Our totally gutted LeMons B13 is so flexible with its welded-up Autopower bolt-in cage that the seat rails flex enough to unlatch during a turn. This is on stock springs and street tires. We need serious cage rework to make your spring rates work.


What are you using for rails? That's spooky!

Our totally gutted LeMons B13 is so flexible with its welded-up Autopower bolt-in cage that the seat rails flex enough to unlatch during a turn. This is on stock springs and street tires. We need serious cage rework to make your spring rates work.

Well, you can certainly make 400-500 lbs/in spring rates work, which are not ideal for track but good enough I would think given you have a low budget for CO's and getting good enough dampers with adequate for higher rates, good luck on a LeMons Budget. I'd be looking for used springs and Konis from someone who has upgraded their track car.

Have you at least done the cheap stuff like IKEA brace? That will make a world of difference at least in the area behind you. My sense is the rear of the car is a bit of a noodle w/o some bracing, the center of the car def has flex issues, the front is not bad at all with an LCA and FSTB. Cage should be taking care of the center more but honestly I have little faith in the AP bolt-in type design, no matter how well made, because you are bolting it into unreinforced econo-box grade too-thin sheet metal.

IKEA brace in mine is just 16 ga steel tack welded in places, I wouldn't suggest bolting one in, not even close. Before I painted it due to grief I was taking over handprints ;)

http://homepage.mac.com/stracy01/.Pictures/B13_RSTB01/RSTB_07.JPG

And after seeing the 'stang punch it's bolt-on AP-type cage through the floor when it rolled (search Lemons Mustang Rollover) I'd weld that sucker in there, brace it with more steel near the feet to the body between the sides.

IDK where I have it but Coleman's cage in his 510 Rally Beater 1 that Dave and Josh J ran years ago is a great example of low budget cage, significant reinforcement for low $$$ so long as you have access to to welding resources. I can visualize what he did, but IDK if I still have pics or not. Basically taking a cage designed for bolt-in and welding it together and in place instead with some added metal.

Besides the IKEA brace I'd also suggest looking at the Active Tuning Brace design, again something you can fabricate out of stock in a less than elegant manner but cheaply. Goes across the same hole but fits behind the seat in a way that you feel it sitting there. FTSB, again do the Dave, mine was made from stock rectangular steel scrap for free with a hacksaw and paint...well, paint came later. And it works - well. W/o GC plates yes more work required but you need camber plates of some sort or forget it -I cant' imagine running stock camber on a B13 on a track, or even giving up the small amount of extra travel the mounts and plates give you.

http://homepage.mac.com/stracy01/.Pictures/B13_PSRes_GRNDkit/PS_Res_and_GRND11.JPG

And man, get some real seat rails! ;)

The Koni's are a better choice.....

+1^ Budget - Konis, inserts into cut stock bodies. For the guys doing the LeMons car, why do you want adjustable CO perches on a car you know about where the height needs to be for LeMons use?

Def I fine tune mine because it's a dual use car, and no question the Progress or SHig's are excellent choices when combined with GC plates, just one is DA and costs quite a bit more if you can find them. And spend $2500 on a car with $2000 CO's already in it instead of $2700 on new CO's ;)

What are you using for rails? That's spooky!

Don't know. Sparco? We're running an EVO II seat that one of the guys had purchased for a different race car project. Driver size does have some bearing on the issue in that the lightest guy doesn't have this problem. We've raced the car twice, always at MSR Houston. When it unlatches on me, it's always in one particular turn. I suppose the rails themselves could be installed incorrectly. Still and all, it adds another bit of excitement to keep me awake after 50 minutes of circulating.

As for SuperBlackZ comments, any fixes we make have to be very stealthy or very cheap. The Hotshot header that came on the car by itself cost us fifty penalty laps the first race. Can't begin to hope to place well until you can start the race on lap 1. The first Cali car to run LeMon's was hit hard with penalty laps. It was a good race car but didn't adhere to the LeMons philosophy. They took off all the overt aftermarket stuff and went back to stock components for the next race. We took off the STB that came with our car just to be on the safe side. I'm mulling over how we can weld in some bracing with the junk we have laying around the shop. I'll have to dig up KOJOMO®'s article on foam. We can't add too much weight.

Don't know. Sparco?

KOJOMO®'s

Might want to also check the floor for cracks. Mine cracked at the cross brace area.


:rofl::rofl::rofl: He should trademark that!

Might want to also check the floor for cracks. Mine cracked at the cross brace area.
:eek:
Thanks for mentioning that. I'd completely forgotten that there were a few cases of cracked floor pans back in the mailing list days. It's something to look for.

:rofl::rofl::rofl: He should trademark that!Let's both make that request on MotoIQ. I have no doubt he'll embrace the idea.

:eek:
Thanks for mentioning that. I'd completely forgotten that there were a few cases of cracked floor pans back in the mailing list days. It's something to look for.

Let's both make that request on MotoIQ. I have no doubt he'll embrace the idea.

It was scary how much a 1.5" crack let my seat move.

Hahahahahha