I should have done this a little differently, oh well, live and learn. On the other forums I began by saying that we were going to have to cut a hole in the roof, and got a little participation that way. That was more fun. Jim
Seems that since those old 2 stroke Jimmys 2 stroke Jimmy? you aren't talking about a GMC Jimmy are you? if not, where are you sourcing these?
Bob, my brother is the truck guy and I don't even know what he has in mind there except that he said that with fuel prices going up fleet owners were disposing of the 2 stroke diesels (GMC) and replacing them with more efficient engines and that the 2 strokes are showing up in the truck wrecking yards. He thinks the blowers would be easy to find and cheap and said he'd be on the lookout for one. But you know what? Considering the excess of power in this combination already, even if we just used the shell it'd be pretty cool. Jim
Good news here, the water blasting is completed! There may be some minor touch up but that will be pretty minimal. Also the steering u-joint from Rob Ficalora came in so work on the steering can continue. Bill Young and Kelly Combs have offered to do work remotely and I am going to suggest they work on the interior. Next steps here include removal of glass, headliner (should have been done before pressure blasting) and dashboard. Then we can start on removal of bad body parts. Jim
Steering is near completion, here's a photo. Roadmaster Weekend will be here in a few days. Not much else to report right now. Jim
For a complete writeup of the September Roadmaster Weekend see this link: http://www2.mgcars.org.uk/cgi-bin/g...&subject=36&source=T&thread=20070806023524333 Jim
Good News! The paperwork finally came back from Frankfort approved! We now officially have corporate status. BADASS, LLC has arrived. Next step is to get non-profit status with the IRS, I'll start on that this week. Jim
Next step is to get non-profit status with the IRS, I'll start on that this week. excellent! question: if i got myself a TVR Griffith, would that qualify me for membership in your club? or would you want me to take out the 5.0L Rover derivative of the Buick 215 and drop in an aluminum block 455 first? :bla:
Bob, you're an honorary member no matter what you buy, but a BBB in that TVR sounds like an excellent idea! Seriously though, if you do want to be a member of the BADASS, LLC all it takes is a donation of some sort in parts, materials, money or labor. Not a difficult thing. We'll even accept donations that we have to resell to get any use from. Jim
Bob, you're an honorary member no matter what you buy damn, this club is as easy to get into as Mae West's underwear. easier even than the WOT. any chance we'll see those B.A.D.A.S.S. shirts anytime soon? :Brow: i'm halfway serious about the Griff. but that has several conditionals, not least of which is if i can keep a job longer than a year. going into industries just as they start to suck wind (Miles/Bayer in northern Ind, telcoms lasted a couple of years, housing in Fla is just blowing chunks now) is a bad habit of mine.
T shirts? I'd never even considered it.... Damn Bob, I knew there was a reason we brought you along! Here are a couple of shots of the modified crossmember with the shaft collar steering rack mounts and clearancing for the pinion shaft. It's nearly ready for paint, just a little more cleanup. Jim
to answer your question; no. i know my strengths, and that isn't one of them. question for you: do you know of anyone who sells TVR kits or body panels? i see they're all fiberglass anyway.
Not sure about the TVR parts but they aren't all that uncommon so shouldn't be too hard to find. I submitted the following yesterday for posting on the website and in the newsletter of the local british car club. <quote> Roadmaster Weekend Last weekend of every month For October, we have invited the officers and members of the British Car Club of Greater Cincinnati to pay us a visit, preferably Saturday afternoon or evening. Around 6 or 7 PM should be good, but for anyone who wants to come by and cant make it then the entire weekend is available. I attended the October meet of the BCCoGC and made a presentation which was well received, outlining the purpose of the Roadmaster project and what we are doing with it, as well as offering the club the opportunity to use the Lab as a meeting place to enable them to organize a southern chapter of the club if they so desire. I was given assurances that some of the officers would pay a visit, after which we will discuss what options are available. As a part of that weekend, should attendance justify it we will do a tech session on the 455 big block Buick swap into an MGB-GT (probably informally), and as usual the grille will be standing by for our use, drinks in the cooler, etc. The location is 9406 Gunpowder Rd, Florence, KY. Directions follow: From I-75, take the Mt. Zion exit (southernmost Florence exit) and go west on Mt Zion Rd. about mile to a stop sign at Gunpowder Rd. If you come to a red light you went the wrong way. Turn right on Gunpowder and go 6/10ths of a mile. On the right you will see a white fence with stone pillars and a concrete driveway. If you pass Sunnybrook on the right you went too far. Turn right into the driveway and follow it over the crest of the hill where it will degrade to gravel. Continue on out past the small white barn, making a gentle right hand curve up to the large white metal building and park. You are there. Background of the Roadmaster project A group project by members of British V8 and others, the Roadmaster project was conceived as a means of educating the public about the synergies between American and British technologies, particularly as it related to sports cars. The first MGB-V8 having been built using the smallest V8 engine ever produced by Buick, we decided to go full circle and build one using the largest Buick V8, the 455. This was anything but a whim. The Buick 455 is perhaps the lightest and most compact big block engine, and has the same general layout as the 215 or Rover V8. Measurements and test fitting showed that the engine will indeed fit, and weighing indicates that the change in vehicle weight with the conversion should be in the range of -10 to +200 lbs at the front of the car, depending on optional lightweight components used, well within a safe margin for the swap. Naturally we are leaning toward the lighter end of the scale. The GT body was chosen to give an added safety margin for body rigidity since this is the first swap of this type. Contributors donated major components and work began in the summer of 2007, as well as incorporation of a non-profit entity to take ownership of the project. At this point the stripped down body shell is mounted on a rotisserie and has the engine and transmission mount points in place, the steering modifications largely completed, much of the rusted panels removed as well as the undercoating, and is close to being ready for replacement sills and other panels. We have two engines, one of which is on a stand and used for fitting and the other in the process of being transported for teardown and rebuild. A Jaguar IRS has been donated and will be brought in this fall and fitted to the body. The timeline calls for completion of a rolling chassis for display at the 2008 British V8 meet in Michigan, and completion of the car for the 2009 meet. Upon completion a rotation schedule will be set up among the contributors who wish to participate and the car will pass from one member to the next for the stated time period, during which the member will take custody, drive the car, take it to local shows and in general display it to the public, thereby fulfilling the goals of the organization. For more information see the following discussion threads: http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=126109 http://www2.mgcars.org.uk/cgi-bin/g...jectar=36&source=T&thread=2007040716030628069 http://www.mgexperience.net/phorum/read.php?40,538455 http://www2.mgcars.org.uk/cgi-bin/g...&subject=36&source=T&thread=20070806023524333 Jim Blackwood <end quote>
More news. The following is a repost from the MG Enthusiasts board: I just got off the phone with Mike Tomaszewski of T&A Performance, and a very informative talk it was. I now have a much better understanding of what our potential sponsors are looking for when they consider a project such as ours. Understandably, they want a concrete idea of what the project entails, who is involved with it and at what level, and what benefits they can expect to receive, as well as assurances that the project will actually be brought to completion and generate the publicity that was promised. They want someone to step up and be willing to take responsibility for those assurances and see to it that all promises are kept. All of which makes perfect sense if you think about it. So there are some things that we need to do. In saying "we" a lot of it is work that I will have to do, but there is some that I can't do, or that provides an opportunity for some of you to help out with. One of the biggest concerns is publicity. The fact that we have the British V8 Newsletter on board is very helpful. [http://www.britishv8.org/] Curtis, a document from you to us stating what level of coverage of the project the newsletter is going to provide would help a great deal, especially if it includes circulation statistics, growth rate and stuff like that. If the sponsors of the project are going to be listed in the articles, footnotes or some other way he would like to know the details. The next two annual meets should provide excellent opportunities for coverage, and I can write articles for the newsletter's use at your request for any of the upcoming issues. In fact I'll volunteer right now to submit an article for the next publication. Mike also wants to see what the car will look like and I think we can use existing photos to show that. Someone should contact the editors of a few of the glossy car magazines as well to see if they are interested in covering the project, and again Curtis, this could be developed into an opportunity that could benefit the newsletter and it's editor should you choose to avail yourself of it. But whether by Curtis or another, contact needs to be made. Most helpful would be if we could find one with a photographer within range of Cincinnati to come and shoot the project. I was told this step really should be done first so that a complete presentation can be made to potential sponsors. There is a lot that we can do to show them that we really are a responsible and dependable organization and that their advertising money is well spent. Believe me, when material costs are a part of the package the presentation has to go to at least one more level of scrutiny for budget approval, and a complete presentation package that represents us well is the only way that we can be persuasive at that review since we will not be there in person. I can put together that package, but you can help bolster the presentation by providing me with materials that I can use. And if someone finds an editor who is interested then we need documentation similar to what I am asking Curtis for. Apparently this is common in the magazine industry. On the topic of sponsor's space on the car. This is something I suggested and we really have had no debate about it, but in talking to Mike I brought up the idea of magnetic signs since it seemed be an easy way to get artwork. That didn't go over real well and I got a bit of a lecture on all the various reasons why. The main problem is the ease with which magnetic signs can be removed, so it's possible that adhesive signs will be fine, but again, someone with a flair for graphics needs to step up to the plate. Using sponsor's existing logos and such all we need do is generate the graphics files and an adhesive sign is only a day away. (edit:The one potential advantage of a magnetic sign that I see is the ability to have it on the unfinished car body at the next British V8 meet where it will be on display as a rolling chassis. Paint work is not scheduled to be done until after that meet.) From my perspective, if the sponsor isn't comfortable with it though I'm not either, and I have no objection to doing all of the artwork in paint as long as we can find someone qualified to do it right. There again, the right graphics files can be easily converted into masks for use in airbrushing the artwork so we still need someone to do the graphics. I have one or two possible prospects locally for paint work who I will approach as soon as we have a usable presentation package put together. We are going to have exactly the same issues there as we have with T&A and this time we can be ready in advance which will look much more professional and competent. The same goes for any of our other potential suppliers, whether they be Moss, D&D, Fast Cars or whoever, and for that matter all of our loyal friends who have already stepped up each deserve no less. I was highly impressed with Mike's forthright attitude. I consider him to have already made a substantial contribution to the project just by the manner in which he entertained the request and responded with valuable information. I feel confident that with the right presentation we can count on some level of support from him and can count him as a valuable asset in terms of helping us understand how to get things done in the context of sponsorship. This is doubly satisfying because his company, T&A Performance [http://www.taperformance.com/] has built a strong reputation in the aftermarket for quality and service, and should definitely be among the vendors that we as converters turn to for quality parts. In our corner of the world, quality has become a watchword as we see the bar rise on the best conversions. Who would have ever thought that we would see over $100,000.00 spent on a conversion, but that much has been done and more. So it is good to find suppliers like T&A who are dedicated and responsive to their market. Now again I need to ask for your help and support. Sometimes it's hard to know what to do, but if you can think of just one thing, no matter how small, that you personally can do to help move the project along, that's all I could hope for. As we see to the small details the large ones will take care of themselves. Jim
Wish I had some sponsors for my JAGUICK project.........I funded it all myself for about $15,000. Maybe I'll race ya when you're done.:beers2: Bruce BQUICK JAGUICK
Believe me it takes more than wishing. Besides, it's not my project. It's a group effort and I'm just donating space, tools and sweat. When yours was done you owned it. When this one is done none of us own it. We are all members of the non-profit that owns it, but if that ever dissolves the assets go to the public. So you see there's hardly any similarity at all other than the engines and the fact that the cars are both British. I don't know if it will ever be raced either, that's not my decision to make. Just as a guess I'd say it probably won't though because of the risk and the insurance. Still, thanks for your comment. It gave me a good chance to clarify some important points about the project and I welcome the participation. Also if you make a contribution to this project your donation is tax deductible, another crucial difference. Jim
Repost: Now that we have complied with the legalities it's fitting that we take care of some of the lesser details. To that end I reconciled the kitty with the spreadsheet and opened an account at Key Bank. I was a few cents off, seems I'd been picking up stray change and tossing it into the pot. At any rate we now have $352.40 on hand after making expenditures of $81.96, which includes the $40 filing fee and $42.13 worth of small parts that I donated the money for. (steering clamps) If this site will allow attachment of a spreadsheet I'll attach it below. I'd like to ask for someone to act as secretary/treasurer. It is not appropriate that I do those duties beyond the formative period of the organization and there are others in our group much more qualified to do those things than I am. Duties would be to keep track of the money and the other donations primarily and I'd be much more comfortable with someone else to help with that. The first person who comes to mind is Steve DeGroat. Steve, I don't know if you would be willing to take that on or not, but to my mind you'd be a fine person for the job. There are several others in our group who should be able to do a good job also. Can we please have some discussion on this? Then I'd like to open nominations. Jim
We are moving to the British V8 forum as the Official permanent site for BADASS, NLC and the Roadmaster project. I will periodically make updates on this site, but for current information go here: http://forum.britishv8.org/read.php?2,166 Jim
