Friday, August 15, 2008

Tomorrow: take off!

We even solved our Oil-leak!

The problem with the leak was that we barely couldn't breath in the car, so really, it was becoming a problem. Captains JM en Snef opened one last time the engine and found what had to be found: the leak.  We tried to fix it with things we found in the JM's father's closet, and halleluia, it worked!  
Captain U'Roon drove more than 200km with it, and things seem OK now.
...it 'll just have to hold on for another 7000km. 

Tomorrow around noon, Team Unagi sets off to Copenhagen.

Next entry is one from the road.

God speed,

Captain Snef

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Almost ready to go.. but than again...not

In exactly a week (around this time) we're off to Scandinavia.
Last tuesday the Battlecar got his number and team name professionally (ahum) applied.

Last thing to do now is to clean it, to pack it, to drive it and especially to ignore the smoke coming from under the hood and the persistent smell of gas in the car...

Captain Snef 

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Oil leak solved and back windows done

OK, now we're getting somewhere!

The back windows are done.
The oil-leak is counted for (but not solved, we'll just keep it flowing).

The stickers are designed and ordered.
The idea is to apply them next tuesday, with the help of Robert, Captain Jerre's father, and our trusted air-bubble-pincher.

Captain Snef.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Blinding Windows

Only 23 days to go and the pimping has started.
The last three weeks will be a sprint 'till the finish (as predicted), but still if we continue at the pace we 'worked' at our machine yesterday... troubles. :)
In fact, yesterday, we were able to blind one window (yes, one) and Captain JM managed to connect two wires to the battery, without knowing why, or without knowing what to attach to the other end of those wires. :) :)

At the ratio of 'every tuesday is CX-time', we still have three evenings left to finish the car.
The other Captains are confident we're going to pull it off... :)

To be continued...

Captain Snef

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Things are starting to look like a car

It's true, it does.
A car with an engine, leaking oil for the moment, but nonetheless, an engine. 
Further on, we got a backseat and two front seats, all cleaned... well, cleaner than before anyway.  
All electrics are working and tested for.

Next: the real fun part... Pimping!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Engine running smoother now

Last weekend, the fourth Team Unagi Captain, Judd, came over from England and as he in fact is the only one with a thourough mechanical knowledge, we tried to fix the engine problem.

Both idle and acceleration were completely off.
After fixing a mayor 'false air sucking'-problem... everything runs smoother now.
Time will tell if this was our problem... or not.  But just to be sure, we're still planning to change the sparkplugs, the leads and the distributor-head.

Next on the menu: cleaning!

Logging off, 

Captain Snef, for Team Unagi

Monday, June 16, 2008

Ice and Rims - Just lacking the Hoes

It has been a while since the Battlecar Hydraulica was touched upon, but last friday we did it again.
Now the engine is running constantly (at 1500rpm that is), the brakes are untouchable and the suspension is a dream... the only things now to do are all the things we haven't done till now...

Some impressions of the things we did last friday:

The Icing:

Yes! Now we have some sound in the back too!
And, let's admit, nicely fitted!













The Rims:

Oh yeah! That's right! We got golden rims!






















And just because we like to show off: THE ENGINE
















Oh, and have you ever seen a car full of mice-shit?
Well, behold...


Thursday, June 5, 2008

A French classy animal

Ze French rule ze vorld!
See for yourself how this French classy animal is having an Opel for breakfast



and for lunch

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Good effort trying to check the brakes

... good effort, because further than that, we never went.
After 24 years, screws tend to be rusted together with the plate they are screwed in, which means that all the necessary-to-be-loosened-to-get-to-the-brakes-screws weren't cooperating. We'll just have to trust on 24 year old mechanics...

Further: hoping to have fixed the hole in our exhaust collector.

Captain Snef.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

The Valves Revisited

Owkay... so, we redid the valves.

Is it any better now? Not sure.
Is it worse now? Might be.
Do we have a mayor exhaust problem now? Yes.

Do we still have 99 days to solve all this? Right on!

Captain Snef.

Monday, May 5, 2008

It's all about the valves

Team Unagi performed some mayor surgery on the BattleCar Hydraulica: finetuning of the valves, all eight of them!

Like everything in life: first times are insecure, weird, full of possibilities to hurt yourself, but in the end...great success!!
Everything went off and on, screws were loosened and lost, oil was dripping, hands were ripped open, valuable parts were cleaned, valves were set on 0,15 mm (intake) and 0,20 mm (outtake), engines were turned, cylinders were set under pression... and in the end the engine was turning again.

The testdrive to Antwerp reveiled a mechanical heart, pounding better than ever before... but still calling out for a second run on the tuning bank.

No first time, without a second.

This engine is going to sound like a sewing machine! (well... a loud one).

Captain Snef

Monday, April 28, 2008

110 days to go

We yet have 110 days to go before the big start.
Certain things have been done, a lot more will have to follow.
A little overview:

Done at this stage:
- 5 new suspension'spheres' were installed
- main filters in the hydraulic system cleaned
- oil changed (well...one hint: open the recepient before letting all the hot oil go...)


- interior lightening works again
- we have a radio
- and two speakers
- we got rid of all the mice-shit (well, most of it anyway)
- base exterior waxing
- 'special' lightening
- extra 'special' lightening
- no Battlecar without 8 horns

Still to do before we get this thing on the road:
- Brakes
- Engine Tuning
- extra speakers
- really thorough interior cleaning!!
- what about a new rooflining?
- exterior finishing...
- ...

Logging off,

Captain Snef

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Grace Jones and her CX

C'mon guys, isn't this the most interesting car???
:)


Tuesday, April 22, 2008

BattleCar Hydraulica goes Valhalla

Yes!
It's a fact!
398 Team Unagi has risen again and is preparing for a new Road Rally.
2008 will be the year of Thor!
We're going to get ourselves nocked up on Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish highways, mountainroads, cityblocks, roundabouts, gravel tracks, hairpins...

This years challenge: www.valhallarun.com

Oh, what car?
Well, what better to take with us to Scandinavia than a good reliable French car?!
Take the words CX, GTI, red, Citroën, leaks, 250.000km, rust, mice, a bunch of loose electrical wires and enormous luxury; put them in a sentence, and you'll have a good idea what we're dealing with...

The captains?
You may know them as Captain JM and Captain Snef.

More news coming soon...