Even though it’s been a while since there was an update, we are still on track to race in 2009!
Car just needs a cage and that’s it! Runs and drives like a champ!
Today I’m leaving for Army Basic Training….Be back in the Team Lemonparty garage in 6 months!
And now I leave you with the completed Team Lemonparty video from 2007!!!
Team Lemonparty 24 Hours of LeMons Flat Rock Michigan from tyson on Vimeo.
Still not a whole lot has happened, yet the car is almost ready to race.
We are now on myspace too, add us at www.myspace.com/teamlemonparty
I picked up a used Spearco racing seat with rails for only $150
In about 3 weeks the custom roll cage gets installed.
Basically all the car will need at that point is a harness and some tires….kind of strange that the car is running, soon to be race ready and we still have about $400 left in the budget for upgrades!
I have completed the video from Team Lemonparty 2007 and it will be avalible for purchase shortly
- Tyson
I’d like to thank Colin for donating a complete spare engine (with accessories!), gasket set and getrag 5 speed transmission to Team Lemonparty! Colin is a well know Merkur XR4TI fan and he had this sitting in his garage and originally was going to sell it to us for $50 but then saw our website (it’s said his heart grew 2x that day) and decided to donate it.
Thank God we are both huge. The only way he could deliver it was with his work’s dock truck, which the deck sits about 53″ off the ground. I don’t have a cherry picker so the only way we could get it out was by hand. Lifting a 300+ pound engine is no easy task, especially when it’s 5′ off the ground!
Thanks again Colin! We owe you one.
The garage has been a little slow the past couple weeks with not a whole lot happening to the Lemon. Bill did find some scrap metal at the manufacturing company where he works and built an awesome kraut (german rice) spoiler. Apparantly the E21 BMWs with a rear sway bar tend to have quite a bit of oversteer, so we wanted to have something to give our car a few hundred pounds of downforce at ~50mph. To do that we had to go big or go home.
Speaking of rear sway bar…I did manage to find a 320iSport in a junkyard with a rear sway bar. $15 later it was mine. It’s a nice upgrade as the 320i did not come with one from the factory.
Kind of an uneventful day. Today the seats came out I found quite a bit of change under them, too bad it was mostly pennies.
Total change found = $1.99. Our budget is now $302
Bill came over and today the Lemon had it’s first real bit of progress made to it. All the rear glass is now out of the the car (and with it came most of the stickers!). It’s still only about 32 degrees outside so we can’t do much else at this point. The headliner is actually in pretty good shape and we’d like to try and take it out in one piece and maybe make $20-50 on e-bay, but we want to wait until it’s a bit warmer before we start pulling on it
I can’t wait until it warms up…
- Tyson
Brrr it’s cold….well it’s not that cold. It’s about 28 degrees here in the Lemonparty garage here in Minnesota. The 2009 24 Hours of LeMons race is at least 365 days away…probably more like 400-500 days away still but there’s work to be done!
I put the lemon up on stands for the first time to inspect the underside. To my astonishment both the physical and mechanical bits of the car are absolutely pristine. There’s no rust, the framerails and floorboards are prefectly straight without even a dent or scrape, and there’s no leaks or noises coming from the engine or drivetrain. To say the least I am amazed at how clean this 26 year old machine is. In fact I *almost* feel bad sending it through a LeMons race.
Now it’s time for the exhaust. When we purchased the car it had a header, and about 2′ of pipe underneath it. It was loud and Bill had to put up with the sound and the fumes throughout the 90 minute drive back to my garage. A trip to Checker and $36 later (which does not count towards the budget) the lemon now has a cherry bomb glasspack. I’m happy with the way it sounds.
Now that the exhaust is complete It’s time to address something that I noticed on the car before I took it home. It’s got a mechanical fan on the front of the engine. Normally this isn’t too bad of a thing except for a couple reasons.
#1. It does not have a fan clutch. So when the engine spins at 6,000 RPM so does the fan. Robbing horsepower and also putting stress on the water pump to which it is attached.
#2. This is a lemons race….The front end WILL get hit at some point or another, and an electric fan won’t shred the radiator to bits when that happens.
Now where to get an electric fan and not have to pay for it…..hmmmm. Oh what’s this…..The factory air conditioning condensor is still in the front grill, and it has an electric fan! Score!
With the mechanical fan off the car is now much quieter and seems to rev to redline quicker. I’ve never had much of an urge to own a BMW but this car really is starting to impress me.
I’m cold….It’s time to go inside.
- Tyson S.
To my astonishment I found a 1982 BMW 320i on the Minneapolis craigslist site. It was 3/4 of the way through the transformation into a hornet racer and the owner just wasn’t interested in it anymore. It was for sale for $500 or best offer…any offer.
I called the owner to see if it was still there, it was. I asked a couple basic questions about it and told the owner I’d like to come see it and potentiall buy it today, I got directions and before I hung up the phone he said “Oh, I also wanted to let you know that I’m VERY flexible on the price” (score!).
After about a 90 minute drive to B.F.E. Minnesota we arrived at the owners house. Upon first glance the car appeared to be rust free and actually in very good condition. When I turned the key it instantly roared to life (and I mean roared since it had no exhaust). I then took it around the block and was really impressed with how it drove, handled and braked….I knew it had to be ours.
When I arrived back at his house I told him I’d like to make an offer on it….I told him $150 was what I’d like to pay for it, he told me $250 and we finally settled on $200 even. I gave him the cash, and Bill hopped in our new Bimmer for the long, loud and cold drive home (It was 20 degrees out and the car had no heater core).
This is going to be sweet!