Trip to Operation Z in Northridge

Our annual Team Vista trip to Magic Mountain was right on our way to view a 1975 280Z that had been converted already. I drove up with Jimena, Ashley, Shannon and Marcus. We took lots of pictures and the owner Joe Porcelli was great about showing all of the things he worked on to make it all work out. Dave was especially great about telling us about any questions we had about the challenges working on this particular car. The Z was beautiful and we were a bit intimidated by how great his car looked - we have lots of work to do! Deciding the size of batteries is the biggest challenge at the moment and lots depend upon what we decide to use as batteries. I had a thought about using LiFePo (Lithium Iron Phosphate) batteries (only $7500!) but maybe we could work something out with a dealer or the manufacturer itself. That would save lots on weight! Anyway, once we decide, we can move forward with designing everything to work with those batteries.

Adapter Plate Progress

The adapter plate has been moving forward quite well. Mr. Q from our Kick Gas Club has been awesome about helping me out with getting that taken care of. We worked together one Saturday to find the center spot on the bell housing profile (using a piece of card board!).

Q had the flywheel lightened and the ring gear removed. Once that was completed and the outer adapter plate was machined for the profile, we put everything together to see how it all fit. It looked beautiful! Next is to have the flywheel/pressure plate/clutch assembly put together and balanced (which is now complete).
I have already made the purchases of the motor and a good portion of the electronics. That should come in this week. Hopefully, next Saturday we will be able to put the motor and transmission together!

Updates and Styler's Auto Body

Well, it has been a long time since I have updated and logged the progress so far. First I have been able to deliver the car to Styler's Auto Body in National City for the auto body and paint. I can't say enough how great it is for Joey Reyes to hook us up for this gift! Since after spring break we had a chance to visit the shop and do a bit of body work with his resident expert, Enrique. Here is a photo of them getting taught a bit about bondo work. Enrique was great, putting each of them to work and showing them the processes for smoothing out small dings and such. He was a natural teacher and I was glad he was available to show them this process.

Presentation at the Chula Vista Rotary meeting.

We made a visit to the local Rotary chapter meeting on Friday, March 26th. For our first presentation for Project Z, we did a great job! Here is a link to the newsletter with a write up of our presentation to the Chula Vista Rotary: http://staff.hthcv.hightechhigh.org/~tcuevas/hthcv/09-10/project_z/4-2-2010_chulatarian.pdf

Hopefully, it is the first of many presentations that the students will provide to the community about Project Z!

Car is being painted!

Well, we got the car to the auto body and paint garage, Styler's Auto Body and Paint in National City. Thanks to their sponsorship they are doing body work and giving it a paint job! Thanks to Joey Reyes (owner) for the awesome donation!

Took a look at the adapter plate last Saturday. Looks good so far although it looks like the flywheel is so heavy that it needs a bit of lightening. The distances between all of the parts is also an issue so we are not sure if further machining will be necessary. I hope not... I would much prefer having a clutch so that other people can drive it more easily. I feel pretty confident that it will all work out.

Still on Spring Break. Once we get the motor and connect everything together, then hopefully we can get the other electronics moving forward...