Getting ready to remove the ICE

Well, we are getting ready to pull the motor this Saturday. Had a visit yesterday from San Diego's resident expert Mr. Quevedo (Mr. Q) to talk about machining the adapter plate for the transmission. Another great resource coming our way!

We have a pesky bolt that is stripped and does not want to come loose, but we may be able to remove the drive shaft without removing what it is connected to. Once the drive shaft is removed, we will be ready. We hope to get some video and I will post pictures of our progress on Saturday. For some reason it does not seem like it is really happening until that ICE motor is out of the car.

Exhaust Manifold removed

We removed the exhaust manifold this Thursday. A few pesky bolts were a bit of trouble but so far no major trouble. Some of the students continued to make mock battery boxes so that we can estimate the battery box we will need. I am thinking that I will use most of the back and place a sheet of plexiglass or similar clear material between the back and front of the interior of the car. I have a few fun ideas too about that, but that will be a few months away.

One major concern is under the dash. Lots of loose wires and I am not sure where everything was supposed to be connected to what. The car had Air conditioning so some of the wires are meant for that. I plan on just having a heater (I do not like cold at all), I can tolerate the heat during the summer. I am reading up on auto electronics and it does not appear too daunting. I may end up rewiring most of the electronics as much of what the wires were there for were to support the internal combustion engine and it's support systems. I just need to be able to run the accessories (which I am learning are on a seperate harness - I hope...). Headlights, heater, dash instruments (I will be adding a few new instrument panels anyway so will have to rewire those). I am not sure if I want to remove the AC system and then just try to keep the heating system or replace the AC system with the stock heater system (from the junkyard). I will install an electric heater core and there is no need for water to run through it so that makes it a bit easier to manage.

Next up is to remove the exhaust pipes and the drive shaft. I may leave the old fuel lines, but if they are easy to remove, I will do so. Taking stuff apart is fun and easy, but putting it back together will be the interesting challenge.

We have a new sponsor: Mission Federal Credit Union! They want to fit us up with shirts and we hope to get some mechanic type pit crew type shirts. We are working on a logo for "Los Rayos Engineering" (our team name) and the Project Z logo is coming along as well.

The crew will also be included in a newsletter from Southbay Expressway!

Next up will be (finally) getting underneath the car to work on the drive shaft and transmission to prepare for removing the engine and transmission next Saturday!

Fuel intake removed!

We had a few pesky nuts and bolts, but we finally removed the intake manifold. With so many wires and lines going in we have now freed up considerable space in the engine compartment. Since there is so much room, we should have a fairly reasonable time removing the engine and transmission (hopefully on our next Saturday, Feb. 27th). Some of the students are creating model batteries from cardboard and duct tape so that we can plan out the needed configuration of the batteries in the back. Those batteries will be big!

Hoping to get to the exhaust system this next Thursday and take a look under the car.

A mouse and a black widow...

We took out more parts on Tuesday; the starter, fuel filter, and fuel lines. Almost all lines have been removed from the engine including most of the electronic fuel injection cables. Looks like we are close to being all clear around the engine. We will have to take a look under the car at the transmission and the lines that go to that.

While removing the starter, we found a nice juicy black widow spider, and we will have to be extra careful to watch out for that little girl. Also, we found a little mouse who lives in the ground near the car. Not sure if he is making visits to the car to keep warm, but he may be trying to get stuffing from the car seats for his little abode. We will have to keep an eye on those guys. The school has displaced their home, so they have not really gone anywhere...

Next, taking a look under the car and the transmission.

Summary of the week

It was great to see so many interested students! We had great fun in taking a look at what we could remove and dreaming of what the finished car will have. Here are a few pictures of the awesome students!

First Saturday Work session

It rained most of the morning. I suspect most kids decided to stay home and dry, but Arlet, Michael, and Marcus showed up to work. We managed to drain the oil, remove the old air conditioning condenser and pump and all of the old heater hoses. We had to take breaks here and there because of the rain, but it wasn't too bad. Thanks to Marcus one of the work benches we have for the classroom is now enclosed to secure some of the power tools. It looks great too!
Everything is coming off so easily and quickly, we may have a chance to pull the engine sooner than I imagined. However, from countless times working on cars and other home projects, one bolt can create countless hours of toil. I don't expect it though, things were built for surprising ease to work on. Great engineering for the 1970s!
We brainstormed about a crew name in the hopes of doing new projects in the future. Who knows what we can do. We voted on "Los Rayos Engineering" which was by far the best of all the ideas we had.

Ironically, as I was set to go home, my van would not start! Turning over, but not catching. I suspect it is the fuel system as I just gave it a tune up, but it could be so many things! Can't wait to not have to deal with oil changes, filter changes, fuel pumps, exhaust leaks, radiator flushes, heater hoses breaking, and all of the other stuff the infernal internal combustion engine requires. Well, thank goodness for the school vans I was able to get home to get out of the rain. Hopefully I can figure out what is going down with it tomorrow, I would hate to have to tow it somewhere! $$$ Hopefully, I can spend more on this conversion than on keeping my other cars running! Until next post, El Rayo signing off...