One of the serious problems that we ran across was that our rubber band kept slipping off while it was running. It seemed to be at an angle towards the side of the wheel that didn't have a rim to catch it so it would constantly pop off (seen below in the picture).
We thought about this and fixed it by putting the axle on which the turbine spun (the higher of the two in the picture) at an angle which would give the rubber band a tendency to push left, but not so far as to create unnecessary friction. This worked out very well for us.
Another sudden problem that we encountered was our boiler springing a leak for some reason (as seen below).
This also flooded our ethanol flame supply with water, making it burn weaker. We had to replace the wicks for it to be back to normal again.
As for the boiler, we scavenged a new one and after some modifications to fit our car, it all worked.
One thing that I wish we would have done though, is made more customizations in the design and take the time to make it more original. It felt kind of like assembling a Lego with all the instructions in front of us. I'll keep that in mind for our next project.
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