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.

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.

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

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

Grace Jones and her CX

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

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...

From Tanger to Casablanca

Morrocans can't give decent directions, that's for sure. There are no signs and no streetnames in the towns, the people are all extremely friendly and helpfull, but they really don't know the difference between left and right (we think both are "chouff and chouff" in Morrocan, because that's what the kept telling us). We took the scenic route to Casablanca (the one with donkeys and stray dogs) going through small villages and a typical local market where our siren appeared to be very helpful. We made it to Casablanca by the end of the day and enjoyed a good beer by the swimming pool!

From Murcia to Tanger

A very hot day in Southern Spain, a refreshing ferry trip to Ceuta, an impressively chaotic bordercrossing, beautiful Morrocan scenery and sunset, small potholes, large potholes and a few craters on the road to Tanger, getting lost in the center of Tanger, finding out there is a difference between the Continental Hotel and the Intercontinental Hotel the hard way.

From Andorra to Murcia

Once in Andorra, we had to pass the Pyrenees to Spain. Speed, curves, some british mooning on the way, three cars in convoy, some carsickness (or something else)... the perfect mix to get into Murcia by time.