Wednesday, October 27, 2010

These Guys Deserve a HUGE Round of Applause!

Seriously, Jon, Billy and Bryan were the backbone of the team for this race fixing the Capri on a never ending basis over the weekend. That's not to say that Scott and I didn't help, but we were more the gofers this weekend. Ya know, hey, I need a 1/2" box...straight screw driver etc.

Here are some random shots from different things they had to overcome.

Jon, trying to fix Mazda's f-up. The balancer ID was wallowed out due to an extremely short crankshaft snout. Jon welded, ground, recut the balancer to fit better and it held up all weekend.



Jon and Billy working on a fuel leak that sprung up on Sunday afternoon.





This leak may have started after we had to work on the tank Saturday night to fix a fuel starvation issue we were having due to what 7 year old fuel will do to the inside of a gas tank and it's pickup.

Did I mention Don and his crew with the cliTaurus that were pitted next to us? These guys were friends of ours and went well beyond to help us out whenever needed. We went to them countless times asking for help/parts and they always cane through giving or loaning us anything we needed. Thanks guys!



Oh, and look, the Capri on track!

The rain was pretty rough on Saturday morning!







A Few Pictures from the Last Race Weekend

She's finally on the floor and out of the garage!



Loaded up in the trailer ready to head out.



At the track first thing Friday morning.



All the Guys. L to R, Scott, Billy, Bryan, Troy, Jon



Scott topping her off sunday morning before we get started racing.



Oh look, a little rub mark that Scott was involved with acquiring.



Rod might have something to do with this?



LOL



Billy and Bryan hard at work keeping our POS up and running.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

One Quick Dirty Video from the End of the Race.

The is a video of me (Troy) driving the car for the last few laps of the 24 Hour of Lemons race at Autobahn Country Club. It's a dirty vid not worth much of anything but it's a nice sample of what the race was like on track.

24 Hour of Lemons - Chicago 2010 - Autobahn Country Club from Troy Carter on Vimeo.


More video to come! We've got a nice clip of where Bryan went off track at turn 1 and 2 plus the judges reaction to some Dukes of Hazard driving influences.

Monday, October 25, 2010

ROD BLAGOJEVICH NEVER-SAY-DIE 500 2010 RESULTS

We finished! Isn't that enough? OK, hard fought battle in the pits for us, finished with the car running on track in 56th place but she was running really strong and gave us a look at what might be possible. Can you say top 30? LOL, maybe 35th next time out???

More to come, with pics.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

The (very near) Final Product

This may not look like a Porsche GT Cup racecar but it's as close as we're going to be to that stature. OK, it's not even close, but it's what we have and what we'll be racing anyway! Now, the boys have the car 99% finished with only minor cleanup left: mounting battery, checking tire pressure, fresh fuel etc. So, I'm extremely proud of them and can't wait to see everyone on track with the car this weekend. Yep, that's right, two days until the Autobahn Country Club round of the Lemons race and we will be in attendance with this little crappi (er, Capri).

The obligatory shots - doesn't look much different but oh is it!


Still on stands but with the front end back together, bumper cover and all.



Teh back of the rollcage complete with crossbar and all.



The working area. I'm predicting indentation on that steering wheel where Scott white knuckles it for the first hour of his drive time!



The lazyboy, all mounted nicely complete with 5-point harness. I'm betting that after Sunday's stints this seat will have seen more ass gas than a proctologist at a chili cook-off.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

STEEL! STEEL! STEEL! STEEL! STEEL!

Again, I'm of little help to the team who seem to be getting along very well without me. I stopped over at Jon's place tonight to drop off some material to mount the seat and snap a few pictures of their progress on the car. So far, things are looking pretty good! Jon and the boys have the cage started with most of the bars mocked up and tacked in place. I'm sure it hasn't been easy going for them but it looks like they have made great progress considering the bars just got here late last week. Also, the trans is back in, the struts seem to have been found and put back in place.

I noticed too that the uber fabulous rear spoiler has been removed. I'm not sure if it's a weight savings retirement or if we're planning some super cool ninja type R hybrid wing as a replacement.



The car...as it sits, or floats, right now.



I'm not really sure why the bumper cover is off? Anyone? Anyone?



Hey Brian, isn't this your car?

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Some Progress and I didn't lift a finger!

A couple updated pictures and credit to the guys who did make it over to work on this beast as I have not done so myself. But, the cage is ordered and should be here late this week which looks to be the biggest project for the car before it's ready for Lemons. The welder and other materials are onsite now too.

The trans had to come out because apparently the craptastic differential in these comes apart with a little abuse. The fix you ask? Weld it together!






The car...as it sits, or floats, right now.




The honey do list

Monday, September 13, 2010

First Stop - Chop Shop

Well, the car doesn't run, we don't know why just yet but we're working on it. No spark and no fuel seem to be a bit of a problem. A couple of the Lemon Squeezers are working on that.

Until then, the interior is quickly being discarded in favor of bare metal!







Dash, we don't need no stinking dash!

The car!

Yep, you are looking at our new racecar!  It's a 1993 (or 1992?) Mercury Crappy...er, Capri.  She's got a fire breathing...er, dead non-running, 1.6 litre (for you brits) TURBO that drives the wrong wheels.  Oh, and it was all but abandoned in a field because it doesn't seem to run.




Nothing to do but drag it out of there and bring it home.



TURBO (and leaves, twigs and crap) - but she won't fire so on the trailer she goes.

I think this is the winner!

Gotta call Jon back, I think I've found the perfect car for Lemons!

ringing...

Jon - What's up?
me - I think I've got a car for us.
Jon - Yeah, what is it?
me - Well, my buddy's mom has this car sitting behind the barn, I guess it's been there for a few years because they were having problems with it and just gave up on the car.
Jon - So, what is it?
me - A Mercury Capri.
Jon - Freakin' right, a Carpi like the the 5.0 Mustangs, that's perfect!
me - Well, no.  A 1.6L front drive 4-banger Capri crap box.
Jon - WTH?
me - It's cheap, in decent shape and doesn't run.  I think we should go take a look at it.
Jon - Come pick me up.

call log, Jon, dial...ringing

Jon - Hey.
me - OK, I'm in.  Who else?
Jon - Bryan, Mark, Scott, Billy.
me - Do I know these guys?
Jon - A couple of them.
me - Great, we got a car in mind?
Jon - Nope.
me - oh, that's an issue, huh?
Jon - Yep.
me - OK, we'll look around.  Gotta go.

ring, ring, ring...Hello. "hey, it's Jon. You wanna race lemons?"

me - Race, Lemons, WTH are you talking about?
Jon - You know, 24 hours of Lemons, the race.
me - No, really WTH are you talking about?
Jon - Dude, go to http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/ and check it out.  I think we can get a team together for this.
me - OK, lemme check it out.