24 hours of lemons build and VW VR6 swap.

rozap

Daily Driver
Hey everyone. Some friends and I decided to do the 24 hours of lemons. For those who aren't familliar, it's a sub-$500 endurance race series. The search began for a car. We weren't looking for anything in particular. While me and another team member have some VW and Alfa experience, we haven't built a race car, so to keep it simple we planned to get a common, easy to work on, sub-$500 car with good junkyard and aftermarket support. But then a $600 X1/9 popped up on Craigslist, and we threw all those requirements out the door, drove down to Oregon (we're based in Seattle) and picked it up. The guy I bought it from was super nice, and agreed to $500 plus a few big boxes of parts because he had always wanted to make it into a track car.

Trigger warning for all the X1/9 purists: keep in mind that the goal here is to keep *total cost* below $500. That means we have to do things wrong. The rules say so.

This is when we got it. It had a blown head gasket and had sat for about 6 years. It has some rust, a ton of bondo, a cracked roof. But otherwise it was "complete".
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So first thing was pulling the engine out and seeing what the damage was. Verdict: very bad. But this is lemons - so we have no choice but to replace the rings, bearings and head gasket, hone it as best we can, resurface the head as best we can, check the runout and then put it back together. Not pictured: the disgusting 6 year old oil/coolant mixture from the blown head gasket. It was in every orifice. Tons of soaking of stuff in degreaser and cleaning.
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Yes, we resurfaced the head on my kitchen countertop. It's a flat surface, it took a while. But when we checked it at the end of several hours of hard work and beer drinking, the head's couple thousandths of warping we measured initially was gone, and it was dead flat.
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Re-assemble, trying to ignore all the things we're doing "wrong", and first startup


Later verified that the oil pressure gauge was toast, and there was in fact plenty of oil pressure when measured with a known-good gauge. We fixed the running issues, mostly vacuum related, and drove it for a bit. Found an exhaust leak causing a rich condition, fixed that. Did a compression test and found 130+ PSI across all cylinders. Now the car runs really nicely across all temperatures, no misfires, no smoke, idles perfectly. Pretty wild, considering all the corners we've cut.

The brakes were shot so we rebuilt all the calipers and replaced the master cylinder. Also replaced the clutch master cylinder which was dead. That was incredibly unpleasant, not looking forward to more master cylinder work.
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Next was wheels. We couldn't find any tires that were decent quality for the 13" steelies, which after more reading felt like a lost cause. The spirit of lemons is crappiness, but racing on bad tires is no fun and also dangerous, so the search began for new wheels. 14" will fit better, but 15" have a much better tire selection, so it's a tradeoff. Found this set of Epsilons from a forum member. In hindsight, should have gotten smaller ones, but at the time the combination of 1) local 2) cheap 3) look cool somehow outweight the hours of work that would be required to do a shitty-wide-body build. Wheel poke is a no-no. So out came the saw and the angle grinder.
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The holes on the fender are slide hammer leftovers from years ago, I assume. I removed a metric ton of bondo, to add lightness.
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One down, three to go.

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Printed a mockup spacer to verify wheel fitment.
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Progress on the rear.

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These are fiat 500 spacers. So in order to sit properly, we need to remove material from the inside, as well as pressing in a hub centric ring that is matches the epsilon wheels.

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Try not to acquire more vehicles in the process. Saw this beauty in the wild and nearly pulled the trigger on it. Yes, that's a Fiat Campagnola driving around in the US.
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Sort of done-ish. Before primer. Realized I don't have any shots of us making the spacers, which turned out really nice. Really nice to not have to mess with hub centering rings and just have everything fit perfectly as one piece.
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Removing wires. Some aren't required. Some were added by the PO and were ???. We had briefly toyed with the idea of redoing it from scratch, I'm glad we didn't. Much easier to simplify existing stuff.
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Whole interior came out.
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But we want to use the gauge cluster, so I made this funky mount which uses the mounts that used to hold the dash down, and the existing holes on the cluster. It's stronger than it looks.

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Our tallest driver is 6'4", and the rest of us are just under 6', so we needed a slider. Had to make mounts to make it all work.

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Installed.
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Fire system in and plumbed.
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with an external pull-cable.

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Found that the return tube was so badly pitted it was leaking. Had to replace it. Took the opportunity to install a coolant pressure sensor, so we will know when we blow a coolant line and won't overheat the thing. The sensor will get a heat shield. Also deleting the heater core.

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I think instruments actually fall under "driver comfort" and are exempt from the $500 limit, but I had these 7 segment displays lying around and all the stuff to make a oil pressure, coolant pressure, and oil temperature readout for a lot less than buying them individually, so this is the beginning of that.

So that's more or less where it is today. I licensed and insured it so I could drive it around and see what else is broken. I'm glad I did, because I found that there's a bad rear wheel bearing and the temperature gets to 195 just with light driving. So the wheel bearing is in progress and a scirocco radiator is in the mail.

Next big thing is the cage. And livery, of course. Hopefully will tackle those in the coming weeks, but the coronavirus situation has halted our team's regular once-a-week meetup, so progress has been slow. We had hoped to make the July race but those plans fell apart due to the stay at home order.

All told, we're over the $500, but not by a huge amount. And doing this with an oddball car will likely grant us some leniency from the judges.
 

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Good luck with your project. This isn't the first Lemons X1/9 project, so I am sure some of the previous racers will chime in here when they notice the thread. :)
 
and the temperature gets to 195 just with light driving.
195 isn’t necessarily bad. What thermostat do you have?

If you are clearly running hot check the water pump impeller (clearance in spec, not too worn), flush the radiator and lines thoroughly with vinegar or citric acid, if you bleed the system and there’s more air in it next day look for a small leak somewhere. These cars do not overheat in normal driving unless something is wrong.

The upgraded radiator is likely still a good idea - you are going in for an endurance race. But you do want to be sure that everything else is right too, and overheat in light driving suggests it may not be.
 
re: overheating. Unsure of the themostat, though I did order a new stant one that others had suggested on here - have not installed it yet. I figured it must be opening because the radiator is definitely getting hot, but I guess it is possible it's not opening fully. the water pump is new from MWB as the old one was making a nasty noise. I've done a flush and bleed, and the fans are both working (now controlled via toggle switch on the dash). I don't suspect a lean condition or super advanced timing, because it is running really well - linear power delivery throughout the revs. Ultimately I probably should have eliminated the possibility of the thermostat only opening partially, but it didn't seem super likely and sitting for 6+ years with green coolant in the radiator couldn't have done wonders to the radiator core.

from reading the threads on the scirocco radiator swap, I got the impression that "some people felt it cooled better and some people saw now difference" which led me to believe it wasn't really a coolant upgrade, just a way to save $200+ on the part. It would be nice if someone had some definitive data on any difference in cooling capacity, and if it was in fact an upgrade.

all that being said, I think the scirocco part is inferior, which is probably why it's $200 cheaper. the sides are made of plastic, and they do give up after a number of years. it happened to me while waiting on the auto-x grid one time in my corrado. that was an expensive tow home...

will do my best to keep the thread updated.
 
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You're building an endurance race car not a "$500" crap can heap. By the time you're done with it all, cost will be closer to $5000 than $500 not including a boat load of work and resources.

~Primary concern is making absolute sure the roll cage is done to current LeMons requirements. There is ZERO tolerance for any skimping on this in any way. If the folks at LeMons tech find even the slightest iffy with your cage, tubing required, welding completely around the entire tube, GOOD welds, GOOD strong securing points, Proper bar padding and all, or they will bounce the car.. NO exceptions.

Keeping the top on is a REALLY good idea, convertibles are a safety issue and makes the already difficult roll cage more difficult. Do NOT pull a PBS cut off the front windshield, it will make your car cage fab and front wind screen life miserable. BTW, that PBS roll cage published decades ago will NOT meet LeMons roll cage requirements.

Seat mounting MUST be strong enough to lift the entire car with and more on. That driver's sear MUST stay put in a crash or serious injury to fatality can happen. Seat belts must be to within the mandated date of manufacture. Five or Six point harness only. They will be put on the driver tight as the driver can tolerate as any slack can cause serious injury in a crash. Make absolute sure all drivers will fit the car and can easily getting in and out of the car. There will be a timed getting unbelted and out of the car test, if driver fails, there will be a problem with passing tech

Install a proper fuel cell with standard race car plumbing using AN fittings. Replace ALL hoses. For coolant hoses double clamp them using Breeze liner stainless steel clamps with anti-seize to help these clamps work better. Any leaks or iffy fuel, coolant, brake and all fluids must stay in the car. If any aspect of the plumbing is iffy, they will bounce the car.. NO exceptions.

On board fire system is mandatory, check LeMons regs on this. Another if the on board fire system does not meet regs, they will bounce the car, NO exceptions.

Battery and power kill switch must be located in a easy to reach by the track crew with a BIG red arrow pointing to it's location.

Driver safety gear: helmet, suit, gloves, shoes, sox, undies and all need to be within the spec best by date.
~Hans Device is mandatory~

Race team and related organization is an absolute must. Have all your stuff prepped and ready, from food to driver's schedules, tires, fuel, pit crew duties, place to stay, car spares and all. Put it all down in a spread sheet and make sure all involved knows precisely what they are expected to do and can get it done. Majority of LeMons teams fail first time due to team organization and car prep. Drivers should NOT take chancy moves on the track, Keep in mind you're going to be on that track hour after hour after hour one silly-chancy pass can easily put driver and car farming with a LeMons penalty soon to follow.

Sorting out the exxe and getting it mechanically race prepped is not that difficult. Post here, or message me. Prime mind set, it's NOT a $500 race car, it IS an endurance race car or it does not need to be fastest, it must be absolutely reliable-unbustable as any LeMons racer will be pushed mechanically far beyond any club or similar race event. Expect stuff to bust if not perfect and proven good before race day.. That said, brakes are an absolute must-best as possible. There is no limits on brakes, you can run Brembo Carbon brakes if ya like. The current spec tire for LeMons appears to be Dunlop Direzza as it meets the DOT 180 spec and reasonable track tire. Use the 195-50-15 on a 6" wide wheel with the correct offset of ~25mm all four. Don't fool around with over sized and ... it will likely cause a LOT of grief and waste of $. Stock suspension is OK enough, but it must be as or better than new. This means all the dead rubber bushing and ball joints must be replaced.

We have been running an exxe in LeMons for over a decade now.. ask, as there is much that can be shared.

BTW, if you've not seen this yet:
Fiat X1/9 Frankenstein: A Rotary-Swapped Hella Sweet Car of the Week - 24 Hours of LEMONS

Good advise from the LeMons folks:

How not to do LeMons:

This one of the best cars at LeMons. One of the driver's and tech folks is Dave Coleman Mazda USA's chassis-suspension engineer. Really good driver and great to hang out with. Dan another one of their drivers and tech folks works at Garrett Air Research the turbo folks. They have become track family over the years we've been racing LeMons..




Bernice
 
Toyota USA runs a car at 24 Hours of LeMons. Toyota is not the only major manufacture to have an is running a car at LeMons.
Manufactures often run cars a LeMons to shake out their stuff in ways that cannot be easily done otherwise.

In this Toyota video, their note about team work and solving problems as they happen are teaching moments in many ways. LeMons racing can impose great demands on creative problem solving in real time.



Bernice
 
Someone will have to explain the $500 rule as I see all these cars costing way more than that. I don't really follow this series but I gather all safety items are excluded from the $500 limit.
 
Personally I'm not into endurance racing, but I like the original concept - Racing isn't just for rich idiots, it's for all idiots. Or something like that.
Unfortunately, just as always, the rich idiots push the other idiots off the track by spending too much money. Always happens. It's like they are picking on the poor folks who just want to have car fun. Sad.
But, as pointed out above above, you have to have a safe car. And that's not cheap. It may start as a $500 car, but by the time you make it safe, it's a $5000 car. Still cheap by comparison though.
It looks like you are doing the build the right way, doing the work yourself, and finding ways to avoid spending money. My hat's off to you.
I hope you focus on having fun with your friends. That, in IMHO, is the real reason to do a "crapcan car".
Please keep us informed, we love to live vicariously through others!
 
Racing is just another monetary-material indulgence like most any other non-essential endeavor in life. Racing takes on a completely different meaning once the goal of "winning" is taken away. We've operated with the goals of:

~Safe
~FUN.
~Win.

Goal of LeMons is much about those above in that particular order. This is one of the many reasons why LeMons has become SO popular as a motor sports venue. Add to this, the ability to be creative without arbitrary rules specifically designed and intended to favor a given sponsoring brand to "win". The Mazda rotary exxe or Eye Sore Miata LeMons or FORD T cars are examples of this.

Keep in mind commercial racing events has always been about the creation of brand identity and marketing.. it is a Circus of entertainment and tribalism no different than other competitive events. There is a draw and desirability to be the "winner" or in some way of being associated with the winner. In the case of car brands, ownership and diving a car offering from that winning brand imparts a halo effect on it's owner-driver of believing owner-driver is also a winner. This is one of the fundamental factors that determines the selling-market prices of motos on auction sites like Bring A Trailer.

As noted in that Toyota factory sponsored LeMons team, what endurance racing teaches is FAR beyond what is possible in an Academic setting, this is real world problem solving in real time. Feedback on if that fix works or does not happens in real time and often nearly instantly. This is why I've never driven the LeMons X, or have any intention to. For me, it has been much about the creative and engineering challenges of creating a really fast exxe using parts that would not normally function together in any way.

Long time LeMons racers have become more like family than competitors. The majority of LeMons racers help each other with stuff from solving a technical problem to sharing major spare parts (engine, gear box, ecu, and ..) to small parts (nuts, bolts, crimp connectors) to fuel and food. This can involve kiddie sitting if needed (I've done this).

As for the "$500" car.. that is much about stopping moto folks from simply purchasing a "fast ride". What LeMons is much about, less of the $ amount for the car, nearly all about racing something that should have never been put on a race track... and making it endure the entire time duration of the event.

We where honored with the IOE in 2010, highest honor and prize at LeMons.. Jay's speech essentially sums up what LeMons racing is about.




Bernice
 
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carl: the car itself in addition to stuff to make the car go "faster" counts towards the $500 limit. tires, brakes, etc don't count towards that limit. there's some nuance there but it's all clearly explained in the rules, which I think are well written (no idea what I'm doing and they're easy for me to follow). There also appears to be discretion from the judges. If you show up with a BMW E36 they may hold you to the budget rules more than if you show up with something more interesting (and noncompetitive) like an X. I was reading to budget $5k, so I budgeted $10k. To a certain extent this is split between team members, though. Our current spreadsheet totals are sitting at
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Big items still to buy are DOM tubing and steel for spreader plates, and seat harnesses. And of everyone needs to buy a firesuite, helmet, and hans device.

This isn't tracking things like tools which I've had to buy for the garage. I had most things, but don't get me started on the $400 on tools (hydraulic press, bearing splitter, 3 arm pullers, the weird retaining ring special tool) that I've had to drop in the last week for this rear wheel bearing job. I will note that I did the rear bearings on my VW with a hammer and a brass punch. :rolleyes:
 
In contrast it should be deeply understood serious race cars today are design based in simulations. It often begins with the contracted driver for a target race series spending months in a driving-track simulator to gather data on driver ability, potential car configurations and other race event realities.

Most important data input to these simulations is reading the rules and interpreting the rules. This can produce a winning effort or total failure.

Once enough data has been acquired and crunched, a car is made typically in two <-> three months, proto car and driver taken to the same tracks used in simulations to verify how closely they relate to each other. This cycle is tweaked until the results is within the predicted event winning requirements.

Day at Dallara:


Bernice
 
$ is FAR better spent on making and assuring the car is reliable, durable, un-bustable. Too many focusing on and over spend on trying to make their LeMons ride "faster" only to have it grenade after a few laps. Happens ALL the time.

All involved will be in this and at this for hour after hour after hour. It's much about making laps hour after hour after hour. Going faster is a side product. This is an endurance event, not a 1/4" mile drag event.

Other factor is fuel consumption, the exxe on a stock motor will run about 2 hours on a 15 gallon fuel cell. Do NOT run out of fuel on track, it is a horrid thing to do, can easily happen and totally does not need to happen ever.

As for tools, there is a machine shop in the garage. $400 does not purchase a new Kurt milling vise for the milling machine or similar tooling. Good tools are an investment that can endure for as long as one wants to do this mech stuff.

Pounding on bearings is not a good thing, Bearings are not designed to be whacked on. Whacking on them could stress them in way that can cause cracking or Brinelling of the bearing races with bearing failure soon to follow. Use a press or puller and treat all bearings with great care. BTW, a matched set of high precision machine tool spindle bearings can easily cost a few thousand bucks per set.. no one pounds on these to remove or install. Treat wheel bearings and all bearings much the same.

Highly recommend booking a place for the team to stay well ahead of the LeMons event or do the camp at track thing. Due to the volume of folks at a LeMons event, the local hotels-motels and places to stay tend to fill up well before the LeMons event. Same can apply to places to eat and related basic needs.


Bernice


carl: the car itself in addition to stuff to make the car go "faster" counts towards the $500 limit.

Big items still to buy are DOM tubing and steel for spreader plates, and seat harnesses. And of everyone needs to buy a firesuite, helmet, and hans device.

don't get me started on the $400 on tools (hydraulic press, bearing splitter, 3 arm pullers, the weird retaining ring special tool) that I've had to drop in the last week for this rear wheel bearing job. I will note that I did the rear bearings on my VW with a hammer and a brass punch. :rolleyes:
 
Fuel consumption is a thing I've thought a bit about, but not too concerned about it since we're not planning to be competitive (at least for a couple years), and ~1 hour stints are probably what we'll shoot for since we're all inexperienced. We'll just be using the stock fuel system though I've already replaced all the lines.

The brass punch strategy wouldn't work with the X bearings anyway since they're a different design than the VW, so the press was a required tool. They go in with just light tapping if you freeze the bearing and warm the hub. But 20k freeway miles later and the bearings are fine. But again, different car.

I'm planning to camp at the track. Have a VW bus with a camping setup. Not sure what my teammates will do...but they're reading this thread too so I'm sure they'll figure it out :) We're still quite a ways out from having a prepped car.
 
This looks like tons of fun. I have had a few misspent thought about building an X1/9 Lemons/Chump car, just because.

I would be happy to assist where I can. Bernice is the resident Lemons expert. I don't have much Lemons experience but have been racing X1/9s, in various capacities, for many years. Plus its my day job.

When you're ready to do suspension, I have a pretty cheap and effective setup you can use.
 
Highly recommend and strongly suggest running the stock Fiat EFI, 1500cc/5speed power train.
This will be a Class C LeMons racer, your goal is to make laps and LOTs of them, not set track record lap times.
The LeMons folks will be Great with seeing another x1/9 at the LeMons races.

Prep as follows:

*All new hoses, no exceptions. This also mean replacing the EFI injector hoses with the proper EFI hose.

*Stock coolant hoses are available, use the MacKay (Australia) or Gates or similar high quality hose. Double stainless steel Breeze liner clamps on ALL primary coolant hoses. Do NOT use the auto parts store special hose clamps the are open gear band, these extrude the crap out of hoses and often cause hose failures.
*Stock cooling system with thermostat. If the thermostat is removed, the engine can instantly over heat as it is a bypass coolant system.

~~*Proper air purging of the cooling system is Mandatory-Absolutely non optional*~~ Get this wrong will cook the engine.

*Remove the coolant drain valve from the block, replace it with a 1/8"-27 NPT pipe thread plug. That coolant drain valve can come un-done during endurance racing conditions. It will instantly dump all the coolant in the system and instantly cook the engine. The instant cooking happens due to road racing conditions where the power demands from the engine is a LOT higher than even the most severe road driving conditions.

~Pressure test the steel coolant pipes under the car. they must hold 20 psi, 30 psi MAX. Typical operating is not more than 10 psi.
If the coolant pipes leak, replace them. Do NOT cut the box housing out as it is structural. If the box is removed for coolant pipe replacement, all 100+ spot welds must be replaced. The easier way is to cut the ends of the coolant pipes off, put in a pipe that fits then adapt the flexi hoses as needed. There are write up on how to do this on Xweb, do a search.

~Make sure the coolant tank is in good condition, if it leaks, that is another source of cooling system problems.

~Coolant will be plain water. If any hint of anti-freeze or similar coolant is found, the car will be bounced. Reason for this, coolant spilled all over the track is slippery as oil. This is no fun at all if another car-driver is in a four wheel slide around a corner then suddenly encounters a patch of slippery coolant.. The only option is to go "Farming" and might find a partner to go "Farming" with.

~Stock x1/9 do NOT over heat or have cooling problems even when run at full throttle endurance race conditions long as the cooling system is in 100% prove good OEM condition, again proper air purge of the system is a non-option.

~Get rid of the slip on connector at the ignition coil. This will slip off and cause the engine to stop running. Replace it by cutting off the slip on connector, replace it with a ring terminal crimp and secure with a matching controlled cycle crimp tool. If the proper crimp tool and high quality ring terminal is not available, crimp then solder, then cover with shrink tubing. The stock EI is a Bosch unit common to Porsche, VW, Volvo and other brands that used Bosch EI systems in their 4 cylinder cars. EI control unit lives in the RH side engine compartment cubby under the plastic cover. Remove the plastic cover and make sure the EI unit has not been water flooded. If it has, it's reliability is questionable. Post on what ya find and will reply with a solution.

~New spark plugs, new spark plug wires, new rotor. Do not skimp, use OEM Bosch replacement parts. 4 cylinder VW distributor caps can fit if the 90 degree cap proves to be difficult to get.. the 90 degree caps can develop internal connection problems (non "superior" German electrical parts). Stock heat rating spark plugs from NGK ~6~.

~Stock EFI engine runs out of steam about 6,000 RPM, pointless to rev much above this even when the stock engine is easily capable of exceeding 8,000 RPM without a wimper or whine.

~Over fill the oil level by about 2/3 qt. The stock X suspension can easily generate enough cornering forces to oil starve the engine causing bottom end failure. Tendency for this to happen, long sweepers were the cornering forces are constant and high enough.

~Maker sure all engine mounts are in good condition and not knackered. If they are, replace them. The bottom engine mount is a problem child as it is unique to the X, the common 128 based replacement mount is too flexi and will cause a long list of problems.

*New Bosch EFI fuel pump or proven GOOD Bosch EFI fuel pump. If this dies, you're done.
*New Bosch Fuel filter.

~Check the air flow meter just after the air filter. These have a tendency to bent flaps due to intake back fire. Not a common occurrence at all, but if it has happened, and the flap is bent, the L-Jetronic ECU can become quite confused. Post if the flap is discovered to be bent.

~Replace the O2 sensor.

*Run a set of front brake calipers on the rear. No reasons at all for parking brakes on a race car. They are a direct fit and easiest way to improve brake balance without doing more. If this is not done, the front brakes will be roasting more than chestnuts on an open fire. We used Hawk ferrocarbon brake pads from the first generation Mazda RX7 rear brakes. They are thinner, but ok. Alternatives is to get Porterfield pads made up as needed. Brake balance can be tweaked by mixing brake pad compounds if needed.

*Replace the rubber brake hoses with teflon-metal Goodridge brake hoses. Make absolute sure the brake system is good. Replace the brake fluid reservoir feed hoses if needed. EPDM or similar brake fluid compatible hose material only.

*Brake-clutch pedal axle can creek, if this is happening and there is not too much slop-wear, apply some oil to help movement. The clutch-brake pedal is made as a coaxial assembly.

*Not a lot to the hydraulic clutch other than the system must be pressure air purged or huge frustrations will happen.

*Alternative is to re-do the entire brake system. That is more than involved.


*Change the oil in the transaxle from what ever it might be to RedLine MTL.

*3-4-5 gear has Porsche syncros, they are slow shifting. Do NOT try to force the gear change any faster than these slow Porsche syncros can shift, they will be destroyed in very short time with difficult to replace parts.

*Take all four CV joints apart, clean them, check them for overall condition. They should be OK as they are designed for a LOT more power than the stock exxe power train is ever capable of. The CV joint tweak is to grind out the ball retainer allowing the chrome steel balls to move freely. This reduces friction and heat under race conditions. Re-assemble using RedLine CV2 moly grease, Neo Oil cv great or Swepco 101 moly grease. Do NOT use the auto parts generic grease, the cv joint will fail. Make sure the boots are in good condition, if not replace them.

*Order up 50+ M8x1.25, 45mm long, grade 12.9 socket head cap screws from Mc Master Carr or similar local industrial supplier. ALL of them will be replaced then torqued to spec (about 25-30 ft/lb) with a proven accurate torque wrench and high quality 6mm hex bit. During the end of an LeMons race session (lots of hours later). Re-torque ALL of them as they have a tendency to come loose. If enough of them comes loose, the axle can come un-done and wreck more than just the car.

*If one wheel bearing has died, the other is likely to follow. May as well replace the other one before it fails during your LeMons race.

*Check all the rubber in the suspension, if any bushings are cracked or worn, replace them.

*If any ball joints are worn, replace them. The rear ball joints are no fun at all if they are worn. Post if it is discovered the rear A arm ball joints are worn.

*Post when you're this far along and if interested to modifying the suspension for better track performance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5-6 point seat belts should be Hans device compatible, they make a difference for the drivers. Helmets will need to be hans device compatible.

As previously mentioned, trying to skimp of the safety stuff is not a good idea in any way. Most of all, be good and kind to your fellow LeMons racers, don't cultivate a horrid reputation. There have been LeMons racers that have done this in the past, LeMons racers and teams have been banned for hideous track and off track team behavior.


I'm sure some hints have been forgotten as this was written as a stream of memory.
Bernice
 
Speaking of endurance racing.. post about SCCA show room stock racing from the 80's.

The exxe proved more than good for this when properly prepped and properly driven.


Bernice
 
wow, just wow. having an experienced engineer like Bernice give you such a long list of items is amazing. what a great forum we have here.

definitely looking forward to your updates from you and your team @rozap!
 
I remember the X’s that Kim Baker built, we had a regular at our autocrosses in Keene NH who had one, it would outdrag a warmed over new GTI handily. It was all ‘stock’, the motor cost around 10k back in 1984... Buy a head flow test it, buy another etc etc for each primary component.

It was a nice car and boy did it go. A lot of money to spend for a chromed plastic trophy... :)
 
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Forget about trophies. When I raced bikes which definitely had a danger element to it we would get crappy trophies. My nephews who did karate competition as pre-teens go trophies taller than they were.

Do your sport, whatever sport it is, because you want to, not because you get trophies, peer recognition or ego enhancement.
 
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