The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Newcomers → Addicted
We did our first race in DC, and now we are addicted. I can't stop looking at CL or ebay and wonder how do I get that beautiful beast for under 500 bucks. Why oh why did our caddy have to die.
it is all down hill from here!
Yep. Car-crack. There is no cure. Even if wifey bars your from competing, organizes various interventions, calls in a priest to perform an exorcism, threatens to perform a midnight circumcision, sells all of your tools, and somehow manages to keep you away from the track, the craving will haunt you forever.
I am such a case. I raced once with Zoom-Zoom-Boom in May, and now my car is out in the driveway getting tree sap all over it while two crusty field-finds are getting 16-7 love and attention. Fortunately for this particular addiction and anatomical completeness, I am single.
I forget to whom the quote is attributed but it goes something like "racing makes heroin addiction look like a vague wish for something salty"
Welcome to the addiction, there is no cure and the "support group" is only good for furthering your addiction.
^ Peter Egan.
We did our first race in DC, and now we are addicted. I can't stop looking at CL or ebay and wonder how do I get that beautiful beast for under 500 bucks. Why oh why did our caddy have to die.
Ahhh, so you guys had the SLS. I was curious, what exactly happened that caused you to leave it behind?
The head blew again. After spending 4 days rebuilding it last time, the engine was just shot. We boiled off all of the coolant every two laps. Car was dead.
Look at it this way: Every time a car dies at a Lemons race, it has died an honorable, warrior's death.
Shoulda kept the car, though, and shoved in a Camry drivetrain or something equally absurd.
The head blew again. After spending 4 days rebuilding it last time, the engine was just shot. We boiled off all of the coolant every two laps. Car was dead.
I would have taken it back home and gotten a "new" northstar from a junkyard, your cage was too nice to let it go to waste.
I forget to whom the quote is attributed but it goes something like "racing makes heroin addiction look like a vague wish for something salty"
Welcome to the addiction, there is no cure and the "support group" is only good for furthering your addiction.
One day we will all have to check ourselves into the Henry Ford clinic for some rehab.
SO the issue was we spent 6 months getting everything right, and just got frustrated and threw it all away. Problem with the northstar is it really is a piece of crap engine.
Problem with the northstar is it really is a piece of crap engine.
Ain't that the truth!
SO the issue was we spent 6 months getting everything right, and just got frustrated and threw it all away. Problem with the northstar is it really is a piece of crap engine.
you should have swapped it with a 5.3. I would bet it would sit right in and bolt right up, knowing GM. Plus you can pick them up at the salvage yards for dirty cheap.
Northstars have cooling issues.
That said we have/had an Aurora with 300K+.
bigds01 wrote:The head blew again. After spending 4 days rebuilding it last time, the engine was just shot. We boiled off all of the coolant every two laps. Car was dead.
I would have taken it back home and gotten a "new" northstar from a junkyard, your cage was too nice to let it go to waste.
The really amazing thing is that Northstars with blown head gaskets are about $300. Add in the cost of the head gasket, and you have a "fresh" engine every race for $400 a pop. The key is to get revalued at less than $100 each time. As a bonus, you'd get really quick at swapping engines.
That engine has a no coolant heat removal strategy if I remember right.
I beleve it uses cylinder shut down and the subsequent heat removal to keep the engine cool, then it will just change cylinders. If memory serves me correctly from 18 years ago at GM school.
The biggest problem is the fact that the head bolt holes get boogered everytime they get removed and need to be Helicoiled.
This topic scares me. I'm hooked (been surfing craigslist for $50-$750 cars for over a year now.) and I've never even been to watch a race.
Kind of makes me wonder what I'm going to be like AFTER I manage to ever get out on a track sometime.
This topic scares me. I'm hooked (been surfing craigslist for $50-$750 cars for over a year now.) and I've never even been to watch a race.
Kind of makes me wonder what I'm going to be like AFTER I manage to ever get out on a track sometime.
the easiest and quickest (and least painful) way is to check human resources.
For around 500.00 you can start the addiction!
Yeah. Doesn't look like there's much activity in there recently (The Human Resources, that is.). I'd honestly like to start up a team, and do it all from scratch myself with some friends, but the only friends I have that share my car/racing passion either can't get a job, or can't keep one.
I'm shooting for a Dallas event next year. I'm sure I can make that if I try hard enough. =P
I started my own team for capitol offense and went through 2 driver # 2 3 driver # 3 and about 5 or 6 driver #4's. Didn't get the final driver #4 until 2 days before the race. between that and trying to put a car together from scratch, it was a real PIA.
I can't wait to do it again, although my wallet is hurting from the first one.
Yeah. Doesn't look like there's much activity in there recently (The Human Resources, that is.). I'd honestly like to start up a team, and do it all from scratch myself with some friends, but the only friends I have that share my car/racing passion either can't get a job, or can't keep one.
I'm shooting for a Dallas event next year. I'm sure I can make that if I try hard enough. =P
If you want to drive in September, I have an open seat in my car.
I drove for another team first, to learn all the mistakes to avoid. I'm still gonna make some mistakes, but not the same ones.
If you want to drive in September, I have an open seat in my car.
I drove for another team first, to learn all the mistakes to avoid. I'm still gonna make some mistakes, but not the same ones.
That really is a great idea, it really makes it easier to learn a lot of stuff on somebody else's dime if you don't have any prior racecar-building knowledge. My bank account certainly wishes that I would have done that before jumping in with both feet for the first race.
If you want to drive in September, I have an open seat in my car.
I drove for another team first, to learn all the mistakes to avoid. I'm still gonna make some mistakes, but not the same ones.
I'd love to, and thanks for the offer... main reason I want to do it from scratch and shoot for next year is I know I'll have the time, and the money. Next month I have too much going on with my sister coming into town from Florida, mine and my mom's birthdays, Texas State Fair... I don't know if I'll have the money, or even the time off from work to do it. I work weekends, and I work nights... so just to make a race, I'd have to take Thursday night through Sunday night off. Big hit in the paycheck right there.
One day we will all have to check ourselves into the Edsel Ford clinic for some rehab.
fixed for you.
I expect my intervention to be televised on A&E within the next few weeks. After that I'll be on divorce court.
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