Saturday, November 14, 2009

Getting her road ready

I put the seats in and the hoods on today, then filled the tires as best I could with a bicycle tire pump. The electrician set up a dedicated plug with a higher amp threshold for the circuit breaker as a dedicated "fueling" station for the car, so it was charged up and looking sharp. I took her out for another test run, still in the neighborhood, and snuck it up near 40 mph (don't tell my neighbors) without it breaking a sweat. The front end is still bottoming out, even with extra air in the tires and I discovered the reason. I had thought that the Cal Poly guys who did some work on it had put in the new heavy duty front shocks that came with the kit, since I hadn't seen those around, but they were buried behind the hoods leaning against the wall. I'll try next weekend to put those in and I think the car will be highway ready. For now, I might try to take it to the gym a mile from my house tomorrow, but I don't want to overstress it without those shocks.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

On the road! (sort of)


I was out of town this week, but Jerry "The Car Doctor" (pictured to the left) was on the car all weekend and when I got back today, he had it off the jack stands. I turned her on and rode her around the block a few times. My initial impressions: The car ran pretty well, comparable to when it had a gas engine, although I was limited to about 30 - 35 mph in my neighborhood which I achieved easily in 3rd gear. I think it will go highway speeds quite easily when I put it to that test. At this point, I need to get both seats in and the two trunks and there are some minor finishing touches Jerry will do after Thanksgiving. The suspension is a little tight and the car bottomed out up front at the bottom of our street where it met the cross street. The front tires are a little flat, so pumping those will probably help with that and I'll see if I need stronger suspension there. It was getting dark and I don't have a camera yet, but hopefully I can get some good film of the ride soon. The other issue involves charging. The charger worked for awhile, but then tripped the garage electric circuit breaker, so I can't recharge it until I can get a 20 amp breaker put in there.