Author Topic: The Escort  (Read 53273 times)

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Offline Seldom Seen Slim

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Re: The Escort
« Reply #105 on: December 31, 2010, 08:40:56 AM »
Oh, Chris, let me correct you.  Michigan Tech -- more fully known as Michigan Technological University -- one of the leading engineering universities in the country, leading such also-rans as Purdue and right up there with MIT.  Tech grants bachelor, masters, and doctoral degrees -- in more than just a few areas of scholarship, and also receives large amounts of grants and research funds for more than just snow -- although for many years the school has had a close relationship with the various auto manufacturers who maintain cold weather and snow research facilities.

The school was founded in 1885 as the Michigan College of Mines, and in the middle of the 20th century became the Michigan College of Mining and Technology.  The change to MTU happened in the mid-60s or so.

Yes, I graduated from Tech -- could you tell?
Jon E. Wennerberg
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 Skandia, Michigan
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Offline Milwaukee Midget

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Re: The Escort
« Reply #106 on: December 31, 2010, 10:53:09 AM »
Oh, Chris, let me correct you.  Michigan Tech -- more fully known as Michigan Technological University -- one of the leading engineering universities in the country, leading such also-rans as Purdue and right up there with MIT.  Tech grants bachelor, masters, and doctoral degrees . . .
Yes, I graduated from Tech -- could you tell?

I have stepped in it.  

I had no intention of besmirching the reputation of the fine school that is MTU.  I spoke from an uninformed assumption.  My apologies to MTU's proud students and alumni.

So the MTU library is also probably chock full of dense, droll, unreadable doctoral and master's thesis' written under the demonic code of post graduate scholarship, called "Publish or Perish".  I know that the UWM Library is.

Walt, it now occurs to me that your best course would be not to listen to my crap.  :-D
« Last Edit: December 31, 2010, 11:19:58 AM by Milwaukee Midget »
"Problems are almost always a sign of progress."  Harold Bettes
Well, I guess we're making a LOT of progress . . .  :roll:

Offline SPARKY

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Re: The Escort
« Reply #107 on: December 31, 2010, 11:53:28 AM »
MM/CC  IN my opinion you gave VERY good advice:

I would still ask the Chemistry prof., lab students, and other Chemisty majors  for insights on how to "Visualize Chemistry".  The world is full of people who didn't grasp various subjects until the light bulb went off.  I didn't --no couldn't even begin to grasp electricity until about 30 one day I related it to hydraulics, walla  :-D
Miss LIBERTY,  changing T.K.I.  to noise, dust, rust, BLUE HATS & hopefully not scrap!!

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."   Helen Keller

We are going to explore the racing N words NITROUS & NITRO!

Offline 116ciHemi

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Re: The Escort
« Reply #108 on: January 02, 2011, 11:00:56 PM »
The "good enough" mentality isn't going to work for next semester. But where chemistry is concerned- good enough. I didn't fail. It's not a degree requirement, I will take no further courses in chemistry subjects. If I ever need chemistry help in the workplace, I will ask for it.

Back to the car:
The '82 is gone to the scrapyard, even after attempts to give it away no one wanted it, so I had to scrap it so it wasn't in Dad's way.

The '86 is in pieces. This kind of sums up what thing look like right now:



The engine in the '86 pumped a ton of oil out the exhaust. Enough that when I casually reached up to disconnect the shift linkage, my hand came away looking like this:

 
It's ability to run degenerated as I worked on it, and eventually it stopped running altogether. Still not sure why. When I started teardown there was fuel pooled in the throttle body, which I definitely don't understand, but it's not a big deal.
I just started tearing the engine down and preparing it to be pulled. The last few days, Dad and I have both been out working on it, which is fun. We rarely are working together on something for fun. Usually it is just hammer down and get the job done. This time around, it's more of a laid back working with lots of benchracing and talking interspersed among the work.


Precision dashboard removal- The heater box in there is actually the heater box from the '82 going in so I have a defroster:

Newer bearing- then engine had obviously been rebuilt at some point. Not a lot of carbon buildup, somewhat clean parts, obviously newer pistons, and the bottom of the conrods have all been marked.

This one will go in for now to get the ignition and fuel sorted, but I am heavily debating building the other one with the higher compression pistons over spring break and then dropping it in for the May meet. 9:1 just seems better than 7.5:1







Offline Seldom Seen Slim

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Re: The Escort
« Reply #109 on: January 03, 2011, 10:17:13 AM »
Walt:

Thanks for the photos.  Now I feel better - that my shop area isn't the only one that looks "busy", not pristine.  It sounds like you had some fine time with your Dad out in the shop.  You'll be telling the story about that adventure for years.  Treasure the time!
Jon E. Wennerberg
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 Skandia, Michigan
 (that's way up north)
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Offline 116ciHemi

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Re: The Escort
« Reply #110 on: January 04, 2011, 11:29:53 PM »
I got some more stuff done today. I collected the rest of the hardware I need to finish the fuel system for the OEM carb. I will finish putting the new carb together up at school (so I will stop MOST of the car stuff). Tomorrow I will patch the firewall, finish the dash, and at least the the engine and trans on the cherry picker ready to drop in on Thursday.

Here is the new gauge panel:






Nothing real fancy, total investment so far is $10. I grabbed the 1/8"aluminum sheet for dirt cheap from the A+P shop that works on Dad's plane, laid it out with a piece of posterboard, and then used a jigsaw to cut out the shape. I marked out six spots to mount 2 1/4 gauges, and I centerdrilled and holesawed out three of them. The other three I just drilled enough to mark the spot so I can add more in the future. I will pick up a larger holesaw tomorrow to mount the tach. Then I just need to bend and drill some mounting tabs and paint the thing in a black crinkle finish to offset the white face gauges. Hopefully it will be done tomorrow.

Offline t russell

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Re: The Escort
« Reply #111 on: January 04, 2011, 11:53:32 PM »
Looks good Walt keep swinging.The school will come together as will the new ride.
terry

Offline 116ciHemi

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Re: The Escort
« Reply #112 on: January 16, 2011, 01:54:33 PM »
Well crap. I left the Escort last Saturday, after struggling to get it in running/driving condition with the '82 engine enough to take it to the airport to store it. I was almost ready, but I ended up having to spend a couple of hours in the cold trying to get a few fuel system leaks fixed (whose idea was it to use pipe thread on a fuel pressure regulator) and I didn't get the car done enough to drive it before I had to leave. Dad finished fixing the fuel system, but still couldn't get the car to run well. My theory is that the ignition system is messed up, since I know that the engine is good order and that the carb is good. On the list then is an MSD 6A to get around the old engine harness.

Last word on the car was that it idled OK, but had a random miss back up through the carb, and the clutch was slipping to much to pull it up on the trailer (PO made an adjustable clutch cable for some unknown reason, and I didn't set it up because I never had the chance.

Offline 116ciHemi

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Re: The Escort
« Reply #113 on: January 24, 2011, 09:03:08 AM »
I forgot to post the finished picture of the IP when I got it painted. I am one the fence on whether to use these white face gauges or to go with the black faced ones in the car now. I will probably use the black ones for the aircraft vibe they have.




Offline Cajun Kid

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Re: The Escort
« Reply #114 on: January 24, 2011, 10:09:24 AM »
I forgot to post the finished picture of the IP when I got it painted. I am one the fence on whether to use these white face gauges or to go with the black faced ones in the car now. I will probably use the black ones for the aircraft vibe they have.





I like the white gauges on the black dash as pictured,,,, but what do I know about style and function ???  LOL

Great Job,,, see you in May.

Charles
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Offline 116ciHemi

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Re: The Escort
« Reply #115 on: February 12, 2011, 01:44:27 PM »
Got to tinker on it a little bit today, found out the dizzy was set at 0* initial and the computer wasn't advancing the timing. So, I will end up swapping out to a mechanical advance distributor and a 6AL to sort that out. Fuel pressure was also to low so cranking that up and advance the timing got rid of most of the backfire. I think there might be a small vacuum leak, but I can dig around for that over spring break.

Offline 116ciHemi

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Re: The Escort
« Reply #116 on: February 28, 2011, 08:53:37 AM »
Counting up some costs and looking at what I can realistically do, and I think I am going to skip the May meet. Some unexpected costs came up here at school, and some other minor issues are going to make going to both meets difficult. So, trying to make the June meet will give me more time to get the car built. I'll need a job over the summer, and trying to get a job and almost immediately get time off to race probably won't work out well. Given the job market at home in Cadillac, I might end up somewhere else if things look like I can do better somewhere else. I would love to spend the summer in Houghton, it's beautiful up here, and I think it would be nice to see during the two months when it's not snowing.

Offline Seldom Seen Slim

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Re: The Escort
« Reply #117 on: February 28, 2011, 08:59:01 AM »
Walt, one of the best/most memorable summers I can remember was the first one I spent at Tech.  The weather (to this 19 year old kid from the big city) was unbelievable, I took only a few courses so I didn't have much about which to worry, and the weather was unbelievable.  Best of all was the weather.

Do your best to give at least one summer in Hoton a try.  Unh, maybe there's a job in house with Moyle Construction or one of the other big contractors up there.  Heck, mosey down here to Mqt. and see what you can find.  You can get up to the Copper Country for weekends, at least.
Jon E. Wennerberg
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 Skandia, Michigan
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Offline Milwaukee Midget

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Re: The Escort
« Reply #118 on: February 28, 2011, 02:05:31 PM »
To add to Slim's note - My experience was summer courses tend to be a little less rigorous, and a good opportunity to up the GPA.  If you can swing a course or two, it can work to put that AP behind you a tad quicker.  :wink:
"Problems are almost always a sign of progress."  Harold Bettes
Well, I guess we're making a LOT of progress . . .  :roll:

Offline 116ciHemi

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Re: The Escort
« Reply #119 on: February 28, 2011, 07:50:25 PM »
Walt, one of the best/most memorable summers I can remember was the first one I spent at Tech.  The weather (to this 19 year old kid from the big city) was unbelievable, I took only a few courses so I didn't have much about which to worry, and the weather was unbelievable.  Best of all was the weather.

Do your best to give at least one summer in Hoton a try.  Unh, maybe there's a job in house with Moyle Construction or one of the other big contractors up there.  Heck, mosey down here to Mqt. and see what you can find.  You can get up to the Copper Country for weekends, at least.

It's tempting, but it would be a big change for me. It basically means giving up going home to Cadillac and living 400 miles from my parents year round.

The attraction is huge, though. It would mean living in one of the most beautiful places in the world, truly living on my own as opposed to being stuck in the dorms, and being able to see how things go if I am living on my own. The downside is that I would have to find an apartment, though I do know plenty of students who only use theirs for 8 months out of their 12 month contracts. I would not have access to the same garage and tools I had in Cadillac.

I think that I will poke around, crunch the numbers, and see if I can do it, and go from there.