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Netherlands
We are the Trashers, a Dutch Car Club. We build, modify, kustomize and drive all kinds of old vintage US cars. So what's the deal ? Well...since the 1920's speed addicts try to push their vehicles to the limits on salt flats and dry lake beds like El Mirage and Bonneville, USA. And that's exactly where we want to go too!
But...instead of using a high-dollar, computer-controlled car we like to break a land speed record like they did in the fifties, using a vintage flathead engine for power and the best possible body to put this in; an all aluminum fighter airplane droptank... Yes you heard it right ! We're planning to go to the salt lakes with our bellytank racer!!!
And that's where you as a reader come in. We sure could do with some funds!
So, if you like speed, vintage cars and share the same enthousiasm in breaking a speed record as we do...
Join in and make a donation to our bank number on the right. Or buy yourself a "Trash-Can" t-shirt or some cool stickers. We'll keep you informed about the progress of 'your' project!
Thanks for making our dream come true!!
Trashers Car Club

Thursday, February 4, 2010

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.