Lincoln LS V8

Found one for $400, only 100k miles, body damage only runs and drives good.  I've never raced before and in my mind this car would be perfect, tell me why I'm wrong.

As veteran of some (ok, maybe one) competative build and lots of IoE builds, it depends on which end of the spectrum you lean toward.  Points to consider:

Moderately uncommon in PnP's in rural America at 7:30 PM Saturday night (think Focus, Cavalier, Panther body, Neon, Civic, Camry, etc)
Not all parts will be in stock at the local Autozone in rural....
Transmissions were known to fail on the street (which may end up meaning they are bulletproof on the track)
Will burn a decent amount of fuel and may not be kind to brakes, tires, etc due to weight
Pretty sure you will be the first to run the platform

So not discouraging this at all but I tend to point new teams toward already built cars for sale or platforms that tend to be more friendly to people needing to soend all their mental resources keeping the team running.

Now if the build is the fun for you, go nuts!

PohTayToez wrote:

OnkelUdo wrote:

As veteran of some (ok, maybe one) competative build and lots of IoE builds, it depends on which end of the spectrum you lean toward.  Points to consider:

Moderately uncommon in PnP's in rural America at 7:30 PM Saturday night (think Focus, Cavalier, Panther body, Neon, Civic, Camry, etc)
Not all parts will be in stock at the local Autozone in rural....
Transmissions were known to fail on the street (which may end up meaning they are bulletproof on the track)
Will burn a decent amount of fuel and may not be kind to brakes, tires, etc due to weight
Pretty sure you will be the first to run the platform

So not discouraging this at all but I tend to point new teams toward already built cars for sale or platforms that tend to be more friendly to people needing to soend all their mental resources keeping the team running.

Now if the build is the fun for you, go nuts!

This is some good info here, thanks. 
I had already considered the scarcity of parts and I understand the biggest risk with this sort if vehicle is something breaking, even small, and not being able to get a replacement at short notice.  I would appreciate recommendations for spare parts to bring!

There are couple of ways to go about it but first is to find out if there is an enthusiast forum and see what they are replacing on a regular basis.  Since no one is going to sweat and LS in BS inspection, try to replace those things up front and keep the removed parts as emergency spares.

Next, at least for me, it follows this heiarchy of spares:

Wheel bearings
Brakes
Cooling system
Engine management (sensors)
Suspension & Steering

Once you know what you MIGHT need in this category, search the online inventory of the chain stores local to the track while drinking a beer in the comfort of your home...if it is not in-store, in-stock and it can sideline the car, you should bring a spare.  In the case of our 1.6 Suzuki Esteem...that meant every fuel injection and ignition electrical part so about $200 in parts from Rockauto verses $65 and overnight transfer for ONE sensor at a chain store.

Alternative, and highly recommended if you can logistically do it...just bring a spare car as a driving parts donor.  Making sure it is the the same drivetrain config and checking rockauto to verify the part numbers on critical things are the same is key.  If this were a FWD car I would suggest what we used to do (and still can for our Dustbuster minivan) just bring a spare loaded subframe as it has all the engine, transmission, suspension, steering, etc, and weighs about half of fully built car.