It’s been a while again now since I made an update here! 🙂 So here is a winter shop update.
Things are moving on in the ÅBM Shop, updates and a REALLY well needed total service on the Chevelle is in the making! I’ve been making great progress and also we got some problems that probably will destroy the start of our season!… 🙁 More about that below in this post!
So let’s take it from the start in September, when me and Sofi unloaded the Chevelle from the trailer about 4+ weeks after the Dala Järna Race!
I wasn’t feeling so well after what happened last year….
So it took me about 4 more weeks just to get the car in the right place in the shop…
Then 4 more weeks before I touched it again and started to do something to it!..
I felt, Ok!!! It’s time to make drag racing great and fun again! If you want something you just have to do it, no one will just show up and do it for you!..
I did fix stuff I should have done for years! I solved some issues with the pro jacks that been going on forever! I also did repair my scales that I bought parts to repair 8 years ago!… Just happy I found the little electrical component after all these years…
Then I put the heavy girl down on the scales, mostly because I been on my way for a while to check some stuff to do some minor changes to it!
I did prepare some engine oil for the 2025 season, way earlier than what I usually do!
Then I started to take the Chevelle apart, l had really lost the spirit, but I said to myself! “All that I do now is done, and don’t need to be made later” and that’s a pretty good plan if you ask me!….
I also took the blower apart to see if something looked strange in it after our issues in August, but all looks just great! And I’m really happy about that!
When it comes to the engine it was pretty much all good!
Only thing I found was that some valve spring parts have messed up the timing gears (2024 was a bad year for gears and us) And then some debris from that got stuck on the skirts on my brand new pistons!
Well, not a biggie but it would felt better if that did happen on the ones I took out that made a huge amount of passes! The old ones are still ok but I felt it was time to give the old Chevy some new parts, and it did say thanks by making new stuff look ugly!
Everything is washed, inspected and like it looks ready to go back together again when I have received the parts I need for it!
I also made a plan for what to change on the car during the winter, the whole car is going into pieces to make sure it is as good as it can be, hopefully that will pay off really good!
It’s time to chase those 3.7? on the score board again, at least no drive gears in the blower with destroy that for the first outing in 2025!
The car itself is more taken apart for service, preparations, updates and getting some well needed love i haven’t given to it in many years…!
It’s also time for some new zoomie headers, the old ones is the ones I originally built for the car about 16-17 years ago or so! They have now started to fall apart and needs repair way to often so it was time for new ones! Thanks to Jonnie Lindberg for the help making drawings for the flanges so Ferrita Sweden could help me cut them and also scan my old pipes and bend new ones, it’s gonna be so great when I can finish them up later on!
I have also checked trough the blower, intake, fuel system and got the unit back together so it’s ready to install on the engine again when it’s time for it.
Then I’ve checked through the CP Carrillo rods and pistons, measured everything to see that all is good. And of course it was! And for the first time ever I have a complete rack to put in the motor already in January, that has NEVER happened before!
After that I also checked the Auto Verdi oil pump and Waterman Racing fuel pump to make sure all is good!
Don’t know if I’m getting old… But to this year I don’t want and surprises!… Last year was way much of a challenge, first how it started and then the blower gear issues before the Tierp race!… I DONT want situations like that again!…
And what can be better than watching the Drag Ilustrated Winter Series from Bradenton Motorsports Park with all the BAD ASS Pro Mods during the time when you are in the shop working on my own stuff!?
Then we did get some HUGE PROBLEMS!.. The 2025 season looked like it was over already!…
We do not have a crankshaft to the engine. This is what you get when you feel that everything is great! 😉 I sent it out last year already to have it magna fluxed / crack checked, because I kind of had a feeling that it was time to do it! I felt that everything was moving on a little bit too good and I was planning on getting a short block together before the end of January, then I got this photo!… But, this is better than throwing the crank out through the block during a pass, so I feel kind of blessed anyway!
Next step was to see if there is a new crankshaft that I can get in time, then I need to make sure I have the money to purchase it! Which I did not have at the moment because I had already spent all the money and bought the parts and updates I wanted / needed for the coming season so the money I got left is what I need to make the 3 maybe 4 planned outings in 2025!…
In January 2024 a crank was 13 months away… But now it only was 20-25 weeks, so that’s better! BUT… The first race in the series at Tierp at that time was only 20 weeks away… So that felt kind of bad!… Well no matter what I needed a crankshaft in the future so I did order one!
Then my buddy Tobbe Grundström at TGPAB reached out and said “I’m planning my vacation after your race schedule, so you are going racing” so a HUGE thanks to Tobbe for helping out making it possible for me to buy a new crank and be able to do the events I’m planning in 2025! 🙂
BUT, still I do not know when I will have the crank in Sweden. And with that said, I do not know if we are able to go to the Tierp race in June…
The forced strange happiness you feel when you are receiving a couple of packages with the most expensive updates you made to your race car in the past…. 7-8 years or so, 2 days after you got the info that you don’t have a crankshaft to your engine so you can use and try out the updates… The updates you been thinking of for the past 4 years!
I’m trying to have a positive mindset in this bad situation!
Parts and updates for the coming season are arriving all the time!!! 🙂 It’s just that crankshaft I’m missing..
Then I took the car even more apart for service, preparations, updates and getting some well needed love! It’s moving on really good and haven’t found anything that I could not fix pretty simple!
I have fabricated a new co2 regulator deal to hold the regulators better, been thinking about it for years!
Dad has finished up our conventional cylinders head with some new springs and cut some seats!
I needed new racing computers due to the old ones started to be old and worn out, don’t want to get to the track and the computer is dead!..
I have fixed / changed some other things I should have done for many years on the car!..
I have changed out and freshen up pretty much EVERYTHING in the chassi!
And I haven’t just been working on the car, I have myself lost 10+ kilos which feels great and less weight = faster race car! Yes, that was the most important thing of course! 😉
Out with the old and in with the new!! The Chevelle will be better than ever for the 2025 season! 🙂
About the new crankshaft on order, well it should be around 14-19 weeks left now!… I’m writing this in the middle March… Hold your thumbs that it will go way quicker so we can be at Tierp Arena in June!…
Stay tuned for more to come soon! In the meantime, look at our Facebook, Instagram and YouTube page for updates!
