Ecocat Part VII

When we ordered wheels from Team III Wheels, we didn't pay that close of attention (must have been that crooked tape measure I got from that 99-cent store) to the bolt pattern. We got what we ordered, which was for a Chevy pattern (4.75 inches), but we needed the 4.5-inch Ford pattern. There's nothing like ordering up a great looking set of wheels, in our case a slick set of 18 x 8 and 18 x 9 ET Classic Five wheels, only to box them right back up and send 'em back for the right bolt pattern. Luckily, we are not doing rocket surgery here!

It happens to us all: we forge ahead with our beloved project for months and months, only to hit a brick wall for any number of reasons. For some reason it seems that every project, automotive or otherwise, is plagued with unplanned stoppage that seems to appear literally out of nowhere.

Just because the ECOCAT is a high-profile magazine build doesn't mean the approach on its build-up is any different then the project our readers may have in their garage right now. More than once we've stumbled on our plan, while other times we've changed a thought pattern mid-stream. Either way, progress comes to screeching halt while we sort out the project's problems.

KIT CAR's ECOCAT project had been cruising along in its step-by-step build without a hitch. Tracy Tichenor at T&R Auto Body faithfully executed in fiberglass with creativity every styling cue that Thom Taylor had produced in pencil on paper. The team at Keisler Engineering completed the overwhelming task of converting the front-drive Ecotec engine to a rear-drive platform, and Bill Hahn and his team mated up one of the slickest turbo systems around that is guaranteed to put some real grunt into our "Go Pedal."

So we're fixing our ECOCAT woes. Like most builders, when presented with similar challenges, it is a matter of taking a deep breath and jumping back into it. Most of the sins committed in the past month are well on their way toward being corrected, but when you see you're near the top of the mountain, it's just a shame when you sometimes slide back down the gravel a few yards! By the time this story gets printed, the ultra-slick rollbar will have been fab'd up and the frame will be powdercoated. The wheel deal will have been corrected, all the while making some trucking firm a little richer.

Then it hit! All of a sudden, as if a busload of gremlins dropped by in the middle of the night and swarmed over our ECOCAT, we ran into problem after problem. The plan to move the battery tray behind the radiator was ambushed due to a space constraint that is yet to be alleviated. We'll be looking into how that can be solved soon.

Fear not, patrons of the art, it happens to us all. "When the going gets tough, the tough get going" and all those other catchy phrases that apply ring true for us all. It is a part of every project, kit or otherwise. Watch for the next installment of the ECOCAT in KIT CAR, as we will have turned up the "juice" and looking to complete the project in the next few months.

While opening the hood during a shop visit, a runaway elbow hit the windshield and cracked the glass. Not an insurmountable problem, but the original ideas were to keep the "fix this" list to a minimum! Rick's Race Cars, in the process of bending up a trick rollbar setup, had an emergency need on a local sportsman drag racer's car and had to put the ECOCAT on their back burner.