So much has changed on Seven since Shakedown. Edison2 put a bug in Kevin’s ear about how to reduce Seven’s weight, and he took their advice seriously. The trunk lids, hood, dash board, and center console have all been remade using fiberglass and peel ply. That removed approximately 60 pounds from the car. Trading out the comfortable seats for lighter racing seats and switching to standard 3 point seat belts removed some weight, too.
The transmission wasn’t on its best behavior at Shakedown, so Thomas made some adjustments and a clutch pedal is now part of the design.
Nate has almost finished rewiring the car. And he discovered and fixed issues that were hampering Seven’s acceleration and regen braking.
Kevin and Nick have made new battery boxes in an attempt to bring Seven back up to the full 96 batteries we’d originally planned to use. George is adjusting the CAD accordingly.
Josh has designed a neat holder for the MP3 player. Where the speakers will go depends on where they will fit. Any suggestions what the first song we play in the car should be?
Oh, and I primed and painted the car. It’s a temporary paint job. I’d like to thank James at Finishmaster for donating all the chemicals for the base “Sunlight Silver Metallic” and clear coat. That’s over $300 in paint. We’re still hoping to have Dick Taylor Collision paint the car (before Finals). There’s a lot of body work yet to do, including fixing the orange peel texture that crept into the clear coat thanks to the high humidity in the workshop the day I painted it.
This weekend the guys have put the motor and transmission back in the car and are puzzling out how to fit everything under the hood. It’s going to be a very tight fit.
Time is short and we’re still working hard to have Seven ready for the Knockout round. We’ll take one night off next week to display the car at our electrical cooperative’s annual meeting. Besides the pork chop dinner, Seven will be the main attraction!
