LeMons car help please

[fmcokc]

Hi All,


i am brand spanking new to the forum and to the world of SHO's and I am excited!!! I purchased a 93 MTX SHO at auction the other night for $500.00 and I am prepping it for LeMons early next year. What I need from ya'll (I'm from Oklahoma) is your knowledge and experience so that I make a good showing for all the SHO's out there.

1. Remember that this is a LeMons car. The appearance of spending money that is not safety related is highly frowned upon...

2. Suspension upgrades and or modification recomendations...

3. Brake upgrade recomendations...

4. Wheel and tire size combos that work well...

5. Chassis mods...remember that we will be installing a 6 point cage...

6. Engine and Tranny mods...

7. and finally ideas for themes...

Here's a little info about myself a my team. We are all experienced racers and several of us actually work in the racecar fabrication business. We have all the fabrication tools and skills that you could ever ask for, we just need to know where we are going to see the biggest bang for the time we spend on these cars.

That's where all of you come in...please help us with your knowledge.

Thank you in advance.

Christopher Lewis

 

[VortecGT]

weld diff pins in trans
extrud honed intake runners
big bore butterflys (intake)
underdrive pullies
Bigger MAF
new catless y pipe
gut ac compressor
(You could even do a 3,2 swap out of a auto sho)

 

[jayro]

From what I've gathered on other Lemons SHO's is that you need to make sure the maintinance is up to date. Do a full 60K and probably rod bearings. I would suggest pulling the trans and welding the diff pins in (as the are prone to destroying the trans). Another suggestion would be a good clutch to last the race.
With the Lemons you can't spend over a certian $ amount total, correct (unless it is saftey related)?

The roll cage should stiffen up the chassis. Gut the living @#$& out of it! Remove absolutly everything you can to bring the weight down. Change your sway bar set up to help with wheel spin leaving the corners (plus these can be junkyard parts). If you can get your hands on some rotors and caliper bracket from a '96 SHO they are straight bolt on and will give you a little better braking.

As far as tires....alot of people have been very happy with the Dunlop Dirrizza (sp?).

Intake porting/Gasket matching could be done, but fro what ather racers have said, power mods are not really needed....the SHO does well.

Just try and make sure the care is in excellent mechanical shape so it won't break. Leave it dirty ect so it looks like a $500 car.

Jeremy

 

[hawkeye18]

Beat the crap out of every body panel with a large rubber mallet. If you want, you can grind off the FN74 on the 11.6" caliper brackets so an unusually knowledgeable BS inspector won't cry foul on them.

so far, I know of three SHO teams, and I know the themes for two of them are "Team Zip Tie" (you figure it out), "El Toro Loco" (replete with bull horns on the hood)... and the third ones involve parking cones in some fashion but I couldn't tell you what their theme is.

 

[Shoaz]

Hi All,

i am brand spanking new to the forum and to the world of SHO's and I am excited!!! I purchased a 93 MTX SHO at auction the other night for $500.00 and I am prepping it for LeMons early next year. What I need from ya'll (I'm from Oklahoma) is your knowledge and experience so that I make a good showing for all the SHO's out there.

1. Remember that this is a LeMons car. The appearance of spending money that is not safety related is highly frowned upon...

2. Suspension upgrades and or modification recomendations...

The subframe can be moved around a bit by loosening the four big bolts that hold it to the unibody. Slide the subframe as far forward as you can to get max caster. You can shift it side to side a bit to balance camber, which you might need to do to get decent camber without spending a lot of effort on the suspension.

SHOsource sells an inexpensive aftermarket set of Ingalls rear control arms that are likely stronger than the OEM stamped pieces and allow full camber and toe adjustment in the rear.

You can drop the front struts in the knuckles a little bit to lower front ride height, just be careful about interference between the spring perch and the tire.

Depending on what springs are on it you may be able to cut a dead coil off to lower the ride height as well.

Other than that it's do what you can with the budget.

3. Brake upgrade recomendations...

If you can find front knuckles from a 94/95 SHO that opens up possibilities to much better brakes than were on the previous years. The 94/95 SHO brakes aren't too bad, but you can get a slightly bigger rotor on the same knuckles with the same calipers with the bracket from a 96 SHO (or later) or some of the later plebian Taurii. The correct bracket has SN74 in the casting. That's about as good as you'll do with stock-ish parts. A few of the SHO vendors sell kits for better brakes if they fit your budget.

4. Wheel and tire size combos that work well...

It's hard to fit tires wider than about 245, and many of those require spacers. Other than that, whatever you can find.

5. Chassis mods...remember that we will be installing a 6 point cage...

Brace the rear struts with the cage. Triangulate from the bottom of the main hoop to the rear struts, or install the "subframe connectors" from the rear susp to the front seat braces. The idea is just to stiffen up the chassis around the rear doors, which is the weak spot.

6. Engine and Tranny mods...

For something like LeMons, I'd keep the engine stock. They're more or less bulletproof that way, and have plenty of mid-range and top-end torque, especially when the car is lightened. As has been said, just get the maintenance up to date on it. Mine is stock and has only ever seen track duty it's entire life.

Get some good synthetic ATF for the tranny, look up the "drain plug" mod on SHOtimes.com, and put a 10" (or so) rubber hose on the tranny vent with a PCV filter on the end of it. Stick it up vertical so that the filter is near the top of the strut tower. On a track the tranny tends to puke fluid out the vent, and putting a length of hose on the vent just contains the pukage. The drain plug will make it easy to change fluid if needed, and the secondary duty of the hose on the vent is an easy way to put fluid back in the tranny.

It may be worth pulling the tranny off for not reason other than to get a good look at the condition of the clutch. Stock clutch works great with the stock motor. If you go to buy a clutch replacement make sure it's the Valeo cast PP. The very early cars got a tiny 9-point-something" clutch disk with a PP with a stamped cover. Don't put one of those in. There's some TOB tech that's important if you get in it that far, too.

Christopher Lewis

Are you on Corner-Carvers?

 

[fmcokc]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the help so far. We went down to the last race in Houston a couple of weeks ago and saw several SHO's running. They seemed to be doing well but none of them placed very high. I saw one SHO that was sponsoerd by the local nudist colony...it had foam boobs stuck all over the car. El Torro Loco was there also. They didn't seem to run much.

When pulling the trans is it easiest to pull the motor/trans as a unit or do you pull the trans separately. Like I said I am new to the taurus thing. And I'm also assuming you pull it instead of dropping it do to the sub-frame. I have read about welding the diff pins and we'll do that. What the favorite diff fluid amongst the guys that run at the track?

I read about the 96 brake upgrade and also about using mustang gt calipers with the 10.9 rotors. What do you think??? Any pad suggestions in particular for this car? I was thinking Porterfield R4E. Also, would you go with differential pads due the much larger amount of front weight bias we are probably going to see after this thing is gutted?

The existing struts are shot and I don't want to put adjustables on because that will be spotted in a heartbeat by the judges. (Penalty laps) What would you suggest in a non-adjustable strut insert?

Springs...would you cut a coil to lower slightly? I have read a little about Moogs. Give me the newbie rundown please...

60K service...whats included in that...what are the most important items?

I was planning on doing a timing belt, accesory drive belts and the like but I also see a lot about water pump and crank sensor replacement.

I also need new plug wires and seal up those spark plug wells...they have oil in them...

I read that motorcraft plugs are the only way to go...true or false?

Volvo wheels seem to so up on many of your cars. What size? 17x8? 17x7.5?
and what size tire can you run without interference or funky handling traits?

Thanks again in advance...

Christopher Lewis

PS, Is anyone going to want a slighty used track car after we are done with this thing?

 

[luigisho]

Is there a budget limit for this project? That will really determine alot of what's practical. If you can find some good used Tokico's they would be non adjustable stiffer than stock struts. They aren't in production any longer but may be found used. Intrax and Eibach (recently discontinued) springs are available in the aftermarket.

 

[Racer X]

I'd stay away from the Mustang GT calipers on a racing application. I managed to set a pair on fire once upon a time; I feel like they wouldn't fare so well on the track. 11.6 would be a better option, to be honest.

 

[SHOCH]

Wasn't there an issue with the fuel tank getting hot from the exhaust for someone?
Ya might want to search for and read every thread with LeMons in it on here if you havn't already.

 

[BlackandBlue]

I found it interesting in one of the last couple e-mails from the Lemons group that they trashed the SHO and apparently for good reason. No SHO has ever finished a Lemons race.

 

[LOUDSHO92]

I found it interesting in one of the last couple e-mails from the Lemons group that they trashed the SHO and apparently for good reason. No SHO has ever finished a Lemons race.

Mike and Kurt have finished so I am not sure what you mean.

We offer a lot of parts including parts for the 60k: SHO Source

Mike and Kurt have been in a couple of Lemos races as well.

 

[zak]

You are going to need (not want) a 26 mm sway bar off a 1989 or 1990 SHO - check that the factory 23 mm one has not already been upgraded. Otherwise your inside tire is going to turn to smoke on every corner exit, eventaully ejecting an aforementioned diff pin.

Buy DeaconBlue's Quiafe (see Classifieds) . . . . . that would make things interesting.

For the struts, I would do something ghetto like get a set of Monroes (nearly free recently on rockauto) drilling a hole in the body, draining all the oil (measure how much comes out) and refill with high viscosity oil as used in offroad motorcycle forks - weld hole closed. Do this on the front only (the Monroes were loosely designed around the common SLO 155 lb/in spring rate, while you already have 200 lb/inch springs in a 93 MTX).

Keep the rubber side down.

 

[RonPorter]

You are going to need (not want) a 26 mm sway bar off a 1989 or 1990 SHO - check that the factory 23 mm one has not already been upgraded. Otherwise your inside tire is going to turn to smoke on every corner exit, eventaully ejecting an aforementioned diff pin.

Buy DeaconBlue's Quiafe (see Classifieds) . . . . . that would make things interesting.

For the struts, I would do something ghetto like get a set of Monroes (nearly free recently on rockauto) drilling a hole in the body, draining all the oil (measure how much comes out) and refill with high viscosity oil as used in offroad motorcycle forks - weld hole closed. Do this on the front only (the Monroes were loosely designed around the common SLO 155 lb/in spring rate, while you already have 200 lb/inch springs in a 93 MTX).

Keep the rubber side down.

What??

A bigger front bar will make the inside tire smoking WORSE. Better off with no bar and heavy springs if you aren't using a Quaife.

Bigger bars have alway been a band-aid for a poor suspension with a floppy frame. And lifting an inside tire is one of the big downsides.

On a car with a very stiff frame, proper springs and proper dampers, sway bars are theoretically never needed.

 

[Toolman]

PS, Is anyone going to want a slighty used track car after we are done with this thing?

Absolutely. I am located about an hour NE of Tulsa. I have owned 10-12 SHO's, and have parted out a few as well, so I have a large inventory of parts. Just PM for anything you might need.

 

[Brett]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the help so far. We went down to the last race in Houston a couple of weeks ago and saw several SHO's running. They seemed to be doing well but none of them placed very high. I saw one SHO that was sponsoerd by the local nudist colony...it had foam boobs stuck all over the car. El Torro Loco was there also. They didn't seem to run much.

When pulling the trans is it easiest to pull the motor/trans as a unit or do you pull the trans separately. Like I said I am new to the taurus thing. And I'm also assuming you pull it instead of dropping it do to the sub-frame. I have read about welding the diff pins and we'll do that. What the favorite diff fluid amongst the guys that run at the track?

I read about the 96 brake upgrade and also about using mustang gt calipers with the 10.9 rotors. What do you think??? Any pad suggestions in particular for this car? I was thinking Porterfield R4E. Also, would you go with differential pads due the much larger amount of front weight bias we are probably going to see after this thing is gutted?

The existing struts are shot and I don't want to put adjustables on because that will be spotted in a heartbeat by the judges. (Penalty laps) What would you suggest in a non-adjustable strut insert?

Springs...would you cut a coil to lower slightly? I have read a little about Moogs. Give me the newbie rundown please...

60K service...whats included in that...what are the most important items?

I was planning on doing a timing belt, accesory drive belts and the like but I also see a lot about water pump and crank sensor replacement.

I also need new plug wires and seal up those spark plug wells...they have oil in them...

I read that motorcraft plugs are the only way to go...true or false?

Volvo wheels seem to so up on many of your cars. What size? 17x8? 17x7.5?
and what size tire can you run without interference or funky handling traits?

Thanks again in advance...

Christopher Lewis

PS, Is anyone going to want a slighty used track car after we are done with this thing?

A 96+ brake upgrade with some good pads should do you fine and be cheap.

Koni strut inserts will go into the stock housings which would be perfect for you.

Moogs are a bit stiffer then a stock replacement, eibach discontinued their springs but you can probably still find some.

60k service guide/parts list: parts list Upper 60k guide front 60k guide.

Theres a sticky in the suspension section for wheel bolt patterns etc. etc.

Edit: The only performance mod engine wise id do is the y pipe, theres a nasty, nasty 90 degree bend in the stock pipe, an aftermarket pipe has shown gains up to 10whp. biggest bang for the buck.

 

[jayro]

What??

A bigger front bar will make the inside tire smoking WORSE. Better off with no bar and heavy springs if you aren't using a Quaife.

Bigger bars have alway been a band-aid for a poor suspension with a floppy frame. And lifting an inside tire is one of the big downsides.

On a car with a very stiff frame, proper springs and proper dampers, sway bars are theoretically never needed.

I'm pretty sure he ment for the rear. Then run a small one or none on the front. If $$$ didnt matter then you would be correct in saying that they should focus on the springs/struts ect, but I believe that in the LeMons race they are talking about the total cost of the car has to be very low....I heard $500. Of course any saftey equipment (rollcage included) is not counted toward tha amount.

 

[jayro]

I found it interesting in one of the last couple e-mails from the Lemons group that they trashed the SHO and apparently for good reason. No SHO has ever finished a Lemons race.

I'm pretty sure some have. Acouple have had to change trannies (and maybe an engine) between Saturday and Sunday though. Didn't Mark N and a bunch of SHO guys place something like 13th?

Jeremy

 

[RonPorter]

I'm pretty sure he ment for the rear. Then run a small one or none on the front. If $$$ didnt matter then you would be correct in saying that they should focus on the springs/struts ect, but I believe that in the LeMons race they are talking about the total cost of the car has to be very low....I heard $500. Of course any saftey equipment (rollcage included) is not counted toward tha amount.

Yeah, I know that a 26mm goes on the rear. But not when you talk about smoking a tire and blowing a diff.

 

[drivinhard]

we finished 13th out of 122 cars despite having no strategy, penalties on the 2nd day, and slower than dirt re-fueling.

we ran 26mm rear bar with no front bar, car rotated nicely on the tight (CMP) track that we ran on.

we ran j-yard 96 brakes with carbotech panther plus pads (old from the shelf). R4S rears

we had the 7th fastest lap of the race.

our clutch and trans barely made it (clutch almost gone, trans leaking fluid)

bonestock engine. you dont' need more power, you need it to handle/brake adn be reliable. it's an enduro, speed is not a priority.

 

[zak]

What??

A bigger front bar will make the inside tire smoking WORSE.

Ron,

Clearly your brain has gone soft with age and you no longer recall many SHO details. It will happen to all of us eventually.:angelnot: You used to know full well that the front swaybars came in 20.6, 22, and 24 mm sizes, so from the diameters alone (I mention 26 and 23 mm above) you should have realized that I was referring to the rear bar, as I did not specify in my original post. Specifying the donor years (89/90) should have jogged your memory as well

Without a Quaife, a 20.6 mm FRONT bar would be best, I have tested both smaller and larger sizes in high speed autocross. On a fast track (> 80 mph cornering) a 22 mm bar would be safer, assuming 89-93 MTX spring set.