Yesterday Alan and I installed the Big-Ass Wing! It looks as good as it does ridiculous, but I have to admit, it makes the car look a bit more serious about running some fast laps.
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| C4-style wheels, carbon fiber wing, it's almost ready for the big party. |
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| Proudly displaying its wing. But it still doesn't have a gas tank. |
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| Looks somewhat funny car-ish. |
Later we took the car over to Geoff's who will do some welding for us and will fit the air dam, and as it was out in his driveway we put it under a cover. The profile was that of a small funny car. Awesome. If we brought it into the paddock at Thunderhill under a cover people would really wonder.
Other developments - in an attempt to change the gear oil in the diff I was able to add nearly a quart of AmSoil Extreme without siphoning out any oil. ??? Was the diff dry? I had stuck a hose in it and it came out with oil on about 1/2 inch. I hope the PO didn't run the car with no oil in the diff. The bottom was wet so it did leak. Could that much viscous oil leak out through a bad gasket in 25 years?
The tranny didn't have any oil either. None. I'm guessing the PO drained it when he stored the car. The engine had new-looking oil in it, the coolant had been drained, and the brake system had no fluid in it. The tranny also seems to have tried to shed a few parts. We pulled the pan to look inside and there was a spring and two pieces of a broken syncro shoe in the pan. Not good. Fingers crossed. Anyway, everything else in the tranny looks good, to someone lying on his back, with a flash light, and who does
not really know that he is looking at.
Big ass hold-up - the tank we got from OpelWerks appears to have a different type of fitting on the tank's outlet. When we tried hooking up our new aluminum lines we couldn't get the nut/cap on for more than a half turn, then tightening it we stripped threads in the cap. We found similar fittings at our local Parker (Hose and Fitting) store and finally determined that the fitting in the tank is different. We've got several calls into OpelWerks to find out what we should do next (use a different fitting, replace their fitting), but no replies yet. It is a holiday weekend.
This weekend, we'll get the air dam fitted and installed, finish the R/F fender repair, patch some holes in the floor, install the battery in the back, and install hood pins. In between, I may start sanding and we'll put a second coat on the roll cage.
Other than all that, I now have logged about 70 yards in the car - pushing it out of our driveway and into the street, turning it around and getting it to the end of the trailer. Then sitting in it while we roll it off the trailer and into Geoff's driveway. So far it drives pretty nice. Alan say it rolls nice when pushing it.
We are sooooo close to finally driving it.
Alan and I knocked off at 10:30 last night and went downtown to get dinner. One observation, as slow as the work seems to go, day by day, we've done all this in just under 5 weeks.
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