Geord MetSHrO Lemons Car

[Shoaz]

Ford won the "deconstructor's championship" last year for all the SHO carnage. Honestly, I think it's just a matter of how much these things weigh that causes the engines and transaxles to explode with alarming frequency.

I think it's just that people take, as they should, crappy cars to LeMons events that weren't properly maintained and were close to the end of their life, anyway. Given the number of SHO race cars that have been around for a LONG time and lived, long, reliable lives with regular road course beatings and regular maintenance, I don't think there's anything at all inherent that makes a SHO more likely to break at a LeMons event than anything else.

The weight doesn't have anything to do with it. I've been racing the Pumpkin with a minimum competition weight of 3374 lbs. The engine and transmission have been the most reliable things on the car.

And I second the notion that you're likely to not only get a ton of BS laps added, but you'll also be a penalty magnet straight out of the box.

That's to be expected I guess. I decided I wasn't going to build this car where the intention is to give the judges the impression that it is a $500 car. Instead, I'm building a car I KNOW is a $500 car. I know some people who can't build a $500 anything. The end product is going to vary widely depending on how resourceful you are and who you know, so why bother trying to build something that adheres to whatever that is? As long as I know it's a legitimate sub-$500 car, I know I did my best to abide by their rules. Plus, I don't care. We have no road racing experience and will have a hard time finishing this race, much less winning it.

It doesn't matter what you think or know about the car, it matters what the judges think. Those guys have an established standard of what makes a LeMons car, with a ton of experience of seeing all manner of cobbled-together crap wagons passing through the inspection tent, and you need to be prepared for the idea that if you bring something with mechanical prep far past that standard you're going to pay penalties for it.

We raced against Eyesore's Miata, and it's definitely within the spirit of LeMons. When you look close at that car the thing that keeps going through your head is "WTF?" It's very believable that there's not more than $500 in that car. They just turned the stock exhaust header upside-down to mount the turbo, which isn't anything special at all. And they had active aero controlled by a headlight motor connected to the brake light, which I still think is the coolest thing I've seen on the track in a long time.

They also had the coolest costumes by far.

This:



It looks to me that what you're building, especially with the coilovers, is going to get their attention. All I'm saying is be prepared for that and don't get upset if you wind up with a ton of BS laps and creative penalties.

 

[Crab Spirits]

I can't wait.

I want to see how they value rusted and broken coilovers made for 5 different vehicles (none of which work with either of our cars) and 3 different suspension models.

 

[boat]

I might know where it is

what are you gonna do with that black interior?

 

[Shoaz]

Also remember that if enough other participants think your car is above everybody else's prep level (or just don't like you), there's always the People's Curse.

 

[shopartsnw]

Other random thoughts:

1) Get that intake dirty; it needs to look rough. I made the mistake of cleaning off the intake for the first race, and even with 280k on the car, they gave us 30 penalty laps because the engine was clean and it had an OLD set of Koni struts on stock springs.

2) Think about your front brakes. With all that weight and the somewhat larger brakes in the rear, the car might get pertty spin happy. You also might run out of stock master cylinder, as I do not know what a Metro has for brakes.

Still a very cool project that

Mike

 

[firebat45]

Also remember that if enough other participants think your car is above everybody else's prep level (or just don't like you), there's always the People's Curse.

I would be very ****** off about this, but it is a possibility. I don't care how many penalty points or BS laps you get, I just want to see that thing race.

You could enter it in Chump Car instead, they don't crush cars, if they think it's over-prepped or a cheater car, they'll auction the car off for charity, after the race.

 

[hawkeye18]

oh yeah, get it as dirty as possible. Throw a can of coke on the intake so it gets it all dirty and sticky and gummy and it smells kinda funny (ok, maybe not, but it's an idea). Anything to make it look like a craptastic beater...

 

[typhoon5000]

One word: awesome!

 

[shopartsnw]

oh yeah, get it as dirty as possible. Throw a can of coke on the intake so it gets it all dirty and sticky and gummy and it smells kinda funny (ok, maybe not, but it's an idea). Anything to make it look like a craptastic beater...

The GI SHO has at least one dead mouse carcass under the fuel rails. It smelled REALLY BAD for the first few races, but now it is manageable. That first race, it would almost make you :vomit: to check the fluids with the engine hot.

Mike

 

[SHOmethewayhome]

i'd also suggest a way to fake an engine fire, melt some plastic on places etc...



love the car btw... it should be interesting to drive.

 

[hawkeye18]

The GI SHO has at least one dead mouse carcass under the fuel rails. It smelled REALLY BAD for the first few races, but now it is manageable. That first race, it would almost make you :vomit: to check the fluids with the engine hot.

Mike

Eeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwww!

i'd also suggest a way to fake an engine fire, melt some plastic on places etc...



love the car btw... it should be interesting to drive.

No faking necessary; simply stick the schrader valve on the fuel rail open, start the car, and watch the fuel catch on fire as soon as it hits the exhaust manifold! Turn the car off, watch the pretty flames for about 10 seconds, then hit it with a fire extinguisher. If you do it right, it won't even cause any damage.

At least that's what I did with my old '94. Worked like a champ. Wasn't quite as intentional, and there was perhaps a little more drama, but you get the point.

 

[SHOmethewayhome]

now this thread is full of win... thank you Hawkeye18

 

[Crab Spirits]

 

[kevinspann]

I guess it didn't pan out? That thing seems like it would **** you if you looked at it funny.

It also needs some kind of rear-steer system!

 

[Off Road SHO]

You should have mounted that engine in there backwards, so that you could drive it backwards around the track. Like this guy did. I think they would give you head start laps then, eh?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl8AlwddthU

Tom

 

[SuperHO]

I'm diggin the steering wheel mounting method...don't think that'd be DOT approved, however.

please...for the love of all that is good and blessed in this world...finish this car!!!!!

 

[Crab Spirits]

We're still on track for our date at Autobahn in October, but only just.

For the front, we picked up a cradle,suspension,steering, and brakes from a 98 Sable.

 

[typhoon5000]

We're still on track for our date at Autobahn in October, but only just.

Nice, I will be their on Team Rally Rolla. See ya there hopefully!

 

[Crab Spirits]

Scrap bin contains many basetball hoops.

Must assemble 3way to tower and install in car before welding. I ended up improvising a top hat for it from a piece of damper. I slotted it for the line, welded it to the bottom of a pillowball, then screwed a lower perch on upside down. I then ran some weld on the threads to keep the perch in place. I think we have 10 hours of labor in just this one coilover.

It seems like the car is oversprung (at 8kg?) or the damper is locked up for some reason. It could be why it was blown in the first place. You can jump in the back and the suspension barely moves. At this point, I'm too exhausted to care. If it blows, it blows.

 

[Crab Spirits]