Newcomers from Ohio here!

Alright awesome, I didn't think it would be an issue. I wasn't sure if they didn't like seeing motors that have been opened up. I plan on doing a good amount of record keeping, we are just running a 1.8l non vtec motor and no crazy turbo or anything like that. We just want to get the car together and be able to finish the race with the car still together, that's a win in itself for us.

Some cars smoke start to finish and finish well. Depending on the track, just add oil at pit stop.

They don't really like you opening the motor; I've been told that I shouldn't let out the factory air in the crank case. That said, they don't look too closely at if the motor has been opened.

Yea, I know shit happens at Lemons. If we end up smoking in the first hour so be it, but I would just like to give my team a decent chance at having fun on the track for a while. None of us have any wheel to wheel racing experience. A couple of us have done a track day or 2 but that's the extent of experience. And we are not worried about placing well, realistically just finishing would be a win for us. If finishing is in the books than not being last would be huge for us lol.

And the two of the most important things:

1.  Read the how not to fail tech inspection, again, again, again, and again.  Make copies, give it to your teammates, your cage builder, and whomever else you think might need a copy.

2.  Have fun

Thanks Guildenstern, I will defintatly be in contact I'm sure. We are not shooting for the race this fall, but hopefully next year's fall race if not the one in summer. I was looking into getting one of the pre bent units from one of the distributors that a lot of teams on here use. We have a couple local friends who weld that should be able to handle welding the cage but it will be good to see how you guys did it all. And yea we have some headroom for sure, I'm not looking to go crazy with anything, we are going to upgrade the cooling system to try and prevent the typical Honda head gasket failure as our bigger upgrade. I am a mechanic so through my shop I can get cheap parts, another team member works for weisco so we might be able to make some stuff happen with his 70% discount lol.

Thanks Onkeludo, we will end up trying to make out to gingerman this fall to check it out and see what we are in for. Adding power is really the last thing on the list, there is a lot more items that need done before we could even consider trying that. Our biggest thing is going in and doing new valve seals, and piston rings in the motor we are getting, while we are in there obviously we will end up running a new head gasket, timing belt, water pump and probably just throw and oil pump in to be on the safe side. I'll have to look into external oil coolers, my B18c1 out of my gsr has a factory oil cooler on it but I don't think that would keep up with the heat generated from constant track conditions. Our first order of business is to get the interior stripped out and start planning the cage. We were going to shop around the forums here and CL for good safety equipment and a seat. Might be able to find something at summit in the scratch and dent section since we are only about a half hour from them.

Thanks SpaceFrank, yea we are keeping the motor all stock, basically fresh gaskets and rings is all we really plan on doing. All the new front suspension components he included with the car are just cheap stock replacements, no poly bushings or anything of those things. It will be nice to have the new ball joints and tie rods on the car for piece of mind, the only thing aftermarket on the car is a cheap set of raceland coilovers, which in all honesty are probably worse than stock struts.

I do have another question though, I don't recall seeing it in the rules. Does the race seat have to be within inspection dates, or does it just need to be a fix back and supported seat that has the harness holes? I have a friend who has a Corbeau race seat that could work but it's a little older and I'm sure out of the inspection time frame or how ever they date seats. He told me if I could use it i could have it for like $50 or so.

Just remember, if you open the motor, there's no good excuse not to lap the valves. And if you take the valves out, there's really no good excuse not to do some polishing and gasket matching.

Yea we would be lapping valves, cleaning out intake and exhaust ports and such all while the motor was apart. I myself have been a Honda guy for a long while, as are a couple of guys on the team. We have plenty of spares laying around for the car, but like I said before for us a win is just finishing with the car in one piece. Barring any major engine failures or any of the drivers crumpling the car we should be pretty set to deal with the standard mechanical issues that will probably arise. We are getting the cash together now to get the cage ordered and this week we will be stripping the interior out so that can go in once we get the seat.

Lot's of good advice here for Honda's. I think you're on the right track with everything you're doing, but I have a few more recommendations that I've learned the hard way after 5 races on our Honda.

Since you're already going in the engine (good plan) check the bores and the bearings. You can pick up a ball hone for <$40 and give them some new cross hatching if they need it. Just do your homework to make sure to get the right diameter and grit. A fresh hone will work well with your new rings.

If the bearings look a little rough just replace them all, they're not expensive.

Have the block and head checked for flatness, again pretty cheap and worth it.

Lapping the valves really is worth it.

Like somebody said above, buy the headstuds now. Yes they're $150, but they are a must for your car to reliable. And don't buy the cheapest headgasket Rock Auto has, buy a good name brand one you trust. Ask me how I know...

Get a largest stock radiator you can if your car came with different engine options. We have a VTEC radiator in our car even though our engine is non-VTEC. The VTEC one is thicker so it adds some cooling capacity.

Also do yourself a favor and clean the engine and trans before putting it back in. The judges aren't going to care if your stock engine has all the oil and crime cleaned off of it. It makes working on the thing 1000x nicer.

Make sure your teammates truly understand how much this costs. The hardest part about Lemons is finding good teammates. Your best friend may not be the best teammate People see $500 race car and think it's going to end up costing a few hundred bucks to go racing. Building a car from scratch will cost you anywhere from a couple to several thousand dollars. Then there is the safety gear, driver conform (gauges, cool-suit, radios, etc.), good brake pads, tires, towing the car to the event, entry fees (~$300 each driver) and so on. Once your at the event there is lodging, food, and several hundred dollars in fuel if you run the whole weekend. And once the weekend is over you have lots of maintenance to do on it. We spend a few hundred bucks bringing the car back up to tip top shape between races.

That being said, it's worth every penny! Good luck and hope to see you at Gman!

One last thing, do the theme last if you have time. It's not a big deal if you show up to your first race without a theme because you spent your time and money prepping the car!

It's not cheap racing...It's cheaper racing
As Mr Guildenstern pointed out the car is in Akron....In my driveway. So if you want to take a peek at a real live lemonsmobile come on down....We'll let you even sit in it