The Escort

[SPARKY]

"took up airplanes"---- 

Super Cub  and C 185   

Std. Cirrus

Nimbus II B  8-)

[116ciHemi]

Dad just has a little Piper Tomahawk that he rents out and uses for flight instruction. I have my private, but I don't get a whole lot of chance to use it. I did run into some folks who are putting together a homebuilt, and they let me go over and turn a wrench (or pop rivets) when I am bored.

[116ciHemi]

Well, took it for a test spin today after getting some things sorted. It had all five gears, but seemed absolutely gutless. I am not sure how much I actually got on it though, since the throttle was sticking open and the thing was so loud that I was worried about someone calling a noise complaint. In all seriousness, the only cars I have heard that are this loud are the old stock cars that run at Maxton.  Shifting gears meant me lifting of the gas and pushing in the clutch while I used my toe to yank the pedal back up. The throttle return springs are just plain worn out, and I can't find any good OEM style replacements, so it will just end up being crutched along by my required double throttle return spring. Setting that is going to be a PITA due to the physical layout of the engine bay. It will end up carbed for May anyway (if I can't make this engine sing a little bit, it'll have the whole engine from the '82), so it's not that big of a deal, but I want it to work right from the start.

One of the thing I am having trouble with figuring out the exhaust. I can pretty easily throw on a glasspack and make a side exit system, but I don't know if that will be quiet enough. I really don't want to swap over the 1 3/4" crinkle bent system from the '82, and I really don't have the cash for to have a good 2" system bent up. Does anyone have any suggestion for a muffler that could fit into a 7" diameter, 24" long tunnel and actually muffle the engine? Not breaking the bank is good also.

I am back at tech now for the next three weeks, and after that is when the real fun starts.

[116ciHemi]

A big thanks to Milwaukee Midget for finding a carb for me. It showed up today and looks like exactly what I was looking for. Right now the body is soaking in carb cleaner while I try and free up the choke plates. PB blaster here I come. He also threw in a SCTA rulebook and some SCTA decals and a DLRA sticker. I'm quite happy right now. 

[gearheadeh]

A big thanks to Milwaukee Midget for finding a carb for me. It showed up today and looks like exactly what I was looking for. Right now the body is soaking in carb cleaner while I try and free up the choke plates. PB blaster here I come. He also threw in a SCTA rulebook and some SCTA decals and a DLRA sticker. I'm quite happy right now. 

Good on yah M.M. Thats a nice story.

[Milwaukee Midget]

Both my buddy John and I are happy to help.

Nothing like a dorm room reeking of carb cleaner, eh, Walt?  8-)

[116ciHemi]

Well, not much has gotten done since I tore down the carb to clean it. The main body is still up in my car chilling in a bucket of carb cleaner. It should be pretty clean by now, but I likely won't get back to it till I get home. It's finals week right now, and school take priority over hot rodding. I am also doing some research into exactly how I plan to proceed with this project. Right now it's looking like I might try and build a zetec to make the power needed for the salt flats, but that's a year or so out before I start on that.

[116ciHemi]

Well, a lot has happened since I got back from break. The '82 is gone, sold for $138.40. That's what 1320 lbs of scrap metal is worth. The '86 died. Not sure what went wrong, and I don't really care to try and fix it. The blue engine will be in it in a few days. I test fit the kirkey in, and the seat frame I have for it will be OK. I will make a few tweaks, but it looks good as it sits. I need to add a shoulder bar to the main hoop to mount the seat and shoulder belts to, but that won't be to hard.  I will make my own aluminum dashboard since I don't care to try and  hack the original one to work for me. The wiring harness is going to get modified to suit my needs and give me separate engine and chassis portions to make different engine combos easier to drop in.

On another note, I kind of failed at school this time around. Hard. I keep my scholarship by a loophole, and I will be on academic probation till I get one issue cleared up with a teacher who I somehow ticked off. So for next semester I will pretty much try stopping everything I do involving cars to avoid distractions. Average will do to keep me in school, but I really need a couple of 4.0s in the next few semesters to stay competitive for field training.

[Tman]

I too pissed off teachers, no worries, kharma will come in future years.

[38flattie]

Good to hear that your priorities are in order! Good luck in school. 8-)

[Milwaukee Midget]

You'll turn it around.  Keep in mind, not only do we want to see you race well, we all know that you've got to nail down this school thing.  There's not a person on this forum who isn't pulling for you.

1st semester is always a challenge.  I started out at a University of Wisconsin system school, where I was initially rejected, and only through a letter writing campaign did I overcome the stigma of "Academic Ineligibility".  Year One - probation.  Year Two - Dean's list.  I eventually graduated from UW Milwaukee with a 3.6.

Just like the old '82 (RIP), you'll get it done.

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Gee, what a coincidence, Walt.  Not that it'll make you feel any happier, but I, too, spent some time at Tech on Academic Probation.  I finally did graduate -- and then was greeted by the folks in the placement office -- the ones that help find jobs (not that you'll have trouble, what with being in ROTC) -- who told me - "Jon, with your degree in Libefral Arts -- well, son, we've got about 700 firms coming here to interview graduates for jobs this year -- and not one of them will be interested in hiring you!"  Gee, thanks, fellas.  So what'd I do?  I got busy with the university radio station, which was just then growing from ten watts to 100,000, and was appointed to a full-time staff position at WGGL-FM.

Persevere, Walt, and don't give up a little fun.  Winter Carnival is coming in a few more weeks, and you really should take a few minutes out of the study room to enjoy the spectacle.  Have fun, study hard, get good grades -- and you'll win in the long run.

[SPARKY]

The first semester is always hard unless you have an older brother or sister that can convince you just how hard you have to study to make the transition from hs to College.  It is possible to make a come back.  As soon as you get your new schedule, ask for a student /prof. appointment as soon as you can, ask for their help and try to gain insights into what they want to hear and read.

If the professor is very liberal MOST are going to resent that you are on a ROTC scolarship---down play it to everyone except the MS Officers.
Let them know it is a means to an end---a college degree.

Contrary to what most belevieve, most leftist professors will grade you down  HARD if they think you are conservative.
Learn to play their game and game them..  STUDY them and learn to tell them what they want to hear. This works well when you have essay ans.

I will be happy to let you know some of the things that got me off probation and out of college---hard work, lots of appointments and learn to use buzz words in my test answers and replys that got me OUT with Degree.

[Milwaukee Midget]

You know, another trick to getting into a prof's head is to go to the library, search their name under the author's listings, and give their publications a read.  Probably less so at a tech school than a university, but if they're a full professor, they would have had to have published something.  There are a lot of master's thesis' available in many college libraries, too.   

Anyway, you don't necessarily need to completely understand what they've written about.  I'd do so without letting them know, and I certainly wouldn't go toe-to-toe with them on the subject, but you can get an idea what's important to them.  Additionally, you can observe their writing style.  Many profs write much better than they lecture, and perhaps you'll understand what they're trying to say better in that context than by simply following the syllabus.  And check out some of the bibliographies in the back of their publications.  Any info is usable.

Kind of like Patton v Rommel in North Africa in WWII. 

Of course, don't waste too much time on it, but you can develop a better understanding as to what makes 'em tick.   

[116ciHemi]

     With the exceptions of the one prof, I know exactly what I did wrong. It boils down to poor time management, poor homework habits, and not giving enough effort at certain times.

     With exception to the incomplete that is dragging me down right now, I was pretty average as far as grade were concerned. Chemistry was my biggest problem. I just didn't understand it, and I still don't really get it that well. Calculus took me awhile to understand, but once I got it my grades went way up. I still only got a C in the class, but the last 1/4 of the semester I was aceing the quizzes and homework, and I got a pretty strong final exam score. Physics lab and chemistry lab were both strong subjects for me, as was my ROTC class.