Alternative To Painting

An alternative to painting is using beer cans. Why turn in those nasty, messy, sticky cans when you can use them on your car? 400 cans were used on this car. That equates to about $40 ($0.10 Michigan) and 0.18 on the breathalizer. They come in all sorts of colors and varieties.

It looks so good it's on February 2008 Hot Rod Magazine. We know what we are doing here.

Who said drinking beer and getting wasted while working on the car is not working on the car?

You can see from the previous painting post this is even cheaper. Although you may need to add some more money in the budget for band-aids and paper towels. It gets kind of bloody pushing the car around. You may want to purchase some gloves too.

One more thing. This doesn't work as well with bottles.

So drink up!!! You're working on the car!!! (Buuuuuurrrrrrrrrpppppppppppp!!!)

Environmentally Conscious

We at cheapracer are up on the environmental issues too. We know that electric vehicles are more friendly to the environment. So our team arrives at the shop using electric vehicles.

Don't know why GM and Toyota are taking so long in developing these vehicles. Fisher-Price has been doing it for years.

Spark Plugs

Changed your plugs lately? We didn't. 150,ooo miles and this plug was working fine. Big wide gap to ignite more of the fuel.

Money saved: $8.00

Painting Your Race Car

I could write a book on painting your race car and ways to save money there but I don't have the space here. I have been painting cars since I was 14. We've painted them with spray cans. Painted them with a roller. Painted them with a sprayer. I think I have found a fairly cheap place to purchase decent quality paint. I am use to using DuPont so I make all my comparisons to their products.

http://www.paintforcars.com/ has some good stuff. Their colors are limited but they should have something you are looking for. A gallon of their acrylic enamel starts at $40. I like to use their clear, pictured above to give it that extra shine. That's only $65/gallon which also includes the activator. DuPont wants double that just for the clear. I have used this clear on street cars too and haven't really seen any difference between the two. I like the clear too on the car as it seems to clean up better rubbing fenders with guys. Most of the rubber and other guys paint seems to buff right off.

They have kits available to paint and entire car for starting at $65.

I just find it hard to spend a great deal of money on a paint job that is garaunteed to get wrecked. Plus it does allow you a cheap repair that you can perform more often resulting in a car that looks good every week.

Spotting A Cheap Racer

Gifts

When at the speedways banquet, look for "free" items to give to mom for Christmas. Like this fine duct tape and PVC candy dish. Tell your mom you made it it in wood shop class. Never mind you're 40. It makes it more special. You can then save that money and buy some speed parts for the race car.

Favorite Links

Some of my favorite links to find cheap parts:

http://www.ebay.com/ - You name it, they got it...even Harry Potter plant holders!!!

http://www.racersauction.com/ - Like eBay but all race parts

http://www.tcracecars.com/ - Best prices on a lot of new stuff. Fast shipping too. Great place.

http://www.summitracing.com/ - Again a very reliable place to get top quality equipment. You will pay though.

http://www.car-part.com/ - Used parts for the street stock guys or to keep your street car going for cheap.

http://www.portcityracing.com/ - Great prices on your hard core chassis parts. Again fast delivery.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/ - Cheap no nonsense parts. These are your no name brand parts. Probably made in China with lots of lead. Besides that, they are still pretty good parts.

www.harborfreight.com - Good tools for the one time you plan to use them. Beyond that go with Craftsman or Snap-on.

Anyone else have some good links or places to get some cheap parts?

Adjustable Spring Rate

Need a different spring rate? A grill brush can help out.

This was in a friends 4 cylinder racer. I needed something to stiffen up the RR spring. We didn't have another spring rate. I found the grill brush in the trailer and bingo!!! We were in business.

Too bad I had to waste money on the zip ties to hold it in.

Every Car Races With Used Parts

Think about it: The minute a new part is put on a race car and is run in a race it now becomes a used part.

One of the best places to get parts for your race car is eBay. I have bought countless numbers of parts at a fraction of the cost of a new one. In fact I just got a Pro shock off there for $0.99. It was in great shape. New, that shock would have been at least $80.

Other great parts I have gotten are intakes (don't wear), headers, mufflers, brake calipers,...

Some items though you may want to stay away from though are things like used pistons, valves, valve springs, cranks,... Things that have a cyclical life. Things that are hard to verify their real true condition.

There are more and more speed shops that are listing items both used and new on there too with buy it now options that make it easy.

One draw back to eBay is you really need to watch and keep an eye the items you want. To get to the next week you may need to hit some of your ordinary parts sources to get the overnight items. I usually by alot of stuff over the winter to help stock up or switch over equipment.

It takes some planning but if you are looking for parts try and hit eBay first.