Building a LeMons Racer

[Lemons Racer]

My team bought a 2000 3.8 Firebird for $300 and are working towards turning it into a race car to run in the 24 Hours of LeMons series. The series is for sub $500 cars, excluding safety equipment. Any advice or ideas for the build is appreciated.

[transamtom1]

Re: Building a LeMons Racer

Well considering the rules state a $600 value I would just gut it and cage it stick some subframes under there.

Box the RLCA's and PHD Rod with some 1/8th plate steel and call it a day.

Maybe do a home made CAI and don't forget the screaming chicken decal for the hood;)

[Lemons Racer]

Re: Building a LeMons Racer

All that has to be within the $500 budget is purchasing the car, getting it running, and go fast parts. Selling off parts you can subtract from what you've spent. So there will be lots of interior parts, maybe t-tops etc that will be for sale soon. The cage will cost probably around $700-$800 alone. Tires will run about $700, brakes $300, seat $250, 5 point harness $150, fire extinguisher $50, kill switch $50, theme materials $100, changing fluids $125, gas $200, race fees $1500, plus anything else I forgot. So yea, that $500 doesn't cover anywhere close to the cost of actually getting the car on the track. It easily can cost $4000 total. Many teams spend much more than that redoing brake lines, fuels lines, etc.

The guy we had helping us finished pulling the rocker panel out and gave us a door so I'll post some pictures later today. Plus he did all this for FREE!!! Gotta love that!

[Lemons Racer]

Re: Building a LeMons Racer

Here is some video from our last race

http://www.vocativ.com/video/culture...urs-of-lemons/

[Lemons Racer]

Re: Building a LeMons Racer

We had a junkyard buddy pull the rocker panel a bit and as a bonus he gave us a door. You gain lots of junkyard friends when racing lemons. Best of all he did it for free! It's far from perfect but good enough for our purposes. Now the car is at our mechanic friend who is going to do an alignment as there is probably 15 degrees of positive camber in the front drivers side wheel. Next up is new tires. I'll probably get BFG Rivals unless someone else knows of a better one for racing the bird?

[Lemons Racer]

Re: Building a LeMons Racer

We got the car up and running. In addition to the work above we replaced the rear control arm, got an alignment, and new tires. Car still pulls to the left and the front lower control arm is a bit bent, so that is next to be replaced. Should be a very competitive car

[Lemons Racer]

Re: Building a LeMons Racer

Thinking about removing the hatch for weight reduction, also to reduce some drag since the side windows will be gone. Wanted opinions on if this will actually reduce handling significantly by reducing down force and weight on the rear wheels?

[FirebirdGT]

Re: Building a LeMons Racer

My team bought a 2000 3.8 Firebird for $300 and are working towards turning it into a race car to run in the 24 Hours of LeMons series. The series is for sub $500 cars, excluding safety equipment. Any advice or ideas for the build is appreciated.

Here are some current pictures.

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NO photos

[Lemons Racer]

Re: Building a LeMons Racer

I tried reposting the photos using the attachment button and resizing, but no luck.

But to give a visual image, the passenger side looks like a black 2000 3.8 with T-tops. The drivers side slammed into a row of trees and is a mess. We replaced the drivers door, so it is a bit better than when we bought it. Has some nice new tires though!

Still trying to come up with a two car theme if anyone has some suggestions

[transamtom1]

Re: Building a LeMons Racer

I tried reposting the photos using the attachment button and resizing, but no luck.

But to give a visual image, the passenger side looks like a black 2000 3.8 with T-tops. The drivers side slammed into a row of trees and is a mess. We replaced the drivers door, so it is a bit better than when we bought it. Has some nice new tires though!

Still trying to come up with a two car theme if anyone has some suggestions

Crown Vic......Smokey and Bandit... maybe as Grandpa's:banana:

[Lemons Racer]

Re: Building a LeMons Racer

Looking to part off the non-mechanical bits, hvac, interior, ect. If you need anything let me know and I'll send you a picture of the parts.

[Lemons Racer]

Re: Building a LeMons Racer

I think I figured out the picture issue. I edited the initial response with a couple exterior pictures, one of the good side and one of the bad. I am ripping out the inside so that will change dramatically in January. If you need interior parts let me know!

[Lemons Racer]

Re: Building a LeMons Racer

This weekend we removed the interior down to a few wires hanging out, removed all the glass, etc. Also installed new brakes, calipers, rotors, and changed fluids. It's starting to look like a race car!

[Lemons Racer]

Re: Building a LeMons Racer

Here is my most recent build question for you guys. Hatch or not to hatch? I took the rear hatch off for the weight savings. The loss of weight will add a bit to gas mileage and add a tad of quickness. It could also help prevent a little tire wear. Remember the race in May is 14.5 hours and my July race is a true 24 hour race, so gas mileage and tire wear are big concerns, while a few tenths of a second on a 2:00.00 lap really doesn't matter. However by removing it I am losing weight that could add some rear traction. The wing on the 4th gen is so low that I can't image that would really improve traction around turns too much. Maybe a little on the front straight.

So, what would do you guys think would provide the better benefit? Hatch or no hatch???

[Lemons Racer]

Re: Building a LeMons Racer

Been a little while since I have updated here as I haven't seen much of a response. We ran at NJMP last weekend and the car was running great. Very quick and could hang with most cars on the track. Unfortunately, we told the team to shift at 5000 RPMs and apparently that was a bit too high. We ended up spinning the main bearings and therefore ending our weekend. We are in the process of finding and then replacing the 3.8.