Over 180 cars were registered for the annual Cars in the Park show this year, including one that was the final product of a senior project for a Northport Public School student.
Conner Sahs entered his modified 1984 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 into the show after replacing the engine as part of his senior project. All projects vary in topic and can take on many forms and evolve in the months students are working on them, often producing creative and unique results.
Despite having no prior experience working on cars, he took on the challenge of learning about the vehicle and the inner mechanics behind it. Sahs, 18, had the car in his family’s garage since he was 15 and always wanted to get a bigger engine in it, so pursuing the task as a senior project over the winter seemed like a great idea, he said.
It was the second time Sahs entered his Camaro into Cars in the Park, and it also happened to be the first time he volunteered and worked the event. Part of Sahs plan when he first started his senior project in September was to display the end result at the car show, so he met his goal to have it completed by then, too.
“The original engine didn’t have much horsepower, so I wanted to get a little bit more horsepower out of that car and a new engine. I was killing two birds with one stone, I was getting the school project done and doing something I kind of always wanted to do at the same time,” Sahs said. “I really didn’t know that much about cars and I just did a bunch of research. It was just a lot of trial and error, I didn’t know what I was doing, but I started looking at YouTube videos and stuff online and I was like, ‘it really can’t be that hard if all these people are doing it, so I’m just going to do it.’”
The senior project itself requires students to put in at least 15 hours of work, so Sahs had no trouble reaching the expected hours needed considering the time it took to complete the engine removal and installation. A learning experience every part of the way, Sahs said he had a friend sometimes help that knew a little more about cars than he initially did, but they still ran into roadblocks where they were guessing as they went through the process and hoping they were doing the right thing. They clearly were on the right track though, Sahs added, because they were able to get the vehicle running and working again.
“It runs and drives great, I’m still working on it here and there and there’s still a couple things that I’m tweaking, but for the most part, the big stuff is out of the way, I’m really happy with the car,” he said.
One of the most difficult parts of the project was unbolting the transmission from the engine. Sahs said reaching the six transmission bolts in the car was physically hard to get to, and it took him about three or four days of watching videos and applying what he learned to get all the pieces removed.
“That was probably the toughest part, your transmission is connected to your engine, so to get the old transmission out, I had to unbolt my transmission so I could actually lift the old engine out,” he said. “The biggest takeaway would probably be that you can go into doing a big project like that with no skill or no knowledge and you can find a way to do it.”
Aaron, Sahs father, said it was amazing to see his son’s vehicle on display at Cars in the Park not only because of the fact that he put as much time and effort into it as he did, but because he saw the project through from start to finish.
“I’m pretty proud of him… It (senior projects) seems to give them a good path and help them find something that they’re really interested in at that age. It’s neat to see him taking so much pride in something and seeing it through,” Aaron said. “Him and his little brother, Riley, they worked on it a lot this winter, so it’s also kind of neat to see them bond and spending so much time working on the car together, they really enjoyed it.”
Riley has a 1991 Chevy pickup truck in the garage that he plans on sprucing up as he gets older and starts driving as well, Aaron explained, another project that older brother Conner will hopefully help with in the future. So far, they’ve added a bluetooth radio to the truck, with more inevitable improvements likely to come sooner than later.
“We’re looking forward to him (Conner) working on our vehicles,” Aaron said.
Senior projects give students the opportunity to explore their interests and passions, but it also helps them discover what they actually like and dislike in the process, said Andy Smith, senior project advisor, who noted that it was the first time seeing a project like Conner’s in his six years at Northport.
“The big thing they get out of that (process) is a dedication to a specific focus. It helped him hone in on his focus and he found a new appreciation of the history of souped up cars. He got to learn so much,” Smith said. “Starting from scratch and watching videos, he put in a lot of effort.”
