Saturday, January 31, 2009

Work Day 7

Well, we were hoping to get the car good enough to take it to our test day tomorrow at MSR Cresson. We got most everything we needed done, however... the clutch is in fact done and needs to be replaced.

Items completed today:
  • Replaced relocated battery wiring with 4 gauge wire
  • Replaced connectors on alternator and checked charging circuit
  • Checked fuel pump, lines and wiring at the pump
  • Mounted "Wink" rear view mirror
  • Safety wired the rings for the hood/trunk pins
  • Re-installed dash gauges
  • Changed oil filter and oil
  • Flushed brake fluid and refilled
  • Bought and installed rear brake light
  • Replaced some of the clutch fluid and bled
Results from today:
  • Car started up first time! (Great considering all the work we did)
  • Brakes much better, but still bad. Front left wheel locks up very easilly. Once new rotors come in we will continue work on brake system.
  • Clutch is definitely slipping and needs to be replaced
  • Handling is pretty bad, but the rotted mismatched tires aren't helping that at all
A few pictures:

Work Day 6

This was work done Thursday...
  • Roll cage finished up
  • Passenger seat re-installed (for drive arounds/training on track)
  • Driver race seat installed
  • Racing harness installed
  • Kill switch completed and hood cut to allow access
  • Battery relocation completed





Sunday, January 25, 2009

Work Day 5

Another pretty productive day of work.
  • Front sway bar mid point bushings replaced (stocks were destroyed)
  • Bracket fabricated and installed to support fuse box where battery used to be
  • Air intake system completed and IAT relocated
  • More progress on master kill switch - bypass wiring for Alternator
  • Body modifications for drivers seat
  • Internal sheet metal of doors removed (for cage fit)
  • A good percentage of welds for the cage completed

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Work Day 4

Tonight's meeting was really a work day more then anything. Brick and I were already working on the car as people arrived, so we all just continued to work as each person showed up. Productive for sure.

Let's see if I can remember most of the things we got done...
  • Installed hood and trunk pins
  • Got most of the cage fitted in place
  • Cut and removed most of the dash
  • Cut more of the old cage donor car up (ready for someone to come take)
  • Removed sunroof assembly, complete w/ motor, etc. Opened up quite a bit of headroom.
  • Started battery relocation project
  • Swapped out bad rear struts (originals were toast)
  • Swapped out front shock inserts (originals worn out)
A few pictures below... and more here.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Work Day 3

Long day, but pretty productive. Thanks to Nate and Thuy for going and picking up our cage donor car, and Paavo for borrowing and bringing the cutting torch. Also a big thanks to my friend Bob who helped with a lot of the cutting and even borrowed a cutting rig from work for us when we ran out of gas!

We cut apart the donor car and recovered plenty of donor cage material. We removed both doors from the Celica and were able to test fit a few pieces of the cage in the car and it seems like we can make it work pretty well.

We also removed the blower assembly and heater coil assembly from under the dash as well. I also flushed the cooling system as well (currently dry).

A few pictures are below, with more here.
Donor as it arrived



Donor after we finished with it




Test fitting cage pieces

More of the cage pieces

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Thurs Eve Meeting & Work

Good meeting tonight everyone... we accomplished some needing things at the meeting and then went into working on the car.

First up was helping Nate push out and load up Car 1 so he could bring it to it's new "home" for future work for Team 1.

Then we jumped in and got our car into it's new home in the shop, and got a few things accomplished:
  • Remove rear side glass and rear window
  • Remove front bumper cover & lights
  • Remove tail lights and rear mid cover
  • Cut vent holes in rear mid cover for better air flow through car
  • Remove steering wheel airbag
We also got a decent work list put together for this coming Saturday's work day as well.


  

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Work Day 2

This should really be called a mini-work day :)

Paavo came out and we started work on the car around 2pm, and just finished up about 4:30pm. Got the exhaust dropped and checked it all out, and dropped the muffler from the system. We also removed the front fender liners, did some clean up and relay/fuse replacements on the main relay/fuse center, etc. Measured the front left wheel/tire combo and it came in at 34 lbs. We will still need to weigh the passenger side soon as a comparison (different wheels).

A few pictures, with more here...

Monday, January 12, 2009

eLemonators were Accepted!

As most of you know... we have 2 teams. Team 1 was already accepted for the next race (Houston), but our team was not. We have been on the waiting list for a while now, and just got word tonight that we were finally accepted!

Of course... this means we have a lot of work to do in order to get Car 2 ready!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

1st Work Day

Nate, Paavo and I started stripping the new car today. Removed the seats, carpet, lower dash, center console, door panels, rear deck, headliner, side windows, power window motor and controls, etc.

Also started stripping some of the exterior: Removed motorized headlights, AC compressor, condenser, vacuum cruise control system, etc. Already fabricated a bracket for the re-use of one of the throttle control wires and it will be ready to be installed tomorrow.

Since the AC compressor was removed, we went and picked up a new shorter belt that was needed, and also a replacement power steering belt.

Quite a bit of work completed today in the 6+ hours or so the 3 of us worked on it. A few pictures are below, and more are here.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

'92 Toyota Celica GT Aquired!

Some team members are on their way back from Houston with our Team 2 (The eLemonators) car! It will need a lot of prep work, but we are ready for it!