24 Hours of LeMons: SUPPORT NEEDED CALLOUT!

PurpleDinosaur · September 19th, 2007, 10:24 am

MX-3 CALLOUT! Wrench / Tech Support needed: 24 Hours of LeMons...

Challenge to all Mid West MX-3 Gearheads / Racers / and fans of good times...

fiestafrank posted in WTB regarding the upcoming Detroit 24 Hours of LeMons... they could REALLY use our help for this race.
link: http://www.mx-3.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=61032

Background:

The 24 Hours of LeMons http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/ is a tongue in cheek endurance race wher the teams are limited to a $500 total budget (safety parts exempted from limit). Team pick old beaters with potential and run them in this irreverant race. FiestaFranks Team consists of a bunch of guys from Ford; most have little race experience but lots of automotive background... Frank has been racing for quite a while...

Thier Car: '92 (I think) GS w/ 1.8 V6... they've stripped the car of anything and everything thats not essential (Frank sez its under 2000 pounds at present)... Link to Team Page: http://www.formula-un.net

The race will be held in FlatRock Michigan Sat. Sept. 29 to Sunday Sept 30th.... http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/events/detroit/

The team is working on getting a parts car to have as back up; hopefully that will come through.

What they need is guys (or gals) that are knowledgeable about our cars and / or good wrenchs to serve as pit crew / tech advisors for what is assumed to be the inevitble "significant pit stops" associated with a 24 hour endurance race run with 15 year old cars!

PARTS NEEDED:

Wheels: I'm lending the team the GS rims off my ride, they could probably use 1 or 2 more sets of rims - they have 4 sets of race tires but no wheels for them... "experienced" wheels are fine -they have a wheel shop supporting the team and can have minor flat spots etc taken care of... PM frank for details. ps: quoting Frank: its a small track and there will be a lot of bumping and grinding - there are NO GURRANTEES your wheels (or any other parts for that matter) will be returned in useable condition.

Struts: Any MX-3ers near to SE Mich that happen to have a set of zx2 Struts for cheap? (and by cheap I mean nearly free!)

Raceday support:

Wrenchs / Technical Advisors (fancy term for pit-b----) Anyone that can lend a hand is encouraged to come on out the Flatrock to support the MX-3 team! Please post here or email frank at fiestafrank@comcast.net if you can help out!

Fan Support:
Can't provide tech support? Come on out and watch the race... Hilarity is gurranteed! Seriously folks, we are unreasonably proud of our cars, lets show it! SUPPORT Team Formula-Un! May the citrus be with you!!!
-Barney

ps - Frank- I might be able to Make it to the Track Saturday morning but its my daughters Birthday and I'm taking her to the Maroon 5 Concert that evening so I'll be out by 1 pm or so... Go easy on the wheels!

pps - might wanna put the invite out for Monday evening to ther collective to see if we can generate a littel excitment for this event.

PurpleDinosaur · Post by **PurpleDinosaur** » September 20th, 2007, 5:26 am

27 views and no responses.

Weaksauce there MX-3er's... weaksauce indeed.

Nd4SpdSe · Post by **Nd4SpdSe** » September 20th, 2007, 7:31 am

I'd love to help, but I'm down in Virginia, and will probably be in Florida (for work) by then. If i was home, Windsor isn't that car, I'd love to come and help

XxantwawnxX · Post by **XxantwawnxX** » September 20th, 2007, 8:38 am

PurpleDinosaur wrote:27 views and no responses.

Weaksauce there MX-3er's... weaksauce indeed.

Well ya see we looked, and obviously if theres not responses we probably cant do it for whatever reason. So weaksauce yoursefl! : )

PurpleDinosaur · Post by **PurpleDinosaur** » September 20th, 2007, 1:59 pm

Thrunt not in this thread!

STEP UP FOLKS! : )

I just figured that with a group this passionate about their cars tht folks would be lining up to be part of this... [/guilt]

2RotorsNaDream · September 20th, 2007, 10:11 pm

Yeah they would but if you didnt notice the vast majority of people on this site are in the Toronto Ontario metro area. I dont think too many of them can pause their lives to go all the way to Detroit to help you out. With a car this rare you wont find a large group of people based in one area on this site. I live in NYC with a metro area of 18 million people and I think theres only one other member (DJPro) anywhere around me from this site. Good luck with the race.

Limegreen mx-3 · September 20th, 2007, 11:48 pm

I help too but i live way down south in san antonio Texas.

not that there's lack of support just not being close enough to where that race is taken place at.

hotsiit · Post by **hotsiit** » September 21st, 2007, 6:09 am

Get the venue changed to Pocono Raceway in PA and I'll be there

, but as with everyone else, I'm not local enough to be there, but it would be cool. Have fun!

PurpleDinosaur · Post by **PurpleDinosaur** » September 21st, 2007, 9:53 am

Yeah well... There are several MX-3ers here in the Detroit Area... and I was hoping that someone from Ohio or Western Ontario might be interested... Perhaps the hard sell was not the right approach?

Anyway- Franks still looking for help and it should be a good time.

Post by **Mooneggs** » September 21st, 2007, 10:26 am

I'm actually coming up to Columbus, Ohio next weekend... but I'm spending some quality time with my sister...

PurpleDinosaur · Post by **PurpleDinosaur** » September 26th, 2007, 7:19 am

Mooneggs wrote:I'm actually coming up to Columbus, Ohio next weekend... but I'm spending some quality time with my sister...

THis is unpossilbe whilst crazy racing is going on just hours away.

In other news - I dropped off the wheels to Frank on Monday and one of the competitots cars shows up (it ws some kind of pre race event for the 24 HoL @ Kart2Kart in Sterling hieghts...

I think it was a scirocco... painted rattle can silver... and deck out if full "Back to Future Flux Capacitor Steeze. I'm sure there will pictures posted on the 24 HoL site after the race; Ill cross post them... too funny!

Still gonna try to get to the track for a couple hours sat morning... but its my daughters birthday and she appear to want to celebrate some other way... go figure.

PATDIESEL · Post by **PATDIESEL** » September 26th, 2007, 11:50 am

I pm'd some of the spare parts that I have. Let me know if any of it can be of use to you. GL with the race.

fiestafrank · Post by **fiestafrank** » October 1st, 2007, 8:14 pm

First, thanks for all the advice we got off this forum. The majority of you guys are friendly and class acts. Unfortunately for us, we bought a lemon. 'Isn't that the point?' Actually it is not - its just a name. To give you an idea of some of the cars entered we had everything from a Neon SRT to a Caddy Seville, several Celicas and Supras, a few ex-cop cars and even not 1, but 2 Volvos and BMWs.

In the end, we got cramped for time as we completed the car late Friday evening. The delay came from having to completely rebuild the braking system (it was put together with an assortment or wood screws and parts found by the side of the road). At 11pm, we siged it was finally complete and topped off the gas tank only to find a major gas tank leak. This is something I am sure the former owner had to know and luckily we found it before one of us went up in smoke. Very lucky indeed. However the ensuing tank switch took until 3am to complete due to the rusty hardware.

So, we were able to get the car to the track Saturday only 3 hours late, which screwed up our pre-race prep and made us miss all the shakedown laps. Even so, when the green flag fell we were one of the few cars who hadf enought power and handling to pass multiple cars every lap and were soon near the top.

Then, on lap 46 (mind you only about 20 miles into the race) the clutch shattered. 4 hours later we were back on track 400 laps down. Two pit stops later for a punctured tire and loose radiator cap we had moved ourselves back up the board. No chance of winning but during my second stint behind the wheel we were once again among the fastest cars there..... until the motor seized.

So, I know we bough a used car and I am familiar with buyer beware, but in the end, every crap can there except one, ran more laps than we did. Cavalier Wagon - 4th place, Chia Neon 3rd place - Team Formula-Un MX-3 next to last.

So, any advice on the potential causes of the motor meltdown. Loss of power for a couple of laps then a big puff and locked-up engine. Spark Plug removal shows melted plug and damaged piston in #6 (I assume the front bank is #2, #4 & #6 - either way it was the front right cylinder). Lean? Head Gasket? any similar failures?

I'm only asking because we need to decide if we are going to build another with the parts car we have. The cage is complete, we have a new clutch, brakes and all the safety equipment so it shoulld take minimal dollars and a few weekends.

Advice?

mr1in6billion · Post by **mr1in6billion** » October 1st, 2007, 8:24 pm

Those Neons seem to be a solid bet. The one out here came in first. Whoda thunk.

You've got the shell, I don't see why you can't use it next time. A few hundred for a good clean engine and you'd be good.

PurpleDinosaur · Post by **PurpleDinosaur** » October 2nd, 2007, 8:37 am

Frank-

Rotten luck man. The MX3er who shall remain nameless that sold you the car should be ashamed of himself. weaksauce.

For ref - I drive the s--- out of my GS and so far so good... I say giver another go. But maybe go stealth like and find a KLDE from a Probe GT and swap motors... up your power (165 vs 135) and more relaible than the more powerful 10:1 200 hp KLZE JDM motor.

I'd think with all the Probes around D-twon that finding a motor on the cheap wouldn't be too hard. There is beaucoup info on doing the swaps in this forum...

Its silly but I was stoked to learn that the MX3 was one of the fastest cars out there - good job and better luck next time. Drop me a line if you guys go forward, I've got a soft spot for this project.