Short Work day 2-25-2012

Well the car is together; the kill switch is tested, covered, and marked; drove the car around the block; and my dad is off for his vacation to play in the Colorado snow. Now I just need to keep myself busy for a few weeks until the race. With only a small amount of prep and shopping left to do, I will be going nuts for sure. My girlfriend is excited to have me for an entire weekend for the first time in awhile though.

I have found out that the next race we plan to do at Buttonwillow is a full 24 hour race. Now with the second car in the equation, the budget is tighter. So the original plan to buy and upgrade to a 14" or 15" wheel may not be realistic. So I have been looking into what is left of the 13" tire market and think there maybe something to get us by. These Nexen CP641s hopefully will be better then terrible and last the full race. We also will need to get some lights because the last time I drove the Spitfire at Buttonwillow in the dark with the stock head lamps, it was down right frightening. Looking into getting a pair of Hella 500s to mount on the front to help light our way.



Gotta get me some time on Forza 4 to learn the Infineon track better, and stop thinking so much about what we are going to do after the Infineon Race until after it is over.

Damn it feels good to be a crap can racer...

Work Day 2-18-2012

We are almost done...



Thanks to a lot of hard work from my pops, we are very near ready for the Sears Pointless race that is just over a month away. He modified the bumper supports and welded them in so we could mount the bumper on. The big rubber bumper just would not fit right after all the new mods so we mounted the metal one back on. It has taken a few hits before and held up fine so with it and the new fuel cell guard installed, the car is far safer then it has ever been. He also got the motor back together and started up. It ran good which is always a relief.

Well trying to decide how to continue forward with beefing up the floor panel at the drivers feet, a friend who stopped by recommended we use some Herculiner. It should do the trick and protect from rusting. Once we got all the holes patched up and cleaned the floor pan up with some paint thinner, we painted a thick layer of the stuff on the floor. Not very exciting or pretty but functional and important.



We then got the seat back in and now bolted to the new seat back brace as well. The seat is no longer just mounted to the "British Tin" floor. The only downside is we will feel a lot more of the bumps and shocks of the ride because the flexible floor is no longer absorbing some of it. Hey we are looking to be safe, not comfortable.



An interesting fellow came by to check out whats left of our spare parts cars and said he would take them off our hands. He is rebuilding a Triumph GT6 and a lot of the parts are interchangeable with the Spitfire. In return he is pulling off a few parts for me to give to a fellow LeMons racer. So these things are finally out of my parents yard, which I know makes my mom happy. See ya later you awesome rat turn infested rust buckets. You both served us well, now go get hacked up else where.



Next week, we will be finishing up the cover and markings for our Killswitch, bleeding the brakes, and driving it around the block to check everything out. Once those things are done we will be basically ready for the race. There will just be some small side prep work I will be taking care of while my father goes on a much deserved vacation. I am starting to think he works harder on this car for me then he does at his real job. Funny though, now that the spare parts cars are gone, he could not help himself and already picked up another car for our next project. Much faster and a different country of origin.. but that is for next year and will be a different story.



Damn I am getting excited about Infineon...

Work Day 2-11-2012

I was able to get my buddy to come do some welding work for us and man did he get a lot done in only a few hours. It was relieving for me to see most of the safety upgrades are now done as they were the most important items on our list for the 2012 season.



We now have a solid cage around our fuel cell that ties to the frame and the back stays. This set up should ease the minds of the LeMons tech crew a bit.



Within the few hours he was there, he was able to help strengthen the areas around our spreader plates inside the car as well. It looks and feels so much more solid then before.



He was not happy with our floor pan at the driver's feet so with the last bit of time he was there he started installing a plate to beef up that area as well. We will finish it off as he got the most important welds done for us.



I feel kind of useless while he does this work, so I just try and get him what ever he needs, food, beer, water, and stand by with the fire extinguisher. Then during his smoke breaks I assist my pops while he works on the motor, and I have some fun adding some paint to the car. I created a simple safety pin stencil that looks kinda cool and gives the car more of that punk rock look.





Also I have been continuing on my team theme costume. It has come along pretty well and now I wont just be standing around in a t-shirt. I will actually look like the jack ass who owns this car. I still have more spikes, safety pins, paint, and patches to add to the vest before it is done. I will also be spiking my hair up at the race, but you can get the idea.





Good times, we are almost ready and the sense of urgency is gone. Now time to check out the greatness from the LeMons race that was out in Texas over the weekend.



And well I guess I should get back to work....

Short work day - Feb 4th 2012

Continued stripping down the third Spitfire for parts, and it soon will be time to have these things hauled off. The last major piece we wanted from it was the diff. Thanks to a can of PB Blaster this kind of thing is becoming quite easy, but the working conditions were less then ideal. Check out what is still left in the trunk of this thing, you can see why he only charged us $500 for both of the cars and an extra standard 4 speed transmission.



Here is a look from under the car where I spent a few hours working...



But it was worth it.. I got out a diff that turns like butter and will be great to have as a spare. We already thrashed the original one and are running one pulled from the other parts car.



My pops was able to find a buyer for the over drive transmission we pulled out of the car last week. It is in good shape and sold for $350. So we actually made back $100 from the two cars, got two running motors, two good diffs, spare axles, and two spare transmissions from the deal. A lot of work, but that is half the fun of crap can racing, rat turds and all.

Here is the over drive transmission with it's driveshaft, the guy who is buying it is meeting us at Infineon to pick it up. So it is one more thing we have to haul with us.



It was a good day... Now off to go have a few cold ones with some friends and watch the Super Bowl. Go.. uh .. I do not like either team, should be good fun anyway.

Theme stuff - getting punked out.

Got started on some of my theme gear to wear at the next race. I never was into the flashy punk rock style with the big hair, safety pins, patches, spikes, studs, etc... but this is quite fun. I can see why many kids did this kind of self made styled clothing during class and when they were supposed to be doing home work. Just look at these nuts.. that is a lot of effort and money to show they are "punk" haha.



There is a damn funny article about "how to be punk" where I found the pics of those kids you can read it Here.

I was more the t-shirt, jeans, and vans shoes type of kid. Though I can not deny I had my moments of trying to hard when I was in high school, and had a real liberty spike mohawk for about five days of my adult life. Anyways......

I had a general plan of the things I wanted to make and what I would need. The most expensive item was going to be the leather vest or jacket. But lucky for me, a friend of mine gave me one for free that, after cutting the arms off, will work great. I also was going to order some spiked wrist bands but found a site that whole sales spikes and studs, so for very little money I can make it all myself.

The first thing I made is a neck chain horribly modeled after the neck chain Sid Vicious wore. If you do not know he was the bassist in the Sex Pistols.



Here is a picture of the famous Sid sporting said neck chain and one of the spike wrist bands I will make...



I will be cutting out the team logo from my team shirt to add as a patch on the back of the vest. There are also two other band's logos I had patches of that I will be adding, The Dwarves and Flogging Molly. When I cut the arms off the jacket I realized the cuffs have buttons and will be perfect for making cheap spiked wristbands so I will be able to make three, the third will be made from an old leather belt I have.



My pops has been showing me up at the races so far by actually getting his hair dyed and cut to sport a real mohawk. He also has a spiked neck collar he got in England. This time around I will at least be proudly sporting some less the classy punk rock threads..

Will post up pics of the gear later down the line when it is done.

"Anarchy in the U.K.!"

Work Day 1/28/2012

We had another productive work day on Saturday....

It was a windy Saturday and our welder friend was busy over the weekend so we decided just to finish cutting the tubes for the fuel cell protection and put off welding anything for another day.

We did very little with the actual race car it self, plugged some holes, and began making a cover for the back of our kill switch mount. Then one of our old team members came over and added some art work on the trunk of the car for us. I am a horrible painter so I am glad he wanted to do it, and it looks cool. I will just finish painting in the letters later. It is one of the Sex Pistol's album names, we just changed "Pistols" to "Pistons" as usual. Damn we are creative...




Then after he left, my dad and I decided to go check out the motor in the 3rd Spitfire. After charging the battery and hooking up a make shift fuel tank out of a 5 gallon fuel bottle and some spare fuel line, the thing started right up, ran smooth, and sounded good. So we drove it around to where the engine hoist is and I noticed the clutch and transmission felt really good. We worked for hours to get the motor and transmission out and we did it. This motor is now mated to one of the standard 4 speed transmissions and only needs a little bit more work done before it will be a spare that is ready to drop in. The Overdrive transmission that was in the car will go up for sale as well as other parts we won't use. Like maybe the windshield? Though I am not sure how the market looks for used Spitfire 1500 windshields... 

Here is the car now minus the motor. I will be pulling the diff out of it next week to have as a spare, because the more spares the better.



Here is the motor it has a Schneider camshaft, so we're told, and if it is anything like the motor we pulled from the other Spitfire (we got from the same guy) it will be in pretty good shape. The alternator is good, the water pump seems fine. We just have to finish removing the smog air lines and plug the holes those lines leave in the head then tighten things down and it will be ready to drop in if needed.



We had a few casualties during this work day, my dad tore open his knuckle pretty badly and I drenched my cell phone in old radiator water. Nothing some bandage, a popsicle stick, a blow dryer, some alcohol, and a slab of prime rib couldn't cure. You can figure out what cured what....

On a side note, I have started making myself a punk rock vest and some other things to help with our theme aspect. As the captain I have been lacking in that department, but I should be pretty punked out for the Infineon race. I will add photos of that once I get going on it.

There is more work to be done....

Work Day 1/22/2012

We got some of the updates for the new safety requirements started over the weekend. The kill switch needed to be moved to be within reach of a belted in driver, the seat back brace needed to be expanded and we are adding protection around the fuel cell. Most of this work was done by my dad and tacked in place as I do not know how to weld and work done on the car is not the time to learn. A friend of ours will come later and do the complete welds to make it solid.

Here is the new Killswitch location. We still need to add a cover over the back, mark the off position, and mark the area with lightning bolts.



This is the new expanded seat back brace to prevent the seat from falling back in the case of an accident. Our old one did not cover enough area.




I was wondering what year our car was as 1978 was only a guess. I found out we covered the vin/info plate when we were painting the car and we also cut it in half while cutting away the inside of the door.. But from what I can tell it was built in Oct 1979, so most likely it was sold as a 1980. What made this confusing is the way the cars radiator is mounted strait up and down and it did not have the electrical fan which I believe were added in 1979. It has the front rubber bumper so we figured it was after 1977. The previous owners could have changed the front end to have the older style large radiator with belt driven fan, or they could have added this body to the frame. I guess we will never know, but does it really matter?



I went back and took pictures of the parts cars, the first is the one we stripped down already. There is not much left but the front suspension and steering column. We already have the motor and the diff in the racecar, with the transmission and axles as spares.



Here is the third spitfire which a friend was going to try get it running as a street car but that never happened. We plan to pull the motor and use it in the race car eventually, and sell the over drive transmission to cover buying it back. Yeah he never even got it out of my dad's yard, and all we have taken from it so far is the rear rubber bumper that will go on the race car for the next race.



You can see in this car the way the radiators were mounted with an electric fan, which is why we were thrown off guessing the race car's year.



Next week we will be building the cover for the kill switch and labeling it; and getting help from our friend to finish up the fabrication and welding work. Then we will mount the ugly rubber bumper and possibly get the motor in the third car running.

Failure and Success

As mentioned before we have had our ups and downs with this racing team. I would have to say when we broke on the practice day before our first race attempt at LeMons Arse Freeze 2010, that was the worst. While sitting around today feeling miserable with a cold I got no work done on the Spitfire (sad I know) but I did manage to find the pictures from Arse Freeze 2010. Here are a few with the busted Spitfire on the trailer parked in the handicapped spot where we felt we belonged.





Here are the pics of the stripped hub and axle which was the cause of our demise..





The whole weekend was not a bust as we did end up enjoying ourselves though. The rest of the photos from that weekend can be seen Here.

From my point of view, I would have to say our highest point so far was the very next race, the ChumpCar race that was at Buttonwillow in June 2011. I dug around and could not find any pictures of that weekend I guess I was just having so much fun with everything going so well. We ran the entire 14 hour race with no black flags, no issues except for some leaked and/or burnt oil (4 qts worth). It was a great weekend with the original three team members and an extra driver. We finished 11th out of 27 cars and were awarded the Chumpiest Chumps award.



This award is still on display at my apartment and is a great reminder that things can go really well.

From the beginning. Racing for cheap and staying bellow the $500 car value.

So yes racing is expensive, the tires, the oil, the gas, towing, parts, nuts and bolts, safety gear, booze, costumes etc... but we have managed to keep our teams cost way down. Even though our car being a Spitfire, and can be given leeway for they are known for blazing speed and reliability (yeah right), we have stayed true to the $500 value.

Let me start from the beginning... I know, I know, the time line of this blog has been mixed up, sorry. It will start to be in order after this one, maybe....

The original car we started with was intended as a parts car for my dad's vintage Spitfire he was racing in VARA. He picked it up for either $100 or $180, he claims $100 I remember the later. Come to think of it, it was $100 after he sold the windshield maybe? Oh well it does not really matter, you get the idea, it was cheap.




After being in a Chump race together with Spank, my dad looked over this Spitfire again and asked me if I would be interested in building this thing as crap can racer with him. Obviously I said yes but at that point we had no idea what the team's theme would be about. I have a good friend I knew would be interested in this and invited him to join and that was how our team was born. We started ripping all the extra junk off the car, wiring, smog, interior, fuel tank and we stripped it bare. What we found was a car that had been some what restored and painted but we were unsure about the motor.



After we got it cleaned up added a battery, some fuel, and checked for oil, it started. The motor actually ran pretty smooth and sounded OK. So by default this was the motor we were going to start off with. We didn't even do any work on the motor as we now had to get the thing built to pass safety tech. This is were a majority of the cost came from. The metal for the roll cage, the racing seat, the new brake pads, brake rotors, fuel cell, fire extinguisher, tires, and countless nuts and bolts. I could not tell you what this ended up costing us (mostly my dad), but we did all we could to save money. We built the cage our selves following the rules then had a friend, who does metal fabrication and welding for a living, come clean it up and make sure it was solid. A good man who did it as a favor and for some beer.














Now these safety items do not count towards the $500 value of the car as per the rules. So technically we were still under $200 as we bought an air filter and some other misc things. 

One night while my buddy and I were having some beers we came up with the name for the team. We knew we wanted to do something punk rock, and He has the Sex Pistols British flag hanging on his wall. I am not sure exactly how we came to the Sex Pistons, but the following week he made up our team logo.





We then bought four decent 13" Sumito HTR 200 tires to race on and two cheap hard highway tires for spares.  Hooked everything up got it running and painted it black with primer spray paint. We drove it around a bit and were all ready to go. The rest was all fun painting on the car and making the rear brake lights using some skulls with red LED lights in the eye sockets.









We then took it to the first race, and that story is in the "Our Story and Some Pics" blog, but basically it ended before it started (DNS).

We knew we needed a new axle and hub so my dad found us a used one for $50 if I remember correctly. We are not sure if that counts as it is a direct replacement and does not change the value but lets say it does and that puts us at $250. Then my dad saw a craigslist ad for two complete Spitfires for $500 I mentioned in the last blog.  What I did not mention was he gave us an extra standard 4 speed transmission as well. After we picked them up my friend decided he wanted to turn one into a street car so we sold it to him for $250, putting us at $500 car value if you count spares. We then stripped the other one down for spares and did the ChumpCar race at Buttonwillow Raceway in June 2011.

We then swapped out the motor and overdrive transmission from the original Spitfire for the standard 4 speed transmission and the motor in the spare car. We sold the over drive transmission from the original car  for $250 on craigslist putting us back down to $250 again. My dad found a guy selling a motor, used webber, and damaged headers for a Spitfire 1500 for  $150. He picked those up and I decided to buy us an electric fan for $45 so we could have better cooling and take some resistance off the motor. So we were now at $445.

We patched up the headers and bolted them on with the webber and electric fan for our second ChumpCar Race which was at AutoClub Speedway in Fontana on October 2011.  After this race our motor still felt good and we fixed the transmission clutch arm pin problem for the cost of a bolt.

We ran this same set up at Arse Freeze Apalooza @ Buttonwillow in December 2011. We did buy new tires for $500 but they will last us two races, and we had the $350 of welding work done at the track. These are just expenses of the hobby and do not cont towards the car value, so we split the cost and had a great race. 

Now my friend who bought the other Spitfire from us never got it on the road. So the plan is to start stripping it down and sell the over drive transmission, windshield, and anything else we can. We are estimating to get around $350 for this, and we are only paying him back the $250. So it wont technically effect our car value.

The rest is all work we do ourselves so that cost is up for speculation. The thing is we are computer people by trade. My dad is a Sr. Computer Scientist and I am a Q.A. Software Tester. It's not like we are mechanics.  The next real cost for improvement is the head work, but it is only $50 in parts that really does not effect the cars value. It will still just be a low compression head for a Spitfire 1500 that has the smog holes we plugged with bolts. (Heads seen in last blog).

Should have pics of the 2 spare parts cars and we will try and find pics of the stripped axle and hub to add later.