Racer86's Weblog

Project KP30: Racer86 x Compomotive – Tailor Made

racer86 — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 21:19:53 +0000

The splits are gone and the hunt is off.

I’m a big fan of sourcing rare wheels, rebuilding then in your living room and making them work. But this time I wanted box-fresh, spanking new and untouched Once I’d gotten over that decision the rest was easy with a call to Comopomotive: I wanted these MLs custom made to the exact specification for the KP: from the PCD (finally the correct 110mm for the car) to mm perfect staggered offsets and beautifully locating centre bore.

Like a Savile Row suite they fit perfectly and, in that one-off anthracite grey, give me all the nostalgic race car look I wanted. It goes without saying they weigh almost nothing and the quality is stunning. I’m over the moon with them.

The catalyst for these new wheels? Well, at the end of last summer I passed the car to a highly recommended painter (while I was on holiday – much more fun than sanding and spraying) to re-paint the bonnet for me (after I’d been having some issues doing it myself and ran out of time) and came back to find the whole car had been resprayed….yep. That happened. With me out of the country they just went ahead and did the whole car! It’s never looked so good and, as sad as it is to admit, my home job just wasn’t cutting it. It looks like glass now and really pops.

I’ve been giving the car a thorough once-over ahead of the 2013 show season and hopefully some sunshine use: from changing the manifold gaskets to rebuilding the brakes, it’s only just back on the ground for the first time in weeks!

Pic dump: I’ve just picked up a 50mm f1.4 and I love it!

TA22 wood grain – says 4. Has 5.

Really need to make up a nice bracket for my TRD CDI module…

K-Love

Now all it needs is driving!

Project Herald: All In The Details – Vintage Heuer

racer86 — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 12:00:38 +0000

It was always the small details that were going to help deliver the “outlaw” or “cafe racer” image I wanted for the Herald and this is been one I’ve been waiting to do for a while; I just had to wait for the perfect watch to come along. Unfortunately this missed the Retro Cars shoot due to a shipping delay, but here’s a few pics of my Heuer and the brushed alloy mounting plate I made up.

It had to be a Heuer simply due to the motorsport heritage and outlaw Porsche links. It’s in perfect condition and fully working; ideal for timing those cross-city races and posing at Goodwood later in the year.

Project W123: From Winter Detox to City Slickin’

racer86 — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 10:14:30 +0000

I’ve had the Benz off the road for a couple of weeks to give it some major loving: From fresh ball joints and servicing to a top to bottom clean-up and a new MOT, it’s had the works. I’m pleased to say all the effort I’ve put in to keeping it clean over winter and all the waxoil I covered it in in the autumn has paid off; It’s literally not deteriorated one bit through the harsher months (though I did take it off the road when we had the really bad snow) and here’s the proof:

Based on my recent turn-over of daily drivers the Benz is a long-termer and I’ve got no plans of letting it go yet. The only caveat to this one is my job has moved and gone (for the most part) is the 100 miles per day motorway commute and I now have 44 miles of country lanes….This means the KP and the Herald will be getting some use over the Summer, but does it also mean I can finally have something really old as my daily…4-gears…? Really?

Project Herald: Retro Cars Desktop Calendar – MARCH

racer86 — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 09:34:17 +0000

OK, so if you’ve not seen this yet you’ve missed 9-days…but here’s a sneak-peak of the mag shoot and a desktop calendar for the month.

www.retrocarsmag.com/calendar2013/

Project Herald: Racer86 x Retro Cars Shoot

racer86 — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 09:25:32 +0000

With the Herald finished in time for the annual Race Retro Show we’d hatched a plan to shoot the car in and around the site where it was held. After an early start I arrived to shoot the show itself with the RC crew arriving stylishly afternoon-ish. We busted out the pics outside an awesome looking garage/ barn (think South London back-street garage in ’69) and made it back into the warm for a lap of the show and a big lunch: No messin’

The issue is out on the 14th March so keep your eyes peeled; it’s a special edition too, but I won’t give any more away for now…

http://www.retrocarsmag.com/

Racer86.com on Instagram: New Age Fun with a Vintage Feel

racer86 — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 08:51:30 +0000

Follow me on Instagram : HERE

For instant updates on stuff at Racer86 towers with a grainy veneer of the olden days check out my feed.

Project Herald: Mojo Pipes

racer86 — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 17:03:16 +0000

Mojo. It’s escaped me totally for the last 3 months, leaving me locked inside with the heating on, the cars put away for the winter and the curtains shut. Call me in Spring. Well, that was the plan, but slowly, over the last few weeks I’ve started getting back into it culminating in to today: a (relative) marathon of spanner twirling and garage based action.

A master plan has been hatched to shoot the Herald for Retro Cars at the end of Feb so I’ve been pulling together the finishing touches: Christmas brought me Ram pipes and with a bit of cutting of the inner arch they were on.

I’ve bought a set of low profile mesh filters as well; I’m not brave enough to run open…The carbs are due a rebuild and I’m just waiting on the kit and I can give them the full Dave Vizard gas flow treatment while I’m there…

The exhaust has always hung low on the Herald and frankly looked like is was made for a totally different car. I decided to “fix” this and in my book of definitions “fix” means make it louder at the same time. The back box was binned leaving me with a nice easy routing. Some stainless pipe was ordered and cut about to fit.

The pipe that arrived, while stainless, wasn’t exactly the shiniest…in fact it looked like mild. This turned out to be fortuitous giving me the opportunity to add a bit of texture with sandpaper before I polished it; the Herald isn’t some show car, it’s a ’60s gentleman’s racer and as such would not be sporting a chrome pipe!

Before & After

I used the original mounts and new, period hangars and hung it all up: More ground clearance, more noise, less weight. But mainly more noise, which is a good thing.

Next: Oil cooler mount was taken off and remade (plug welded instead of bolted) and painted:

And that covers today’s action. Not long now and it’ll be back on the road: Race Retro here we come!

One Year: Speedhunters Volume One

racer86 — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 16:07:57 +0000

I came home from a week away to a sizeable parcel…I’d not ordered anything…wasn’t expecting anything…and it was addressed from EA..?

Oh, yeah! Without so much as a note or warning the Awesome Chaps at the big S-H had sent me out a little (BIG) parcel including a load of stickers, keyring and The Photo book of the year!

I’m guessing people with feature cars/ supported them at shows all got a copy! It’s beautifully put together, full of stunning images and a nice way to spend a couple of hours with a coffee. I would say get a copy, but looking at the store I think they’ve all gone; make sure volume two is on your shopping list for next year though.

Project KP30:One Last Blast

racer86 — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 19:29:24 +0000

before winter…

See you in Spring…

The KP survives another year and is safely tucked up at my Folk’s house for the winter. Not exactly sure where this summer has gone, but another tax disk has expired and a I feel like I never really got out in the old girl much. I’ve got a few ideas for stuff to do over winter but for now the Herald is coming up to mine for some (outlaw) work over the next few months. 2013: Less rain please!

14-16-09-12 Goodwood Revival Part 3

racer86 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 19:44:57 +0000

Is it time to go again yet?