• From: WPB Fl.
  • Registered: 2010-10-27
  • Posts: 1,571

Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

Fast thinking

Some things just can not be made up, another first:

Viper powered rolls highway tested with no driver or working engine, reloads self on trailer after test.  *no one hurt*   Smoke that Tesla!

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  • bilcoh
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  • Registered: 2018-07-02
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Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

This is EXCELLENT!!!!  With your "$500 budget be damned" attitude and all your flawless progress thus far, you NEED things like this to add Lemons zest to the recipe.

Reminds me of "About Last Night", where Jim Belushi tells Rob Lowe:

"You know your problem?  You're TOO good looking.  The best thing that could happen to you is an industrial accident."

This needs to be in your BS Inspection book for sure.  So glad it ended so well, given the possibilities.  Plus, you know your suspension work is good since it tracked so straight.

Many thoughts:

1. Add "Qualified Stunt Driver" to the "Master Fabricator" and "Methamphetamine User" (only cause I imagine this is necessary to keep the pace you've been on) list of skills for the hero of our story.

2. Steven Segal seems ever more true, perhaps crossed with one of the guys from The A Team.

3. "I then lined up the trailer, slammed on the brakes to try and get the car back on top of the trailer so I could slow everything down to safety on the shoulder."   Really?  Because everyone's first instinct would be "Hmmm, how can I get the car BACK ON THE TRAILER without too much inconvenience!" 

Fucking superhero.  Can we just put "Darko" on your cape?

I'm LOVING this.

Dave

278 Reply by Spank

  • Spank
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  • Registered: 2009-06-10
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Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

bilcoh wrote:

Fucking superhero.


+1

Spank's Website

  • From: Seacoast NH
  • Registered: 2013-01-01
  • Posts: 472

Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

Spank wrote:
bilcoh wrote:

Fucking superhero.


+1

+100

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  • Registered: 2016-05-17
  • Posts: 63

Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

bilcoh wrote:

Fucking superhero.

TROOF!

  • bilcoh
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  • From: Seattle
  • Registered: 2018-07-02
  • Posts: 164

Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

darkostoj wrote:

I was driving down the expressway and feel a thump.  I look in the rear view mirror only to see the car I have been working on rolling down the highway BEHIND the trailer.  Yes.....BEHIND the trailer.

OK, OK, OK.  I'm still processing all this.  The car had rolled off the trailer, dropping about a food down onto the roadway in a freefall, somehow bounced and settled still in a straight line.  THEN, the rear strap, which is now attached to the trailer, runs under the car and is still attached to some part of the rear suspension.   So the pulling force is now being applied AT THE REAR, and it STILL pulled in a straight line?

Wait!  There's more.  Even if this trailer has a tilting bed on it, it wouldn't naturally have been in the tilted position, would it? If not, THEN, the car had to hit the rear of the trailer with enough force to jump that 1 foot height not only with the front wheels, but then again, with the rears? 

Lordy, where is the rear-facing dash cam when you need one?  That was EPIC!!!

BTW, so many ways this could have gone horribly more wrong.  So glad you're OK, let alone the car, your tow vehicle, and the trailer.  By now, I assume all repairs have been completed and the car's ECU is wired up and running, yes?

Oh, maybe my expectations are a bit too lofty now <g>!

Power On, Darko.  You're now my personal hero.

282 Reply by darkostoj (edited by darkostoj 2018-09-09 03:14 PM)

  • Registered: 2018-07-02
  • Posts: 266

Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

I mean, brushing on "safety red" oil based Rustoleum was the only way.

https://i.imgur.com/riYhqFb.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/G8NLdeA.jpg

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  • Registered: 2018-07-02
  • Posts: 266

Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

bilcoh wrote:
darkostoj wrote:

I was driving down the expressway and feel a thump.  I look in the rear view mirror only to see the car I have been working on rolling down the highway BEHIND the trailer.  Yes.....BEHIND the trailer.

OK, OK, OK.  I'm still processing all this.  The car had rolled off the trailer, dropping about a food down onto the roadway in a freefall, somehow bounced and settled still in a straight line.  THEN, the rear strap, which is now attached to the trailer, runs under the car and is still attached to some part of the rear suspension.   So the pulling force is now being applied AT THE REAR, and it STILL pulled in a straight line?

Wait!  There's more.  Even if this trailer has a tilting bed on it, it wouldn't naturally have been in the tilted position, would it? If not, THEN, the car had to hit the rear of the trailer with enough force to jump that 1 foot height not only with the front wheels, but then again, with the rears? 

Lordy, where is the rear-facing dash cam when you need one?  That was EPIC!!!

BTW, so many ways this could have gone horribly more wrong.  So glad you're OK, let alone the car, your tow vehicle, and the trailer.  By now, I assume all repairs have been completed and the car's ECU is wired up and running, yes?

Oh, maybe my expectations are a bit too lofty now <g>!

Power On, Darko.  You're now my personal hero.

Actually, both straps had ripped.

Yeah man, INSANE

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  • bilcoh
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  • Registered: 2018-07-02
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Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

WHAT?  So it was rolling under its own momentum?  This just keeps getting better. You need to get to a casino immediately.

  • From: Tustin, CA
  • Registered: 2010-12-30
  • Posts: 3,275

Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

Had that happen with a sprint car I worked on.  Wasnt in the truck but they said it rolled off the back and then when they braked it hit the back of the trailer and then followed them down the freeway offramp.  Sometimes its better to be lucky than good.

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  • From: Elverson, PA
  • Registered: 2017-08-15
  • Posts: 1,130

Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

Appears to be a beaver-tail type trailer, yes?

So, on the abruptly braking truck, the front dives and the tail lifts.

The trailer front lifts [as it's hitched to the tail of the truck], and the beaver-tail now drags on or close to the freeway - at a slower speed.

The tires are rolling at highway speed, hit the slower trailer, grab onto the bed of the trailer, and the rotational inertia of the tires [proportionately small] and the momentum of the "Serpent" [proportionately large] help to propel, or, to:

' "excite" the "Serpent"  onto the "beaver-tail" until it "arrived" on the trailer'

... including getting the one rubber tire over the fender [it must not have been aligned perfectly].

... It couldn't have happened any other way ...

  • From: U.K.
  • Registered: 2013-08-15
  • Posts: 112

Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

Hello. I have an Engineer friend at the Rolls Royce factory here in England who I know will (unofficially) bloody love this. If you need any help drop me a line via my profile and I'll put you in touch. wink

Keep up the good work!

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  • From: Akron-Canton
  • Registered: 2016-04-01
  • Posts: 85

Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

That's epic.....
I'm paranoid about tow straps as I used to drive a tow truck and had my share of "OH SHIT" moments....
Once I had a car on the back of the roll back with it's rear wheels on the ground. J hooks in the front suspension the correct way. I hit a nasty bump and saw a car in the next lane that looked like the one I was towing....Holy Shit. It was the car I was towing. Basically like a dog on a leash in the next lane....

MBTL Racing
  • From: Portlandia
  • Registered: 2014-08-08
  • Posts: 1,035

Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

That car is going to DOMINATE! Our 1600 1/2 buggy jumped off the trailer on the way to a Best In The Desert championship. That car wants to drive, not be driven!

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  • Registered: 2017-05-10
  • Posts: 43

Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

darkostoj wrote:

https://i.imgur.com/kakJmeL.jpg

Glad you, your build, your trailer, and everyone else on the roads are safe.

I think the improvised trailer fender repair with a wrench and a cinderblock is my favorite part of the build so far.

Or that sweet, sweet crane from one of your earlier posts. Hard to pick.

I'm guessing this made you pucker so hard that you vacuum locked to your seat. Were the jaws of life required to extract you?

291 Reply by darkostoj (edited by darkostoj 2018-09-11 09:22 PM)

  • Registered: 2018-07-02
  • Posts: 266

Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

Bent a piece of aluminum for the upper radiator mount & welded it to the top of the radiator.

https://i.imgur.com/Fnc7zqh.jpg

The thermostat housing was not happy

https://i.imgur.com/dDiRnUn.jpg

LUCKILY, I had a trans tunnel underbody cover out of a Corvette C6 laying around to cut up for some fab time fun

https://i.imgur.com/b5RdUij.jpg

Hacked the thermostat housing and welding on a cap, then welding on a hose fitting.  Ran out of Argon so no finished pics tonight.

https://i.imgur.com/rcYeKRt.jpg

Reservoir mounted

https://i.imgur.com/1C4AguX.jpg

GENIOUS IDEA

won't work for Lemons, but how badass would it be to put a piece of clear plastic in that center hole of the firewall to see the engine while you're driving.

https://i.imgur.com/2sZ9a9Y.jpg

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  • From: Orion Twp, MI
  • Registered: 2011-04-18
  • Posts: 776

Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

Highly recommend some sort of rubber isolation / vibration dampener for that radiator mount. Frontal radiator supports move and twist around A LOT more than people realize, which will easily crack the core on a solid mounted radiator.

The Pentastar whisperer

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293 Reply by Emyr

  • Emyr
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  • Registered: 2018-08-08
  • Posts: 49

Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

darkostoj wrote:

GENIOUS IDEA

won't work for Lemons, but how badass would it be to put a piece of clear plastic in that center hole of the firewall to see the engine while you're driving.

It'll need to be gunrange-spec polycarbonate if you don't want a thrown rod or some other component coming through it. You'd need to check the fire performance of the "plastic" and the product you might use to seal round the edges too.

294 Reply by darkostoj (edited by darkostoj 2018-09-12 06:11 AM)

  • Registered: 2018-07-02
  • Posts: 266

Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

Bayley wrote:

Highly recommend some sort of rubber isolation / vibration dampener for that radiator mount. Frontal radiator supports move and twist around A LOT more than people realize, which will easily crack the core on a solid mounted radiator.

Good looking out!  The mount isn't done yet, but it slipped my mind to have some flex in the mount.

Emyr wrote:

It'll need to be gunrange-spec polycarbonate if you don't want a thrown rod or some other component coming through it. You'd need to check the fire performance of the "plastic" and the product you might use to seal round the edges too.

I thought of that as more of a fun thing when not racing. It would only be a few bolts to swap out a metal plate for a clear piece of something.

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  • bilcoh
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  • Registered: 2018-07-02
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Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

darkostoj wrote:

I thought of that as more of a fun thing when not racing. It would only be a few bolts to swap out a metal plate for a clear piece of something.

So, this isn't just a race car, then?

296 Reply by darkostoj (edited by darkostoj 2018-09-12 08:55 AM)

  • Registered: 2018-07-02
  • Posts: 266

Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

bilcoh wrote:
darkostoj wrote:

I thought of that as more of a fun thing when not racing. It would only be a few bolts to swap out a metal plate for a clear piece of something.

So, this isn't just a race car, then?

It is a 100 percent race car. I'm still gonna drive it around town for fun!

2018 Where the Elite Meet to Cheat - Organizer's Choice Award
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2019 The Tony Swan Never-Say-Die Memorial - Index of Effluency Award
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  • From: Chandler, AZ
  • Registered: 2011-04-18
  • Posts: 839

Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

bilcoh wrote:
darkostoj wrote:

I thought of that as more of a fun thing when not racing. It would only be a few bolts to swap out a metal plate for a clear piece of something.

So, this isn't just a race car, then?

If I spent this much effort on my car, I'd want to show it off around town also!

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  • From: Elverson, PA
  • Registered: 2017-08-15
  • Posts: 1,130

Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

darkostoj wrote:

GENIOUS IDEA

won't work for Lemons, but how badass would it be to put a piece of clear plastic in that center hole of the firewall to see the engine while you're driving.

So basically you want a peephole to look at the throbbing motivator of the "Serpent of Ecstasy"....

This thread just keeps on getting better and better.

There should be a new trophy for this....

I have to say, without the pictures, I'd have a hard time believing the single-handed reloading of the uncontrolled rolling lost racecar, but strange things happen every day.

This is epic.

  • Registered: 2018-07-02
  • Posts: 266

Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

Ah, looks like the little trailer escapade wasn't without its problems.

Cracked oil pan & trans
https://i.imgur.com/fbgDqaF.jpg

2018 Where the Elite Meet to Cheat - Organizer's Choice Award
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  • bilcoh
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Re: I bought a Rolls Royce and want to build it.

Maybe that just exposed a weak point that would have shown up on track. It’s a blessing.