were described a good ,straight people. After meeting them I would agree.

I visited them on Canada day and we made an agreement that RATS will build; a transmission that is direct drive and thereby eliminate the torque converter spillage generated heat and the expensive upgrades for the lock up type.