www.neons.org

*stands up*

here - bonus Mookie content in this pic also. He flew out from Filthadelphia to be pit crew also.

We wanted the full Bakersfield experience - the pool we made was much appreciated by our drivers

Haha! Love the pool.

Mase

What wheels are those? Maybe I miss that.

Mase

Great job!
Looks like alot of fun.
Neon looks good for some side to side racing action.

I am going to guess the wheels are from a GM, most likely a Fiero or a Beretta?

The wheels are from a Fiero. They are 15x7" with a 30mm offset.

Wow......looks like a lot of fun. I'll definitely have to keep this event in mind for next summer. It fits nicely into my summer schedule (I may be retired by this time next year anyhow).

I could be your gopher.......and take lots of pics, too. I've never been to CA. I have several first cousins living there that I've only seen 2 or 3 times in my life. I also have 2 nieces living there so it could be a really great vacation. I'd probably fly out.....don't know if I'd want to drive the ACR out and back.....but you never know.

here are a whole bunch of pics that Mookie took - mostly from our 2 teams perspective, but lots of good shots of cars racing and some good ones of your neon out there:

http://ermilio-photos.smugmug.com/gallery/9328809_o4an8#623797115_ptXkf

so maybe im a little slow, but explain this to me... the total cost to enter the race had to be 0 value on the car ??? did the "race officials" count the cost of putting the cages into the cars, i am very interested in this game as i know of two cars that would be very eligible for this race... im just not clear on how the $$$ aspec works...

No... that just happened to be our cost. I found the 95 Neon... paid $200 for it. Sold the tires and wheels which were at least 75% of new for $100. Then sold the interior which was in exceptionally good condition for another $100. So, the net cost of OUR car was zero, thus leaving us a budget of $500 to build the car. Safety equipment (e.g. roll cage, drivers seat, harness, etc.), wheels, tires, brakes, and exhaust (beyond header) do not count towards the $500. So, as an alternative, one could conceivably start with a purchase of $1,000 (or more) car and sell $500 worth of parts to arrive at the $500 maximum "build" value... then add safety equipment, etc. to qualify.

See Rules: http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/rules/

The photos taken at the track that ACR MAN has posted were taken after the race. As you can see, we suffered minimal damage thanks in substantial part to the driving skills of every one of our drivers. So... we are almost ready to go for our next Lemons race. Hats off to ACR MAN who sorted out a number of issues that certainly helped us stay on the track and finish well.

Speaking of drivers... looking at MyLaps, it appears that each driver was pretty much able to hold his own during his respective driving segment. Dave Houser posted our fast time which has to be reflective of driving skill particularly since he had never been on this track before. Although Dave turned in the fast time, everyone else appeared to be clicking off consistently clean and relatively quick laps as well.

Frankly, I was quite surprised that we were able to turn in one of the faster lap times of the event. There were plenty of other cars that were much quicker on the straights... so much of our lap speed had to be the result of a good handling car in the hands of competent drivers.

Check out the MyLaps results: http://www.mylaps.com/results/showrun.jsp?id=1270934

We did it again! In last weekend's 24 Hours of LeMons Arse-Freeze-Apolooza at Thunderhill we finished 14th of 160 entries, and once again garnered the (not) coveted Least Horrible Yank Tank award as the top finishing American car.

The driving team was:

* Greg Smith
* David Cordier
* Jim Waleke
* Ray Ayala

The crew was:

* Rich Crist
* David McDonald
* Erik VanDyke

Well done, everyone!


photo courtesy Rogue Photos


Dueling with the 1UP Mother Cluckers


Pit stop action!
photos (2) courtesy Erik VanDyke

So, what was different about the car this time? For one thing, I jammed a 2.4L in there. I was lucky enough to score a PT engine with "unknown problems" for the princely sum of $55. A guy who bought one of my cars earlier this year asked if I might be interested in a possibly rebuildable 2.4L, and I said YES. It turned out that the valves weren't sealing well and the rings were iffy, but it was a pretty good core. The crankshaft and bearings looked great! A new set of rings, a careful cylinder honing, some valve lapping, and a few seals/gaskets later we had a new engine. I'm particularly proud of my customized SRT-4 dipstick tube that sits in a stock-like location. I just had to cut off the retaining bracket, bend the tube into a gentle "S" shape and re-weld the bracket (circled in red) lower on the tube. Voila!



Erik cut & welded the stock PT right-side mounting bracket to fit the 1st gen chassis, and beefed up/clearanced the front mount bracket too. Great job, Erik! Here's the 2.4L in its new habitat:



It was a major thrash to complete the engine swap and routine pre-race maintenance work, but we got it done. The engine wiring harness repairs/bulletproofing alone took THREE evenings of my time, but I'd rather do that in the garage than diagnose & repair wiring at the track mid-race. One 525-mile tow later and we were at the track.

The Friday rains abated, and there was a rainbow over LeMons. It was like a sign from heaven: we're on a mission from God.



We made it through Tech and BS inspection relatively unscathed. Zero BS penalty laps! There was a problem, though: the car still didn't run quite right. Thanks to the last-minute engine swap, we had no shake-down test time prior to leaving for the race. I had a 58 psi filter/regulator and stock injectors in the car, but it still acted lean and had poor response. Jim arrived with the 24 lb/hr Mustang GT injectors, so I swapped them in. It still didn't run right, it was dark and the clock was ticking. I checked the cam timing, hoping to find that it was somehow incorrect. I had installed 2.0L cams, but also had the foresight to ask crew dude Boyd to machine another dowel pin notch 180 degrees from the stock one, so that the marks will line up like a stock 2.4L engine. This made it possible to very quickly prove that the cam timing was correct without pulling the valve cover to look at the holes in the cams.

I took the racecar for a very slow lap around the paddock and thought about the situation. It finally dawned on me to re-think my fuel injector phasing. During the harness build, I moved each injector driver wire "ahead" one cylinder in the firing order. Did I do that wrong? I decided to reposition the injector driver wires "one cylinder back" in the firing order, relative to stock. That fixed it! At about 10:30pm Friday night, I proudly proclaimed: "Gentlemen, we have a racecar!"

budget racing at its best, good to some northwesters still into real racing

Great job.

About the injectors. Moving them all up one or back one isn't right. viewtopic.php?f=46&t=318202 that thread has the correct sequence that will put them back to stock like injection. The correct order is 2-4 4-3 3-1 1-2 viewtopic.php?f=46&t=318427 has all the info on why.

What about the race?

Race day dawned sunny & clear Saturday morning. Ray finished up his radio installation so we would have clear, consistent communication with our crew. Thanks for the radios, Ray! I had the first stint in the car, and during the transponder testing/formation laps it was clear that we had a new problem. The tilt steering column was coming unlocked on its own, presumably due to vibration from the balance-shaft-less 2.4L engine. I was determined to run my full, scheduled 2-hour stint. It sucked to learn the track (I had never been to Thunderhill before) while in heavy traffic AND with a tilt column that needed to be re-locked several times per lap. It also had the nasty habit of coming loose when I had to crank in some strong steering input...like at the top of (very blind) Turn 5. The crew addressed the steering column problem at the first driver change/fuel stop by inserting a tightly folded/bound towel above the column. They told me that we were in 12th position when I got out of the car.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. The other drivers stayed out of trouble and took care of the car. We finished the day in 20th place overall. Crew guy Rich took a closer look at the end of the day and spotted the cause of the tilt steering column problem: the nut on the end of the locking shaft was not quite snug. Rich gave it 1/4 turn and the problem was solved! I checked out a lack of power/revs issue that Ray had mentioned after his stint. I suspected that the used, stock spark plug wires were breaking up under load. That would also explain the unusually strong engine vibration that was evident when I drove the car. I removed the old wires - one terminal broke during removal - and installed a set of new, stock wires. We had a nice dinner in town and went to bed.

I drove the 2nd stint the next day, and found the car to be much improved: the extreme engine vibration was gone and the engine pulled cleanly throughout the rev range. It was a fun drive, and I managed a 2:23 lap time. I did have a brain-fade moment and put 4 wheels off in turn 6. Since we were driving so cleanly all weekend and I was very contrite, the penalty judge just told us to do a driver change. That was our only penalty of the weekend.


Standings on Sunday, about an hour before the finish. We are car #11 in 14th place.

As the race neared a close, it became apparent that we were in contention for Least Horrible Yank Tank as the top-finishing American car. The very fast "Save the Whale" Crown Vic must have had some car trouble or a penalty problem, because they were now well behind us. I studied the standings and discovered that we were the top Yank Tank! And that's how it ended -- with Ray in the car, conserving fuel so that we wouldn't need another stop. At the awards presentation that evening, LeMons chief Jay Lamm called our award "a small trophy for a small achievement." Indeed. Next time, we're shooting for the overall win...

Yes, I know that. In my post above, I mentioned that I ended up fixing the problem by moving the injector drivers "one back" in the firing order...which is what you list above. Since the car is a '95, I did my pin-swapping at the C115 intermediate connector because it was easier that way.

Soooo much fun. My coworkers and friends are tired of hearing me go on and on about that weekend. MIS and I have been kicking around the idea of building a car for this for next year.

I'm burning all my pics for ya, even a bit of video coming into turns 1-2 all the way to the first hill climb.

Erik

most definately want to make this happen at least for Chumpcar if not for Lemons as well. Awesome project log. :)

how did you address the tilt coming loose? mine does that several times per lap when i road race it.

didnt see any adjustment on the column when i pulled it out for other stuff, so i guess you did something to lock it in place foreva.

zip ties to hold the lever up?

I keep a roll of Velcro in the tool box and glove box lol. A length of that would work and be adjustable on the fly.


This kind~

Huum - something to add to my bungie cord tray!!

Congrats Greg, to you and your team. Having done a 12 hour enduro a couple of times, I know how much fun that can be. Great job and good luck next year.

Jim

The tilt lever is a friction lock, and there is a nut at the right (passenger side) of the lever's shaft. Crew dude Rich said that the nut was not snug, so he added a 1/4 turn and it then locked great when the lever was in the "up" position. I guess you could compare it to the nut on the end of a quick-release skewer on a bicycle wheel. I found this pic in the "for sale" forum, and circled the nut in red:

So it looks like we can leave the Velcro in the glovebox. :)

edit: thought I hit PM, ignore this...

Greg,

Had a blast running with you guys. The car prep was awesome and the team was really professional. Hope to run with you guys again in the future.

-Ray

Greg,
How many Michigan guys did you have to have to make that thing fast?


Ray,
How did the car compare you Chia?

We only had one Michigan guy (Jim) on the team this time. Ray has been a Los Angeles guy for almost a year now. I did consult with one Michigan guy (not from Chia neon) and one Texas guy during the 2.4L build, but the car is mostly conventional wisdom. That, and a LOT of effort on my part to prevent stuff from breaking. The car is VERY reliable, and reasonably quick too! The competition in the west coast LeMons these days is tough. If we had run this car in 2007 at the first Thunderhill arse-freeze, we could have WON. The Chia finished 2nd in the 2007 Arse-freeze, and they had some serious car problems! Anyway, Ray's fast lap in our car this time was 2:23.1 and mine was 2:23.4 -- so there.

BTW: Our "Michigan guy/Chia neon" drivers (David Houser drove with us in August at Buttonwillow) were VERY interested in the 2.4L swap. Dave's questions about the 2.4L motivated me to do the swap for the Arse-Freeze. I don't know if a 2.4L would be a good setup for NASA PT, but it sure was fun at LeMons!

Ray still has a house, AND his racecar is still here in MI...

Should we call your "consultants" Mr. H and Mr. V?

What did Ray and David say about the 2 cars comparatively?

Maybe I should talk to Dave, I do have all the 2.4 conversion mounts for sale.... Can even come up with a Lemon's receipt for an extra case of beer....

Have to comment here... The three California drivers have been residing in California for an average of 18 years.

Averages are funny like that...



A lot of people who no longer live in Michigan still have a house there. Those were not the specific guys with whom I consulted, although Mr. H was aware of what I was doing. Ray and David think that our LeMons car is the best thing since sliced bread! Maybe that's overstating the case, but they liked it...particularly the "well-prepped/doesn't break" part.

Surprise! We are entered in the "Goin' for Broken" LeMons race at Thunderhill on the weekend of May 8th. We were originally planning NO major changes to the car for that race...but then we saw this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2QTjjheyGE

That happened at the "Sears Pointless" LeMons race early in March. The driver was injured, but the cage held up very well. I have been unhappy with the Autopower bolt-in cage that has been in our LeMons car since its first race, and I expressed grave concern to my teammates about what might happen if an incident like the one in the video happened to our car. Long story short: we are replacing the cage with this nifty, used McKenna bolt-in that the illustrious superD sold to me at a DIRT CHEAP price!



It appears to be a complete kit with all hardware. The design of this cage is better/sturdier than the Autopower, and the "through the dash" design makes it more comfortable for the driver, too! I plan to bolt the cage in, then have a local cage builder convert it to dual driver's door bars, connect the cross bar in the main hoop and possibly make some other upgrades. It's more work than I had planned for this race, but it's worth it.

Thanks again, superD!

just saw the last post.

glad the cage is working out for you! cant wait to see what it looks like inside of a car.


BTW, podium finish or i'm retroactively doubling the price of the cage

I picked up $50 worth of grade 8 fasteners and bolted the cage in last week. It was more work than I remembered, but the McKenna is such a great design for a bolt-in cage. I dropped the car off at the cage guy's house today for the upgrades: dual driver's & passenger's door bars, diagonal bar from main hoop behind driver to right rear "kicker" mount point, connect the lateral bar to right side of main hoop, add a bar between the front downtubes in the vicinity of where the original dash support beam was, add some tabs to the body, etc. I will probably have the car back next Monday, so with any luck I'll have pictures then.

how did you end up doing Greg ?
looked at the results on mylaps, but didn't see you.


some great cars at Thunderhill, prickstine was very creative as well as many others.