Wow, it has been a big few months, as I write this I am sitting on a plane to Sydney (presenting the Sidchrome Project car for this year) and realise it is the only spare hour I have had in a long time where I am forced to sit and do nothing, so Ill write.
So why’s the last two months been so busy? It has been a few things, the first was my workshop overhaul.
My workshop had been filling up with clutter and mess all year, none of it was junk but there was enough stuff that all had potential to become something that I found worth keeping.
I had come to the realisation though that the clutter’s potential was only to remake the stuff I had built before and not to open myself up to new challenges.
So it began, the great ETS workshop clean up of 2018, I completely pulled everything out of my garage and only put back in it what I needed. I put a lot things I had been holding onto on eBay and in a few weeks quickly found that I had over $10,000 worth of things I didn’t need.
With the extra room and money I had I was able to draw up a number of things I wanted for my workshop, first thing first was my mess room or machine shop, I wanted my steel organised and shelved so that it didn’t get dusty or dirty so I remade my bench and enclosed it off with a hinged door. I hung my grinders and helmet and moved my drill and linisher so that I had room for some new machinery.
With the machine shop done I drew up some new motorcycle work benches, I wanted them wider, lower and nicer than the last one I made. I had the steel all pre cut from my local Metalland, then I welded them up, covered them with 18mm MDF and installed the hooks and front wheel chocks.
I shifted my FLATS land speed bike (click here to watch the full movie) up to the top shelf and then trimmed in the wall with some MDF, with some white paint and some pictures it gives my workshop a fresh new look.
I made some room for that lathe and mill I have always wanted aswell, plans are in the works for that to arrive next month, but I will go deep into that with more detail in a following post.
I put the engine back in the PS13 and also swapped a few older parts of mine for a fresh stock SR20 that I quickly cleaned up to look like new. My plans for that are to keep it unopened at this stage but to use it as a base to develop the dry sump setup that I really want, I don’t trust my factory oiling system (not to mention the rear sump setup I have) so I will hang a pump off this engine, add my cams and lifters then swap it into the PS13. I will then pull down the existing engine in the PS13 to add rods, 13.5 CR pistons, more aggressive cams, and combine that with the dry sump oiling system to make a nice peaky little SR20 NA Race engine.
I finally finished up the bonnet and the venting on the PS13 too.
I started making carbon parts but ended up just cutting a hole and trimming the edge with some rubber.
I did however remake the three long louvers out of carbon fibre, how did I do it?
I just waxed up my bench top, laid out some carbon matt that I bought of ebay to experiment with and used some generic resin to lay out a 3 layer sheet.
Once dry I marked the FRP ones onto the sheet and cut them up with my Dremel tool.
It was more of an experiment that I didn’t think would work but I am really happy with the results.
So back to the garage clean up, the trigger for all this was an international guest in the form of Speedhunter Dino, Dino spoke with me about working with him on a little project that Speedhunters were working on. I was all for it and put the wheels into motion to make sure that apon his arrival I would have something exciting to show him.
I was honoured that Dino chose me for their launch into motorcycling, I love both disciplines as equals and love that they are incorperating bikes into their platform.
To add to all of this I had a driving display and trade stand to be setup at MotorEx Melbourne.
I prepped the 180SX and the Hilux for the event, fresh Red Line oils, fresh rubber, new 16V XSPower Battery setup in the Hilux, a new Full River HC20 battery in the 180SX and a quick check over they were ready to go.
I put together separate posts (click here to read) and I will do the same with the new machinery for the shop when my equipment arrives.
Oh and you noticed the new BMW Bike project sitting up on those new stands?
More on that soon but I just wanted to fill you in on the craziness of the last months antics.
I am really excited to get some machinery in the workshop and really expand my capabilities from home.
To add to that I am stoked that I have managed to drive all of my cars this year, ride all of my bikes and also kick of some brilliant collaborations with friends.
My goal is still to do Engineered to Slide full time, I feel like every step I take is moving me closer to that goal that I have had forever.
Sometimes I don’t know if they are the right steps or the wrong steps, one things for sure though, I am not going to sit around and let all of these amazing opportunities I have slip away.
Stay tuned, lots of exciting stuff is coming……… Thanks for reading.