Pick n Pull - Picture Pages Edition

Because Duff's post were full of only words and therefore boring and because Bill Cosby rocks, the never asked for Picture Pages Racing 4 Nickels Blog Entry

So we went to the summit Pick n Pull and saw lots and lots of cars



Some of course were picked over more than others



Some would make great LeMons cars by name alone, let alone the fact that they look goofy and even though branded as a Pontiac is actually a Daewoo.



So we went to work in this wonderland of cars, starting at white Cutlass



Where we quickly went to taking the rear shocks, and the 43 cents we found inside.



Then we went to visit the little blue wagon we had taken the instrument cluster from the week before.



Where you can see our handy work with the vice grips



Then we went to see a celebrity wagon



But not just any type of Celebrity Wagon



Where we took its front sway bar, the beefy f41 kind. Since a couple nuts would cooperate, Mr Duffy went a bit nuts with the hammer



And then we went home with our new parts.

The End?

Return to the Pick N Pull

So Bob and I ventured back to the Pick N Pull Sunday morning to get some more parts for our car. Armed with a breaker bar and an assortment of other tools we were able to get a few more of the parts we needed, like the larger front sway bar from the Celeberity Eurosport and some like new looking  rear shocks from a 90's Ciera SL.
We also came away with a transcooler that we should be able to connect right up to the existing transmission lines. It is hard to tell how many passes the transcooler is but I believe it is still leaking out trans fluid as I write this.
We looked for a temp sender so we can get the temp gauge working but it looks like we may have to get that new since it was only on our engine for 2 model years. We are also still looking for an engine oil cooler but those seem harder to come by.

After we were done at the Pick N Pull we stoped at O'Reilly auto parts a got the part we need to fix the power steering leak.

Over all it was a good day of parts gathering and we are now about $260 in to the $500 car parts budget.

Some bonus things we came away with from the Pick N Pull were an old police billy club, some 2.8L badges off of the Eurosport and about $0.36 we found when removing the back seat of a Ciera SL so we could get to the shocks.

Bob did take some pictures and we will get those posted sometime soon.

Pick N Pull

So Bob and I went down to the local Pick N Pull on Sunday just to check it out.  We asked if they any any cars with parts for our '89 Ciera and the computer told them no. We decided to go wander the lot anyway so we paid the $2 each and wondered out in to the yard.

It was strange to see all of those cars up on blocks, there to donate their parts before going to the big scrapyard in the sky.

We did endup finding some potential parts cars, Most of them were early 90 Ciera's, we also found an old Celebrity Eurosport.  The Eurosport has the front sway bar that we want but the bolts were so rusted we couldn't get it removed. We did end up spraying it with penetrating oil and plan to go back with some better tools to try and remove it.

One thing we did come away with was an upgraded gauge cluster, that has a temp indicator. We removed it from a 92 Ciera.  When we got back we installed in in our '89 and every thing except the temp gauge is working,  we think we may have to get a different temp probe to send the correct info.

There were alot of GM cars with oil and trans coolers, we hope to pick up one of each when we go back. 

Over all it was a good experience and we have a better understanding of what is available. Hopefully we will go back next week and return with more parts.
 

2010 LeMons Races

The Races for 2010 have been appearing and disappearing off the the LeMons page today. As Jay and Nick taunt us. An official e-mail is expected soon.

One of the races is right in our back yard;

23-24 October 2010: Rod Blagojevich Never-Say-Die 500 (Chicago IL)
Autobahn Country Club, Joliet IL

Look for us to enter this and maybe one of the other Midwest races this year.


You may or may not be able to see the full 2010 list here;
http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/events/


Update: it is now Official see the link above for the full schedule

Power Steering Leak

Today Duffy and I looked for the leak. The good news is that we found it. The bad news is that it left a puddle all over my driveway.



































As a bonus with the video you both get to see the leak and hear the awesomeness that is the 2.8L engine in its non-muffled beauty.

Dangerous Banned Racing Tech:Solar

I came across a group of solar panels at harbor freight like this one http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=41144

Some are meant to offset slow drains on the car battery which really wouldn't be that big a deal, well as long as the alternator is working. However free power is free power, so I figure if you can hook the solar panel up to a fan which would give us some extra thrust.