Building and Blogging - The 818 Project

First, let me give you some basics about 818.  The 818 Factory Five project is the build of a biodiesel fueled car. It is special because it is our own environment friendly race car. This is the first race car being built in the Workshop School.It is a component kit car manufactured by Factory Five Racing in Massachusetts. Besides being fast, it is safer for the environment.

It came with cardboard boxes holding the body panels, shocks, suspension, hoses, nuts, bolts, and washers, steering wheel, and many more parts. They also sent a tubular steel frame and the body which is made of fiberglass.

There are different groups working on different parts of the car. The groups are divided by the two classes at the Workshop School -- collision and technical. I am in the collision class and there are three groups in our class: the roof, interior, and exterior. We had to design a type of roof and came to the decision that it was going to be a t-top roof. We had to design a roof because it is a convertible and if it rains or snows we are done for.

The Technology class has three groups as well -- engine, steering and suspension, and electrical. Students in the technology class removed brake lines, calipers, steering wheel, brake, gas, and clutch pedals, and other components from the donor car, a 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX, which we bought after it was wrecked in a crash.

The next challenge we have is how do we get more people interested in our project. We would like you to follow this blog and register to comment. We also plan to post videos to show more of what we are doing.