1 Topic by Sub-Par Subarus (edited by Sub-Par Subarus 2010-12-15 04:59 PM)

  • From: Tiffin, Iowa
  • Registered: 2010-12-14
  • Posts: 3

Topic: A Serious Moral Dilemma

So, our team has a car picked out to lemonize, an '89 Subaru XT6, but we also have a problem with it. We live in Iowa, and the car is in Wisconsin. We have a truck and trailer to go get it, but nobody old enough to use it. I found someone I know that can get me there, but he can't do it until mid January. The problem is, The guy who owns it is moving before then, and is leaving the car there if he still has it.

On another note, in eastern iowa there are a bajillion dirt oval tracks. At most tracks, they have a budget-minded class called 'hornets'. All of these cars are former street cars, fwd with four cylinder motors, fully caged. One car in particular is only 15 miles away and only $300, and I'm told It's crazy fast. It's a Geo Storm with a Toyota 22r motor. It sounds easy, but that's just the problem.

So my question is, do I pester everyone I know to spend a whole day driving over the holidays, or do I save some money and take the easy way out?

Sub-Par Subaru Racing
Subaru XT6: Under Construction
  • dmoon
  • dmoon
  • Paddock Rat
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2010-07-01
  • Posts: 78

Re: A Serious Moral Dilemma

If you end up having to re-do the cage or fix the other ways the car might not be LeMons-spec, cheap isn't always that cheap.

  • From: Land Of Subarus, Colorado
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 9,416

Re: A Serious Moral Dilemma

XT6 > Storm.

Murilee Martin aka Judge Phil on Facebook
Murilee Martin on Twitter
Judge Phil's Lemons posts on Car and Driver
MurileeMartin.com

Judge Phil's Website

  • Registered: 2010-11-22
  • Posts: 132

Re: A Serious Moral Dilemma

22R is a bullet proof motor though. . .

  • From: Land Of Subarus, Colorado
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 9,416

Re: A Serious Moral Dilemma

22Rs have been about average reliable in Lemons. You want really reliable, go for the Ford Modular 4.6 or Volvo Red Block.

Murilee Martin aka Judge Phil on Facebook
Murilee Martin on Twitter
Judge Phil's Lemons posts on Car and Driver
MurileeMartin.com

Judge Phil's Website

  • X-args
  • X-args
  • May Have Raced Your Car
  • Offline
  • From: East Bay, CA
  • Registered: 2009-05-01
  • Posts: 736

Re: A Serious Moral Dilemma

If you run a 22R, build a windage tray/trapdoor sump. I've seen several Lemons thrown rods, and having put 150k mi on an '86 22REC powered pickup, the stock pan is useless.

I could get the oil pressure gauge to dip getting on an onramp if I went fast enough.

All that aside, go for the XT6. And put an SBC size radiator on it, those H6 motors were fragile...

2x Volvo PV544 (RIP '63) B20 power!
2007/2012/2013 Driver's Championship (what was I thinking!?) 143 races and counting.
2/25/24
  • From: Gilbertsville, PA
  • Registered: 2009-12-22
  • Posts: 3,251

Re: A Serious Moral Dilemma

Ther's a 99% chance that the hornet car will need the cage to be completely redone.  I've seen square tubes, 2"conduit, etc...

Silent But Deadly Racing-  Ricky Bobby's Laughing Clown Malt Liquor Thunderbird , Datsun 510, 87 Mustang (The Race Team Formerly Known as Prince), 72 Pinto Squire waggy, Parnelli Jones 67 Galaxie, Turbo Coupe Surf wagon.(The Surfin Bird), Squatting Dogs In Tracksuits,  Space Pants!  Roy Fuckin Kent and The tribute to a tribute to a tribute THUNDERBIRD/ SUNDAHBADOH!
  • From: DF-Dubya
  • Registered: 2009-08-19
  • Posts: 820

Re: A Serious Moral Dilemma

Sub-Par Subarus wrote:

We live in Iowa, and the car is in Wisconsin. We have a truck and trailer to go get it, but nobody old enough to use it.

Is there a law up there that says you can't pull a trailer if you're under a certain age? How odd...

Summer's Eve Racing - '09 Yee-Haw; '10 Gator-O-Rama, NorDal Hooptie, Yee-Haw; '11 Gator-O-Rama, NorDal Hooptie (Winner, Class A!)
TARP Racing - '11 Yee-Haw, Heaps; '12 Gator-O-Rama (Winner, Class C ... Looking for a Class B Win to Complete the Trifecta!), Heaps; '13 NorDal Hooptie, Gator-O-Rama
  • From: Tiffin, Iowa
  • Registered: 2010-12-14
  • Posts: 3

Re: A Serious Moral Dilemma

Well, the oldest of us is 16, and nobody trusts us enough to lend us a truck to drive through the inevitable blizzard on our way there unless someone older takes us

Sub-Par Subaru Racing
Subaru XT6: Under Construction
  • From: Iowa
  • Registered: 2010-04-20
  • Posts: 2,660

Re: A Serious Moral Dilemma

If the oldest is 16, who is funding this escapade?  Lemons is cheap racing, but even Lemons isn't cheap.  People often estimate $7-10K for first build and race.

LemonAid - Changing kids lives one lap at a time.

11 Reply by BoB

  • BoB
  • BoB
  • Lemons Staff Stalker
  • Offline
  • From: Elmhurst, IL
  • Registered: 2009-05-01
  • Posts: 4,206

Re: A Serious Moral Dilemma

I was more thinking if the oldest is 16 how can you race since you need a minimium of a drivers license to race in Lemons.

Racing 4 Nickels - 1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera
2011 SHOWROOM-SCHLOCK SHOOTOUT  IOE Winner
2012 The Chubba Cheddar Enduro Class C winner
Facebook Page

BoB's Website

  • Registered: 2010-02-14
  • Posts: 577

Re: A Serious Moral Dilemma

16 is ok in Iowa.

Driving a car is one thing - but a 16 year old driving a truck hauling a car in comprised weather is another thing.

  • From: Iowa
  • Registered: 2010-04-20
  • Posts: 2,660

Re: A Serious Moral Dilemma

You need 4 x 16yr olds... wait... Honestly... You need parents there... You have parents, right?

LemonAid - Changing kids lives one lap at a time.
  • From: New Orleans, LA
  • Registered: 2009-05-16
  • Posts: 635

Re: A Serious Moral Dilemma

Sub-Par Subarus wrote:

So, our team has a car picked out to lemonize, an '89 Subaru XT6, but we also have a problem with it. We live in Iowa, and the car is in Wisconsin. We have a truck and trailer to go get it, but nobody old enough to use it. I found someone I know that can get me there, but he can't do it until mid January. The problem is, The guy who owns it is moving before then, and is leaving the car there if he still has it.

On another note, in eastern iowa there are a bajillion dirt oval tracks. At most tracks, they have a budget-minded class called 'hornets'. All of these cars are former street cars, fwd with four cylinder motors, fully caged. One car in particular is only 15 miles away and only $300, and I'm told It's crazy fast. It's a Geo Storm with a Toyota 22r motor. It sounds easy, but that's just the problem.

So my question is, do I pester everyone I know to spend a whole day driving over the holidays, or do I save some money and take the easy way out?

Start here:

http://images.craigslist.org/3kd3m13o55O45T05W2abnb66cc6a7cae51b5f.jpg

http://iowacity.craigslist.org/cto/2076889715.html

Buy it, drive it home, part it down, prep it up & go.

Make sure it's not rotted at the firewall & you're set.

-=Tom

-=HFC Tom
  • Car54
  • Paddock Rat
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2010-11-04
  • Posts: 45

Re: A Serious Moral Dilemma

How is this a moral dilemma.  Sounds like a fiscal dilemma.

How hard would it be to drive the car home?  Have a friend drive you up there and get it running and bring it home.  That's a good story...way better than new drivers towing 5k lbs and getting hurt or hurting someone.

  • From: Hayward, CA
  • Registered: 2010-03-23
  • Posts: 1,762

Re: A Serious Moral Dilemma

If you guys (and girls?) are only 16, how are you going to buy beer and booze to bribe the judges???

Dudes Ex Machina: https://www.facebook.com/dudesexmachina

?Everyone who has ever built anywhere a 'new heaven' first found the power thereto in his own hell- Frederick Nietzsche
  • Mulry
  • Mulry
  • Ayatollah of Rock-n-Rollah
  • Offline
  • From: Dallas, TX
  • Registered: 2009-05-01
  • Posts: 4,607

Re: A Serious Moral Dilemma

Yeah, nobody's ever heard of 16 year olds getting a hold of beer. It's practically impossible from what I can tell. smile

Pat Mulry, TARP Racing #67

Mandatory disclaimer: all opinions expressed are mine alone & not those of 24HOL, its mgmt, sponsors, etc.
  • Registered: 2010-02-14
  • Posts: 577

Re: A Serious Moral Dilemma

mackwagon wrote:

If you guys (and girls?) are only 16, how are you going to buy beer and booze to bribe the judges???

There's !!!! the moral dilemma.

  • From: DF-Dubya
  • Registered: 2009-08-19
  • Posts: 820

Re: A Serious Moral Dilemma

I smell a Four Loko theme!

Summer's Eve Racing - '09 Yee-Haw; '10 Gator-O-Rama, NorDal Hooptie, Yee-Haw; '11 Gator-O-Rama, NorDal Hooptie (Winner, Class A!)
TARP Racing - '11 Yee-Haw, Heaps; '12 Gator-O-Rama (Winner, Class C ... Looking for a Class B Win to Complete the Trifecta!), Heaps; '13 NorDal Hooptie, Gator-O-Rama
  • sergio
  • Lemons Staff Stalker
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 1,185

Re: A Serious Moral Dilemma

16 year olds racing in Lemons. What could possibly go wrong?

21 Reply by Scud.Ig (edited by Scud.Ig 2010-12-16 05:05 PM)

  • From: DFW Metromess
  • Registered: 2009-10-30
  • Posts: 279

Re: A Serious Moral Dilemma

Can a 16 year old legally sign the waivers etc?

I know our car club insurance won't allow minor drivers on our drives.

  • Registered: 2009-05-01
  • Posts: 526

Re: A Serious Moral Dilemma

sergio wrote:

16 year olds racing in Lemons. What could possibly go wrong?

I know a team that raced at Thunderhill this spring, they had a couple of 16 year olds and
a couple of 18 year olds and everything went wrong. The guy who wasn't planning on racing but
had to because one 16 year old only had a learners permit was daddy. They still drove 1400 miles round trip , busted their butts and had a blast! So get your car and start buildin! Times a wasting!

Team: V-Ram/Altamont Team: Knights of the Round Track/Reno/Buttonwillow/Thunderhill Team: Death Mobile/Sears 2010/Thunderhill/ChumpCar  Spokane/ MSR Houston/Buttonwillow/Sears. MRolla Project /Reno
http://stickfigureracing.blogspot.com/
  • From: Mini-so-ta
  • Registered: 2010-09-08
  • Posts: 1,181

Re: A Serious Moral Dilemma

Wow.

I'm 23, and that's young for Lemons.  I'm also have an Engineering degree and hold a full time position in my field.  To put things in perspective, I make several thousand dollars a month, and yet my bank account isn't exactly, well, large at the moment.

The tools, the safety equipment, consumables (fuel, tires, brakes, etc.), the entry fees, the tools...this hobby will bleed you dry financially at an worrisome rate.  Then again, at 16, you probably don't have a lot in the way of living expenses.  In fact, you still get most of your meals for free, right?  Enjoy that while it lasts (okay, sorry, I'll quit the old man act now).  Maybe you're better off than me, maybe money isn't a problem.  Hope you're so lucky.

I really would like to see you and your friends succeed, because when I was your age, I was always doing things that "kids my age" weren't supposed to do.  But if your parents aren't crazy enough to help you go get this car, then I don't think they're going to be crazy enough to help you out with the thousand other things it's going to take to make this dream come true.  Maybe I'm wrong...I don't know.  In any case, I'm a little less than 4 hours north of you, and I also drive through Wisconsin regularly.  If there's some way I can help, let me know, but of course, no guarantees.

Former chief proprietor and lead bad idea generator of Binford "More Power" Racing, 2010-2013: humbly self-proclaimed the best Chevy Beretta in Lemons history.