Here are the notes from the meeting, anyone have any thoughts / comments?
Overall the goal of any activity of the automotive committee should be driving DMS membership, we clearly have an incredible value proposition when you compare DMS membership to the cost of mechanics or places like Jack Junkies(now closed) where you can rent a work area. And thats not even counting projects and classes which will help attract lots of people.
Classes
We discusses several ideas for different classes, to start out with Chuck will be organizing a motorcycle based maintenance / class / meetup that will be focused on a teaching / chalktalk portion followed by hands on. Starting with motorcycles will both be easier to run and attract an under served market.
Several members have ‘spare’ vehicles that could be used to teach classes on, future planning of using these vehicles and organizing car specific classes will likely wait until after the lemons race, as we will soon be in holidays followed by being very busy getting the race car ready.
Events
The next Cars & Coffee is Dec 6th, we will organize a group to attend from DMS
We want to start hosting a ‘wrench day’ once a month, where its an open time for people to come and work on vehicles. There would be several members there just focused on helping others with their projects / problems. Instead of just us starting from scratch Chuck has some contacts with some existing car clubs(air cooled VWs) that typically have a monthly meet, we will try to host their next meet at DMS as a way to both test out this idea with a good number of people and hopefully attract new members.
Projects
For now the only project we want to undertake as a committee is the 24 hours of lemons race car. The next race in Denton is the weekend of Feb 28 - March 1, the entry deadline is Jan 3rd. We plan to move the car from storage at the end of December to begin working on it, we don’t anticipate much mechanical work but we should be ready to source a replacement engine even if its just to have a spare handy. The car will be left on jackstands in the auto area (2-3 feet from auto shelves) for up to weeks at a time when it isn’t stored outside while prepping for the race. Storage location of the car after the race is still TBD
There are lots of ideas for builds and interesting projects that we should look into in the future, a primary concern of starting lots of things is how to ensure that the project is successful and completed, without an external deadline pushing progress it will be tricky to be sure something actually completes.
Tools / Purchases
We couldn’t identify any large lack of tools right now, we have a decent amount of committee funds available(~500 dollars) for immediate purchase of any needed supplies.
Will be purchasing a new creeper and bluetooth code reader soon
Will continue to investigate installing a two post lift, next steps will be consulting with board members. The cost would be ~2,000 and a lift would improve safety vs jacks/jackstands. Would limit usage of lift to only certified members who would have to complete a training class.
The current concrete sealer seems to be doing a good job and preventing stains on the concrete as long as you quickly clean up any spills, given the unknown ability/effort of stripping the current sealer we are not currently planning on putting down any epoxy or other floor coating. Will re evaulate if staining or problems arrise.
We need to keep an eye out for purchasing a car trailer if we can find one, which would make working on project vehicles much easier. If anyone wants to donate an enclosed trailer that would be awesome, but a simple flat trailer is more realistic.
