Going LeMons racing in a 6GC! Options

[slavie]

Hey ya'all!

A series of questionable decisions have led me to getting accepted to my first LeMons race coming up at Thompson, CT in August. Not much time left, lots to do.
If anybody is seriously interested, I'm still looking for the 4th driver. Hit me up.

The car came from 6gc community - I picked up Rymaster's 96 GT (his FS thread)
Car has an issue with the gearbox - makes really funny noises. I suspect something off with the diff. Drivetrain is already out of the car, gearbox separated, waiting for me to get wrenching on.

Cage installation is lined up for a week from now.
Need to completely redo the brakes - rebuild rears, replace fronts with dual-piston calipers, new rotors and pads.
Replace wheel bearings as a precaution.
Figure out what tires I'll use.
Finally, all the safety bs - kill switch is a must, and I'd like to plumb fire extinguisher and cool suit in if funds and time allows. If not, hand held extinguisher and sweaty balls will have to do.
Tons more crap I'm sure will come up.

Interior is getting completely gutted, so feel free to inquire if you need parts (I'll be posting a FS thread, will put the link in here). Any money I make back on selling parts I can use towards "performance mods", and I'm looking to get some decent lowering springs (no thanks to noname crap). If you have a set of such springs collecting dust - talk to me.

If you've done LeMons before and have suggestions, fire away.

[slavie]

UPDATE!
The Celica has endured through it's second LeMons race back in August, again at Thompson, CT event.

The morning of race day, the speedometer stopped working. Who cares, tach and temp gauge is all you really need in a race car. Start the race.

2hr in after the first refueling (engine required to be shut off for refueling), the car would not start. Jumped it, it died 100yd later. Battery is dead, no juice from alternator. Given that the last race we had killed an alternator (I properly tested that fact at home and replaced the alternator with another one I had in the pile), we immediately assumed the alt had quit again, though we did not have the time to properly test it. Boy was I pissed when a new, $240 alternator from local AZ did not charge either. FML. Threw in a new battery and sent it back out to finish the day. We decided to charge batteries from the tow rig and swap them every few hours.

How did the "new" motor do? Predictably, it blew the head gasket. But see, as a sign of growing strength in our relationship, I brought with me a Graphite gasket and a new set of head bolts this time, along with all the toolage required to perform the surgery. Even though we had 4 souls (though in sum only about 2-1/4 worth of competent mechanic), the HG took us about 8 hours to do.
Fired right up. On the second try, that is, after we realized the engine harness wanted to be re-connected to the ECU.

Next day, new HG is in and we're feeling good. Battery fully charged, start the race. The whole gauge cluster is dead this time - no tach, no temp gauge, nothing. I did 3 laps just to test the motor, but with new HG and no temp gauge I did not want to run the car. Commence electrical troubleshooting. Turns out, the exciter wire for the alt is powered off the same IGN-ON circuit as the speedo, and that circuit is not getting power. F that - hard wired constant 12v into the circuit and sent it back out on the track to finish the last 4 hours trouble free.

Here's a novel idea: a bunch of geniuses replacing the head gasket at the race track padlock instead of racing:

Through the power of miracle alone, back on track Sunday. Yes, that is an E28 about to blow by us as if we were dragging a boat anchor (a recurring theme for us with the genuinely bone stock 5S-FE in my car):