Here's what has transpired over the last couple of days. Last
Wednesday my two friends, Tony and Dakota, helped me get my rebuilt 350 back
into my Monte Carlo. Mind you we took the entire day off but we got it done. We
were incredibly proud of ourselves and the car. That Friday my Autos teacher
called my Mother and told her that the car had to be running by Thursday
because some upper brass in Palatine High School were coming to see it start.
That weekend I was incredibly sick but nonetheless my father and I chased parts
around for the looming deadline. I truthfully didn't think it was even going to
happen. So much had to hooked up. The motor and trans were sitting in the car
with nothing in place other than the headers. On Monday I had work so I
couldn't work late. Than Tuesday came, and it became hectic. I stayed at school
until six and all my Father and I accomplished was fitting the gas tank in the
car. Not much to show for three hours of work. I took the entirety of the next
day off. I got to school at eight and worked until midnight. During school
almost every one of my autos friends came to help out. However I worked into
the night with my friend Tony, Mr. Ruta, my Father, and some dude named Tim. I
had never met Tim before but he stayed all night and even drove me to the parts
store. It turned out he was the son of the manager at NAPA. He had come to show
Ruta, by teacher, his truck but he just decided to stick around and help.
Finally, when the motor was all hooked up we put coolant in it. The final test.
Naturally, it started to leak out of the water pump. I wasn't surprised that it
leaked. Since three million steps had been done it two days, something had to
go wrong. The next day, I got to school at seven and, with Tony and Ruta, we got
the water pump gaskets replaced and slapped it all back together. We
poured coolant in and moved the car into
place. Just as the brass showed up the car was finally ready to go. All of my
friends and the entirety of an autos one class were there to help out and watch
the car. We primed the carb bowls and tony turned the key while I worked the
carb. The starter kicked in and nothing happened. Tony cranked the key and I
heard a single cylinder fire. With another turn the carb decided to shoot a
ball of fire up that went about three feet into the air. My heart was racing,
the key turned, and the motor roared to life. It backfired and spat fire for
about a minute until it settled down into a idle around 2,000 RPM. Now I had to
run the car for twenty minutes to coat the cam in oil. Rob held the stopwatch
and counted down as I worked the throttle. The only bad thing that happened
over that twenty minutes was a sparkplug wire caught on fire but it still kept
running. Finally the twenty minutes were up and tony turned the car off. Everyone
clapped and cheered and came over to congratulate me. I couldn't hold back the
tears after my father and mother hugged me and told me they were proud of me.
This was a group effort but it was my car. I had turned a seventies smog motor
into a 350 horsepower beast. Over the past week I forgot about school and
everything else. My life had fallen into a rhythm of working and sleeping. I am
tired but so glad that the car ran. I just hope that everybody who worked on it
has felt a bit better for it. Even though it still needs mountains of work, I
now see light at the end of the tunnel. This car is something that I hope to
have for the rest of my life. I took a lawn ornament and brought it back to a
car. However, that Monte Carlo is so much more. It is a dream of mine sitting
on four wheels. It is a symbol for second chance. I hope in a couple months to
have it sitting in my driveway and I plan to have everybody who helped me sign
the trunk. Finally, I would like to thank the teachers who gave me extensions
on my assignments this week. I know that some of you know how much this means
to me. As I closed the hood and walked back out into the hallway during a
passing period I looked at all of the people around me. They were just going
about their day. I looked down at my greasy hands and saw the cuts. I reached
into my pocket and felt the Monte keys tucked comfortably next to my driver's
license. I took then out and spun them around my finger and I walked to English.
I knew right then that my life would never be the same again.
