The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Newcomers → Spares
So beyond every free/cheap spare heap-specific part we can scrounge for our 'Yota, what other spares will we need? Will one set of tires be enough? What about pads/rotors?
Anything else we should keep a spare for? I'd hate to miss out because we didn't have a $5 spare X that can't be bought over a weekend! Thanks- Mark W.
I would say a spare set of tires would be a good idea. It would suck to be on the side for a couple hours cause you ran over something and blew out a tire or 2, plus you don't know what tire wear will be like either.
According to what brakes your using an extra set would be nice to you should probably have multiple extra sets. Alot of this also depend on the track so find out how hard the brakes are from people that have run on that track in the past.
Other than that bring anything you can, and chances are what will break is something you didn't think to bring.
Spare brakes parts and mounted tires/wheels are some of the most common things folks bring. If you have a more common car and there will be others like it at the race you may have better luck but if you are driving something odd you need to bring it all.
Our packing list is...
Synth 90wt-
Motor Oil-
Blaster
race brake fluid-
Brakleen
Hand cleaner
Carb cleaner
Shop towels
Rain-X-
Glass cleaner
Zip ties & duct tape & clear tape
trashbags
120V impact gun
lg pry bar, pickle fork
latex gloves
Shop tools:
EZ-up(s)
Folding table
Fire extinguishers
Fueling Apron
Fender covers
Aluminum Floor jack
plywood jack runners-
Jack stands, plywood bases
Tarp ,bungees, rope
Hi-lift-
Sealable Oil drainpan
Fuel drip pan
Gas cans
Oil-Dri & broom & scoop
BBQ grill
campstove
VW service manuals
stopwatch & clipboard
sheets of cardboard (ghetto creepers)
Tools:
Torx sokts
Triple square XZN bits
allen sokts & wrenches
¼ sockets, 3/8 sockets, ratchets
Wrenches
½” impact sockets, 10-36mm
Impact, whiz wheel, ratchet, air chisel w/ can opener, tire chuck
charged air tank
Fuel press gage
Tools, hose clamp tools, torx
Electric tools:
IR thermometer/ tire pyrometr
Generator
angle grinder & discs
Ext cords, droplight & triple tap
Clamp-on lights
fan-
Air compressor, hose, tools
timing lite, DVOM, test light
Digital angle gage, toe gage
Sawzall
½” drill & bits-
Spare parts:
tires - in trailer
brake pads- tote
Fan belt -tote
HG- tote
radiator &core support & bumper
misc
Personal:
Headlamp
Sleeping bag & t-rest & tent
Cooking gear
Food & bev
Map to track, hotel
GPS
Good glasses, Sunglasses
Bug repellent
Sunscreen
Lip goop
Overalls
Rain Jacket
Hats
Boots
Sneakers
batteries
driver gear
camelbak or other in-car hydration
earplugs
cell phone &12V charger
Lawnchair
Sounds good so far. For brakes, we were planning on running plain old Centrix blanks with Hawk Blue 9012 pads. Has anyone run these, and how'd they do? Mark W.
After this weekend we're going to start bringing a complete engine/transmission swap.
Yikes! That doesn't sound good... Mark W.
We always have a spare motor, tranny, driveshaft, etc. Sadly, we've had to use them. Basically anything that's not bolted down in the shop we bring with us.
How do spares factor into the $500 limit? Because I think we'll be close to that without having to buy more parts :-\ Mark W.
How do spares factor into the $500 limit? Because I think we'll be close to that without having to buy more parts :-\ Mark W.
spares dont not have any effect on your budget bring EVERYTHING if you do you wont need any of it voice of experience
Spares don't count. The judges are just looking at what's on the car when you bring it through BS.
I think if it is not on the car when raced then the parts don't go on the budget, and if you break something during the race a similar replacement part just keeps things about even.
We bring spares of every bolt-on item that car comes with. Granted, by the time you strip a 1969 wannabe sports car there isn't much left, and when we get to the track we usually take even more stuff off, such as the lights and wipers. All spares are used parts, most of them off the parts car.
All of our spare brake parts are new or nearly new. We bring extra front hubs with rotors and bearing and ready to go on the car. We've got spare calipers this time, too. We bring two extra tires, mounted and ready to go on the car. We also bring a spare tranny and until recently we always needed it.
Mostly we bring every tool we can get into the vehicles, along with the factory service manual.
^ Sweet! We have a '92 Paseo as a donor car for the trans- I am taking every damn part I can use off of that booger now 
My biggest issue is finding ANYONE who's raced a stock Paseo for tips on what breaks and what's going to give me hassles. Damnit- Mark W.
if you can't bring everything try to figure out what might be rare or unusual for your car. If you have to go looking to buy something cause it broke it will be easier if its a common part. If its some part only on Paseo's you might have a hard time finding it. Also since you have a donor, if you can get it there in it may be easier than stripping it. That way you have all the parts they should be easy to locate (since they will still be on the car where they were installed) and you even have something to look at what it was originally suppose to look like.
We've kind of accumulated spares as we went, we didn't go into the first race loaded for bear. I tried to start with stuff that was rather cheap and would be race ending if we didn't have it - belts, hoses, etc. For example, we just changed brake pads and a teammate was going to throw the old pads out. I said no because what happens if we ran out of brakes and were metal to metal. That would be race ending because we pitched the old pads. Same with belts and hoses. Things like alternators and starters can be worked around, i.e. throw another battery in or push start it. Bring spare tires for sure.
We killed a motor and I figured if I was building one, why not build two so I built a spare. I was fortunate in that the car came with spare motor parts so I built the 2nd one complete/ready to drop in. If I need a clutch, waterpump, alternator, whatever, it's right there on the spare motor. I bought a cheap furniture dolly from Harbor Freight, bulked it up and attached the motor to it. It rolls into the corner of the garage and stays out of the way. If you take your time and search often, the spares seem to be found much cheaper on CL than if you buy off ebay. Even if you drag a spare car to the races like some do, probably whatever killed that car is what is gonna kill your car too so you just have to pick and choose what spares to bring. Just do the best you can and try to put your efforts into getting the car reliable before you go to the track.
After this weekend we're going to start bringing a complete engine/transmission swap.
My first reaction was, "Duh! Doesn't everybody?"
But I know the answer is no. In fact, I didn't have a backup engine for the SIMCA-- but I was prepared to try to drop our backup mini engine in it if needed-- even brought a spare mini front subframe assembly.
Whatever you don't bring, you'll need and wish you had. This is our tow vehicle for our very first race back in '09.
And what I broke right after the green flag (while serving our "speeding in the pits" penalty) was the oil filter housing. Luckily, we had a street mini there that I was able to rob the filter housing off of.
The amount of spares and tools has only grown since then. I keep trying to streamline things, but I just never get around to it. I find myself unloading like 4 or 5 spare distributer caps but no spare rotors.
I actually found another Pawhat in a local yunkyard! Of course, it's the wrong one (pre-'96 automatic), but a few parts are yoinkable.
www.car-part.com is my savior in this. Found an OBD-II ECU from a manual Pawhat for $25 Sweet! Just what I needed for the swap.
Now I need to find a spare rebuildable engine... Mark W.
Sucks that we had our pre-lemons paseo crushed, sounds like you could have used it.
We were prepping at 96 manual one when our storage unit closed down. Had no where to put it, tried selling it on C-list for cheap (no one interested in a cage ready almost race-paseo!) and no luck.
Had to sell it for scrap for $300. Had a very strong drive train on it. 
We bring an entire spare car. People have seen it in pieces at various races. we put it back together at the end of the race and drive it home.
Ridered, sad face, man! Any chance you have any spares left for the Paseo anywhere? I'll gladly take anything off your hands that may come in handy! Mark W.
I think a fellow team member still has the head unit out of it, somewhere. This was several years ago.
Damn all those dash lights lit up like a Christmas tree convinced me that OBDII was NOT meant for lemons-class cars.
I'm really interested to see how yours does! I know ours felt quite capable during what driving I did of it (back home from north vt), even without any brakes (brake lines were just rust dust, had to make a full brake like system from tube stock haha)
The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Newcomers → Spares