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Day One In The Books: RX-7 Leads, Monte Carlo Catching Up!
Why Don't Datsun Zs Dominate The 24 Hours Of LeMons?
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Super Traction Engine
10/04/09

In reply to Engine Of The Day: Nissan VG
This may have been answered, but what engine has/did survive the longest?
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A strolling player promoted this comment Edited by Super Traction Engine at 10/04/09 1:47 PM

A strolling player
10/04/09

@Super Traction Engine: As far as engines in production today, according to Wikipedia, the Rolls-Royce Six and Three-Quarter Litre is second only to the Chevy small-block.
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Edited by A strolling player at 10/04/09 1:51 PM A strolling player was starred

Mike the Dog is sitting by the door with a pair of cow slippers, and a very sad face.
10/04/09

@A strolling player: Yes, but since the current Chevy small-block shares exactly zero parts with the original, only basic dimensions and bore spacing, I have to call shenanigans on that.
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A strolling player
10/04/09

@Mike the Dog: I wouldn't mind giving it up to the Roller. The VW air-cooled's got 'em both beat for all-time, anyway.
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A strolling player was starred

SmaartAasSaabr
10/04/09

@Mike the Dog: But the original is still in production as crate engines, industrial engines, marine engines etc
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Mike the Dog promoted this comment SmaartAasSaabr was starred SmaartAasSaabr was unstarred

Mike the Dog is sitting by the door with a pair of cow slippers, and a very sad face.
10/04/09

@SmaartAasSaabr: So is the Ford FE. But it hardly counts as a "production" engine anymore.
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spuy767
10/04/09

@Mike the Dog: All that has to be the same is the block. You honestly think that the 6.75 in the current brooklands is anything like the 6.75 of thirty years ago?
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Mike the Dog promoted this comment spuy767 was starred spuy767 was unstarred

Krochus
10/04/09

@Mike the Dog:

Surprisingly! The old gen1 SBC does still live on in the form of the 4.3 v6 if you want to stretch definitions
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Mike the Dog promoted this comment Krochus was starred Krochus was unstarred

Mike the Dog is sitting by the door with a pair of cow slippers, and a very sad face.
10/04/09

@spuy767: But the block is not the same. Just the bore spacing.
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Mike the Dog is sitting by the door with a pair of cow slippers, and a very sad face.
10/04/09

@Krochus: That's an awful big stretch.
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Tiptoetherat
09/13/09

In reply to Day One In The Books: RX-7 Leads, Monte Carlo Catching Up!
I always thought a G-body would be a good Lemons car, now I have some proof, Not proof, some proof race aint over yet.
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Rockford Brodie: I shave my legs, not his ass! promoted this comment Tiptoetherat was starred Tiptoetherat was unstarred

P161911 probably shoudn't have
09/14/09

@Tiptoetherat: Not sure of the final standings, but it does seem that you should be able to pick up a rolling chassis of a dirt-track G-body car for well under the $500 mark, then you are just a junkyard drivetrain away.
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CptSevere
09/13/09

In reply to Day One In The Books: RX-7 Leads, Monte Carlo Catching Up!
I'm pulling for the Monte Carlo. At the very least it should win Index of Effluency. Any car my Mom had and I wrecked has my vote.
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coupeZ600
09/13/09

@CptSevere: A known and ironically well-respected drug-dealer down in those parts ran a sweet A-Body '73 Monte in the Late-70's-Early 80's that was absolutely the opposite of "Let's keep this on the down-low, and not try and attract too much attention to ourselves". It was bright Lime-Green with a white landau top, and he hooned that thing all over So. Az and No. Son. MX. We used to go down to Naco, Son. to drink when we were in high-school, and one night we watched as he totally blew through the Port Of Entry, and as the Customs guys jumped into their cars to give chase, we thought, "Wow, everybody in a hundred-mile radius knows whose car that is, why would you do that?" The next day, business as usual. He told us that he told the cops, "I had a tire that was going flat, and had to get to the gas station before my wheel got ruined". Hmmmm......
I put my money on the Monte as well, they're chosen
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PatFromGundo promoted this comment Edited by coupeZ600 at 09/13/09 3:55 AM coupeZ600 was starred coupeZ600 was unstarred

PatFromGundo
09/13/09

@coupeZ600: I grew up in El Paso. This story made me homesick.
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CptSevere
09/14/09

@coupeZ600: Yeah, makes me feel like going down to Naco and having a beer at El Parallelo 38 dive bar. Or, of course the El Rey. Fine establishments, but you better watch your ass these days because Naco is crazy dangerous because of the drug activity. I need to go visit the dentist there, but he's only a block away from the border and is still safe. I just need to get the new card and I'll be OK to get back. It's not like it used to be.
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coupeZ600
09/14/09

@CptSevere: The Naco and Agua Prieta POE's are kind of like a DMZ between the Juarez and Sinaloan Cartels, like the Lukeville/Sonoita POE is between the Sinaloan and Tiajuana Cartels. They're not actively controlled by any Cartel, but there will be hell to pay for anybody who thinks they can carve a little niche market by controlling these seemingly "Open" crossings, hence all that bad shit (Sorry Al, two weeks with no cussing!) that went down in Cananea a year or so ago. Young upstart thought he could be a Player, Juarez came over and whacked his ass in Naco, and the Sinaloans took out the cops that were helping him in Cananea. They both said, "I don't want it, and he don't want it, but You sure as hell can't have it!".

This guy is really cool, and knows a whole lot more about it than I do anymore, but he covers that whole stretch from about Janos, Chih. to San Luis Colorado, B.C.S.

[borderreporter.com]

The thing I tell all my friends that have fears of traveling in MX, is that ALL the Cartels make a point of not killing civilians, least of all tourists, it's horrible P.R. So stay away from drugs no matter how tempting or innocent it might appear, and your chances of ending up in a cross-fire between whoever will be no greater than if you were in the U.S. (unless you're in Tombstone..... Man, they shoot guns right in the street all day long!)
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Edited by coupeZ600 at 09/14/09 4:10 AM coupeZ600 was starred coupeZ600 was unstarred

MushyHeirloom
09/13/09

In reply to Day One In The Books: RX-7 Leads, Monte Carlo Catching Up!
A former friend (now acquaintance, we've drifted apart) has restored a white '84 Monte... I'm rooting for it for his benefit.
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Novaload
09/12/09

In reply to Day One In The Books: RX-7 Leads, Monte Carlo Catching Up!
i heard an interview by TrackGeeks with the Monte guys, they are from Salem, VA I think they said--they have a lot of determination!
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Bentoboxx, My Tank is full of it
06/28/09

In reply to Why Don't Datsun Zs Dominate The 24 Hours Of LeMons?
We looked for a $500 Z and couldn't find one that wasn't a complete basketcase which is why we went with the $233 BMW 633CSI instead.
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Paul Y. don't drive too fast.
06/27/09

In reply to Why Don't Datsun Zs Dominate The 24 Hours Of LeMons?
This is clearly a Communist plot. Your commie has no regard for human life.
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P161911 probably shoudn't have
06/27/09

In reply to Why Don't Datsun Zs Dominate The 24 Hours Of LeMons?
My own personal experience with Z cars was when some 18 year old kid ran me off the road while he was driving a 280ZX. The early Z cars are basically too expensive to run at LeMons. Anything at LeMons will probably have been passed over for a parts car by a more serious race team. The ZX ones on the other hand have usually gone through a succession of mulleted, under 25, hoons by this point. The owners of these cars were looking for a "sports car" alternative to a Camaro and couldn't afford a Vette. Seeing as how a ZX is much more complicated than a similar vintage Z-28 the ZXs at the $500 level haven't fared too well. The one that hit me was doing about 80mph in a 45mph zone with his right side wheels on the center-line. The guy had just gotten it back on the road. It might be available in some junkyard still (7 years later), the most serious damage was where the rear bumper on my K-5 Blazer opened up the side of his car like a can opener.

I see junk ZXs at the pull-a-part yards fairly regularly, the only time I have seen an early Z was at the scrap metal yard. A serious SOLO racer had junked an old race car body.
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Novaload
06/27/09

In reply to Why Don't Datsun Zs Dominate The 24 Hours Of LeMons?
Any $500 Z has been beaten to death and cheating does the rest. Doomed as doomed can be, to quote Ed Grimley.
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f86sabre
06/27/09

In reply to Why Don't Datsun Zs Dominate The 24 Hours Of LeMons?
Thrashedness. We tried to make one good LeMons racer out of two mid 80's Zs and realized half way through the build that it wasn't going to happen. Most every part on both cars was at the ragged end of useful life. We traded the glamor of Japanese performance and classic style for a lowly Escort.
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Murilee Martin
06/27/09

@f86sabre: The Escort is actually an excellent choice for a team hoping to maximize racing time and maybe contend. Very few Escorts blow up at LeMons, and they're pretty quick.
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Murilee Martin was starred Murilee Martin was unstarred

something_unique_and_descriptive
06/27/09

In reply to Why Don't Datsun Zs Dominate The 24 Hours Of LeMons?
The only Z I've seen for $500 didn't have an engine, so I can only imagine how trashed one would have to be to be down in LeMons price range and "running".
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Murilee Martin
06/27/09

In reply to Why Don't Datsun Zs Dominate The 24 Hours Of LeMons?
I probably should have added "Overstressed cheater engines that blow up after 3 hours" to the list, since I'm pretty sure that's also a major factor. Small-block Chevy teams might learn something from that as well.
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Novaload
06/27/09

@Murilee Martin: Hah! The real answer appears!
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eggwich del fiero
06/27/09

@Murilee Martin: This brings up a question I have about LeMons races, and one I could easily answer myself by actually attending a race: since many of these cars are in precarious situations, mechanically, it seems that driving them balls-out race style would definitely result in serious malfunction. Since this is an endurance race, does anyone drive less aggro, with maybe just one ball out, thus ensuring that they complete more than ten laps?, or does driving at less than optimal speed result in too much clogging-of-the-track and hatred and venom spewed from your competitors and the judges?
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eggwich del fiero was starred

Xargs: LeMonaider
06/27/09

@eggwich del fiero: Nope, for the vast majority of LeMons racers, it's pedal to the floor at every opportunity; hence the multiple failures every race.

You blow it up/break it and make it better for the next race, and eventually you have a crapbox that can finish.

Sandbaggers get punished, but I think that most of the LeMons racers aren't that 'strategic' anyway. It's a race for $500 cars, for F* sake.
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Xargs: LeMonaider was starred

Murilee Martin
06/28/09

@eggwich del fiero: Everyone is beating on their cars pretty hard the whole time. The difference between the super-aggro drivers and the saner ones is their criteria for what constitutes a valid passing opportunity. The former tend to hit more stuff than the latter, but both beat the crap out of their cars' mechanicals.
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Murilee Martin was starred Murilee Martin was unstarred

that ain't the way to have fun, son
06/27/09

In reply to Why Don't Datsun Zs Dominate The 24 Hours Of LeMons?
Actually, I think this indicates exceptional overall build quality, as there isn't a specific failure. Hence, the team must be experts, or damned creative, in every system, sub-system, and part.
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MushyHeirloom
06/27/09

@diesel W123's don't die: By any-part-can-spontaneously-fail standards, you could be discussing British Leyland.
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MushyHeirloom was starred MushyHeirloom was unstarred

that ain't the way to have fun, son
06/27/09

@FP - tittin' and shittin' with Tomsk: Okay, okay...I wasn't specific enough. It's still early for the weekend, and I was studying a solid 12 hours for the MCSE, yesterday...um, excluding the time used to read/post, here, of course.

Shhhh!

The entire car is put together/engineered well enough so that seemingly random parts fail due to what most consider excessive age/use/abuse. There's no telling how the vehicle was treated in it's history.

British Leyland...when the whole car sucks you have, well the GM J-car. Random part failure while still in the new car section of the car park is different.
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Xargs: LeMonaider
06/27/09

@diesel W123's don't die: Hey! Our J-car is a shining example of suck! It's had the crap beaten out of it, especially in those early Altamont races, and it's been quite good...
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Xargs: LeMonaider was starred

MushyHeirloom
06/27/09

In reply to Why Don't Datsun Zs Dominate The 24 Hours Of LeMons?
2, 7, and 8. Up here in Rust Country, mostly #2.
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wrx-tyrannosaurusWrx
06/27/09

In reply to Why Don't Datsun Zs Dominate The 24 Hours Of LeMons?
I could be the $500 Nissan part...it could just be the "Nissan" part though...

BA-ZING! Who saw that coming?! NOBODY! YES! HILARIOUS!
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