So as many of you recall (some first hand) the eEuroparts LeMons car affectionately known as "Norman" was taken out to pasture (some would say Norman took them out to pasture) last fall.




Luckily I was able to start Norman and run through the gears before his heart was cut out for later transplant.

Over the winter we sourced a replacement shell that could go one step beyond the banged and beaten Norman. A 912 (2-door coupe) 900 offered only in '85 as an 8v or '86 as a 16v variant was found rotting away in VT. The purchase price of $400 delivered was offset by the freshly rebuilt tranny that was sold to myself for $200 (maybe one day I'll have time to install it and have a 2nd gear synchro in my '92).


Norman 2 (or Norma, since cars should be girls) was dropped off and I was able to get her 16v purring again after draining some rank gas and doing a basic tune up.



Disassembly and cleaning/repair began. Besides a soft driver side floor and some shoddy previous body work, the shell was pretty solid. Far better than her predecessor had ever been.



After some undercoating removal, power washing and complete tear down, the build up would start, first with a cage that would be built for safety.







We the race weekend rapidly approaching, we kicked it into high gear and transplated the drivetrain from Norman.

I wanted to take advantage of the "open brakes" LeMons rule and kept the early hubs and fitted the fronts with vented rotor hubs and wilwood calipers.


Since we scored a few other sponsors, one of our team members decided it warranted a quick paint job and some nice vinyl. When I mean quick I mean 12 hours.








And back at the shop for work to continue



After many more hours of work, finally (mostly) ready to race this weekend. I hope to get the car back in mostly running order so that we can prep for Octobers race and get the car a little more developed.

Norma's hott! Love the purchase price and the quick paintjob!

Looks awesome! Will this car be raced in Loudon at the Halloween Hooptiefest?

Pending a safe return home, with not too much to fix, we are planning on Hooptiefest! I might actually get to drive the thing...

Last I heard people were getting in their practice laps and dialing in tires.

It must also be said that without the help of Swedesport and Gary Reider, this weekend would not have been possible. I worked my butt off these last few weeks and still managed to get it to "almost passes tech" stage. Gary and crew finished up today and Tech for A class with Zero penalty laps, which is fantastic.

Awesome news, glad it came together in time. That's a nice looking direct ignition!

Love it!

What are your experiences with the Willwood calipers? I have been thinking of these for my 9000 Aero - with the upgraded power (close to 300), would be good to have upgraded brakes. There is a seller on Ebay who has these for sale as part of a whole front brake kit for the 9000 at a reasonable price.

TurboBudapest wrote:Love it!

What are your experiences with the Willwood calipers? I have been thinking of these for my 9000 Aero - with the upgraded power (close to 300), would be good to have upgraded brakes. There is a seller on Ebay who has these for sale as part of a whole front brake kit for the 9000 at a reasonable price.

The ones we run on 99's and 900's run around $130 per caliper....does not include pads. I dont think you have any need ti upgrade the brakes on the aero unless you plan on truly racing the car.

that's an awful nice looking lemons car!

Proof it at least made it through tech and onto the track!

Yeah it is out there turning laps. They shook out some fuel tank issues (leaky seals I guess) and a cracked coolant line this morning (probably from Norman's impact) , but I'm hopeful they will finish the day out and then bring her home to get sorted for October.

Jordan wrote:Yeah it is out there turning laps. They shook out some fuel tank issues (leaky seals I guess) and a cracked coolant line this morning (probably from Norman's impact) , but I'm hopeful they will finish the day out and then bring her home to get sorted for October.

Yes we had some little teething problems, but the car ran laps both days, was running at the checkered flag both Saturday and Sunday. The car is on the way home as I speak and not a scratch. I'll be sending you a punch list of things to address to correct some issues. Thanks for the chance to drive.
Guess we might start building PA based car this fall.

I'm in, I have an ABS shell, 3 door w/o sunroof I paid $300 for about 8 years ago... "ran when parked" 2.1/MT bad trans, no rust. I have been itching to see it go..... somewhere useful?

Thanks for everything Gary, I'm sure those guys would have been chasing their tail even more if you were not there.. I guess you got the crash course in LeMons. I hope you had fun.

She actually finished without a scratch on her.

Jordan do you know what it weighs? I have a 3 door with a similar cage, but haven't weighed it yet.