Post #2

Tell a story about a happy/challenging/funny/meaningful moment from the week

One story that stands out to me from this week was buying our 94 Ford explorer. After scouring Craigslist and OfferUp for days we finally had found a car that looked perfect for our project. We met up with an older gentleman from Aloha, who had listed the car a couple days prior. We told him about our project and he was very interested and thought it was a great idea. In fact, he liked it so much he gave us a discount! and we only had to buy it for a couple hundred dollars! It was a really great experience meeting someone in the car community who was so nice, welcoming and generous to us. 

What have you learned? 

Ultimately I have learned the importance of caring for a car, treating it well, and keeping up on matinence. While the gentleman who sold the car to us was incredibly kind, the car itself was barely holding on. Driving it back to our location was scary and the car was covered in dirt, grime, and putrid smells. Cleaning and fixing many of the mechanical issues with the car has been great as I have learned a lot and will no doubt learn more as we discover more about the car. So far I have learned how to clean efficiently and effectively using multiple different techniques and products. We also had to change the oil by hand which was something I had never done, we had to use a new filter and a specific type of oil in order to get the car running more smoothly, and that required research into the types of oil that work best for each scenario. We also cleaned out the gas tank by putting a special solution into it and that made the car run a lot better.

Reflection on progress towards goals from week 1

I think so far we have accomplished many of the goals I set out to learn. This car requires a lot of work, and while I believe it is already drastically better than when we got it, there is still much work to be done. We all know a lot more about cleaning after the first couple of days of this project and finding this car gave us great insight into the secondhand market. We are working well as a team and are able to cooperate and help each other out greatly. We have done well so far, but there is definitely plenty of time left to accomplish our goals

Questions you have

I'm not sure if I have any real questions at the moment. Everything we are confused about will likely just require more time researching and troubleshooting. I do wonder if we are doing our presentations in person this year?

1-2 images/photos

Respond to a comment from last week

Enrique asked us "Are you at all thinking about modifications on this van?" and while we aren't looking to modify the van at all, some modifications may be present in the future for the ford explorer!