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Post by animal on Dec 27, 2007 15:21:43 GMT
Where do You start if yoy don't have a clou about how it is going to end  ? My first car was and still is a 1970 33 Van. Originally owned by PTT(dutch post) .  I bought it in 1986 and did about 50.000 km in 2 years with it  ! This intense use costed its tol.Clutches,brakes,tyres,you name it.As it came to the point that the van was really tired I bought a 66 marathon coupe.I rebuilded that car and traded it for a55 Marathon in race trim. Family ,work and other Causes made me sell the 55.The 33 stayed.In answer to the question placed by my wife why I didn't sell it I told her that she'd be leaving be sooner than the 33.As it turns out,it looks as if I was wright ;D ! The 33 was parked in a dark safe place and that was it. As I bought my new truck,a DAF XF95.530 Super Space Cab I ran into the master of the bodyshop at the DAF garage.He had a 55 but wanted too much for it.After 1 year of talking asking and teasing he sold it to me for a good price.That gave some troubles at home but I didn't care  The car was in original condition.I only changed the wheels and replaced the front plate. |
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Post by animal on Dec 28, 2007 7:40:43 GMT
As you can see in the picture of the 55 the former owner must have hit a pole or lamppost just in the middle of the hood.The bumper was also dented and the front radiator plate was broken. I started using the 55 as daily car and this strange itchy feeling came up.This was the ideal car to start building a new racer!.Problem.The garage was occupied.My wife was sure about it .The 10 year old E200 Mercedes should be indoors at night. the 55 (35!) outside.So I needed an excuse to take the car in.And then the 55 stopped,never to start again!I found out what the problem was,ignition key, but never told anybody!Sorry but I am going to have to change the engine and the 55 was parked in the garage ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D !I still had an original BR110 stocked .It had not been in use for over 15 years.First we took out all parts at the front,including the suspension  At th D C N storage I got a complete engine sub frame of a YA 66.This part is different from normal cars.Normally you 1 carrier on the front and 1 on the back of the engine.The part of the YA is one part.,a frame  This increases the stiffness of the body.This frame also has thicker springs and brackets for an engine protector  I have used 340 suspension parts to get a wider wheel stand on the front.Because of that we had to change the front fenders or else the wheels wouldn't fit in.  . We styled the engine,replaced carburetor and manifolds for VOLVO 340 parts.The alternator was also replaced.I now have a 340 alternator with build-in regulator.  . Having trouble sleeping one night I got up And went in the garage.I finally found out what the should like.At 3 in the morning I had painted the car and made the plan for the finishing. The man who sold me the car got me about 60 red and white stickers for the hood.It took me 3 days to finish the hood but its a true one-of-a-kind piece of work  We took out the complete interior.Placed racing seats and a cage.The steering column is made longer.A new steering wheel is fitted with on it the switch for the variomatic compressor.A new dash was made to gave place to a rev meter in the middle of the dash(where it should be)  Than came the news....D C N ordered new wheels at MINILITE!I thought it would be the crown on my work.The wheels came in 2 different offsets,5.5j and 6j wide.I got 4 6j's.It looks great and the adjustments we made on the front fenders are just enough to keep them inside of the body.  first time out after 5 months! |
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Post by animal on Jan 5, 2008 22:39:13 GMT
The car's looks and handling had improved a lot! We took it to a track day on the Nuerburgring.It wasn't as good as we had hoped it to be. It was really cold,about 6'C! That in combination with the wet track was a real bad combination.The car was searching for grip.After the "carousel",a world famous hairpin.the carburetor got frozen which is a very unpleasant experience on a race track.We got back into the pits and started fixing the problem.As we wanted to go back on the track a marshal stopped us.The exhaust was too loud!95 db is allowed,we where over112  !!!!!! How is that possible?Simple.I had build a new exhaust using 2.5 " tube's and a cherry bomb muffler  We build a new one but that wasn't satisfying.So we changed it again into wat it is today.Not as good as the first one but it keeps me out of trouble ;D ! Next project:change the original clutch into a66 type plate clutch.The original flywheel weighs 9.3 kilo's  After a healthy diet this was reduced to 5.2 kilo's!  Al the other parts are more or less first type stock 66  Before treatment  After first treatment! WE build in the engine and took the car for a test ride.Amazing it runs over 6200 rpm at top speed Time to take the car on the track again.2 days before,the master brake cylinder died.As we got on to that several other problems came up(yeah,why not) because I had build in a tacho of a 2liter VOLVO 360.  So we worked until 1:00 at night to get everything fixed.Loaded up the car and drove to the track.  Tricky car on tricky road conditions. . . . . must go wrong.In the first lap I went of the track.No damage thank god.As the track dried up it got better and better. An impression.The quality isn't to good,sorry  Halfway thru the morning,the master brake cylinder started to make troubles.After 2 laps with nearly no brakes(who needs them anyway) we called it a day.8 laps of 21 kilometers each on full speed without any major problems.I learned a lot about the car that day.It has been in th garage since that day.We have a lot of work to do this winter. To be continued............................................................................ |
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Post by wowposter on Sept 17, 2008 14:06:38 GMT
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