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LeMons Ranchero Update: One Week to Go, All Fired Up and Surprisingly Few Things Left
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Next weekend we’ll return to Sonoma Raceway with a somewhat improved (but still genuinely terrible) Ranchero in search of two full days or racing. I don’t remember what we did/didn’t have done the weekend before our last race, but two weeks out we’d started it for the first time in months. As of this past weekend:…
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LeMons Ranchero Update: Better Breathing, Sparking and Sliding
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When we last left the Ranchero, we’d finished up Arse-Freeze-a-Palooza “victorious” in class F against Top Gear USA. (By the way, how long do we think it’ll take them to get that episode on the air? Surely one of their legion of regular viewers will let us know). We’re all set on the fuel issues…
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Hooniverse Asks Bonus: Help Me Wire our Wipers
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We’re back in action, working on our (Class F winning!) 1962 Ranchero LeMons racer. We’re diving into a huge to-do list (more on that later), but could use a hand setting up some simple wiring for a newly acquired electric wiper motor. This is a two-speed unit, wired as you see above. Click here for…
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Los Huevos Rancheros Beats Top Gear, "Wins" Class F "Victory" at 24 Hours of LeMons
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We won LeMons! Ok, well, we won our class at LeMons. That class being Class F, consisting entirely of us and Top Gear USA. Our 108 laps to their 79, despite their crew of at least two professional drivers and support staff of like 40 people. Of course, it very nearly wasn’t so. The short version is…
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Wrench Scramble 2015: It's ALIVE! LeMons Domination is but 13 Trillion Little To-Dos Away
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If you recall, this car fired (and actually drove) earlier this year. However, the oil pan had a stripped plug and the exhaust manifold was so warped you could see fire through the gap between it an the head. Also the carb was leaking gas right above said exhaust manifold. It was cheaper to find a…
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Wrench Scramble 2015: Witty Title about a Battery Box
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For those of us with good-but-not-great fabrication skills, 1/8″ X 1.5″ Ell channel steel is wonderful stuff. Thick enough to weld without blowing out, thin enough to weld with even the most mediocre of welders. With a halfway decent intuition of solid mechanics, you can sturdy built boxes, frames, etc. Case-in-point: LeMons grade battery box…
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Wrench Scramble 2015: Two out of Four Ain't Bad
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Have you ever met someone with extensive knowledge of the minor engineering changes made within a model or brand? Someone who can say “oh, this is an early ’82 car, so you need the EA44517 starter, not the -524″ or “don’t get the Moog part for that bushing, their book is wrong”? You know how…
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Wrench Scramble 2015: Don't Do Cage Me In
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LeMons is all about cutting corners, be it in build quality or literally in driving technique. I’ll admit that the cage I put in The Uberbird was very much My First Rollcage® grade fabrication, likely to help in the event of a big crash, but not something you really really trust. Which, of course, defeats the…
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Wrench Scramble 2015: You Know it's LeMons When…
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When you score a good deal on a heavy-duty transmission with the rare bellhousing and clutch configuration you need, you put up with it’s non-matching stubby tailshaft. When you have a transmission with a non-matching stubby tailshaft, you find yourself having to add about 9″ of length compensation between the existing transmission mount and the…
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Wrench Scramble 2015: Project Axle Hell
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I love drop-out 3rd member axles for how much they ease parts swapping and fabrication. Most famously Ford’s eight and nine-inch diffs, as well as most solid axles from Japanese truck manufacturers allow the differential to be removed and swapped with simple hand tools. Find a lower-geared, limited slip example in a junkyard or on eBay?…
