Ha ha! An update! Almost on time too!
We got the Impala running, after reassembling the motor with a new(used) RV camshaft, a junkyard four-barrel, chrome goodies and a lot of people working on it. Fired it up and ran great, with just a hint of tappet noise. Oh well.
Turned out one of the valve cover gaskets was installed incorrectly, and was puking oil all over the passenger side exhaust manifold. The next class (last class) we pulled the fixed the leak and fired it up again.
Turned out someone had dropped a wee screw down the carburetor and decided not to tell anyone. Instead of us sneaking it out with a magnet, the engine sucked it down the intake and into the head of a piston. Out come the tools again.
I got out of the Roboboot mid January. Although there was no noticeable bone growth, and both the Radiologist and my Doctor were saying I needed to be in the boot another month (I figured I'd be falling off the wagon if that were the case), the Orthopaedic Surgeon said it was fine, carry on. So I took the boot off and gingerly took my first steps. Now the long road to re-learning how to walk begins. As of this writing, I still have a hard time going down stairs as the ankle is quite stiff/atrophied(?). This too shall pass.
New semester at school. Very stressful first few days. We did not have a full lab of AutoCAD software. We had acquired estimates, and decided to go with IntelliCAD CADopia as it was about $1500 cheaper, and was a comparable product. It took some time to finally get the software installed, and I haven't had the time to really sit down and learn it. luckily, my previous training and experience with AutoCAD R12, R13, R14, Lt, as well as AutoSketch 3.0 (DOS) and AutoSketch 2.1 (Windows) have made the transisiton a bit easier. In this day and age you can't get too attached to a particular type of software. Darn my affection for (a href="http://www.corel.com">WordPerfect.
Senior Metal is building Midget GoKarts. Based on the Bar Stool racer, it's
a cheap riot of fun.
This semester I am teaching Mechanics 12B - Drivetrain. Hope to do some cool
engine rebuilding. I may build up the GLC motor for the Lotus clone. Possibly knife edge the crank, windage tray,
crank scraper, polished and shot peened rods, decked, milled head, reground cam, sidedraft webers, ported, blah blah
blah. Hope to bring the factory 65hp up to a more meagre 100 or so. Unless of course, this costs more than snagging
a Ford Contour 2.0L Zetec, and mating it to a Mustang T5. With cams, intake and header, I should be pushing 180hp.
I hope. "Speed costs: how fast do you want to go?"
I ordered a wack of steel tubing to begin the Lotus Clone. I've been dreaming of building one of these for over
20 years. High time I start.
We moved into our new house. Very nice. SO much bigger than the cardboard box out behind Safeway we were living
in. Nasty driveway in winter though. Will be fun on the longboard in spring. I have SO much stuff. Pop's brought
over four truckloads of stuff I have been keeping in storage out at his place. Anyone want some Automotive reference
books? I have TONS.
Had a full licence of Rhino 3D, bot somebody misplaced the install disks, so
when they moved the lab, the couldn't move the software, so I have no Rhino anymore. Not that I had it personally,
I haven't taught Drafting since 1997. I did play with it at home for a bit recently, as I suspected that was the
only legit software we had at the school.
Potential racing schedule at CACC and at
Kelowna Corvette Club.
Probably depends on how expensive this house is going to be...