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My teammates and I proudly announce our entry into the 24 Hours of LeMons at Buttonwillow, California for the weekend of August 16th. We have secured a '95 highline sedan SOHC/MTX for a mere $200! Since the pictures were taken, the wheels/tires were sold for $100 and the interior (in surprisingly good shape) with complete a/c system was sold for $100, so the car has ZERO value right now under the LeMons rules. We're working on using our $500 build budget in just the right places to build a contender...

You don't know what the 24 Hours of LeMons is? Read this: http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/

you know what that looks like?


a winner.

Not bad D.





Hope you guys have some real fun. : )

Cant wait to see how you do!

working on a budget is always fun

Awesome, we've been kicking the idea around for a couple years, just haven't bit the bullet.

So, can you guys reveal what you plan to do to it, or is it important to keep that a secret?

I don't want to say too much just yet, but the build will focus on durability/reliability more than outright speed. You can't win a 14 hour race on speed alone...particularly when on a very tight budget.

Be sure to keep receits of everything so you have proof of what it cost. You don't want to end up like Modernperformance's Lemons car.

Does it already have a MLS headgasket?

Yes, it does. It may have had the engine replaced at some point, as it has a 1996-99 valve cover on it.

Looks like you're in good shape! I would love to do a project like that. Don't forget the simple/cheap stuff like the oversize oil filter trick.

Can't wait to see this budget build, sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun!

We got some work done on the LeMons car yesterday in our state-of-the-art outdoor lab in Azusa, California: interior stripped and rear disc brakes installed. Here is Dave removing unnecessary metal from the dash beam, with me holding the part:



I love grinding metal!

I was pretty sick for most of this week, so not much was achieved on the LeMonmobile. I did get one thing done, though: the dash wiring harness. The car had an alarm in it, and removing that meant fixing a couple of wires. Since the dash was out and disassembled anyway, I took the opportunity to remove unnecessary wires from the harness. Gone are the wiring for the airbag system, radio, blower motor resistor and other circuits that we won't need. I left the exterior lighting and wiper circuits in the harness, just in case this harness ever gets used in something like an Enduro I.T. car that would need them.



We plan more work on the car today...

Wow that sounds like fun. Goodluck!

We worked on the LeMons neon again this Saturday. Among other things, we found the fuel leak. Check out the cracked rubber cap on the siphon tube in this picture:



We tested the repaired/simplified dash harness and it worked great, as expected...

That is exactly where my '95 started leaking gas from. I did a temporary fix on it, but eventually it went out about a month after it started leaking and I replaced the pump with a new one.

Dash harness mods FTW!

What's the oversize filter trick?

I may go back into the dash harness to change the power source for the HVAC blower motor. I would like to get the blower current flow out of the ignition switch, and I have an unused rear defogger feed (fused, unswitched circuit) that would be just perfect. If I do that, we would just have to remember to be sure the blower is off when the key is off.




I believe that he was referring to using the larger "090" part number Mopar filter (or equivalent) instead of the specified Mopar "409" small teacup filter or equivalent. I do NOT plan to use the larger filter on the LeMons car, because the larger filter hangs lower than the oil pan and is therefore susceptible to damage if the car hops a curb when on track. Yes, that actually happened back in the early 1994 Showroom Stock C club racing days of the neon when the larger "090" was the specified filter. In my opinion, the larger filter is not worth the risk of damage on a track car. There will be so much traffic at LeMons, I will be amazed if we don't hit something at least once during the 14 hours of on-track time.

mine doesent hang down anymore than the stocker but it is larger around....its a 090 filter. Ive got more than I will ever need for this car (150+) for free when I lost my job at the local dealership. enough for all of my stuff and my dads mopar stuff.....they all use the same filter

My friends and I are also prepping a neon for the Lemons, the September race in SC. Unlike you guys, we were uh... "unfettered by knowledge" about the car initially, but this forum has helped a huge amount. I look forward to following your build and learning along the way. Right now, the car is getting caged by a guy who builds tube-frame dirt track cars.posting.php?mode=reply&f=51&t=343531#

It's been a long time since I have updated this log, but I've been busy. A lot has been done with the car in the past few weeks. I worked on it every night this week after work -- last night 'till 2 am! These are a few of the highlights:

* Pulled engine & transmission, replaced transmission selecter lever shaft bushing to fix problem with excess play. The internals look pretty good. Re-installed engine & trans.



* Removed the A/C evaporator from the HVAC housing, removed black foam & rubber pad from firewall, re-asembed HVAC & dash

* Took the engine wiring harness apart, cleaned out the oil, repaired some wires and replaced a few connectors with used ones cut from a damaged harness




* Installed a used Autopower bolt-in rollcage. We have to add a second driver's side door bar before the race.

* Installed cat replacement pipe purchased for $65 on Ebay...and it didn't fit! The flange was welded in an incorrect position, which placed the outlet FAR away from the correct "straight back" position. After a brief period of panic, I realized that the sprint car fabrication shop down the street could probably cut and weld the pipe in the correct position if I showed them how I wanted it to be aligned. Thankfully, they cut and TIG'd it for just one hour's shop time charge...



* Installed a used '99 R/T 4-wheel-disc master cylinder with correct rear disc type proportioning valves, installed new front rubber brake hoses, bled the whole system, discovered that the used '99 R/T rear disc brake assemblies had Hawk HPS pads in them!

* Checked all suspension parts for wear & damage, torqued all suspension bolts

We just have a few more tasks to do Saturday morning, then it's testing time!

How about some pics of the exterior?
Any changes to it yet?
Curious as too what your paint scheme might be?

AWESOME work on the wiring harnesses!
Looking forward to more updates.

Things are off to a Good start . We breezed through tech and received NO penalty laps in the BS judging. Racing starts today!

Good luck guys! Lots of pics please!

X2

Good luck!

We are currently in 9th place overall. Yay us!

We finished day 1 in 10th place. See Jalopnik.com for the top 10 report and a pic of our car!

http://jalopnik.com/5338346/first-day-o ... gallery/10
Only neon picture in there.
Policia?

and what's this about Honda's dominating? ACR, i believe you know how to handle this.

Go Neon. (s??)

you guys did great! I was cool seeing you win the Yank Tank award.

I was there as part of Team Porcubimmer

As Don says, we are now the Award Winning team Los Cerdos Voladores! We finished 8th overall out of 95 starting entries. As the top finishing American car, we won the Least Horrible Yank Tank award...in our first LeMons race! The race itself was also the first time that the car turned more than 10 laps on a race course. It was great right out of the box!

Thanks go to our team members:
Drivers - Greg Smith, David Cordier, Jim Waleke, David Houser and Joe Siam.
Crew - Boyd Gaebel, Rich Crist, Faye Pierson and David McDonald.

More detail and pics to follow...

- Greg

All that and FUN too!!!!

You did have fun didn't you???? I sure hope so.

Congrats.

Everyone had a lot of fun.

Thanks Greg for the opportunity to drive your bullet proof car at such an awesome track. I hope to have some pictures up tomorrow.

the only way to win at a LeMons race is to have fun

I wished I'd had the time to find you guys and chat with you. I was too busy spotting and wrenching and helping out not just the Porcubimmer, but also my friends with the Cam-Wow Rockett Camaro

oh . . . and drinking, a lot

Will the real Don Howard please stand up?