The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Our Crappy Race → Getting ready for MSR Houston
We got the motor back in the Mark VIII last night. Hopefully we can get some time to work on the car with it running instead of having the first drive at the track on Saturday like we did in October.
How is everyone else's project coming?
We've got our engine "mostly" running and not overheating and we got the car onto a vacant airstrip last weekend for some testing. It idles fine, but seems to still be missing/hesitating under WOT, so we need to re-check all the vacuum hoses and maybe clean the injectors.
The car gets stripped this weekend and cage put in next week. I need to call JEG's and have them start a tab for all the "little" things needed in the next month, i.e. - kill switches/roll bar padding/etc, etc...
We rebuilt a couple of motors with the pressure washer last weekend. Still need to put one together, get it in the car, update the cage, and swap in a smaller fuel tank. Plenty of time...
Our car is running after tearing the engine down twice now. First for a few valves 
and then for rings when that didn't get the compression up enough.
Just a couple loose ends on it, including testing the cooling fan that doesn't kick on. It cools at speed though.
The car is stripped for the cage this weekend, and my brother is going to fab caliper mounts at the end of this month. I did the first two spring adjustment inserts this weekend and the rear two when I find some decent struts at the junkyard. Plenty of junkyard time for spares too.
I'm sure it'll be way more hectic than planned
Our car is up and running again.
It got a bit hotter than i thought it should have yesterday at a high idle.
Gotta check the fan clutch and radiator.
The distributor is wobbling a bit too. I think the distributor shaft may be bent.
I plan to check all that out tonight or tomorrow and hopefully we can run the car sometime over the weekend.
After all that, I see a paint job so I am feeling pretty good right now. Plenty of time for everything to go right down the crapper.
one car is getting an oilchange, pad swap and "once over" this weekend. The other has a long list of shit that needs done.
I am going by the shop after work to take a look at the cage with the rules in hand, we built and raced this one before the update, and I am concerned with the downbars on the main hoop. We also need to paint the cage, finish putting the junkyard engine in, hope it is good, put the junkyard turbo on, hope it is good, run it over to the muffler shop and put the new downpipe and cold pipe on ...
Then paint a new theme on both cars. How many weekends do we have?
Got ours running again as well, it's scary that it's actually running better than it has the first three races. Although we did find several "ports" that were open to air when we stripped off the emissions gear so we likely had lots of vacuum leaks. A few bucks worth of vacuum caps later the car seems to be running OK.
The #77 camaro is running but not yet ready. Alternator is putting out 11 volts, power steering and tranny fluid everywhere, no idea how much fuel is in the tank since no guages work, no inside mirrors... but we raced it this way back in October. We're excited and ready to race.
The #77 camaro is running but not yet ready. Alternator is putting out 11 volts, power steering and tranny fluid everywhere, no idea how much fuel is in the tank since no guages work, no inside mirrors... but we raced it this way back in October. We're excited and ready to race.
Sounds about perfect!
I spent today swapping out the radiator on the E30. At the last race at CMP the car was running on the warm side at the last race. I also replaced the doors and fenders. ( One of the Bounus's having a team member's own a German repair shop). When he scraps a car for metal dented body panels weigh the same as straight ones. So after 3 CMP races the Body was rough. Since its getting a new paint job I figured the body may as well look good. I need to figure out why the rear brakes are dragging, next. Oh yea And paint the car.
Car get stripped this past weekend. We'll mount the seat and send it to get the cage put in this week. 25 days till we head down 45!!!
i started our bmw the other day and the rod knock and massive oil leak did not go away over the winter.
Next step....work on it 
See you all in the fall 
Car get stripped this past weekend. We'll mount the seat and send it to get the cage put in this week. 25 days till we head down 45!!!
who is doing your cage?
i started our bmw the other day and the rod knock and massive oil leak did not go away over the winter.
Next step....work on it
See you all in the fall
LOL yea my rear brakes didnt fix themselves. And now a fuel leak. When does the Fun start again?
YesIFit wrote:Car get stripped this past weekend. We'll mount the seat and send it to get the cage put in this week. 25 days till we head down 45!!!
who is doing your cage?
We haven't finalized that yet. It's either going to be ET Automotive in Garland or the shop out at MSR-Cresson. (Not PST .. there's another guy who has his own shop out there.)
FYI ... all you Cali guys consider yourself fortunate to have Evil Genius and their $850 cages. The cheapest quote I've gotten in DF-Dubya for a DOM cage is around $1200...
forddragracer wrote:YesIFit wrote:Car get stripped this past weekend. We'll mount the seat and send it to get the cage put in this week. 25 days till we head down 45!!!
who is doing your cage?
We haven't finalized that yet. It's either going to be ET Automotive in Garland or the shop out at MSR-Cresson. (Not PST .. there's another guy who has his own shop out there.)
FYI ... all you Cali guys consider yourself fortunate to have Evil Genius and their $850 cages. The cheapest quote I've gotten in DF-Dubya for a DOM cage is around $1200...
I bet if you call Precision Racecraft (search thier post on here) they can hook you up on it. I understand that DOM is slightly better, but why not have a couple extra gussets and supports put in and still be cheaper than DOM with HREW?
HREW (ERW) is not that much cheaper than DOM.
More than being safer, DOM cages are required in most other road races. So you might have more opportunities to race the car with a DOM cage.
We figure any new cages we do should be DOM but it is not require... yet.
I bet if you call Precision Racecraft (search thier post on here) they can hook you up on it.
Thanks for the H/T! I guess I had missed their post b/c it was under parts/gear. I called them and their quote for a DOM cage w/ Nascar Style Door-Bars was about $200 under any other one's I've gotten so far.
Baron wrote:I bet if you call Precision Racecraft (search thier post on here) they can hook you up on it.
Thanks for the H/T! I guess I had missed their post b/c it was under parts/gear. I called them and their quote for a DOM cage w/ Nascar Style Door-Bars was about $200 under any other one's I've gotten so far.
It's been a while since I have been out to their shop, but I have seen some work that they have done and it was very nice. They took care of a 6 point in a mustang drag car and the customer was very happy with quality/price/service.
Anybody happen to know a car count for Houston?
Anybody happen to know a car count for Houston?
I counted 134 entries on the list. Can anyone @ HQ confirm? Nick?
holeshot is a old time drag guy, and a poster of the h.a.m.b. (classic/old rods forum).
he and tony are known for being meticulous in their fab work, and for being all round decent fellas.
just so yall know..............
Destroyer Chassis in Kennedale built ours. He did it for around $800 and used DOM. He's a dirt track cage builder, but we've haven't failed tech in 3 races and I think the cage looks great. Their number is (817) 561-9634 ask for Darryl.
Anyone know the configuration yet? I would guess it's the full track, CW, sans-chicane again?
Anyone know the configuration yet? I would guess it's the full track, CW, sans-chicane again?
I hope so, though C-CW could be fun too.
The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Our Crappy Race → Getting ready for MSR Houston