The Bluebird Project

YouTube video by TheBluebirdProject Taming a rally monster in just three weeks. Can Emily do it? #Ford RS200

Ems is taking on the challenge of her first EVER drive of a car being in the RS200 at Elvington.
She has only 3 weeks to master it whilst not being allowed to drive a car, at all. We have a plan.

youtu.be/R2AOpGxMYM4?...

All that remained of our beautifully crafted canopy after it went airborne & destroyed itself on K7's first fast run. In trying to fix one problem we inadvertently created another & blew the canopy off. We never got to chase that gremlin out.

#bluebird #teamwork #restoration

YouTube video by TheBluebirdProject Ford RS200 Rally Icon Restoration Part 15

This week's RS200 video is up. We've been getting bolder still with the resin & making more good progress.
Our Aussie cousins tell us that RS stands for rat droppings. Not far wrong at this stage but it's getting better.

youtu.be/yZ8gFHfgCCE?...

YouTube video by TheBluebirdProject Installing The Engine - The Bluebird Project

With talk of an engine going into K7 here's how to do it. There was never any reason to take it out again, of course but hey-ho.

#bluebird #jetengine #teamworkmakesthedreamwork

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K7 put away after her first return to water in 51 years. Maintenance & checks complete & drysuits drying on the spars. Once the team had successfully returned Bluebird to the water it was off to the Black Bull for a well earned pint.

#teamwork

It's been like old times at Bluebird Project headquarters today. Skin pins & rivets in our Ford RS200 chassis. 😊

#bluebird #RS200 #Ford #rally #restoration #carrestoration
#teamwork

Ted's understudy K7 pilot, Stew Campbell doing some safety training with Sally Diver ahead of taking to the water for the first time. K7 is quite a bit different to his Red Arrows Hawk, or so we thought. He described taxiing as much the same but for lack of rudder pedals.

YouTube video by TheBluebirdProject Ford RS200 Rebuild Part 14 Getting Stuck in.

Our latest RS200 video is up.
After weeks of experiment trying to work out how to repair mashed aluminium honeycomb we finally took the plunge and it was a great success.

youtu.be/LyOlj5vbRpw?...

It was pitch dark by the time K7 was snug in her boatshed, her home for the next 10 days.
It was a very long day and a huge team effort to which everyone gave their all. She could have been back to the water multiple times by now but for the actions of a small minority.

#teamworkmakesthedreamwork

K7 arrives on the shores of Loch Fad for her first outing in 51 years. All her devoted team could Hooe for was that they'd done everything right & she'd work first time out. In a few days we'd find out.

#TeamWorkMakesTheDreamWork

10 years ago. This crossmember in K7's frame is new. The original was recovered in 67 so we never had it. It needed a row of inserts welded in to help secure the front spar so time to get welding.

#bluebird #Engineering #restoration #Teamwork #TeamWorkMakesTheDreamWork

YouTube video by TheBluebirdProject Ford RS200 Restoration Routing Mayhem & Rivets.

The latest Bluebird Project RS200 rebuild video is up on YouTube. The usual workshop banter, cutting honeycomb panels and getting reacquainted with rivets while we watch & wait for any sign of progress on our big blue boat.

youtu.be/IYpz0X_2aKc?...

10 years ago. The Bluebird Project team was fitting the sponson sealing strips closing the joint between billet-cut planing wedges & fabricated sponson core. For no good reason the upper screws were 1/8th BSF & the lower ones 4BA, both stainless countersunk. Nightmare to find!

Techie question for the day. Which one of these is a Pop rivet?

#bluebird #engineering #rivets #teamwork

TheBluebirdProject The official video channel for The Bluebird Project, the team that recovered, rebuilt over 20 years then successfully ran Donald Campbell's Bluebird K7. Now rebuilding Ford's iconic Group-B rally car,...

Some new videos up on the Bluebird Project YouTube channel about our Ford RS200 chassis restoration.

#RS200 #Ford #rally #80s #restoration

m.youtube.com/user/TheBlue...

Ten years ago we were building new sponson tops from fresh material then destroying them again to piece-in recovered shards of original recovered from the depths of Coniston Water.

#bluebird #restoration #teamwork

YouTube video by TheBluebirdProject Part 7 Demolition, Reconstruction & Rampant Rot

Another update on the RS200 restoration. Lots of demolition going on right now but we're getting to the end of the bad stuff and soon we'll be building for real.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=H0w_...

#RS200 #rs200 #ford #fordRS200 #Ford #restoration #groubrally #80s #80scar #iconic #rally #groupB

Fabricating Victor Pelican's feet. The toes were welded onto 1.5mm sheet then sculpted with a dental drill. They were a lot of work but well worth it.

#metalart #metalsculpture #sculpture #pelicans #pelican #artist #metalshaping

One part of K7 that took a lot of getting right was the canopy. It's such an iconic part of K7's look it had to be beyond perfect. The plan was to create one canopy for running, one for display and two spares that could be converted either way.

#bluebird #engineering

Our new winter hoodies are back on our shop at www.bluebirdproject.info
And modelled by Ems.

The front and rear sump guards have arrived for our Peugeot 205 T16. This is going to be a weapon of a car.

#Peugeot #peugeot205 #rallying #rallycar

YouTube video by TheBluebirdProject Ford RS200 Build. Team Banter, Tin-Bashing & more Puzzles

Our latest RS200 Ford video is up.

#RS200 #Ford #rally #restoration #carrestoration

youtu.be/36Zf9wR1FRg?...

More work on Victor Pelican today. His tail is finally finished two layers of feathers, one more layer to fasten over the top. I got a little carried away making those!

#Pelican #pelicans #metal #sculpture #metalart #welding

Victor Pelican is getting some more feathers today. He's only waited ten years for these.

#Pelican #metalart #sculpture #aluminium

Bluebird K7 at speed on Loch Fad, Isle of Bute August 2018
Sunk in a fatal accident in 1967 K7 lay on the bottom of Coniston Water for the next 34 years until recovered and given a 20 year painstaking restoration by the Bluebird Project.

#Bluebird #restoration #teamwork

Victor Pelican is back on the bench. He's a long term project. Life size Californian Brown Pelican sculpted in aluminium over a steel frame. He was started in 2010 and is almost finished.

#Pelican #sculpture #art #metal #metalart

Another of Emily's metal flower sculptures is ready for paint. This time a Morning Glory made of steel.

Hi all, we're joining you on Bluesky.

From all at the Bluebird Project.

#bluebird #engineering #teamwork