The yellow/green 300D turbo deisel was an instructor from my school, I would really like to enter something this next year, but probably wont be able to.

Awesome that you made it through, heard it was pretty rough.

 

It looks like I'll be running the Detroit race in a Alfa Romeo Alfetta. I just got a call from some friends up that way that are throwing a car together. Hope it comes together and I'll see you there.

 

Question:

Say you remove the A/C... If you sell the parts, does that add to the $500 budget limit?

What if you... "find" parts or someone gives you parts?

 

^Yeah, what he said. I say, take apart your motor and bridgeport it. And make a header.

 

I was just reading through the rules...if someone gives you parts they still add on to the value. However, if you managed to bridge a motor with and put it back together with all your original parts it would be legal.

Plus, the race coordinators have the option of buying any car on the track for $500 at the end of the day...so if you spend tons of hours building some super nice bridged motor in an attempt to get an advantage, you could have it all wasted for nothing.

--Alex

 

They also have a BSF(bull sh*t factor)

For every $10 over $500 they think your car is worth they subtract 1 lap from your total. Safety equipment doesn't count toward the total and they include brakes with safety equipment.

 

I wondered if they let you strip out the safety equipment... A full set of tires alone and a roll bar could easily run $500... Each.

 

To answer some previous questions: The race is indeed open to anyone, but you have to come up with a creative concept, argument, or reason to be entered into the race. Or you can try to blackmail or bribe the organizer. Once you get accepted, you can pretty much race anything--the weirder or more unique, the better. Here's the feature from last year's (2006) race where we campaigned a 1995 Oldsmobile Aurora that I bought for $500. (Sorry about the shameless plug.) Needless to say, we didn't invite back the drivers who caused us all the trouble and nearly killed the car last year.
http://www.caranddriver.com/features...of-lemons.html

You are allowed to sell stuff off of your car and then apply that money towards the car. Since we started our prep so late, we didn't really have time to sell anything off, but we didn't really need the extra cash; we stayed comfortably around $500 for the car spending.

The temp gauge needle never crept up past about a 1/3 and the race was in 100+ degree heat. Much to our delight and surprise, the FC seemed unfazed by the heat. Lemons cars are supposed to run pure water (to avoid slippery coolant from getting on the track) which actually runs cooler, but there was definitely more than a little bit of anti-freeze still in the system. Again, after reading about what the cooling system likes on this site (and on AaronCake's site), we zip-tied the plastic undertray in place and cut out some of the front bumper/spoiler to allow air to pass more easily over the oil cooler and radiator. Detroit at the end of September should be much cooler than Altamont, CA in July.

We didn't have time to pull out the A/C compressor or condensor. We'll definitely be pulling out at least the compressor before the next race to save some weight. The nice thing about the condensor was that it added a layer of protection for the radiator. Rocks, stones, and other debris kicked up by the other cars was constantly hitting the front of the car; actually we were lucky the oil cooler didn't take a catastrophic hit. Next time we'll be putting some sort of grating in front to protect the cooling system better. We removed both cats and "fabricated" a pipe to the two rear mufflers. Flash: You are right. Removing them probably did get a lot of heat away from the engine.

In regards to the Mustang V-6 wheels--I think those are 5x114.3 which fit the non-base FC. We've got the base FC which has a 4x114.3 bolt pattern. I've got to get off my butt and hit some junkyards for 90s Honda Accord four-cylinder wheels. I think those might get as big as 15x6.5 which might just accomodate a 225/50R-15. I'd really like a 15x7 or wider, but I don't think any are available. Anyone know what other cars have a 4x114.3 (4x4.5") bolt pattern that would fit the 7?

I'll definitely try to pursue the ghetto-fabulous 787b paint job. I'm glad you guys like the idea. However, the team member who spent a bunch of hours stripping and finishing our aluminum hood might object to painting over his handiwork. Whatever, he'll get over it.

Best,

Tony Q.