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Week
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Project
American Flyer - Week Two
When
I left off last week, I had gotten a lot
done, but there was still a lot of work to
do. I had discovered that the filler hose
that goes between the filler valve and the
gas tank had been cut and would need
replacing. Monday after work I stopped by
Dave's Garage in Connellsville, PA to pick
it up. Unfortunately, he didn't have one.
This negative situation quickly turned
into a very, very positive situation as I
drove to Advance Auto Parts in Uniontown,
PA. I spoke with the manager, Danny, and
explained what I was doing. He was happy
to help and we signed Advance Auto Parts
as the official parts supplier of
PARacingNews.net and Garry Ankrom
Motorsports. Throughout the next
couple of weeks, we will be installing
parts donated by Advance. I would like to
remind everyone that companies like
Advance Auto Parts, who support
motorsports, deserve our business. If you
are in need of quality automotive parts,
at great prices, visit Advance Auto Parts!
 Tuesday
I stopped into Fast Lap Racing Parts &
Supplies in Uniontown and spoke with
Robbie Paul. All of my goodies had arrived
and we began loading them into my car.
Fast Lap donated all of the safety gear
required. If you are a racer, or if you
are building a racecar like we are, let me
recommend Fast Lap Racing Parts &
Supplies in Uniontown, PA. The prices are
low and the service is high!
 Thursday
was the first day I had time to work on
the car so I started off by removing the
seats, seat belts, and all of the plastic
trim inside the car. Once these were all
out of the car and into my ever growing
pile of "junk" I looked at what
was left inside and decided to remove the
carpet and roof liner. Surprisingly,
there is a lot of room inside a 1989
Cavalier once everything is out of it!
It was getting late, close to midnight and
I was happy that the contents of the
passenger area came out so smoothly. I
decided to call it a night so I could get
an early start on Friday Morning.
Friday
was the Fourth of July so I had to work as
much as I could in the morning, so I could
do the family thing in the afternoon.
Before I got started on the car, my wife
and I decided to put together a 14 foot
trampoline we had purchased for the kids.
Let me tell you, if you ever get one of
these, take the directions out of the box,
then burn them. We spent three hours
trying to do it the way the instructions
said. After many words I hope my kids
never repeat, we decided to dismantle the
whole thing and start over. We decided to
do it "our way" and within the
hour we were bouncing on it.
Speaking from experience, I would advise
anyone over 250 pounds to avoid bouncing
on a trampoline.
 With
the family stuff out of the way for the
time being, I decided that it was as
good of a time as any to remove the
remaining glass. Rather than take the time
to remove them without busting them, I
thought to my self "I have a ShopVac,
I'm getting the hammer." I knocked
out the two remaining side windows and the
back window, then followed behind with the
ShopVac, trying to get as much of the
glass up as possible. The windshield
came out fairly easy, I just peeled it
away, pretty much rolled it up into a ball
and tossed it onto the pile.
 After
cleaning up the broken pieces of glass, I
moved on to remove some small clamps that
had been over looked, then decided to
tackle the dash. I removed the
heater control unit and most everything
else. Someone had already helped them
selves to most of it, so this was a fairly
simple task. After removing the glove box,
I found a "pretty silver box"
and removed it. Luckily, I was being more
careful with this than I was the windows.
I set it aside and moved on to the rest of
the dash. 2PM was quickly
approaching so I had to call it day.
I felt good about the progress made and I
actually felt, that without the interior
and the windows, the car was starting to
look like a racecar.
 Sunday
was my deadline for having the car gutted
so that Eugene Ciferno from Team Ciferno
Ride & Drive could pick it up and haul
it to the race shop located at DA Auto
Auction in New Stanton, PA. My task list
for the day included removing the bomb, I
mean gas tank from under the passenger
area so Eug could weld with out blowing
him self up, removing the wiper motor and
washer fluid tank from under the hood,
getting all four tires on, with air in
them, and replacing the steering wheel so
we could steer to push it on to the
trailer. Now, with the task list
laid out, do you think I got it all done?
Of course not! I spent most of the
afternoon fighting with the bolts that
hold the straps that hold the gas tank in
place. I am sure there is a need for a 14
foot bolt to hold it all in place, I just
can't think of one right now. After
finally getting the bolts off, the gas
tank was not coming out with out a fight.
Rather than end up with a situation like
the trampoline, I decided to move on to
the next task. I removed the wiper motor
and washer fluid tank with no problems at
all. My biggest concern about working
around the engine compartment is that I
will remove something that is vital to the
car's ability to run (Remember the
Computer). I got all four tires on, with
air in them. Unfortunately, we are still
looking for at least four good tires and
wheels for this monster. The spare just
wont cut it, although it does provide an
interesting offset.
Before I could get the steering wheel in
place, Eug showed up with his trailer and
was ready to load her up. As he walked
around the car and looked inside, his
first comment was "Where's the
computer?" I had to laugh.
Relieved that I hadn't ripped it out, I
said "You mean this pretty silver
box?" That was it. Whew! We put the
steering wheel on loosely, shifted her
into neutral and began the push on to the
trailer. My wife was helping push, I'm not
sure if that was because she saw that we
could use the help, or if it was because
she was excited to get the car out of our
yard?
 After
getting the car tied down we began the
haul to New Stanton. Once we arrived, we
unloaded the car and looked it over once
more. Next week should find the car with a
roll cage installed and possibly even
painted. During the course of this coming
week, there isn't going to be much for me
to do other than to stay out of Eugene's
way so I will spend as much time as
possible trying to secure a few dollars to
help off set the cost of running the car.
I will also be hunting for some tires and
wheels and looking for a quality decal
person that will help letter the car.
 I
would like to once again thank Eugene
Ciferno for his help with this project, I
would also like to thank Denny Angelicchio
from DA Auto Auction for allowing us to
use space in his race shop to get this car
completed. Also, a very special thanks to
Danny and the entire crew at Advance Auto
Parts in Uniontown, PA. The money we save
on parts donated by them will help keep
this project at a hobby level, and thank
you to Robbie Paul at Fast Lap Racing
Parts & Supplies in Uniontown, PA for
all of the safety equipment. This
equipment will help me feel secure as I
drive, knowing I have the best protecting
me.
Week
Three.. |
