Thursday, June 16, 2011

The Escort Strikes Back

Hmm...it seems the blog has gathered some dust, which is natural, as the car has largely been doing the same. Since we've been away, Team Resignation co-founder Alan has moved to the Sunshine State to take a writing and editing gig at some magazine or something. Which means that the team has been left in the (in)capable hands of co-founder Eric with massive help from (actually capable) team members Kiko and Johnny.

With the gorgeous weather last weekend, Eric headed to Team Resignation team headquarters to pick up where the team left off in April. The wiring harness was largely in the car but just needed to be plugged into the proper places. As it had been sitting two months, Eric and Kiko had completely forgotten what most of the notes on the connectors meant. After much trial and error and a few accidentally hacked wires, the important plugs had found their equally important homes and the car seemed ready to start:



Almost.


After a bit of troubleshooting, Eric and Kiko figured out that the engine wasn't getting any fuel. A bit of backtracking led them to figure out that some integral parts weren't grounded, including the Fuel Pump Driver Module (the little bastard pictured below), which one might figure helps drive the fuel pump.



Alas, the problem was solved1:



Johnny showed up a bit later, and he and Eric schemed some secret plans for the car. Expect more on this soon.



1 It's important to note that the differences between a 99 ZX2 and a 91 LX are significant enough that the car doesn't have a working radiator fan or a low brake level indicator at the moment. But those should be easy enough to splice. Also the headlights, taillights, and turn signals will probably be one huge kludge. Meh.