• From: Elverson, PA
  • Registered: 2017-08-15
  • Posts: 1,128

Topic: Any thoughts about keeping vehicles road-legal and also LeMons-legal?

Any thoughts about keeping vehicles road-legal and also LeMons-legal?

In PA where I live, there's yearly inspection, both safety and emissions. I'll check on airbag requirements also.

I acquired a Lexus SC400 [for a LeMons-appropriate price!!] because it sounded like fun; and part of the interior is missing already. It started and ran after a jump, though it constantly wanted to stall, but I was able to drive it onto a trailer to bring it home.

It has about 250k miles. Recent oil change shop sticker in the window. I had to add some coolant, there's no heat from the vent or defrost, but the engine temp gauge is in the normal range. Some body damage, but oem hood and fenders as far as I can see. No CEL codes! Needs tires.

There also seems to be an electrical short. The battery dies [after being fully charged] if left connected overnight, which kind of explains the interior panels missing..... If the battery is disconnected, I've reconnected it a week later, and it starts with no problem, so I don't think the battery is an issue.

After charging the battery fully, the engine ran a whole lot better than on the dead battery with the jump start. It takes a short time of cranking to fire up, but after it starts, it now runs quietly and smoothly [to my ears, and I'm not that good at any of this....]. [I know, after it starts, it should run without a problem on the alternator, so there's something for me to look at there as well.]

If I touch a hanging switch in the door panel, the engine can stop dead - and I mean DEAD, but I wasn't paying attention to what my elbow was doing, so I don't know which one.

I kind of like it a lot now, and I basically got it for the scrap price of that Maxima I never got running [difference of $4, I'm thrilled].

It needs front shocks badly, but I can source a pair from RockAuto and still keep under the $500 limit[!].

A little body work with a hammer and a can of spray paint, a LR taillight assembly, fix the electric, and a plug for what looks like an antenna hole in the rear fender, and I'm probably ready to go on the road.

Anyone have an idea if a cage could be put in this coupe without cutting holes in the roof?

Or am I just having a happy pipe dream?

Push come to shove, I fix it for the road and drive it for a while first, then look to join a team and LeMonize it, yeah?

  • From: Cleveland, OH
  • Registered: 2011-09-03
  • Posts: 2,227

Re: Any thoughts about keeping vehicles road-legal and also LeMons-legal?

Not sure in PA, but plenty of people have legally plated Lemons cars, myself included.

PA is one of the trickier states though.

But know that once you make it a Lemons car, you won't want to drive it regularly. Comfort becomes rather compromised. But it's handy for testing things out.

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  • Registered: 2017-01-13
  • Posts: 24

Re: Any thoughts about keeping vehicles road-legal and also LeMons-legal?

We keep our Lemons car street legal.
A few weeks before the race we will test any changes we have made, bed the brakes, etc...
On a test drive before the fall Gingerman race we discovered the left rear axle was bent.
We added a fuel cell to our Mustang recently, on the test drive we will run it out of gas to make sure it picks up all of the fuel.
I prefer to drink adult beverages and eat barbecue after the race days, not work on the car.


Bob

  • From: Seattle, WA
  • Registered: 2009-10-28
  • Posts: 2,111

Re: Any thoughts about keeping vehicles road-legal and also LeMons-legal?

Keeping a car street-legal is of immense practical value if at all possible. Then again, I'm in an area with no vehicle inspections and my cars are old enough not to have airbags and such, so I can't address at what point "if at all possible" ceases to apply in your situation.

For caging it without cutting holes in the roof I'm a fan of instead cutting holes in the floor to lower the cage for access, then raising the cage into place after the upper sections are welded. I have no idea how easy/difficult/impossible that would be for an SC400.

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1980 KV Mini 1: Worst of Show and Fright Pig Supremo 2009 Concours d'Lemons
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  • VKZ24
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  • From: Wilson, NC
  • Registered: 2009-05-20
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Re: Any thoughts about keeping vehicles road-legal and also LeMons-legal?

mharrell wrote:

For caging it without cutting holes in the roof I'm a fan of instead cutting holes in the floor to lower the cage for access, then raising the cage into place after the upper sections are welded.

This is what we did with the front legs.  It's much easier and cleaner looking IMO.

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  • Mr.Yuck
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  • From: Brookeville, Md.
  • Registered: 2013-12-09
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Re: Any thoughts about keeping vehicles road-legal and also LeMons-legal?

ours is. We live in Md so we tagged it as Historic. It has turn signals and a horn, just in case. It helps when you want to go test-n-tune. http://i64.tinypic.com/jslr2x.jpg

"get up and get your grandma outta here"
  • From: Shippensburg, PA
  • Registered: 2010-11-18
  • Posts: 1,963

Re: Any thoughts about keeping vehicles road-legal and also LeMons-legal?

Take a look at either getting classic, modified, or collectible registration.  All three are available in PA, and none of them require emissions testing.

If I do another build, it will be kept street legal.

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  • CPB
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  • From: Louisiana
  • Registered: 2015-11-03
  • Posts: 78

Re: Any thoughts about keeping vehicles road-legal and also LeMons-legal?

Ours is "legal" in the sense it has an inspection sticker, plates, registration, and insurance. I think eliminating airbags like we have pretty much makes it not street legal, but if you don't care what the man says...

Carl B
Team Too Soon Junior

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9 Reply by gunn (edited by gunn 2018-02-28 12:46 PM)

  • gunn
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  • From: SF, CA
  • Registered: 2010-12-18
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Re: Any thoughts about keeping vehicles road-legal and also LeMons-legal?

One thing to factor in:
* While it's nice to be able to street test a car, most people who don't live in urban cities can probably get away with a run around the cul-de-sac or block to test something out.

* Emissions testing might preclude you from being able to reg your car. My engine swap killed my chances of registering my tbird again when the test came up again.

* Insurance. I found out the first year I had my car that even if want just cheap liability insurance on your track car, your umbrella liability insurance policy may also require you to a) have more insurance liability overage than the bare minimums for that additional car and b) pay more
for your umbrella liability coverage just to have this additional vehicle. The combination of the two cost me an extra $400/yr just to keep my tbird street legal. Except for not being able to do quick street tests of my car, I didn't miss this extra expense.

PS. I'm not an insurance agent so I don't know if you can have a separate policy for the track car independant of the auto/home/umbrella policy form your "primary" insurance carrier. If so (maybe via a vintage/classic/whatever) carrier, that might be the way to go.

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  • Registered: 2009-07-19
  • Posts: 1,585

Re: Any thoughts about keeping vehicles road-legal and also LeMons-legal?

We keep ours legal. It's handy to be able to drive them around and insurance costs next to nothing.

Everybody grab your brooms, it's shenanigans!
  • From: Westminster MA
  • Registered: 2017-01-17
  • Posts: 92

Re: Any thoughts about keeping vehicles road-legal and also LeMons-legal?

Its always possible to weld a cage without cutting hole in the roof it just takes proper planning of how you weld it together and where/how you build the mounting points.

first bar i weld in is always the top windshield bar to the a pillar bars.  Then weld the a pillar bars to the main hoop.  then i slide the whole cage forward and down off the rear shelf to weld on top of the main hoop then weld the main hoop to the floor and build off of that.

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New England Area roll cages send me an email I'm in Central MA

12 Reply by Ian

  • Ian
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  • From: Portland, Oregon
  • Registered: 2017-07-07
  • Posts: 11

Re: Any thoughts about keeping vehicles road-legal and also LeMons-legal?

Our Alfa is also currently street legal.  With Oregon historic one-time registration street parking is the cheapest storage ever.  Plus we like being able to drive it occasionally back and forth from different team member's houses.

Not that it's currently drivable after the last race.  Working on that.

But we don't need inspections in Oregon, historic plates means no smog so we can cut off and sell the cat. And someday we will probably sell the valuable taillights and swap in cheap ones, but for not it just looks like a crappy old car until you see the cage.

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  • gtopat
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  • From: Langhorne, PA
  • Registered: 2010-06-25
  • Posts: 465

Re: Any thoughts about keeping vehicles road-legal and also LeMons-legal?

I have a PA Antique tag on the Thunderbird. No emissions or inspection req'd, if the car is 25+yrs old. PA also offers Classic tags for 15+ year cars, no emissions, but safety inspection. I kept the lights, turn signals, wipers and stick a Garmin GPS speedo to the windshield when I take it out.

The catch is you cant use the car for "regular" transportation (that shouldn't be a problem), and its supposed to be kept in "as manufactured" condition. They don't ask for pictures anymore, so....

I got pulled over by a Trooper once in the racecar, but only because he was unfamiliar with the Antique tag requirements, I obviously didn't have the inspection/emission stickers in the windshield. He made a couple calls on the side of the highway and let me go.

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