Quick change parts

After obtaining our quickchange case in the UK last summer, we contacted Sig at Rodsville in the USA to order some parts; in fact all the guts are needed, gears, gaskets, shaft, crown&pinion set, the whole enchillada !
Shipping is calculated as we speak, so our last dough in the budget will be sinked in good ol' iron !
Of course we'll keep you posted when it the package hits our side of the pond !

Wheels: sorted !

Through our worldwide webbased network, we got hold of a nice (as in new!) set of rear wheels for our speeding bullit.
Thanks to our UK-friends Rem and Keith for making that happen !

wanted: wheels

For our rear axle, we need two steel wheels in 15" diameter with a 5 on 5,5" bolt pattern. Preferably narrow, like 4" or 4,5" wide. These are early ('40s / '50s) Ford wheels, also found on the F1 and F100 pickups.
Other sizes, makes and models can be looked at too, just show us what you've got.

Trash-Can magazine feature; Auto Motor Klassiek

We'd like to thank Auto Motor Klassiek (Classic Car & Bike) magazine for the article on our Trash-Can bellytank landspeed racing project. Here's a sneak preview but you'll need to buy the magazine to actually be able to read it. Look for the September issue in stores as of yesterday.

AMK

The apearrance of our Bellytank story in a Dutch Classic Car magazine called 'Auto Motor Klassiek' sure catches attention. We get numerous emails from people who never believed a team of Dutch guys were preparing to break a Landspeed Record. These pics were send to us by Menno who just returned from Speedweek, still shaking the holy salt out of his shoes ! By the looks of the pictures he had a blast overthere, thanks for the pics and kind words Menno ! It's these things that keeps us motivated !

Salty white shirts; get'm while they still last !

We managed to book supermodel E. to show you our salty white shirts. To avoid any diet-issues they are only in L, with small logo on the chest, big logo on the back, both in fierce green !
Cost: a measly 15 euro; with free shipping in the Netherlands ! Outside NL, please ask !

Drop us an email if you'd like to dress like a hero, and take part in this excellent adventure !

Thanx !

Quickchange finds it's way down there!

That Rodsville quick change we scored at the Hayride in the UK quickly (pardon the pun) found it's way between the 70 year old Ford axlebells, and onto our welding table. Now we have to score the parts that need to go in it ! Lower shaft, yoke, rear cover, gears, bearings, gaskets...

If this looks like a request for a friendly sponsor...it is !

quickchange

Look at what we brought back from the Hayride! This will do the trick easier than the one we already have since it will fit the '40 axle we've got without expensive adapter plates. Still need more parts for it since it's only the housing... anyone?

tools

Thanks to a great deal with HWIJ - Handelsonderneming Wijbenga, we now have a fully loaded toolbox to work with. Check their website out here: www.HWIJ.nl
Thanks Johan!

Inspiration

The So-Cal Speedshop bellytank!




One of the most well-known and successfull bellytank racers was Alex Xydias, the owner of the So-Cal Speed Shop. The So-Cal Special was basically a 315 gallon wing tank off of a P-38 Lightning with custom built framerails, powered by a 156 cubic inch flathead V-8. At Bonneville in 1951, the So-Cal team set a new record for their class, running a 145.395 mph average.
The So-Cal Speed Shop team took the car back to their motel and, right then and there in the parking lot, swapped the engine out. They put in a larger, 259 cubic inch Mercury flathead and ran the car again in a larger engine class. They set a record in that class as well, running 181.085 mph.
The team then swapped the engine out once again, this time putting in a 296 cubic inch Mercury engine. It ran a one-way time of 198.340 mph, with a two-way time of 195.77 mph. This speed was a record for its class, until it was upstaged the next day by the Mal Hoopster lakester, which was running with a Chrysler hemi and turned a 197.88 mph average. But the So-Cal Special's 198.340 mph run is still the fastest one-way speed that a non-blown flathead V8 has ever run.
To put all of these achievements into perspective, consider that at 1952's Indy 500, Troy Ruttman (with all of his sponsors and his overhead cam engine) won the Indy 500 with an average speed of "only" 128.922. Xydias was going faster than Ruttman in a salvage yard belly tank powered by a pre-W.W. II flathead Ford and no sponsors.

Q&A #1

Why is it called a bellytank?
A common question for us to hear.
Here's why:

It's an auxiliary fuel tank hanging from the belly of a plane, which in this case is a McDonnell F4 Phantom II.
There you go!

TrashCan support party April 3rd: wet, but fun !

Last Saturday, April 3rd, the Trashers had their first bash at our own clubhouse: The Trash-Can Support Party.







We invited a heapload of friends to join in with their cars, get some shirts, get even more grub'n'beer, and support the TrashCan tank in the process!
But oh boy, was it wet! The worst weather of the week, but you didn't let us down! 90% of the people who bought a presale ticket showed up, we sold 'bout 700 bottles of beer, at 5pm we completely ran out of burgers, our friends of the Dunlop Devils and the Cowpokes played blisters on their fingers, kids were entertained, the whole enchillada!

Thanx everyone for the great support, and for having a GREAT day!

Special thanks go out to:

- Our hard working heroe in the tastebuds ticklin' department: Manuel, a.k.a. "Kokkie". Visit his restaurant Chez Manu at Hoogstraat 50 Eindhoven!


- The greatest surf band around: The Dunlop Devils. Check 'em out on their myspace. www.myspace.com/thedunlopdevils


- The magnificent acoustic bluegrass trio: The Cowpokes. www.myspace.com/thecowpokes


- Louis for supplying Vedett beer and gimmicks such as the kustom beer bottle label printer.



Thanks again everyone and hope to see you all again soon!

Just in: steering to swerve the Salt

We got a nice lil' package in the mail: an all aluminum rack & pinion steering rack, designed for a dragster, but that will suit our Salty Bomb just fine, thank you !

Allways great to get that kinda mail !

Lengthening the bomb

After we did some mocking up, we decided the tank had to be lengthened by 40cm, or some 15 inches for you Imperial thinkers.
Harks Staalbouw did a good job rolling a couple of pieces in the right curvature. We did the cutting after clamping some sliding tubing to keep everything in shape during the stretch.
Now we should have enough space to occupy the driver AND all important parts !

Let that engine float !

Last week we made up some adjustable engine supports, wide enough to let the tank body slide under, and sturdy enough to hold that heavy sucker !

Expert welding was done by Polle, no longer a welding Virgin !

L.A. Grand National Roadster Show 2010

It's nice to see that our shirts are getting some exposure! Though several Trash-Can shirts have already crossed the ocean towards new owners there, this here's our local buddy Mr.HotRod. Het left his Rod Shop in freezy cold Rod City for a field trip to the GNRS. And we all know who that other guy is, now don't we...



If you have a nice picture featuring your Trash-Can shirt or sticker, be sure to mail it to us at trashers@live.nl. We like that stuff!

Preparation of the frame build

Here's another short update from the workshop.
We made an outline of the shape of the bellytank and mocked up the axle positions and the length of the drivetrain.



Though we knew it wasn't going to be easy,
we soon realized there just wouldn't be enough room for our driver.
We decided that the throttle and brake pedals, and therefore Sascha's legs, should be positioned behind the front axle.
There also should be enough room for cooling and fuel system components, so we can make a decent firewall to seal it off from the driver compartment.
All for safety purposes ofcourse.
This means we'll have to lengthen the tank by approximately 40 cm.
The middle part of the tank shape is cilindrical so this shouldn't be too hard to do.

Now that the wheelbase was determined, the rear axle is mounted on the chassis table. Hanzl fabricated some adapter plates, so we could bolt the rear axle sidebells to the quickchange center section. This enables the rear axle to be mounted in the correct position during mock up and construction of the frame.



Next step, make a construction that'll place the engine in the correct position. Then our master fabricator can start building the frame.

After extensive contact with the SCTA, we decided on rectangular steel tubing for the main frame rails, which exceeds the minimum width the SCTA requires.

We're also busy planning an event concerning sponsorship for the bellytank project, we'll get the details posted on the blog as soon as we've got it all sorted.

Trashers - Bigtwin Magazine #279 / Januari 2010

Motorcycle madness!? Bigwtin... Benelux biggest custombike magazine was kind enough to do a small artikel about us and our Trash Can bellytank project. You can read it at page 106 of Bigtwin's 1st edition of 2010! Here we are...just to show you bikers that there's much more juicy stuff to build than bikes! Ha'