Z Motor Exchange - Day 2

Today's work continued with the Z motor exchange project and work on prepping both cars' for Sears Pointless. I want to thank Blueberry, Lugnut, and Torch for toiling away with me to get the cars ready. 

Today's tasks for the Z where a lot of the checks and repairs that have been put off as a result of big things in the way (i.e. engine, transmission, bumper you know the mundane stuff). One of the biggest tasks was some repairs on the metal seams along the driver's side fender of the Z. Even before we tormented the car, the Z had been in a front end collision. Repair was done, but through our persistent efforts, those fixes were slowly becoming undone. So, today we took the opportunity to weld some of the plates together. That effort resulted in a lot of sparks, smoke, and yes a few fires.

Also, the D was gone over in some detail. The D’s engine and differential oil were found to be well cooked. The rears shocks also have seen some better days. Finally, the butcher's price of jumping curbs may need to be paid in the price of new tie rods. All these troubles are par for a lemon pushed so hard.

Now, looking at the calendar, there is some feeling that the clock is running down to the race weekend. Today's excellent work by the group covered a lot of ground. However, what was found today is, one car needs some suspension work and the other is still without an engine. So, we have already scheduled the following Sunday as the next main workday. The goal for this will be to fix the D's suspension, and get the Z's engine in and started.

Any, bets on how many times will it take to get the beast to roar to life?

Muddy

Z Motor Exchange

After much deliberation (i.e. several beers), it was determined that the engine compression numbers from the January testing was just too low.  So the big task to get ready for the next race (March which is quickly coming) is for us to change the motor on the Z. The current motor served us well and lasted 7 races.  The specific cause of the trouble is not known.  We do know that the engine, transmission, and differential received a good heat soak and some parts seem to have failed.  This failure is not quite terminal, but we think is unlikely to survive the three racing days plus a practice day at Sonoma.

So, today we started the journey of the motor exchange. Here is the shot of the car in the morning before work began:

This morning I started, when frost was still on the roof, with the most complex job imaginable, the bumper cover.  Shortly after I started Lugnut arrived and in the next hour, he had the exhaust system removed, drive line removed, and began working on the starter. I was still working on removing the bumper cover. Once we I finally got the cover off the German Queen and Torch arrived and the pace of dismantling and destruction increased from there.  By late in the afternoon we had wrenched, twisted, disconnected, cut, drilled, drained, and ablated enough parts that we could remove the motor.

With motor out and lunch in, we spent the rest of the day cleaning up and doing odds and ends in order to get the Z ready for the transplant.  It is most likely we will spend another full work day continuing the olds and end work.  So, it is most likely the following work day that the transplant can commence.  After that the fun really begins, trying to start the car.

For now,  I can say we had a good working weekend and we are well on the way.  Thank you, to all that helped today and we still have some fun work ahead.  

Muddy