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Hey guys,

Yesterday my dad was at West Side and found two 1986 MR2s, a silver with black interior and white with black interior. So I am headed there tomorrow after work to get both white bumpers and whatever good black interior parts I can find.

If you would like to meet me out there, or if there is something specific for our LeMons MR2 that I should pick up, please let me know!

Thanks
Mike

Now that my car is back on the road and doing so well, I am going to start working on cleaning it up and making it look presentable.

I want to open this thread with some goals I've got in mind. Now that I've got a full-time income, I'll be able to really start cleaning it up. However, my wife and I are in the process of getting all our debt paid off first, so I won't be getting too serious about this until Fall.

Here is what I've got in mind at this time:

• Flat-nosed 85-86 style front bumper
• 
  Finish driver's side trunk air intake scoop
• 
  Build reverse front hood scoop and lean radiator forward
• 
  Replace any plastic and rubber parts as needed
• 
  Panda black/white new paint job
• 
  Black 15" Enkei RPF1 wheels
• 
  New suspension bushings all around

[LEMONS AUTOBAHN COVERAGE: SATURDAY ON SPEED]

LEMONS AUTOBAHN COVERAGE: SATURDAY ON SPEED

Lucas Oil on the Edge's coverage of the 2010 Rod Blagojevich Never-Say-Die 500 at Autobahn Country Club is airing this Saturday 2/19 at 7pm Eastern on Speed Channel. A quick glance at their schedule reveals that we have scored the desirable slot between jet boats/mud bog and the 4x4 Jamboree. Check your local listings!

Cheers,

Nick

Bill, is this what you had in mind? I think this is a 1985-86 front strut brace. All we gotta do is just add some material at each end and bolt it up

So apparently people are using ST185 Celica calipers and rotors. The Celica is 5-lug and apparently it's possible to redrill for the AW11's 4x100mm bolt pattern.

The Celica rotors are about 177mm in diameter.

I haven't figured out all the details yet, but we can EASILY get drilled & slotted Celica rotors from our brake supplier for cheap.

We can also go with 1994-1999 GT-Four (ST205) 4 piston calipers and 315mm rotor, but this might require a 16" wheel, I don't know


Some links to start with:

The AW11 Brake Upgrade Thread

AW11 MR2 Brake Bolt-on Brake Upgrades

Bill was talking to me about the the Enkei RPF1. 15x7 wheel only weighs 9.5 pounds

What do you guys think? Cost is about $185 - $200 each. I would get a 15" version and *may* consider a 16" but I don't like 40-series tires.

My favorite wheel style is solid 6-spokes, but the 12-spoke layout of the RPF1 turns me on

Here is a 5-lug version


I love black wheels on my car, but dark gray might work also...



I'm dig'n these wheels

Hey Bill,

I searched around and can't find where you got your dash from. Could you post up a link?  Thanks!

Figured I'd start a thread on this already

My 4A-GZE is 100% completely bone stock right down to the stock air cleaner & box (it does have a 9 lb flywheel however). Transaxle is a close ratio C56. Car weighs around 2350 lbs. So this will give you an idea of what it can do all stock.

My Street Race Log (last updated 1/28)

Opponent	It's Color?	Where?	Gears?	Result	Notes
Nissan 350Z	Silver		1-3rd	Won, barely	It looked all stock
Nissan 350Z	Dark Blue	Clovis & Ashlan	1-3rd	Lost, barely	It had a nice exhaust system
Ford Mustang GT, newer model	Red with white stripe	HWY152W approaching Los Banos	4th	Lost	I was drafting behind him and still couldn't keep up
Scion Tc	Dark Blue	HWY152E uphill	4th	Won	That wasn't much of a challenge, but uphill is where my torque band really pays off
BMW Z4 (E85)	Black	HWY180W approaching HWY99	5th	Won, barely	Was slowly pulling away in 5th gear. I could have downshifted. No clue what engine it had
Toyota Celica GT-S	Red	HWY152W up Pachaco pass	4th	Won, barely	It was uphill and I was slowly walking away from him
Ford Mustang GT, older model	Black	HWY152W near Casa de Fruita	4th	Lost	Same with the other Mustang, I was drafting and still couldn't keep up
Saturn 4-door	Silver	HWY152E leaving Gilroy	1-2	Won, easily	hahahahaha
Infiniti G30	Silver	Clovis & Tulare	1-3	Won, barely	It was an automatic, but I'm not sure if the person was going all out or not
Kyle's Mitsu Evo9	Silver	HWY168W near Shepherd	1-3	Lost badly	I had Kevin in my car but it was no use, he is waaay faster right now
Chee's 1ZZ Toyota Corolla	Silver	Olive & Winery	1-2	Won, easily	It was just for fun and Chee got smoked
Pontiac Fiero GT	Silver	Ashlan & Armstrong	1-2	Won, easily	We launched 4 or 5 times. Each time had him by about 3 car lengths at the top of 2nd gear

Felt compelled to share some pics from my visit to the Toyota Museum in Odaiba, Japan

1st pic: The view upon entering the building
2: the GT car up close
3 & 4: Found a purely Japanese MR-S
5 & 6: Synergy Drive cutaway
7: BADASSNESS
8: AWESOME

Sorry for the down time guys. Our server machine (located in Fremont CA) lost it's harddrive early Monday morning. It just died. Fortunately they were able to recover the data manually (not sure what they had to do) because the only recent backup I had was of the Marlin Crawler WWW store website and database. All my other backups, including this forum, were from last summer >_<

My host actually decided to build us a brand new machine with all new parts and they doubled our RAM to 4GB for the trouble. That was awfully nice of them and I am glad we got everything back up. Our entire site was down for about 24 hours.

Actually, in the process of moving all my bigmike.marlincrawler.com/* files I lost everything. It wasn't until today that I realized we had another backup of everything from the old drive and I was able to restore everything. WOW what a relief!! That is why my site (and this forum) took extra long to get back up, because I lost it all. You can't imagine how crushed I was. I couldn't sleep I was so upset.

So now we've added an extra harddrive that will be used only for backups. You see we did have backups on our harddrive, but of course if the hdd goes down, what good are the backups? Now we've got an extra layer of redundancy

So anyway, everything should be intact now. Please let me know if something is amiss. Welcome back!

[Governator]

From: http://www.recarbco.com/technical/smog/sb42summary.html (with added emphasis)

In 1997, California's smog law was changed to the "30 year rolling window" that exempted cars older than 30 years from being smogged. It was called SB42. Unfortunately, that only lasted a few years. A few years later, a new bill was written to change it back to a fixed date, and was piggy-backed onto a bill about carpool lanes, and the Governator signed it.



Legislation enacted during 2004 made several changes in motor vehicle Smog Check exemptions that will become effective next year. Following is a summary of the revised exemptions and the effective date of each change:

Beginning January 1, 2005, vehicles 6 or less model-years old are exempt from the biennial Smog Check inspection requirement. For vehicles with registration renewals due in the 2006 calendar year, this exemption includes model-years 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Beginning January 1, 2005, vehicles 4 or less model-years old are exempt from the Smog Check inspection requirement upon change of ownership and transfer of title transactions with DMV. In 2006, this exemption includes model-years 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Beginning April 1, 2005, the 30-year rolling exemption has been repealed. Instead, vehicles 1975 model-year and older will be exempt. Therefore, 1976 model-year and newer vehicles will continue to be subject to biennial inspection indefinitely.

Beginning April 1, 2005, vehicles being initially registered in California that were previously registered in another state are exempt if the vehicle is a 1975 and older model-year vehicle. Newer vehicles, the first 6 model years, are not exempted upon initial registration in California. These vehicles are required to undergo a Smog Check Inspection."

[A Study of Automotive Gear Lubes]

Hey Bill,

Here is the independent study I was telling you about that has convinced me to stop using Royal Purple:

A Study of Automotive Gear Lubes

Out of 14 lubes tested, Royal Purple finished 3rd from last. I've been a proponent of RP since 2003. I have it in my truck (both axles, all three transfer cases, and transmission) and I've also been running it in my MR2. Not any more

Thanks
Mike

I was looking around for some canard pictures and I came across this.

What sort of benefit might something like this give us? Is there any reason to do this?

Maybe this will help vent air out from beneath the car helping with minimizing the pressure under the front end?

Supercars feature this. It's certainly something we can do for free

I am now officially finished with college.

All I have to do is some tedious administrative paper work, wait to see if they accept me for graduation, and then get my diploma in Mechanical Engineering sometime late summer 2011.

Finally.

Mike

[RULE CHANGES FOR 2011]

RULE CHANGES FOR 2011
Since Carolina's deadline is tomorrow (and Houston's the week after that), we figured it was high time to show you the updated 2011 LeMons Rulebook.

Not much has changed; mostly, it's just clarifications of existing rules and policies. There are a few substantive differences, tho, probably these ones the biggest:

    * People's Curse voting gets re-thought again. It used to be too easy to get cursed; lately, it's been too hard. The 2011 system ought to fall right in between.
    * Minimum helmet standards are going up--it'll be SA2005, rather than SA2000.
    * Seatbelt life gets extended--belts are now good for 5 years, not 4.
    * Shoulder harnesses can't be further apart at their mounting points than at their seat-entry points. (A minor, easy tweak that can give big gains in safety.)
    * Cars will need all of their doors, and OE hoods.
    * Shortened (aka "cut-down") cars will be exceedingly unlikely to pass tech.
    * Nomex socks become mandatory.
    * No more fuel rigs, dry brakes, fuel-transfer pumps, etc: For 2011, you can fuel from the track pumps or hand-held, 5-gallon-or-smaller jugs only.

That's the important stuff, but make sure to check out the full 2011 Rulebook here and the 2010-vs-2011 strikeout version here. These links are also up now on the regular LeMons Rules Page.

Best regards & see you at the track--JL

Jay Lamm, Chief Perpetrator

[Fiat 600 LEMONS ARSE-FREEZE-APALOOZA 2010: FIAT 600 DOMINATES]

Fiat 600 LEMONS ARSE-FREEZE-APALOOZA 2010: FIAT 600 DOMINATES
Of course, domination in LeMons has little to do with actual finishing position--it's more about Fattest Dude in Funniest Outfit, Most Convincing Village People Tribute, or in this case Best 1964 Fiat 600D Fitted with 1000cc V-Twin Salvaged From Hella Broken-Ass Moto Guzzi Motorcycle, Attached to Car with Velcro and Some Tape.

Seriously though, setting themselves apart from the Arse-Freeze field--which included a Maserati Quattroporte, a Mini Moke, a Citroen DS, three different cars with blow-through turbo/carburetor contraptions, and a 27-foot stretch limo--was no small feat for the Fiat team. Check out the final results and official photo gallery here, Judge Phil's The Truth About Cars coverage here, and Judge Jonny's Motor Trend blog here.

CONCOURS d'LEMONS ON TV
The first few episodes of HD Theater's Chasing Classic Cars featured a barn-find Bugatti, a Shelby GT500, and the restoration of a Ferrari Daytona. More recently, CCC has focused on Fiat Multiplas and Saab 96s covered in mud. Next week, the show hits rock frickin' bottom by spotlighting the Concours d'LeMons: Check your local listings for channels and times.

HO-HUM. BACK IN THE NEW YORK TIMES
It seems that Canadian-market Russian cars, a series for $500 dung-piles, and the aforementioned gay disco bands and costumed fat guys have been deemed "fit to print." Or to blog, anyway: Click here to check out the NYT's coverage of Total Loss Racing's Lada Signet.

LAST CALL FOR CMP AND MSR
Entry deadlines for the first two 2011 races are already upon us (which incidentally also serves as my personal reminder to re-up my meds). Check out the full 2011 schedule with all entry deadlines here, or click here to enter a race.

Cheers,

Nick

Chee had to replace his MR2 with a 4-seater. This is what he got

Turbo 1986 Mitsubishi Starion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_Starion). Has a FMIC (front mount intercooler).

[Let's use some large vacuum diaphragms!!!!]

I was thinking about the toilet seat brake activated air brake/spoiler last night and I think I have a good idea.

The simplest way would be to have a direct cable-linkage system connected to the brake pedal itself, but this is a safety issues in the event the spoiler system jams and prevents the brake pedal from moving.

So the next idea would be to use a servo or some other electric motor and use a trigger system with our brake pedal. But this would be complicated and we'd have to account for how much a setup like this would cost against our $500 budget.

So then I had this great idea! Let's use some large vacuum diaphragms!!!! Think about it, this is the perfect solution: When you need to brake, you shut the throttle which maximizes the intake manifold vacuum! I bet if we ran 2 or even 4 diaphragms we could power 2 toilet seat air brakes without any trouble, and vacuum diaphragms are a dime-a-dozen at the wrecking yard

Here are some examples on YouTube of an air brake spoiler:

http://www.youtube.com/v/mvfG_jEXosw?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0

http://www.youtube.com/v/-mzk-PnC1DI?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0

http://www.youtube.com/v/RJ3RnJSOmpY?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0

http://www.youtube.com/v/ByEhbC1iCH4?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0

http://www.youtube.com/v/rmpsV-fkjwQ?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0

Kevin is toying with the possibility of getting a RX-7. He is interested in the FC and wants to hopefully find one not running for around $1k.

I have _always_ loved the FC RX-7. It is one of my all time favorite cars. If you haven't realized by now I really love the 80s Japanese car styling and this fits the bill perfectly. Love pop up head lights

Awesome!! I wonder what Luke is driving?