Of Happenings: Lemons Car Edition

"roflcopter" (roflroflroflcopter)
12/23/2014 at 09:43 • Filed to: None

I've had a motor stashed away in my friends spare bedroom, all torn down and cleaned and ready to be built, that is destined to go into our Lemons car. I got the motor itself insanely cheap thanks to someone on here and it being quite the gamble on if it would be usable or not. While I had the motor, and it was in good shape, the whole project had been nothing more than wishful thinking because there would still be a LOT of effort to get the swap done, not to mention trying to keep it in budget for Lemons would be next to impossible. Well, the other day my local craigslist delivered and I'm now waiting to pick up a transmission that will solve most of our problems for equally as dirt cheap as I got the engine! Looks like I need to start keeping an eye out for other parts now... anyone have most of the rear end(with suspension, diff, axles, links, etc) out of something decently wide and with IRS? Like maybe an FC, or hell, I could even make a Miata work. The finished product will definitely put the Blasphemi to shame when it comes to pissing off the haters, that's for sure.

DISCUSSION (21)

Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow > roflcopter
12/23/2014 at 09:50

Sweet! What region are you in?

505Turbeaux > roflcopter
12/23/2014 at 09:54

where are you located? It isn't like I can pack up a Jag XJS rear end in a box and ship it out. I stripped one down years ago and have it hiding in my basement as far north and east as you can go

roflcopter > Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
12/23/2014 at 09:56

We've done events in both the South and Gulf regions, we're kind of right on the line with those two.

roflcopter > 505Turbeaux
12/23/2014 at 09:57

In Florida sadly... I'm currently trying to think of any reason for a road trip in that direction... haha. We aren't in any sort of rush with this, the car is just going to sit as is and maybe get autocrossed a bit for at least the next 6 months, we have a lot of other projects still on the table right now.

505Turbeaux > roflcopter
12/23/2014 at 10:00

be a hell of a road trip for a rear end! Freight would probably be at least $500 I would imagine. Too bad my ex's parents already left for Florida for the winter with the horses or I could have stuffed it on the back of the truck, or in the trailer. They are near St Pete

Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow > roflcopter
12/23/2014 at 10:01

Cool!

I'll be doing my first LeMons race this spring in the Midwest region.

roflcopter > 505Turbeaux
12/23/2014 at 10:02

That would have been quite convenient! And road trips are about the trip, not what you're picking up. I've towed a 22 foot sailboat from here to Rochester, NY before and that was slow going, but it was still fun to go.

I wonder how good of a choice the Jag rear end would be though... I bet it's geared pretty tall and the aftermarket isn't too wonderful on that front.

roflcopter > Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
12/23/2014 at 10:03

Awesome! Is it your car, or are you hopping on with another team?

Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow > roflcopter
12/23/2014 at 10:06

I joined a team.

The owner of the car and main builder have both been doing LeMons for awhile, but we're starting on a completely new project. I can't divulge anything until it's done, but it's going to be awesome!

505Turbeaux > roflcopter
12/23/2014 at 10:07

agreed on the road tripping.

It is an early one (82-83), which SUPPOSEDLY used dana 44 gearsets and posi.

Inboard brakes kind of suck, but are okay. The tranny that ran these was a borg warner unit too

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > 505Turbeaux
12/23/2014 at 10:07

He can probably find a Jag IRS not too far from himself - I did. Mine was a 2 hour drive and $240 away.

Travis J > roflcopter
12/23/2014 at 10:08

What about an MN12 based car like a Thunderbird or Lincoln?, built in IRS and you can even get an LSD for the rear in some T-birds.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > roflcopter
12/23/2014 at 10:10

They're available in a pretty wide range, but the XJ-S (one of the easier ones to find) is, in fact, pretty tall. It's what I have. Aftermarket limits are mostly on which version of the case you have - if you have one that has the "low gears" case, you can upgrade it to have lower gears even if it's relatively tall. I don't remember where the breakover is between the two sizes, though - I think the sedan ones tend to have the big-gear version. The center case in the Jag was actually made in the US and will take gears for one of the Danas with a spacer.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > 505Turbeaux
12/23/2014 at 10:11

The XJ-S one, IIRC, uses the smaller of two ring gear sizes. The larger one is easier to get lower ratios with.

roflcopter > Travis J
12/23/2014 at 10:12

That would be ideal, but the ones I'm finding around are somewhat expensive if they're not in complete crap shape.

505Turbeaux > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/23/2014 at 10:13

I know there was a break in there in 85-86 to the more modern IRS setup, not sure if the pumpkin bits changed there too

roflcopter > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/23/2014 at 10:14

This makes sense... I helped rebuild a GM 7.5 rear end recently for my buddy's AutoX V6 Camaro and we had to use the spacer to get the gears on the new carrier. I'll look into the Jags, maybe I can find a private sale one instead of resorting to junkyards, they are pretty steep in these parts.

roflcopter > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/23/2014 at 10:15

roflcopter > 505Turbeaux
12/23/2014 at 10:16

Inboard brakes make for less unsprung mass, because racecar!

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > roflcopter
12/23/2014 at 10:37

I found a private sale in NC for one with PowrLok (or however they spell that - posi basically) from an XJS for my Ranchero project, for $240, but I'm going to have to narrow it almost 3" on each side to fit. The original 7.25" was not going to cut it (looks like the upper axle in the below picture):

Kinja'd!!!

roflcopter > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/23/2014 at 17:43

I'm not too terribly worried about the width, wider = better for road course stuff. Worst case we run some stupid wide spacers on it, or weird offsets.