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Week
One |
Week Two |
Week
Three |
Week
Four |
Week
Five
Week Six |
Week Seven |
Week
Eight |
Week
Nine
Project
American Flyer - Week One
 I
received this 1989 Chevrolet Cavalier from
Cars "R" Us and Dave's Garage in
Connellsville, PA. At first glance,
I was really starting to wonder what I was
getting my self into. When I arrived
at Dave's Garage to pick it up, it was up
on blocks with only one wheel, a spare.
The windows were busted out and it looked
pretty rough, but I wasn't to worried
about that since I will be getting rid of
them anyways! My good friend Tom went to
Dave's with me to help me haul the car
home so we loaded it up on a tow dolly and
dragged it back to my house.
 The
first night was pretty much consumed with
getting the car to my house, so with the
exception looking the car over, I really
didn't get much done. The second
evening, Thursday, I had some more
daylight and I got to look it over a
little bit more. Upon further
examination I noticed that the key was
busted out so I would need an ignition.
I spoke with the owner of Fast Lap Racing
Products and Supplies, Robbie Paul and
obtained a new Longacre ignition switch
and push button starter combo.
Admittedly, my mechanical skill are
lacking so I went out and purchased a
Haynes Manual to learn more about the
wiring so I could wire up the switch.
I knew there wasn't enough daylight left
to get the ignition switch installed and
to get the car running, so I decided to
start stripping it.
 The
first thing I did was remove the hood so
that I could get around in there without
knocking my self out. After the hood
was removed I got rid of the headlights,
the grill, and the headlight assembly.
There wasn't much daylight left, so that
was pretty much all I got done.
Friday
night I was faced with the same dilemma,
try to get the ignition wired and get it
started, or remove more unnecessary parts.
I opted for removal and went to work on
the trunk. I got the tail lights and
everything else removed from the trunk
with relative ease. I removed all of
the wiring with the exception of the wires
running to the third
 brake
light, because that is required at
Motordrome. I removed the latch
system and all of the rubber molding
around the trunk. With the trunk
completely gutted and all of the lights in
the back removed, I decided to call it a
night.
I
went to bed Friday night feeling as if I
had finally made some progress, and the
more I got into the car, the better I felt
about it, feeling now that I knew what I
was doing and that I wasn't in over my
head.
 Saturday
morning I was excited to wake up bright
and early with the mission of getting the
car started. I spent the better part
of morning removing the steering wheel
assembly trying to get to the ignition
wires. The biggest problem I ran
into was that the Haynes manual was
referring to red, black, yellow, and blue
wires, while the car had green, tan,
brown, and white wires! Undeterred I
proceeded to remove items from the
steering assembly when suddenly I stumbled
on a lever, that when pressed made the car
try to fire. "It's about damn
time!" I thought to my self.
 I
knew the battery was dead, so I pulled my
Ford Contour as close as I could and
hooked up the jumper cables. With
juice getting to the battery, I pushed the
lever in again and the car really tried to
fire this time. By the way the car was
reacting, I knew it was starving for fuel.
I grabbed the two gallon fuel jug for the
lawn mower and dumped part of the fuel
into the tank. Once again I tried to
fire it up but it wouldn't go.
"Maybe I didn't give it enough
gas?" I thought to my self. I
then decided to put a little gasoline in
the throttle body. Sure enough, I pressed the
lever again and she roared to life.
Unfortunately, as fast as she fired, she
sputtered and died.
"DAMN". I poured the
remaining gasoline into the tank and tried
again. I thought maybe it was so low on
fuel that nothing was making to the engine
yet, so I drove down to the local gas
station and filled the two gallon jug
again.
After
dumping the remaining fuel in the tank,
and a little more in the throttle body, she started
again, and again died. Remembering
what had happen to a friends car, I went
to the back to see if maybe there were
holes in the gas tank. What I saw
instead was that someone had cut the
filler hose at the fuel tank and had
siphoned the gas out of it. So basically,
I dumped four gallons of gas on my lawn.
The wife will not be happy when the car is
moved and she sees the dead spot.
 After
a call to Dave's Garage for a new filler
hose, I was feeling a little better
knowing that with that one part, the car
will run. The part will be ready on
Monday so I moved on to the passenger area
and started dismantling it. So far I
have removed all of the components in the
driver door except the mechanism used to
roll the window up an down. That will have
to wait until I look at the book and see
how they are installed, because I don't
see any nuts, bolts or screws!
I
also removed the instrument panel and all
of the molding on the driver side. Feeling
good with my progress, I decided to call
it a day, mainly because I had been out in
the sun all day and I was starting to look
like a lobster.
 Sunday,
being a day of rest I took it easy and
just removed the windshield wipers and the
box that directs the air from the AC into
the passenger area. (That hole will have
to be patched to prevent carbon monoxide
poisoning.)
With
the first week down, I feel as if I have
made lots of progress and I believe that I
will have the remainder of the car
stripped and ready for it's Stock Car
Products Roll Cage by the 7th of July.
I would like to mention in advance that
Eugene Ciferno of Team Ciferno Ride and
Drive will be installing the roll cage kit
for me. Eugene is a very good friend to do
this for me and if you need a cage
installed, or a body hung on your race
car, he is the man to call.
Week
Two... |
