Continuing preparations for Yee-Haw It's Lemons Texas

This is our last weekend for work on Tetanusneon and the Lawnmower before the next Houston race in the 24 Hours of LeMons. We replaced the Kirkey seat that had been in Tetanusneon with a Sparco seat more suited to the size range of the drivers-- the Kirkey we had was made for taller folks-- and worked a little more on its Oktoberfest livery, an homage to St. Arnold brewery's seasonal beer. Gluing some coasters to the wood on the back makes it more than a spoiler, now it's also a picnic table. Other than that this car is mostly set. A little bit of safety-equipment work, paint on the numbers, and it's ready to go.

The engine swap on the neon formerly known as "Margarita" is done, but it isn't running quite right yet-- Junior and Juan will be working on that. Those of us with less engine-diagnosis talent went ahead and pulled out the spray paint yesterday to turn the paint job into a tribute to the St. Arnold Lawnmower pilsner beer. We think it turned out pretty well. I just hope we can get it running right.

Earlier I wasn't sure about neon engine "swappability" for DOHC parts vs. SOHC parts. We had an SOHC block that was going to be frankensteined together with our DOHC head, but it turns out although the engine blocks are the same, the engines use different pistons. While calling around to try to find us used pistons (great idea, right?) Junior located a DOHC block and put that together with our old head. I don't know what we'll do with the now unneeded SOHC block-- keep it around as a spare for Tetanusneon/Oktoberfest, try to sell it back to a junkyard, recycle for a bit of money, or turn it into a boat anchor.

A few more random photos from yesterday's work -- enjoy.