$125 to spend for LeMons... what to buy?

[bam2002]

LTD Ill try to get a photo posted later today. The car is over at a team mates shop, since we needed to use a lift to get the gas tank out.
We just used 1/4 inch angle iron and made a little cage around it. Welded it to the body and the tow hook area.

[LTDScott]

Do you have a better photo of the oil cooler protection? We cut away all our sheet metal around the oil cooler and now I'm regretting it.

[bam2002]

You can see our front end on this photo. Our car had been the middle car in a 3 car accident before we got it. Hence the $500 car. So we had to cut away the sheet metal under the bumper to get the oil cooler to fit. We ended up welding some angle iron and steel mesh in to protect the oil cooler.

We plan to fill the front bushings and add Aluminum plates to them.
Also added a Electric cooling fan and hot wired it on all the time as soon as the car is started. heater core bypassed.

I also swear by the 10 point cage. It has kept the rear end from getting pushed in. Since the mounting point are all the way back near the tail light area. We have been rear ended at least 2 times at each race.

Last of all check fuel lines. A kinked return line took us out of the last race. No leaks , but after we got bumped on the fuel filler area, it some how twisted the fuel tank and the metal filler, plus the lines and caused random blockage. It took over a month to figure this out..

[mattdk318i]

we are getting ready to do this next april. we picked up a auto 86 eta, to be swapped to 5 speed.

[LTDScott]

Bribes are outside of the budget but are already planned -- one of our previous bribes was proclaimed to have been the best ever by Judge Lieberman.

E30s may be hated, but we're a veteran team (I've been racing LeMons since 2007 - this is my 5th event) and we're in good standing with the California judges.

[kishg]

I'd just use it to buy bribes for the judges... they hate e30's

+10 bribe money..

[Scott///M]

I'd just use it to buy bribes for the judges... they hate e30's

[LTDScott]

325i oil cooler has been added. Timing belt and water pump (along with all hoses and belt) were replaced before our first LeMons race last year. I have new subframe bushings that I filled with urethane. I don't know if I'll have time to get them into the car.

Time is starting to run out so I'm getting down to the nitty gritty. Cooling is going to be a big issue, so I need to rig up a driver air cooling duct, and I'm thinking about running the car without a thermostat.

I'm leaving my springs alone (Eibach lowering springs but we have "bash bars" behind the grille to protect our radiator) but I'm going to see if I can find a cabrio front sway bar at the junkyard. Bam, do you have any protection covering your oil cooler? I have mine mounted in the stock location and I'm concerned about potential damage.

[bam2002]

Timing Belt.. Has every one replaced the belt and the water pump. Since you need to finish the race to win.

Also the Ebay ford focus $30 coil kit is a nice upgrade. You can use the adjustable perches and the rear springs are a bit stiffer. Our opinion was not to Lower the car, If it was going to be hit and pushed into some one I would like my bumper to be as high or higher than the other car so the Radiator would not get smashed. We also have an oil cooler.

We did the last 2 CMP events. Getting ready for the Sept event.
Team Euro Trash

[Boris3]

Ah, understood.

[LTDScott]

LTDScott, where are you getting the Falken RT615s for $48? Cheapest I've seen is Vulcan at $66.

Let's just say the Falken decals on our car aren't just for decoration.

[Boris3]

LTDScott, where are you getting the Falken RT615s for $48? Cheapest I've seen is Vulcan at $66.

[LTDScott]

WRT Buttonwillow, I'll spit this out while I'm thinking about it. Heat exhaustion is no joke. Mount a camelback in the car, or figure out how to swap one in with each driver. We saw other team drivers stuffing them down the front of their suits at Reno. Ours was mounted to hang from the harness bar on the cage, and we refilled with ice cold water between drivers. Also, rig up some air flow towards the driver. Face especially if you run open visor. Your brain will boil otherwise. We duct taped a series of cups to our driver door to dump cold air at the driver's face. This was well worth it. Between those 2 mods, we were increasingly comfortable doing long stints at Reno. Buttonwillow is going to be rough.

Heh, I was just looking at some cheap Camelbak bladders. $8.50 each on eBay, buy one for each of our drivers. I've also been looking at body cooling solutions. I was considering making our own Cool Shirt system but I found some cool vests online that supposedly stay at like 60-65 degrees up to 2 hours and get cold in ice water in 20 mins. We could buy two and have one on the driver and one on deck, with less potential for leakage when changing drivers. And I'm thinking an air scoop for inside would be a good idea. I'm wondering if we can do it on the roof instead of on the door like you did.

BTW, you don't have to warn me about the heat. I raced at Altamont in July 2007 and I remember it being about 100. I just looked up the historical data and sure enough it was 98 in Tracy that day. I seriously got close to heat exhaustion by not drinking enough. When I got out of the car I guzzled a couple of Gatorades and luckily escaped okay.

Thanks HiTheNameIsBJ!

[HiTheNameIsBJ]

Porccubimmer is by far the coolest thing ever.

[Dominic49]

i should have an oil cooler setup in the spare parts bin. needs a new thermostat seal iirc but all new seals otherwise