Friday, December 24, 2010

Christmas is Early

We just got a "special Delivery" in time for Christmas, our new 3rd & 4th gears for the '53 & '54 Plan B gearboxes.
Although not too much has been happening in the workshop lately due to the -8ºC weather conditions, maybe that will change now ;-)
These gears were really made with the Le Mans Classic in mind, for going down the Mulsanne .......... at 5500 rpm we will pushing more than 200km/h
We are looking forward to seeing how the perform in the Cannonball.....



Sunday, December 19, 2010

The Devil is Back

Yes it's true, he's back and rumoured to be making a guest appearance in the Cannonball........


Monday, November 22, 2010

Just like the originals !

Another part of the jigsaw just arrived......
Lifter inserts, nitrited and with circlips just like the originals as used in PreA and Denzel motors :-)

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Cannonball Brakes Pt 2

The second stage of the "Cannonball" brakes is complete....
If you want to brake late no good using those skinny original brake shoes.
Today we machined the front drums, ready for some bigger ones :-)


Thursday, November 18, 2010

Cooking on Gas!

Things are moving along now at a rate of knots, it's all hands on deck with the Cannonball on the horizon!
Our OOCrasa heads are now machined to accept 80mm Nicasil cylinders, If the original Nicasil's were good enough for Porsche to use on the 917's, then they are for sure good enough for us ;-)
Next step will be to put the heads on a flow meter to get some numbers, that is after we finish the manifold modifications.......

What a dilemma!
It's looking like the most Cannonball fun will be in the smaller displacement class, so we are thinking...................
Which Porker crank?
Run the 74mm crank and enter the 1500 class or 64mm crank and the 1300 class..... Mmmmmmm

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

A pinch of this and a dash of that.....

Here's a very cool Blog we've been following for a while now, Shinya Kimura, formally of zero engineering.
He's now started Chabott engineering and still doing his stuff, mixing a little of this with some of that to fabricate some amazing creations.
He's very much like us .......... who wants to go to a shop to buy all your parts when you can think outside the box and make them yourself.......
Shinya we take our hat's off to you!




Monday, November 15, 2010

Cannonball Brakes

2 are better than 1 !
The first stage of the "Cannonball" front brake modifications for the '53 are just about complete .......





Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Plan B

We've spent a lot of time thinking about the gearboxes of the '53 & '54.
Many hours of calculations, working out ratio's and various scenario's, in the quest the get the maximum out of these boxes.
We came up with what we thought was the ideal solution......
Then it was a hunt for someone who could actually make what we wanted, a Spiral bevel to Klingelnberg Palloid system, or to put it in plain English, a new R&P.
We eventually found someone who could make it, but before we went ahead and had these made we did more calculations and realised that for the R&P we wanted it would require us to machine the inside of the gearbox to make everything fit snugly.
This wasn't really an option, as we thought it would weaken the gearbox and we plan to push these little boxes to their limits.....
Luckily we had a contingency plan................... PLAN B.
We can still achieve the same overall outcome, Maybe Plan B should have been our first choice.
Stay tuned to see the outcome of PLAN B................




Saturday, October 30, 2010

Gentlemen, start your engines!

Registration is open.....




OOC 54 Commented
"Bring it on, there is only one place to be next summer.....the race of the century...........OLDSPEED CANNONBALL CHALLENGE........ They built the cars in Germany.........and they are coming home...........but we have made a few changes!"


Sunday, October 24, 2010

Denzel powered '52 Kab

Herr Specializer's '52 Kab is finished :-)
We received this video, shot after it had just made it's maiden voyage. For those of you that don't know it is running under Denzel power and doesn't it sound amazing ;-)
It's a shame it's on the other side of the pond and won't be able to attend the Oldspeed Cannonball Challenge to help fly the flag for the OOC.
We aren't going to say too much more about it as it will be at a photo shoot in the next couple of days for a magazine feature. Be sure to lookout for it........
Nice job Rich and all involved :-)

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Loaded.....

All the big cannon's up north are loaded and primed ready for the Oldspeed Cannonball Challenge and we know you have some secret one's still under wraps ;-)
Our friends over at the Sechs Volt Garage already have The Abarth Zwitter in race trim, ready to have some breakfast in the smaller displacement class.
We also know you Northern boyz wear your colours with pride and will try to fly your flag the highest in all the classes, we can't wait............... for "The Clash of the Titans"

There's a few renegades within the OOC, so all we'll say is
It's not the loaded Cannon's you need to look out for, but "The Loose Ones" ;-)


Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Wait for it !

Fingers are twitching and feet are tapping, Just over a week to go before registration opens.....

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

They're at it again!

Look what our friends up north have found now.....
A March '52 Panel van
Not even they can get this ready in time for the Cannonball, or can they.........

Monday, October 4, 2010

Tick Tock.....

The clock is ticking and it's not too long now until June and the Oldspeeed Challenge.....

We're still busy with the gearboxes on the '53 & '54, now we have bearings there is just one last 'special' piece missing.
Hopefully we'll have it soon and then the boxes can be reassembled

Our Norwegian friends are also busy getting ready, the HPD special is in the garage to be put into race trim in preparation for the big day, they are also working on some secret fast projects :-)

In their words, B.C. Oldspeed Challenge - 'man against man, machine against machine, the mother of all Cannonball runs Belgium to Bad Camberg', this is one not to miss.
It will probably never happen again that's why all the lightest fastest Oldspeed Vw's from Europe will be taking part......

Monday, September 13, 2010

Nuts!....

In our quest to make the '53 as light a possible the wheel nuts are now ready :-)
Once again a big thanks goes to 'The professor' for his ingenuity.....





I spy....

Herr Blower was recently spotted at VW Action, looks like he was in need of a little extra motor cooling ;-)

Sunday, September 12, 2010

OOC Juniors

As the winter is coming and in the quest for more speed, it looks like the OOC juniors will be burning the midnight oil too, modifying some of their toy's ;-)

Thursday, September 9, 2010

'54 sunroof reunited

The summer is nearly over, so it's time to get back on our projects.
The '54's body has been reunited with the pan so the build up can continue, although there is no gearbox in there yet as we are still working on that one ;-)





Sunday, August 15, 2010

'53's brake drums

The brake drums for the'53 are finally finished.
They have been machined and the cooling rings sweated on, machined on the inside for a better braking surface and studs have been added too.
We could have used "A" or even "B" brakes, but we wanted to do something different with the '53 and have something "in the werks" for the backing plates....
And anyhow we don't plan on having too much weight to stop :-)
A big thanks goes to R.K. a friend of the O.O.C. for many years...



An Invitation
We are not people of many words, we are men of action and don't get into wars of words with keyboard warriors..
It has been said, on forums, that our '53 won't ever see a race track, well to put the record straight, in 2011 it will be at the B.C. Oldspeed Challenge, in the 1500 class and also at Spa Francorchamps for 1 hour of racing the track.
In 2012 it will be at Le Mans Classic, where we can organise a 3 lap race of the full track.
So to put it in your own words, will you be joining us racing, or in the bar "drinking beer and chasing women"
You know where to find us..... ;-)

Thursday, August 5, 2010

1/2 a day off !

what do you do when you have half a day off work?
you machine some of these of course!
These are the set for the '53, no prizes for guessing what they are ;-)
As it was nasty weather yesterday and today the sun is shinning, there was even time to go for a ride
with a passenger :-o

Monday, August 2, 2010

'54's Brakes

The rebuilt beam and front brakes are now installed on the '54 pan, just need to install the master cylinder fluid reservoir and the rear brakes of course, but before we can do that, some gearbox modifications are needed..........



Monday, July 26, 2010

Lavenham 2012


Following a review meeting with representatives of the Lavenham Parish Council at the weekend,we are pleased to be able to let you all know that the second Lavenham Vintage VW meet will be happening as planned in the summer of 2012.

They hope to be able to start the registration process next summer, so please keep an eye on the
Pre67 website for full details in due course. Very Happy

Thursday, July 22, 2010

'54 Beam

The beam adjuster is now welded into the front beam, it has been welded in the "middle" position so both up and down adjustment is possible.
As those of you who have done this know, with the adjusters in place it is no longer possible to fit the cover for the tunnel. This not being an option for us, the cover was modified so it will fit properly and can also be removed without too much trouble.



Some New Rubber !

Things are back to normal now after LMC and even though it's holiday season we have still managed to do some work on the cars.
The '54 sunroof has got some new rubber on the freshly painted rims, a set of Michelin XZX 165SR-15's. :-)



We are also at present testing a set of Vredestein 165HR-15 Sprint Classics and plan to test a set of Dunlop 500-15 R5's soon....

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Le Mans Classic 2010

Here are a selection of the photo's from LMC, the rest we will upload to our Facebook Page over the next couple of days.
908/2 flat 8, this is the actual car that was driven in the 1970 24 Heures du Mans with the camera attached. The car was driven in the race by Herbert Linge.
Herbert Linge gets behind the wheel again, happy memories.......
The 1970 24 Heures du Mans winning duo of Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood

The winning car of the 1970 24 Heures du Mans with the two drivers Herrmann and Attwood.
Vic Elford gets in on the action too :-)
The legend himself Vic Elford

René Metge has 3 Paris Dakar wins, a 24 Heures du Mans win plus much more...
1971 winning 917 of Marko/Lennep
The 1971 917 of Larrousse/Elford that was clocked at 386 km/h
Richard Attwood was actually talking part in the Le Mans Classic, driving a 917 with Vern Schuppan , here they can be seen changing drivers during racing.

Ex Jim Clark 356A was also racing