During the last week, we focussed on a few maintenance and repair bits as well as installing a few end pieces in the vehicle.
First, we struggled to keep the Eclipse's hood back to a new car shine. Our prior hand polishing of a few scratches yielded some hazy spots. But with careful use of a random orbital polisher, a Senior Car Club student applied some compound, polish and wax, to give the hood a new shine. Here's an AFTER/BEFORE pic of the difference one of these polishers make!
A couple of our grade 9 Car Club members helped to paint some finishing touches on the bottoms of the doors, which have some very light rust that was not reworked before the paint job. Our car is not perfect, but the odd mark of valour gives any machine character!
Moving onto the interior, we wanted to trick out the center console with a few toys. First, we converted the Eclipse to a push starter, wiring the relay necessary to start the car with a push of a button!
In this next pic, you can see the push starter installed in the factory cigarette lighter hole. As well, we wanted to be able to monitor the voltage in the primary cell unit (that starts the car) as well as the secondary cell unit (that powers the stereo, underglows and TV). This way, we can tell when the batteries run low and are in need of charging. We marked two cut outs in the console beside the push starter, and then cut them out and installed twin voltmeters with a digital display.
Now we have the ability to start the vehicle Formula One style, and can also keep an eye on the vehicle's electrical system while on location!
We then moved onto the floors and midsection of the vehicle, where we assembled four more LED strips to add accent lighting to the foot wells and amplifiers.
As the lighting system was connected onto the main switch panel, other students also tested the duplicate screen feature of the tablet onto the rear TV, and its working great!
Our dedication plaque came in, and it was installed into the rear of the trunk, and it will now act as a battery cover as well as a lid for a small box that houses the keyboard and remote for the TV. Most of the students who participated in Project Eclipse have signed the plaque as a symbol of pride in their hard work and accomplishment over the last two years.
Any students who graduated last year and worked on the car are encouraged to drop by the school and sign the plaque any time!
Now, with the vehicle 99% complete (other than a few cosmetic details), we found it fitting to take a lap around the premises to show the BR Car its new home, and pose for a few pics!
The Spirit Car even caught the eye of several grade 7 students this week as they took in a tour of our school, and they loved it! The tech students loves seeing the smiles on the kids faces, knowing this is one example of student potential and success!
We are just DAYS away from unveiling a custom built machine, created by the hard work and dedication of many BR students, with over 1000 hours logged over two years!
Drop by on the 19th of May and see WHO WE ARE, and WHAT WE BUILT!
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