An Update

After close to a month of very limited progress, we finally got back on track and continued working on the Lemans.  We finished bending the transmission cooling lines, after some tips from Dr. Knight and some patient work from Joshua and Maxwell.  We still need to get a new upper line, as the one on right now is somewhat crimped from an initially unsuccessful bending job.  However, the one in place will work for now.  We went to start the car, and nothing happened.  We charged the battery to be completely full, and it still would not start.  We decided that there was still fuel in the car, and went on to check the next things.  The wires from the distributor and at the spark plugs all seemed to be plugged in, but it still would not start.  We then noticed that the positive wire into the ignition coil had broken off.  We went to put it back on, but accidentally put the wire to the oil level light on instead.  Now we know what that wire does.  We found the right wire, put it on, and the car started up.  Unfortunately, we still don't have an exhaust therefore it was very loud and smelly.  Also, the engine ran very rough, and when we increased the richness of the idle mixture, the car began to spit fire.  We took the richness down, and left the car to sit until tomorrow, when we will begin working on fixing what we hope is just a problem with the timing.

The List:

1) Add transmission fluid-Done

2) Get clamps for the drive shaft-Done

3) Put the drive shaft on-Done

4) Put a pulley and belt on the power steering pump or get a new one

5) Put tires on the car-Done

6) Hook up the AC system

7) Attach the radiator properly

8) Get and put on exhaust system

9) Get a new hood, install hood and hood scoops

10) Get a new key and open the trunk

11) Put on/fix accessories i.e. radio, sweet sound system, horn that plays dixie, headlights, etc.

12) Beautify the car's upholstery, paint, etc.

13) Mount ignition coil

14) Attach the throttle and kickdown

13) Get brand new parts like distributor, ignition coil, etc.

November 16th, 2007

King Knight got us a line to hook up the cooling system for the transmission fluid, the only problem is we need two but one's a start. We began to bend the line into place. There was a momentary scare when we put a decent crease in the line, trying to bend it at a 90˚ angle, but luckily fluid still flows through it.

We also managed to get the throttle hooked up, but the engine mount for the throttle is too high for our shiny new carburetor so we will have do get a new one. Luckily King Knight says there are some that come off the base of the carburetor and he's seen them on a similar carburetor before. So as soon as we get that we can get the throttle hooked up properly.

On a separate note we managed to fix our passenger side door. It had been stuck for some time and we had assumed it was an issue with the door. When you tried to open it the door swung into the body and wouldn't open more than an inch or so. It turns out that the problem was again linked to one of the guys who was working on it last year. He had taken off some bolts that held the body to the frame, and the body had sunken in, only slightly but still enough to block the door. We pulled the frame out and now the door opens freely.

In the end we are still waiting on parts, but at least we are a couple steps closer. We still need to get the exhaust system hooked up, but that will come later, and we still have not found a key for the trunk, although we've been trying to find a way to get one made from the valet key we have.

November 8th, 2007

Today was a fairly eventful day for the Lemans. The air compressor for the auto shop was finally working, so we could fill the tires and move the car back from where it was put for float building to it's original spot. Now that was had drive shaft clamps, we lifted the car, hooked up the drive shaft and put the clamps on.

We then started putting transmission fluid in the car. After we had put in about 3/4ths of the amount we needed, we noticed that the car was leaking transmission fluid, so we had to stop. It turns out the cooling lines for the transmission are not hooked up, so we spent the rest of the class period looking for those.

So, yet again, our search for missing parts keeps us from making any progress on the Lemans. The only things we need to do now to drive the car are hook up the aforementioned cooling lines and hook up the throttle.

Spirit Week and the Junk Yard

Tuesday, we found the transmission fluid dipstick and dipstick tube, and Doyle was back! We began to put in the 19 needed pints, and just as quickly it began leaking out. We checked to see where the leak was coming from, and found that there was a nice whole right next to where someone had put a bracket on the dipstick tube. The transmission fluid endeavor was quickly halted, pending the drying of the J-B Weld we had put on. The rest of the week, appeared that it would be a waste, as it was spirit week, and they stuff the floats in the auto shop. We put air in the tires (two of which have since gone flat), and rolled it under the Jaguar, out of the way. The Jag very nicely leaked oil slowly but steadily onto our windsheild. Luckily, we caught this shortly thereafter, and covered the windsheild with a paper towl. However, the entire week was not lost. On Friday, we drove over to Infinity Auto Salvage in EPA. It was pretty cool, with lots of old cars, many of which stacked two high. We finally got the driveshaft clamps, and picked up lugnuts, to replace the missing ones from the left front wheel. We will probably need to get a new power steering pump, as the one we have is missing the pulley gear, and the man at the junkyard said that he didn't think we could get the gear, and that we'd need a whole new one.

This is King Knight. He showed up at Paly last Wednesday, and has not been seen since.
Hopefully we will get a sighting of him again soon.
In the meantime, we have been taking pictures of the car, which should be uploaded by Mike really soon...
and we've been watching movies as the sub doesn't have keys to the toolroom.

Where things stand right now.

Though some people worked on this car last year, basically all that was done successfully on it was to have the engine rebuilt. Granted that was a big help, but they took many of the other parts of the car off, and some of them, like the clamps for the drive shaft were lost over the summer.
We spend our time working on this car during our 7th period under the watchful eye of Mr. Doyle Knight. We look for the lost parts, and put them back on if we find them. Scrounge parts from other cars, and put them on if they fit, and repair things that are broken.
After having worked on this car for about a month and a half, we have definitely made some progress. We have the car running consistently, which took some work, assuming we don't kill the battery. We now have the cooling system hooked up, and just today, we got the alternator hooked up so it will actually charge the battery.

Some things that need doing in only a slightly accurate order:
1) Add transmission fluid
2) Get clamps for the drive shaft from a junkyard.
3) Put the drive shaft on
4) Put a gear and a belt on the power steering pump
5) Put tires on the car
6) Hook up the AC system
7) Attatch the radiator properly
8) Get and put on exhaust system
9) Get a new hood, instal hood and hood scoops
10) Get a new key and open the trunk
11) Put on/fix accessories i.e. radio, sweet sound system, horn that plays Dixie, headlights etc.
12) Beautify the car's upholstery, paint etc.

The final plan for this car is to make it a show car for Paly auto. We want it to look and run well, and be downright sick. So, once we get everything on it running well, Dr. Knight will start to buy us new parts, and we can make it run better and faster, as well as getting it painted so it will look as sweet as it runs. We are hoping to have the car done by field day, which is in mid May.