Armored Personnel Carrier

Another week has gone by and two positive things have happened. One, we all still have our jobs. Two, our cage kit arrived! That means it's time to bust out the welder (and a few Doritos). We manged to get the whole crew together Friday night despite any complaints from the wives and it being Valentines Day weekend. I'd say we made some good progress. I always have lofty aspirations (like get it all done in an hour), but realistically we got a lot closer to complete. There was, of course, much "down" time.

While waiting for the others to arrive I started things off by finishing the electrical system. The engine fan is wired to come on with the ignition switch and we now have spark back. The addition of a brake light rounds out our simple electrical system. I wish my Cadillac's electrical system was this easy.

Now throughout the week I have been rebuilding the carburetor at my house. I stripped it all the way down so that I could inspect and clean it. What a piece of crap. Have any idea what 5 year old gas looks and smells like? It looks and feels like that old Tootsie roll you find under the couch cushion. And smell? Let's just say my wife wasn't so happy about my "project" this week. The new gasket set is on the way and hopefully I'll be able to clean all the jets out this weekend. Hey, all I need is fuel to flow. I don't really care how well it flows. Those are squirrel nuts in the secondary.

Back to the garage. With all of us present, as well as our new cage kit, we got to work on installing the only thing protecting us from rogue Crown Vic's. The cage looked small on the shop floor, but it turned out to be an almost perfect fit for our car. Tight against the sides and roof, just how you'd like it. In fact, all of the notches and tube lengths were perfect. Hats off to Day Motorsports of Texas for such a great kit at a great price. Before we welded the main hoop in, we strengthened the floor by welding in the hoop support plates. Before Russ got too sleepy he layed a few beads to prove to us his welding prowess.

With the seat position decided and our main hoop located, the rest of the cage went together rather quickly. Granted, it was all just tacked at that point, but seeing it in was a big boost. So much so that Jeff and I decided to stay until in was secured in the car which wound up being midnight. One of the things we noticed after the door bars were in was that the doors would not close anymore. Our original plan was to weld the doors closed anyway, but now it looked like we were going to have to remove the inner door panels and just run with an outer skin over the car. Charge up the sawzall, I'm going in!

For the last hour Jeff (our certified welder) began his finish welding and I continued to cut the doors apart. We still have to add a pair of rear down bars from the main hoop to the floor, but that will be easy. Also we have to make a seat box for our seat and get that mounted. Seatbelts and, budget allowing, quick disconnect steering wheel should finish off the inside of the car.

We also got a preview of the finished car's ride height. Slammed! Once the new tires are on, it will actually sit almost 2 inches lower yet. Of course this will require us to make so minor fender modifications. We may also be zeroing in on a paint scheme. I'm afraid I can't leak any info on that just yet, but with any luck we may be laying paint by next weekend. Did I mention that we were still on the waitlist and may not even be able to race this thing?