In case you haven't heard of this little race circuit, 24 Hours of LeMons is a nationwide series of endurance races for cars that cost $500 or less. This means that the entire car, parts and labor (minus safety features like brakes, roll cage, etc.) must cost the team no more than $500 in total.

This race has featured everything from Mazda Miatas to a 1961 Cadillac, but as far as I've ascertained, has never featured a Leaning Tower powered machine.

Next year they're racing down in Jupiter, Florida at Palm Beach International Raceway December 30-31. I'm working with a friend in Orlando to try and get a team together and we'd love to use something slant powered for the event. Right now we're just putting out some feelers to see if anyone would be interested in joining us in our little endeavor either as a driver, team member and/or selling an old beater that could be fixed up for another go.

This is NOT a demolition derby, and aggressive driving is severely punished. Many of them, like an infamous 66 Belvedere, make regular appearances at races across the country. We would treat this machine with the utmost respect as a representative of the Slant Six community.

What do you think? We have plenty of time and we're very open to ideas, suggestions or death threats.

For more info on 24 Hours of Lemons, check it out here.

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Chuck and the Flying Valiant

Good to hear you are contemplating this. If there ever was a "low buck" Slant performance guy, it's FL's very own Charlie Schmid. He could probably set you up with a $250 speed motor if you can put in some time... I'd find an Aspen or Dippy to trash. I've contemplated this myself.

Be advised that $500 is totally BS, AFAIK, just like the GRM $2009 challenge. Pro shops tend to put 100s of hours into these things and get "deals" on parts for almost nothing. Hard to compete, but if you want to have fun, then that's definitely going to happen.

There's a Mopax group in central CA (led by Dr. Rustbucket - Keith) building a 360 Duster to kick butt. Countless hours and lots of donated parts. I volunteered to drive with them, and may do so sometime.

If you get a car together, I'd love to come down and wrench, drive, etc...

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines

I would recommend trying to get a Aspen or Volare wagon. These can be found very cheap, and all 77-79 slant six wagons were Super Sixes. Plus, since it is a wagon, you will get the beefier civilian suspension and an 8 1/4 rear axle. That will get you most of the way there as far as drivetrain is concerned.

I've raced in two LeMons races and I'm on a team for the inaugural Chump Car race in Portland, Ore this Halloween. It's a good time, but as Lou pointed out, you'll have way more into the car than $500 and the entry fees are kinda steep. You also burn quite a lot of gas in 12-24 hours of racing. You have to do things pretty cheap to get by on $3000 ($500 from each of six drivers).

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Joshua

Thanks, guys. Yeah, a Volaré or Aspen wagon would be ideal for the cause. We're well aware of all the additional costs associated with the race, as well as the fact that we would definitely not have a chance against the teams with real shops, etc., but we have lots of time if we get started now, and the LeMons crowd is all about having fun anyway.

Lou, I'd thought of Charlie as well. No idea what he'd think of this type of racing, though. I'm sure I'll find out soon, though.

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Chuck and the Flying Valiant

Hmmm. Lets do a hypothetical build here.

Aspen/Volare 77-79 wagon-$0-$200
Reground cam to match whatever you want- $30-100
Distributor recurve- $free
transmission adjustments- $free
new timing set $20
cylinder head porting- free
carb rebuild$20/carb replace- whatever junkyard Ford product you find carrying a Motorcraft 2100 or Holley 2300 that has ported vacuum advance$5-$50

I think you could easily set up a competitive slant powered wagon. so long as the short block was in decent shape. Even if you do a rering it would be cheap. The 8 1/4 would probably need only an oil change, as would the 904 tranny (unless you got lucky and found a four speed manual), already has disc brakes up front, already has a cold air intake, you would be set.

Reed,

The roll cage, entry fees and fuel are the budget killers. Travel expenses add up quickly too. If you want to run mid-pack or better you'll need to add about $500+ in wheels and tires. The car may be cheap, but the racing is not.

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Joshua

If someone wants to contact me with more info, I'll be glad to listen. Even though I am a believer in budget builds, in my opinion there is no way you can field a slant six car on a $500 build budget. I had $1500 into my 66 Valiant. That was legit buying parts at bargin prices, not taking them of the shelf and saying they were free, because I had them in stock.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 225 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170

That sounds plenty doable, Reed. Hopefully such a magic Volaré wagon exists out there. Thanks for the reality check, Josh. Travel expenses would be marginal for several of us given proximity or friends in the area.

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Chuck and the Flying Valiant

Oh. I've never been racing, so I didn't know the costs or necessity of such things. Bummer.

There's Charlie!

As I said, we're just testing the water right now, I'll be happy to get more info to you. There's a lot of rules and regs, and as you said, there's no way you could do a slant 6 race car (or any kind of race car) for $500. The thing to remember with 24 Hours of LeMons is that it's an endurance race among cars that were not built for racing. Durability is greatly more important than speed in these races, which is why I think a slant powered car would do very well.

As for the cost, the $500 is only applicable to the car, engine and engine parts and prep. As per the rules, the following items do not count against that $500:

* Wheels, tires, and brake components
* Exhaust systems downstream of the header/exhaust manifold (NOTE: Turbos and related components are NOT exempt from the $500 limit. Nice try.)
* Windshields and wipers. (Stock windshields, true Lexan, or circle-track mesh are acceptable; non-Lexan plastic is not acceptable.)
* Driver comfort & information (steering wheel, shifter, gauges, pedals, cool suits, vents, heaters, radio)
* All fuel hoses, fuel fittings, fuel filters, and related mounts
* All fuel-system components upstream of the fuel pump, including tanks/cells, mounts, fillers, vents, etc. (NOTE: Fuel pumps, carburetors, injection pumps, computers, and individual injectors are NOT exempt from the $500 limit.)

The full list of rules and regs can be found here, Charlie. If it still sounds like something that strikes your fancy, you can give me a yell and we can talk more about it.

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Chuck and the Flying Valiant

Now here's a Volare wagon that would do nicely. Too bad it's in Minneapolis.

Craigslist Link

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Chuck and the Flying Valiant

Chuck, I'm interested. Lets see if we can get together in the next couple of weeks.

What is the reasoning of a Volare or Aspen wagon?

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 225 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170

Great! Look forward to meeting up with you. My schedules looking a bit nutty, but I'm making time for the Garlits show and after November 23rd, my free time should clear up.

So far the reasoning behind the Volare/Aspen wagon is, as Reed pointed out, the beefier suspension, 8 1/4 rear axle and Super Six. If we were going for style, I'd love to do a 70s Valiant or Dart Sport, but they're not usually as cheap as a Volare/Aspen. Plus, if anything horrible should happen to the car, I'd rather it happen to an F body than an A, unless that A body was already on its way out.

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Chuck and the Flying Valiant

I just happen to have a 89 Dippy cop car complete mechanical front clip, in stock. Steering suspension and brakes. I actually have the complete drive train, but it is a V-8.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 225 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170