One of my favorite things about building a car or taking on any project of that size is the community that is created around the construction of it. When you work on a project of this magnitude and with as many high school kids that have stepped foot into the garage, every step along the way and stage of the project has significant and specific memories of conversations and people. Many of you probably do not know, but I have bilateral nerve damage in my arms, and lost the use of both my arms for about five years. During this time, I could do nothing, so I ended up helping my wife with the youth group at our church. What a cool experience to get to know other people's teenagers :-). Most of them actually listen when they're not yours. However, it was sad to see so much potential in those kids, and not a whole lot of output.

I am not a fan of sitting around in a room, going over curriculum in a book, and I don't think many of the kids are either. Building a car is one of those things that can bring out the best and worst in you. ( any wrench throwers out there?) The problems you run into...and the solutions end up employing, mirror many of those problems you will find in life later. Building a car is a source of endless object lessons. So, why not? I threw the invitation out there, and people started showing up. We meet once a week for four hours and work on everything from design, parts cleaning, welding and fabrication, engine swaps and pretty much everything you can run into. Most of the kids had never touched a power tool before. It is really awesome to see them get the hang of it and gain confidence in themselves...and really enjoy the rewards of doing a good job on long term project.

We have been going strong for one year and eight months:

Here are a few highlights

You got to love the face he's making on this one...

One of the many things we had to do was a complete roof swap. The original one was completely rusted out...

Let's learn about clean welding!

Many chefs in the kitchen, attempting to solve the mounting issue...and sharpening analytical thinking skills along the way.

The more experienced, instructing the new recruits on the idea of paper templates. See what I mean?, they totally pay attention:-)

How do you know, the new roof is going to fit and line up? Because the gauge you made off of the original roof, lines up with the new trim holes...

The motor will absolutely not fit!

Just enough danger and pain to intrigue the more adventurous...

Everyone who shows up works... no favorites, no exceptions. If you're new, you will likely be degreasing or sandblasting (See below), not welding, or working on the intake manifold.

It has been really awesome to watch these kids learn and grow. Some of them have gotten their own cars and projects, and others are making all kinds of crazy stuff. ( medieval armor and the like).

It's not that they all have to end up being into cars, or Fords or what ever, it's more about showing others that most things are doable, if you're just not afraid to try.

That applies to all areas of life :-)

peace,

kai

My buddy picked up the container from Oz last week.  I have been waiting for quite a while to get the overdrive transmission.  The transmission mount on the overdrive is 4 inches farther towards the rear of the car than the three speed, which I had mocked up. 

I couldn't finish my rear suspension until I had the driveline mounted, and I could get the pinion angle set, so ended up doing a lot of small piddly things that didn't show much progress.  I was also very curious about getting the container, as I had a set of headers coming as well.  I wanted to know how much I would have to cut up the car or the headers to get them to work.  They fit perfectly!  And my transmission mount that I had so laboriously created will still fit 4" back.  (even though I pulled a bonehead, and forgot to account for the 1 1/4" that the transmission mount will compress...got lucky on that one)  I just needed to make new attachment plates/boxes.  Still working on those...

here is the header, opposite the new intake manifold.  :-)

Here is the new overdrive trans, and cross member, and the start of the frame mounting plates/boxes.

After three months of work, the intake manifold is finally done!  The reason I went through all that work, is that there are no four barrel intake manifold's available through the 3.9 L Australian in-line six.  That motor was initially injected, but I didn't want the computers and the wires in the modern look.  Not only that, if there are any failures in any of the components, none of them could be acquired here and I would have to wait for shipping from Australia.

Here she is... 

 For those who are interested, here is the process...

 http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9AbN2rJq3as34

When it comes to the Ford falcon station wagon, the "two door is better" mantra that is seemingly very prevalent these days (and yesterday) does not apply in my opinion.  I actually looked for and wanted a four-door! 

I believe the lines are better on the four-door.  The incremental sizing of the side window openings from front to rear art example of this.

see how the side glass gets proportionately larger as you move toward the rear on the four-door?

The two-door wagon gives you the long-short-long look, as well as nonrelational proportions in the sizes.  It's also cool on the four-door, how the win-wing concept is repeated in reverse.  You will need to run a large diameter rim and tire combination however, so that the four-door wagon doesn't appear too long.  Start looking at other dimensional aspects and you'll notice that the four-door is simply more balanced. (IE, the space between the rear of the front door and the beginning of the rear wheel opening)

The longer roof on the four-door also makes the top appear lower, especially at the front windshield.  On the two door the roof almost appears to slope upward, toward the front windshield.  This is probably an optical illusion caused by the nonproportional window sizes, but worth noting.

Four doors are  also much more versatile and practical in the everyday world as well.  These cars make a great daily driver project.  Build one of these babies instead of buying the next Camry or Honda!  Hurry!  Because the four doors are still cheap! 

:-)