This board has been very helpful to us with our RX7 so I thought I would share what we have been doing with it.

Yep we are going racing again at the 24 Hours of LeMons, yes lemons like the fruit. For those of you who kept up from last year we ran two races, one in Kershaw, South Carolina and a second in Toledo, Ohio (thanks to Mike Moore for the trailer).

For a little back story about the 24 Hours of LeMons race, the rules state that you are not allowed to spend more than $500 for a car. This does not include safety equipment like brakes, tires, wheels, rollcage etc. only the car itself. So as you can imagine there are some real pieces of crap out there, which is pretty much the point. All of the races are over a 24 hour period but only one race, Toledo, OH, is 24 hours non-stop, which we did.

In SC we ran a 1986 Mustang GT and man it was strong. It was by far the fastest car out there but handled like a semi. We ended up boiling the brakes, cracking a brand new drilled and slotted rotor, blowing the head gasket and one of our drivers t-boned a 6 series BMW which offset the nose of our car by about 6".

Here is the original thread: http://www.rennsouth.com//showthread...9&referrerid=1

In Toledo, we fielded a 1986 Mazda RX7 non-turbo. This car is much smaller than the Mustang and not nearly as fast. Instead of the road course in SC, we were in a small oval that had chicanes added to break up the circle track. This race as I mentioned was 24 hours non-stop. We originally had 5 on the team but unfortunately had to race with 4 as one teammate was unable to make the trip. In the night we were up to 5th place overall which was a feet considering that our tires were so bad (we left on what we bought on the car) that we couldn't corner too hard or the car would come around. I think the tires were upwards of 15 years old and the treadwear was rated at 420. We thought we'd get away with going on the cheap, but that wasn't the place to skimp. Anyway, 5th place that night but the car started bucking upon hard cornering. We kept coming into the pits to figure it out and thought it was electrical or a fuel problem but never did find out what it was until a week later, which was a clogged fuel sock on the fuel pump which we found out is very common on that car. This issue caused us to hesitate and almost stall out while exiting the chicane which put us in harms way as we were continuously hit by the cars behind us who tried to accelerate out and didn't expect us to be just sitting there. We finished 17th overall out of 55 cars.

Here is the original thread: http://www.rennsouth.com//showthread...3&referrerid=1

So now were we are a month away from this years Kershaw, SC race and we are preparing the RX7 yet again. This year we are putting sticky tires and race brakes on the car and plan to compete against the clunkers yet again. Last year a 1 Gen RX7 won overall at Kershaw. I'll do my best to keep you all posted!

Here are some pics from the SC and Toledo races last year. For the Mustang we were team "Guns, Girls and Gasoline", the RX7 was team "Everybody Poops" and this year we will be team "Fat Bottom Girls".

 

Man that looks like a blast! I wish we had an event like that in North Florida!

I have a junky 85 GSLSE begging for some of that action!

 

Make us proud. The highest finishing '7 in Texas placed 5th, and it was beaten by a 4 banger Mustang and a /Saturn/ of all things.

 

way to make teh S4 rx7 owners proud.. lmao lol

 

Yeah I noticed a lot of RX7's in the Texas race. Last year at the SC race when we raced the Mustang, a first gen RX7 won overall. Is that anyone on here?

 

When is the race in Texas? Ive got a beater n/a that would be PERFECT to throw around!!!

 

I was part of the team that finished 5th. We had no incidents! The car ran fine all weekend and spent 0.0 minutes behind the wall. We also had NO DRIVER PENALTIES!

The next Texas race is again at MSR Houston on the weekend of October 3rd.

 

Awesome.... I'll just have to keep her running till then

 

Great idea, sounds like a blast. GL in the race.

 

a love the sticker on the door

 

Awesome! Yeah that's how we got up to 5th that night was by staying out and running consistently. We were by far not the fastest car out there in fact we were only faster than two cars in the whole group. That was due to the terrible tires we had and our suspension was completely blown. The car teeter-tottered. Unfortunately at that race (Toledo) the Pratt and Miller guys (ALMS Corvette C6-R) guys were running in a turbo charged early 90's Supra. They were penalized 100 laps but were so much faster than everyone else that they still won by like 160 laps or something crazy. I think it was B.S. but I guess it added some legitimacy to the series having a pro team running.

Anyway, are you guys running anymore this year? We are talking about doing the New Orleans race as well.

 

A guy from the local Mazda club is going to be bringing a old GTI to the race in Kershaw this year. Whatever you do, just make sure you beat them for running a GTI instead of a Mazda.

 

That door is awsome!

 

Yeah, we are running the Reno race, and the 2nd Houston Race. We may run the 24 hours at Nelson Ledges also.

 

Tell him to come by and say hello! We may have to lean on him for his mechanical expertise so we'll keep a cold 12 pack in the cooler just in case.

 

Wow, you're going from PA to west coast? Nice! We have two guys from California racing. We had talked about building a car and keeping it on the west coast for some of those races but unfortunately parking in LA is at a premium so don't know if that will happen.

 

Awesome! Me and my friend have been tossing around the idea of going to one or two of these events. I remember seeing an ad somewhere for 2 FB's for $500. I told him that would be perfect for this. Sell parts and get better. Don't have the money required though. Both have no jobs.

How is it though? Pretty awesome?

 

Yeah it's really neat. A lot of friendly competition among car guys and a lot of fun. The penalties are hilarious! It's a good bonding event.

 

It's this weekend!

 

I want to do this. Badly.

Too bad I don't have the funds to do so.

 

So we are a few days away and have a few issues still to take care of.

First of all, we either have a cracked exhaust manifold or we've blown an exhaust manifold gasket. Not having a lift, I've taken "the dragon" to the nearest repair shop so they can take a look. I don't want to have to screw with a broken manifold stud in my garage.

Secondly, we still have not wired the 4 post battery cutoff switch. I've looked and looked and have no idea how to do this. On top of that it has to either be mounted on the dash or in the back of the car which means we will have to run wires through the cockpit. No idea how to get this finished as of yet.

Third the new rules require that we block off any openings inside the car around the fuel neck. The problem is that the brake light area is open to the cockpit as well as through the side of the car where the fuel neck is so that would mean we would have to block off the entire rear inside of the car with sheet metal. Not sure how we will get around this one either.

I'll keep you guys posted as we progress. Keep your fingers crossed!!

 

the factory exhaust manifold gaskets are very high quality but expensive ($100) . the exhaust manifold studs are M10x1.50, around 48mm long I believe . I had one that was messed up. I had to repair it with a helicoil ($60 ugh) from Carquest and a new stud from Ace

 

oh man you gotta get it done! move your battery to the back. you can weld up a box right to the floor or go to the army navy surplus store and get an ammo can and bolt that to the floor for your battery, that way you only need to run one wire to the engine bay and better weight distribution. as far as blocking off the rear, you can just get some sheet metal and make a bulkhead. it doesnt have to be clean to run in the lemons! post pics

 

Good luck guys, see you there! Me and a friend of mine are running T&S for LeMons (we did last year too).

 

Okay, so the car is at a local race shop and they are finishing it up. They were able to fix the header, install the cut off switch, setup the camber for more of a race spec as well as fix a rubbing we had acquired in the rear right wheel well. The car also needed a new slave cylinder.

Don't know the $ amount yet but let's hope it's not more than the car is worth which isn't much.

It goes on the trailer tonight. Tech-in is tomorrow at noon.

There is going to be a live webcast of the race this weekend as well: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/24-hour-lemons-south