Well not in my possession yet, but I've got an early '90s Civic 4 door sedan lined up for $200, and seeing as how it runs and drives but is too much of a piece of shit to drive every day, I think the most appropriate send-off for it would be to run it in the Compact demolition derby at my county's fair this fall. Granted, this is ridiculously early to think about that, but the car kinda fell into my lap and I'm not going to let an opportunity like this pass.

Seeing as how it's a Civic, the theme is going to be the most ridiculously stereotypical ricer ever. Shame I can't put a huge wing, ridiculous body kit, and clear tail lights in it, but I'll find a way around that.

Anyway, point being, anyone have any experience preparing or driving derby cars?

For $200 i say you just ram it up someones ass in demo derby!

Posted by CDSbigsby Well not in my possession yet, but I've got an early '90s Civic 4 door sedan lined up for $200, and seeing as how it runs and drives but is too much of a piece of shit to drive every day, I think the most appropriate send-off for it would be to run it in the Compact demolition derby at my county's fair this fall. Granted, this is ridiculously early to think about that, but the car kinda fell into my lap and I'm not going to let an opportunity like this pass. Seeing as how it's a Civic, the theme is going to be the most ridiculously stereotypical ricer ever. Shame I can't put a huge wing, ridiculous body kit, and clear tail lights in it, but I'll find a way around that. Anyway, point being, anyone have any experience preparing or driving derby cars?

best advice, think about all the small stupid things that can go wrong.
battery, fuel pump in the fuel cell, linkages... make sure you bring a sledgehammer.
I've run a Ford Pinto, Ford Escort, Honda Accord and a Plymouth Sundance in demolition derbys... the kid I had driving the Sundance got the heavy hitter award because he blew a VW Fox wagon right on to it's roof.

With a Sundance? Impressive.

There's a early 90's Taurus wagon sitting in my friend's neighbor's yard that's been there forever, I was thinking about asking about that since it would qualify for compact but would probably decimate stuff like Civics, but since this one fell in my lap I can't really pass on it.

Thanks for the advice Samurai, I work with a guy who ran derbies for 32 years building his own cars and he's going to help me prepare it

Posted by CDSbigsby With a Sundance? Impressive. There's a early 90's Taurus wagon sitting in my friend's neighbor's yard that's been there forever, I was thinking about asking about that since it would qualify for compact but would probably decimate stuff like Civics, but since this one fell in my lap I can't really pass on it. Thanks for the advice Samurai, I work with a guy who ran derbies for 32 years building his own cars and he's going to help me prepare it

here, if you run a v6 wagon, you get stuck in with the big rwd dogs... it's a slaughter. stay with the 4 banger class... way more fun.

i SUCK at derbies... so I am not giving any advice here.

I'd be more apt to rallycross the car. You'd get more use out of it that way, and have more fun to boot.

strongly agree there.

depends on how beat the car is.
if the car is too rotted, you go rallycrossing with it, go over a modest jump and your front suspension ends up in your lap.
In demo derby... many enter, one leaves... it's like a vehicular thunderdome.

After doing the derby thing, I can honestly say I've built a couple of ten second cars!

(Or at least, that's how long they lasted)
My first was a '93 Tempo... during the 'love tap', my throttle stuck, I destroyed a Dodge Shadow, went through the barrier and got stuck on a rail tie.

Second car was a K-Car (Just ROTTEN)... a guy in a Corsica took a run at me from across the ring, and promply turned my K-Car into an Omni. Back bumper was touching the ground, back wheels weren't, and I couldn't move.

I've had much better luck with racing.

Either way, you're likely to get an OK amount back out of the car as scrap. Not as much as a year ago, but enough to make the whole ordeal cheap when you do eat it. As long as you have fun, you should do it, though. It's an end-of-life POS econobox. Have fun with it!

Posted by bandi After doing the derby thing, I can honestly say I've built a couple of ten second cars! (Or at least, that's how long they lasted) My first was a '93 Tempo... during the 'love tap', my throttle stuck, I destroyed a Dodge Shadow, went through the barrier and got stuck on a rail tie. Second car was a K-Car (Just ROTTEN)... a guy in a Corsica took a run at me from across the ring, and promply turned my K-Car into an Omni. Back bumper was touching the ground, back wheels weren't, and I couldn't move. I've had much better luck with racing.

you didn't notch the subframes or bumper rails did you? (hehehe)

No, they rusted off. lol

what we do, if the car is solid enough, was take a torch and notch the subframe rails. Then you throw oil and dirt on it so no one will notice. This way you can somewhat control which way the body is going to go when it get hammered. Another trick is to weld the spider gears in the rear axle. On a road car, it won't last long, but in a demo car, having both wheels spinning can mean the difference. Another dirty trick is take the heater core out and stuff a radiator in the dashboard out of something small like a Honda or Toyota. Why? the lines to the radiator in the front are dummies... the real cooling is inside the car where it can't be damaged... you can rig the heater fan to blow through the radiator. Again, on a road car, not good, but on a demo car for 5-10 minutes, you can get away with it. Also, we've run that RedLine Water Wetter in the cooling system, as much Slick 50 (or comparable) and heavy synthetic oil. I run a mix of 10W40 and 20W50. We also loctite the wires to the spark plugs, ziptie to the plug wires to the engine block, fill transmissions with stopleak additives, anything to keep the engine and transmissions working for that merciless 5-10 minute window.

Best battery i've used is a huge deepcycle marine battery, just in case I lose the alternator/belt. i've also been known to sneak an electric water pump under the hood, but the next season those were disqualified. You have to keep the battery alive. Period. We've been know to double lock electrical connections, especially on a GM... their engine grounds on some models are tied into the solenoid on the starter. Lose that little ground and you kill the circuit. Engine dies. Fuel... go with high octane, starts and runs a hot, battered engine much better than rotgut 87 octane. I don't care what your compression ratio is, 93 or better. Torches and hammers are a must if you go on to a next heat... between heats, cool that engine off.

Guys out in Whallonsburg and Lewis NY, Rockpile Racing... they take this shit very seriously and win between 10-15k a season... the average prep time for their cars is between 2-4 months.
(this is where I got most of my ideas from)


Just as an example of what an engine is capable of... at a car show a couple of years ago, my club had a contest for a local charity. The contest for people to enter the time of how long an engine would run, at the redline without any coolant. The contestant car was an 86 or 87 Ford Taurus 3.0L V6. I entered because I knew what a 3.0L was capable of. Unfortunately, so did my father and brother. Anyways, people were guessing 6 minutes, 7 minutes... I had my money on 15:45.
the engine ran for 17:33 seconds, at 6000RPM with no coolant before it finally gave up.
And the best part was, about an hour later, they had a consolation round because the engine had cooled off enough where it fired back up.
My money was on 5:40... it ran for almost 10 minutes before finally spit a connecting rod out the side of it.

Actually, that Tempo went on to do an endurance race at the local dirt oval after that derby.

Again in a testament to what an engine will take, on the 25th lap, the rad exploded. I finished the race (250 laps).

The engine sezied up immediately after I shut it down, but the next day the damn thing fired right up, sounded like death but I drove the damn thing off the trailer!

Posted by bandi Actually, that Tempo went on to do an endurance race at the local dirt oval after that derby. Again in a testament to what an engine will take, on the 25th lap, the rad exploded. I finished the race (250 laps). The engine sezied up immediately after I shut it down, but the next day the damn thing fired right up, sounded like death but I drove the damn thing off the trailer!

was the tempo a 2.3L OHV or a 3.0L V6?
the 2.3L OHV engine was the old 200-I6 (3.3L for you metric weenies) that had been in service since the mid-1960's. They had just more or less lopped two cylinders off and added an aluminum head.

2.3 OHC

Posted by bandi 2.3 OHC

no.
the tempo never had an overhead cam engine.
they were all pushrod engines, including the HSC and HSO engine.

http://en.wikipedi...ki/Ford_HSC_engine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Tempo


i have worked on waaaaaaaaaaay too many of these grabastic pieces of monkeyshit to not know them intimately.
my brother had a 1990 Topaz and he swore that it was the last Ford he would ever own.

the 2.3L OHC engine was the one from the mid-70's built in Lima Ohio, most commonly referred to as the Lima 4. It was a solid engine, was nearly bulletproof and would wind to infinity. it also responded well to turbocharging and that variant was an animal.
Here in the US, the 2.3L OHC Lima was never offered in a front-wheel drive chassis.

LOL... it was a typo, I meant OHV.

I've worked on a DOHC Ford 2.3 - any takers?

Posted by bandi LOL... it was a typo, I meant OHV. I've worked on a DOHC Ford 2.3 - any takers?

wasn't that the Cosworth engine?