(upbeat music)
- We're working on the 1963 Budd XR-400 concept car.
It is an operational concept car.
So what we're doing today is,
we brought the car out from storage,
and right now we're going through
conservation maintenance of it.
In 2009, a lot of work was done extensively for this vehicle
in conservation.
So what we'll begin with first is the condition reporting
of the vehicle,
which involves checking the vehicle out
to see if there's any changes
during the past 10 years.
(hood clanks)
(upbeat music)
We're reintroducing fluids that we normally would not keep
in the museum storage, which could be hazardous
or hazardous to the vehicle itself.
So some of the hazardous fluids that we would remove
would be the battery, the gasoline,
engine oil, and the transmission fluid.
Well, I've finished putting the oil in,
the engine oil in,
and I just want to crank it just to distribute the oil
and just let it flow,
and to see if I need to add anymore engine oil.
(engine cranks)
This vehicle was last running in 2010 for Motor Muster,
and we'd like to bring it back to running condition
for this year's Motor Muster in 2019.
(upbeat music)
The next step is to put some radiator fluid inside.
In 2009, the vehicle went through extensive conservation
for its engine,
and then right now we're just maintaining it.
(upbeat music)
one quart of automatic transmission
because it is an automatic vehicle.
The car's been sitting in museum storage for 10 years
and hasn't run since,
so Motor Muster is a way for visitors to see it,
and a special chance to see it,
because we don't normally run our vehicles all the time.
The more we run it, the more it wears down.
So I'm putting approximately two gallons
based on this gauge right here.
After the event we will be reversing the procedures
to bring it back to its condition for storage.
So it's been a couple of days,
I thought I'll take a look at the leak.
It's been the records before that it's been leaking,
and it's there.
So I'm not going to fix the leak
because that'll be a bit more invasive.
It tends to add a lot of character to the car as well.
I found new damage on the car,
and I'd like to do some fills,
so I'm preparing waxes with pigments.
The wax is very reversible,
comparing to automotive paints that will require more
invasive work to repair and remove original paint.
This is much more localized.
This wax is a combination blend of two waxes,
a Cosmoloid 80H and Argon P90, then crushed pigments.
Sometimes some of the finish of the car
has more of a pearlescent look,
so I may add other materials like a mica,
or something that will be similar to the finish of the car.
But the wax acts as binder to the paint pigments,
and in turn I can always sculpt it
or shape it to what I need.
It just has to blend in so that someone from far away
could not see it.
Depending on the lighting conditions
and what the light does to the actual wax,
it can look different to the actual finish of the car,
so that might be another problem to address.
But I think, overall, it's a small loss,
and with the wax introduced,
it'll just be less of a disfigurement.
I'm getting ready to start the vehicle,
so I'm just going to move the position of the car outside.
(upbeat music)
All the fluid's been empty,
so I'm hoping to build pressure now,
and then it takes a while;
it's just trial and error for these things to happen
and get it operational.
So one of the biggest challenges
is to make sure nothing goes wrong
for the event.
So we're getting a head start of it.
So I'm removing the air filter
so I can get access to the carburetor,
and try some starter fluid inside.
It gives it a good boost.
(fluid spurts)
(engine cranks)
Some of the gauges aren't working as properly as I hoped,
like the fuel.
So it may be low;
I haven't put in enough,
but it's still running so it's getting fuel.
The oil pressure's building up pretty well
so that's a good sign,
that it's pretty stable.
Stuff like the hoses have likely been replaced.
Rubber doesn't do well during the ages.
Same with all the ignition wires, too.
I'm also seeing some white smoke.
(engine runs)
In storage one of the things we do is put oil
inside the pistons,
and this is just so it doesn't seize up at all.
So it might be just burning up right now.
(engine roars)
(upbeat music)