Being inspired by Jack McCornack's MAX and then seeing his thread on ecomodders.com (
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.p ... -9852.html), where he mused about doing a book on "How To Build A Cheap Sports Car", I decided that was what I would like to do for my next venture into foolishness. And having arrived at a ripe old age it seems like a good time to get started while I am still able.
I have hyped this project to my wife as being a high milage sprots car. Her comment was "Why are you worrying about high milage on a car you will only be driving a few hundred miles a year." You can see what I am going to be up againist. A practical woman is a dangerous thing.
So, for $400.00, I have acquired a driveable 1992 Geo Metro with a current PA inspection and clear title. Hopefully this will make it easier to register once the project is complete. Yesterday, as a Halloween project, I started turning this reasonably nice looking car (rusted out rocker panels had been dutifully covered with pop rivited alunimum flashing), into a skeleton. All removable body parts are off and all wiring disconnects are tagged for later reference. My steptson set up a Craig's List account for me and hopefully I will be able to recoup some of the purchase price. I have projected this project will cost about $3.000.00 (read $7,000.00 based on past experience). I will be lucky to only spend 3G on the tools.
My firststep, after arriving home with the car, was to order a service manual from Amazon.com. That arrived today, but I haven't had a chance to look at it. Today I picked up an engine hoist from AutoZone. Got the 2 ton size. Wanted to err on the safe side. These Metro engines can get pretty heavy you know. Next step will probably be the build table. I plan to use 3/4" ply since I am working in a damp unheated garage and MDF tends to get soft and "grow" around the edges.
I have reasonable mechanical skills, although I have never been a "car person". Most of my projects have been of wood, other than an aluminum framed floding kayak (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pufe-AroqR0). I had done some gas welding about fifty years ago and took a weekend EAA aircraft welding workshop about fifteen years ago but haven't really practiced any. Fortunately (??) I have met a retired A&P type who is a certified aircraft welder.
Here are a couple of pics of the progress thus far. I hope they are not too large.
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Geo Metro donor f Oct. 26, 2011.jpg
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Geo Metro donor g Oct. 31, 2011.JPG