CMU Auto Club Partners with The Foreign Aid to Take on Timed Engine Challenge
The CMU Auto Club recently hosted a timed challenge event at The Foreign Aid, a local auto repair shop. At the shop, members worked together on the club’s project car, a 1977 MGB, donated by club president and mechanical engineering student Jacob Reynolds. The goal of the challenge was to remove, disassemble, rebuild and reinstall the car’s engine — all within 24 hours.
Although the shop’s schedule required the project to span three days, the team completed their work in less than 24 hours of labor, successfully fixing the MGB’s oil leak and installing a new exhaust system in the process.
“It was a good chance for us to do the physical work of taking an engine out of a car and figuring out how all the pieces work together,” said Reynolds.
CMU’s Auto Club currently has 50 official members from various academic disciplines. To accommodate its members’ wide range of interests, the club has subsections allowing students to focus on specialized areas like bodywork, racing, off-roading, maintenance or restoration. Those with little to no experience can also learn basic skills with help from experienced members of the club.
“It's not as intimidating as people think,” encouraged Reynolds. “If you want to learn how to change a battery, do an oil change, or fix something on a car, we can teach you. It's an opportunity to learn about anything you could think of for a car without spending a ton of money at a shop.”
The club meets every Thursday at 6 pm on the top level of the campus parking garage, and students can stay up-to-date with events and projects by following their Instagram account at @cmu_autoclub.
As the club continues to grow, Reynolds envisions more opportunities to engage students with similar events and build partnerships with local businesses.
