For over five years I have owned a 1979 Chevy Monte Carlo who’s fate has changed quite regularly. Originally it was bought with the intention of restoring and building it into a street-rod but after a more detailed post-purchase inspection that plan was scrapped due to the cars overall poor condition. After mulling over my options, I decided I would simply build it into a race car and run it for fun at our local track (South Texas Speedway). I began to work on it little by little but never really made much progress due to the time constraints of going to graduate school and working full-time. Finally I have found myself in a position to knock this project out and get myself out on the track! Over the next few months I will be working around the clock to get the Scheidt Racing #7 race ready for the 2013 2014 Race Season at South Texas Speedway!
The race car has arrived in San Antonio! It’s sitting in the garage waiting to get worked on as we speak! After a quick, high-level survey of the situation I have composed the following list of things that need to get done.
Man how time flies! Today I finally put tool to steel and began to work on the #7. The right front fender is now cut and shaped in a manner that will hopefully prevent any tire cutting on the track. It was much easier to do than I anticipated and I hope to get the other three done by the end of this week!
Today I finished cutting and shaping the right rear fender. I essentially cut it higher and folded the metal back on itself to avoid leaving the sharp steel edge exposed. I was also able to install some sheet metal covering gaps in the body that could allow mud and other debris to enter the cockpit of the car. Afterwards I was able to run the car for several minutes to let it get warm and move some fuel through the engine.
Over the past few days I finished cutting and shaping all four fenders to hopefully prevent any tire cutting issues out on the track. Unfortunately everything did not go as smoothly as planned thanks to a piece of shrapnel embedding itself in the cornea of my left eye. At first I thought maybe I had a scratched cornea but after over a day and a half of ignoring the pain I inspected further and found the offending metal shaving. Luckily it didn’t pierce too deep and the ER doc was able to quickly remove it with a sanitary cotton swab. I was previously wearing safety glasses only during during the grinding/cutting work but now I wear them the entire time I am in the garage just to be on the safe side.
Today I designed and built a sheet metal cover to protect the solenoid in the engine bay. I still have not reinstalled the hood yet but I am fairly confident that there will be sufficient clearance to avoid any problems.
Over the past two weeks I have been hammering out all of the last few projects. I reinstalled the hood, designed and built a custom front-end, covered a few gaps with sheet-metal, and stayed up way too late last night building a custom hood cowl to make room for the engine’s air cleaner. Today we are loading up the car and taking it back to the race shop in Corpus where I will complete the last few projects before I can finally proclaim it to be race ready.
I finally got a chance to head down to Corpus and work a bit on the race car. I ultimately decided to tackle the biggest obstacle in front of me and that was paint! After going to Home Depot to secure some black and yellow paints, I washed the car and let it dry in the sun. I had previously thought up the design I wanted to use and applied the yellow coats first because the black would cover up any stray yellow marks much easier than the other way around. It took a few coats and a few hours but I am proud to say that the race car is painted and is looking pretty sharp. I can’t wait to see it out on the track!