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my 1st bottle tree
12 bottles doesn't seem like enough
it was kinda fun to make
there's a pic of the painted tree frog w/stand if you click to the flickr photos
I took these 2 pictures in the dark. The electricity was off at the shop. It's supposed to be back on tomorrow. I was gonna make another bottle tree, but instead took these pictures and came home. The colors and background are somewhat edited.
This is our last month in the Alpinis Court garage. The CRX is running, the Austin is safely back at the house, and the shop is all but empty. I still have the welder, workbench, and torch. Mwahahaha!
Dreya and her roomate will have a booth selling their artwork at a fair in Dec, so she asked if I'd like to make some stuff she could try to sell for me there. Cool. I'm working on it, and I have lots of room.
I made another dragon, a stylish crocodilish, another gearhead, and another, ummm... manbearpig?
after jump
Click on this yellow dude to go to flickr photos.
I also figured that since people seem to like bottle trees I'd [shiver] make some of those since they might actually sell, instead of just having fun making things people like but almost never buy.
I might put up pictures of the trees later if i decide i like them.
The treefrog is painted and has it's own stand, so it'll be going, but as a display only. My mom wants it.
I need to find all my scrap bolts and make a bunch of stick figures... maybe some could hold business cards. People like useful stuff like that.
The CRX isn't getting as good mpg as I'd hoped. Remember that EGR system i mentioned? Well it's clogged up with gook. Compared to most other cars, it's a kinda big deal to clean out. I'll have an entry about it sometime. That might give me a couple more mpg, but I gotta find more or it's getting the Si motor. Why have only 70hp if you can't get 40-50mpg? You can drive an Si like a wuss and get that if you want to, and it has 115hp. Perhaps Franky has a hand in it after all. We'll see.
You may notice a change in this picture from the previous two full frontal shots of Le Peu.
I spilled a little antifreeze.
oh yeah... and the car is on the ground! Running!
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Next is a picture possibly best described as "shrinkage". Click for bigger ;)
This shows the serious difference in the intake systems between the two engines I've swapped. You're looking at the two different air filter box tops.
Smaller, more restrictive intakes generally make for better low end torque, but worse horsepower ratings.
One more pic after the jump, in which I believe you might see a difference w/o me describing anything.
OK
I know this picture looks very similar to the one I posted below.
But it is very different. Trust me.
I hooked up the exhaust, the shifter, and the clutch cable.
I installed the axles and I added transmission fluid.
I fixed the fuel leak.
hmmm, that doesn't seem like as much work now that I wrote it down. Hmf.
anyway...
I started it up and shifted it through all its gears... except i think I forgot to check reverse... but yeah, it's workin' all righty!
I still haven't installed the radiator or any hoses, belts, yadda-yadda.
Now I need to study as many pictures and diagrams as I can get ahold of so I can hook up all the vacuum hoses right. And I still have to wire up the EGR system. Oh yeah... this engine uses EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation). The other engine didn't need it.
Running such a lean mixture makes for higher emissions (in PartsPerMillion).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhaust_gas_recirculation
There's a 3 wire sensor and a 2 wire solenoid I have to wire up, and some extra vacuum hoses.
LePeu is FAR from roadworthy, and I still haven't put any belts/hoses on or the exhaust, or... pretty much anything....
But the engine runs!
And has a pretty bad fuel leak. It's just an O-ring seal. I'll try to fix it sunday maybe.
I was worried for a little while. I bought a new distributor to match the new multi-point fuel system and computer, and NONE of the wires were the right colors.
I had to trace each wire from the harness back to the computer to I.D. it
AND disassemble the new distributor to I.D. its wires.
I mixed 2 up 'cause I thought "oh, look, they got one wire in the correct color" but no, they didn't.
When I cranked it the first time it went "wa-wa-wa-POP-wa-wa-wa-POP".
I knew by the sound That I likely had only 2 wires switched... but which 2? Each of 4 components inside this dist has 2 wires (-in/out-)
I should have started with the ONE wire I thought was the right color, but no, I didn't.
I swapped 2 and the cranking sound was more like "rrr-thud-wa-popitty-pop-rrr-wa-wa-thud-pop".
I put them back the way they were.
The thud was a dead giveaway of course.
Engines don't normally go "thud".
2 more resulted in a similar sound.
Then 2 more. "wa-wa-ROARRRR" Hooray for open exhaust (loud)!
Then I shut it off 'cause the fuel puddle was getting pretty big and I needed a cigarette ;)
Sorry for all the technical jargon. I'm just kinda excited. I really don't even know if it runs well yet... just that it starts and runs.
I'll try to add some pictures (done). And maybe another entry for Sunday.
