Cue Ball, the S40 Cheap Race Car.

Spac

I think it has too much front brake bias - which is a bit odd considering the majority of the weight came out of the rear.
My left foot braking technique is pretty average, but it seems pretty unresponsive to it.

nickm

You could kick old Minis into oversteer with left foot braking. I feel there is something in that setup for FWD cars

Spac

We got 8th out of 21 starters - so just outside the top third, instead of just inside the top half like the Laser usually is.

Had a bit of excitement in qualifying when one of the terminals on a coil pack broke off. Missed most of qualifying rustling up a soldering iron, but bodged it successfully before the race started.
Didn't miss a beat after that.

We disconnected the front sway bar at lunchtime. It's a better compromise in race conditions - a bit less loose in traffic makes it faster as a race car.

Philia_Bear

This is with the 1.8 motor still?
So the 2.0 motor could pull you up just that bit more?

Also assuming having 50kg less sticky tape and screws and body kit would help

AshDVS

Spac;92195 wroteLeMons is stupid. All the novelty stuff is well and good, but you can do proper racing for the same money - and have a car that's useful for more than LeMons.

This. multiplied by eleventy billion.
The numbers simply do not add up.
Also, when you consider there will be a greater gronk-to-talent ratio at Lemons than you'd likely find at even a basic 'real' motorsport event, its probably more likely you'll get involved in a tangle too.

Spac

*sigh* Managed to tear the exhaust off while putting the car back in the trailer.
Mangled everything between the back of the cat and the front of the rear muffler.
No idea how or why - it's been on and off the trailer five or six times since that exhaust was fitted without even a slight scrape. Dammit.

Philia_Bear;92549 wroteThis is with the 1.8 motor still?
So the 2.0 motor could pull you up just that bit more?

Also assuming having 50kg less sticky tape and screws and body kit would help

Yes. To all of that.
I bought a $150 Phase2 NA yesterday, so the donor motor is already in stock. Other option is fitting the VCT 1.8 head to the early 2.0 bottom end from your wreck.

nickm

sway bar and ride height?

This sounds like a really fun project.

Philia_Bear

Spac;92557 wrote I bought a $150 Phase2 NA yesterday, so the donor motor is already in stock. Other option is fitting the VCT 1.8 head to the early 2.0 bottom end from your wreck.

I left you with a complete 2.0 NA motor, was it no good?

Philia_Bear

AshDVS;92553 wrote
This. multiplied by eleventy billion.
The numbers simply do not add up.

Until the guy shows up with the WW2 rotary piston powered MR2 and you get to race him
The simple lack of rules around lemons gives really good opportunity to have a ****ton of fun for very little $$$
The plethora of $500 cars in the usa makes lemons racing there far easier than in Australia and possibly it does not work here as it does there

AshDVS;92553 wrote Also, when you consider there will be a greater gronk-to-talent ratio at Lemons than you'd likely find at even a basic 'real' motorsport event, its probably more likely you'll get involved in a tangle too.

My experience has been the exact opposite
Because lemons does not allow you to spend money (but lots of time) the drivers are frequently 10x better ratio on gronks than most other USA organized events
EG...
Dirt track friday night nascar "hey fred, hold my beer while I strap in" and the "you even look at my hood I'm going to cap your ass" NHRA events

Again this could be different to Australia...

Back to the 2,0 racing
What settings are you running on the front in terms of toe and camber?

Spac

I've got the 2.0, but it's non-VCT which I figure is more hassle than it's worth in a VCT car.

Neutral toe on the front, slight toe-out on the rear.
Cambers are:
-2.5* on LHF
-1.5* on RHF
-1.5* on LHF
-0.5* on RHR

These cambers worked on the Laser, and the tyre wear on the S40 says they're right on it too.

AshDVS

Car prep costs for LeMons looked very attractive - hence the further digging into it. The remaining associated costs in the events were where the killer (cost-wise) was.
Certainly not doubting the fun factor - that'd be quite high.

Smiles-per-dollar did not look as appealing.

We could run the same number of wingless events for less money, with each of our potential LeMons drivers having a full event to himself.
Of course, cost for repair of a wingless has potential to be higher.

No matter which way we looked at it, it certainly wasn't 'cheap' motorsport.
If you're looking for an inexpensive way to go racing, it'd be wise to stay tuned to this thread.

Philia_Bear

Spac;92598 wroteI've got the 2.0, but it's non-VCT which I figure is more hassle than it's worth in a VCT car.

Neutral toe on the front, slight toe-out on the rear.
Cambers are:
-2.5* on LHF
-1.5* on RHF
-1.5* on LHF
-0.5* on RHR

These cambers worked on the Laser, and the tyre wear on the S40 says they're right on it too.

Whats the weight distribution like on all 4 corners with you sitting in it?

With the slight toe out on the rear, is that to conteract a little bit of understeer?

Spac

NFI about corner weights.
Rear toe out is because that's what the wheel aligner recommended.

Spac

So, since the exhaust (along with both O2 sensors) was torn off, it won't idle.

I've replaced both sensors with known good ones from other S40s. Same part numbers.

Now getting four faults:
1. 0505 Idle air control.
2. Air mass meter.
3. 0135 O2 #1 heater.
4. 0141 O2 #2 heater.

Can clear them, but they come straight back. Any suggestions? I'm wondering if the dangling O2 sensor wires might have shorted on each other/the trailer and toasted the ECU... Or am I being paranoid?

Edit: exhaust has been replaced with an identical one.

Here's the exhaust:

nickm

The wires shorted somewhere in the loom as it pulled through?

Philia_Bear

nickm;92850 wroteThe wires shorted somewhere in the loom as it pulled through?

This is my thought as well
What does testing at the wires show?

Also
I do assume you have replaced fuses?

Spac

Well yes...
It was a popped fuse, but I missed it the first time around...
because I checked with a test light, and there was a stray 3.4V on the IACV side of the fuse (where logically there should have been 0V).

*sigh*

It was only when I found the 3.4V at the IACV, that I bothered to check the fuses with the multimeter...and sure enough, the 10A "engine" fuse in the engine bay fuse box had 12.6V on one side and 3.4V on the other.
That 3.4V was enough to illuminate the test light and send me well and truly down the garden path.

-------

Struts are currently out of it, in anticipation of replacing the Eibach springs with the softer Pedders springs.

Remember how I whinged about the shittiness of the Renault bits? The shifter is garbage. I glued it back together so the reverse lockout works (so you can reliably find 2nd gear on the way back from 3rd), and now it's a turd to get into reverse...
I can see an M56 in this car's future. Maybe when the 2-litre goes in.

Philia_Bear

also... well effing done on the exhaust... that's a fair effort...

Spac

Was literally driving it onto the trailer. It snagged but didn't hang, so I just kept going - and then it did hang and looked like this.
Everyone who saw it wondered how it ended so dramatically.

Philia_Bear

Alluminum exhaust to save weight?

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