Ashyukun said:
In reply to wae :
It looks like it's essentially the same price to get liquid urethane from McMC as it is to get WindoWeld from Amazon- the WW would be quicker (single stage, no mixing and likely little cure time) vs. the urethane flowing are easily and filling the space a bit better.
I think I picked up Window Weld fairly cheaply at Advance when we built the CRX. It has the potential to be a lot less messy, and it did indeed come in handy when we needed to secure other parts of the CRX.
The big advantage the liquid urethane has is the ability to tune the firmness of the mount based on which urethane you go with. I can't remember which one I went with on the Neon, but it's been holding up to rallycross abuse better than Window Weld did. I'm guessing it'll cut down on wheel hop in the drags to go with firmer engine mounts.
In reply to Dusterbd13 :
Most don't have a large enough cross section for me to feel that's a great idea. Also, trying to tap these could present a bit of a challenge depending on the alloy.
One of these days I'd like to try slitting and drifting the end of one to see if I can. LOL
You my friend have got yourself a cruck. Car/Truck so it's a cruck!
Had a decent amount of time this evening and pretty much have the LeBaron's harness figured out and labeled. There are a few things I'm not wholly certain of between the two harnesses, but nothing that should keep me from getting it running. There are a number of wires from the LeBaron harness that don't exist on the Rampage but I'll be trying to use- things like the tach, the check engine light (maybe), and (presumably I'll use it to trigger the new electric pump) the fuel pump feed.
There are a few things I'm not wholly certain of- for example there's a brake warning lamp switch wire (grey/black) that both harnesses have that I can't figure exactly where it goes- it's a single connection that I assume should go to a stud or the likes on or around the master cylinder but can't find it.
I also have my first injury from the car- I backed into one end of the rear 'bumper' which is just a steel c-beam and both scraped and likely solidly bruised my calf. I'll need to make something to cap the ends of it so it's not so dangerous...
Stefan
MegaDork
9/23/17 1:03 a.m.
Brake warning light goes on the brake distribution block below the master cylinder.
You really, really need the Check engine light connected. It's how you get engine codes and that will be very important for troubleshooting.
Vigo
UltimaDork
9/23/17 7:53 a.m.
It's fairly difficult to drill and tap the swaybar itself because the metal is very hard. You just need good drills and taps and keep everything cool. The inner swaybar bushings are perfectly normal in function so you really just need to add endlinks with some kind of articulation to improve the functionality of the bar setup. Keep in mind that these links can't be too tall or your swaybar will be hanging very near the ground and be the first thing to catch on anything you try to drive over.
I know it's too late now, but here is the external pump i recommend based on price and specs. I have a slightly downrange model on my turbo Spirit since i hadn't found this one yet. Pump
I'm glad you're going through the harness yourself. Most of these cars have minor wiring issues anyway and it's a good idea to look at everything anyway, especially as far as cleaning the major connections. Pay particular attention to the injector sub-harness, as those are very likely to have issues. The engine itself doesn't need much in the form of wiring to actually run when compared to the total number of wires that run through the stock engine bay harness. Two distributor connectors, coolant temp sensor (for ecu), tps, map (which can be mounted/wired remotely from the engine anyway), and knock sensor. You don't really need an idle motor or a speed sensor and you may not need the stock temp sender or oil pressure switch/sensor depending on whether you're running aftermarket gauges for those.
4x100 bolt pattern is god's gift to cheap wheel connoisseurs and you don't need more brakes for autocross anyway so i'd be happy that it wasn't 5-lug swapped! 1g neon struts are an EXTREMELY easy swap and what is going on mine. The rear axle flip is a VERY aggressive drop and you will probably end up doing something to raise it slightly afterwards in order to make it match the front when the front is at a reasonable (for functionality..) ride height. It's already done on mine.
Hey, Stefan asked me to chime in
Looks like you are off to a good start. Keep that engine stock for now! Your biggest hurdle will be the wiring.
If you don't need a smaller radiator for space to run intercooler piping, run a stock one. Check prices on stock vs a later omni one just in case. should be same core support so same mounts and hoses.
suspension and brakes
check rockauto for shocks. Just get any new ones. I ran monroe's that were on sale for ~$20 each and they are fine. Never had a trucklet so you're on your own for the rear.
For the challenge cheap coilover sleeves from ebay should be fine. Don't lower it, it changes the geometry too much. keep the front spring rate at like 350 or so, maybe less. Test drive ti like that before you mess with the front sway bar. For a non-daily driven car you would be better off ditching the front bar and running a little more spring, but then you are already way past the crappy shock's limits.
speaking of the rear, consider bypassing the load-sensing proportioning valve for a cheap adjustable one. Once again, never done this but it makes sense in my lizard brain.
front brakes.
get minivan caliper mounts that bolt to the steering knuckle. This lets you run minivan calipers and 10.75 vented rotors ('84 van rotors are 4 lug). Do this. I've caught the 9" solid rotors on fire with regular driving.
You may be able to keep the stock master but I would run the master cylinder from a van.
In reply to Stefan :
Is the CEL wire the hot or ground for the lamp?
In reply to Vigo :
That pump looks a lot like the one I picked up- where did you find the best place to mount it was? I haven't looked at the injector sub-harness yet... was kind of wary of it since it's tangled up with the vacuum hoses and I didn't (until earlier today) have the vacuum diagram. Will look at that today. For now will likely just be running stock gauges plus a boost gauge and maybe a tach (don't know how crucial that will be with the auto...). Will worry about lowering and such once the engine is going, but it's good to know that the drop in the rear is a bit excessive with the flip. Are the neon struts just bolt-on, or are there other parts that are needed?
In reply to streetpirate :
Thanks, I definitely welcome all the input I can get! For the minivan brakes, I'd need pretty much everything that mounts to the front knuckle off an earlier Mopar minivan?
On the shocks- I've looked and looked and nobody seems to have part numbers for what shocks to use to replace the rear shocks. I know I can use the Aspen air shocks if I slip the axle, but what do I use if I don't flip it? (air shocks are fine with me- I like the idea of being able to adjust the stiffness and to an extent height with how much air is in them).
Stefan
MegaDork
9/23/17 12:25 p.m.
In reply to Ashyukun :
hmm, I'm not sure. I suspect it's the ground.
for rear shocks, I would measure what's on there and try to find some that are similar dimensions.
Stefan
MegaDork
9/23/17 12:32 p.m.
I hated the flipped axle on my rabbit truck (it's still in my barn since I put a stock one back in it) so I made drop plates, you should be able to do the same thing. 1/4 or 3/8 plate to bolt to the axle and the backer plates bolt to them a little higher.
In reply to Stefan :
That's goodbye to know- but for some reason the link isn't working.
EDIT: think i found it. Looking at the S-10 shocks though. They appear to not mount the same way- but that thread also says that the Aspen air shocks will fit whether the axle is flipped or not, so they're probably the best bet.
OK, so to reiterate the need for pic's, I had no idea this was a ute! I had to do a Google image search to find this out...
It just got cooler and I still don't know what it looks like.
In reply to Crackers :
There are pictures on the first page- just not very good ones unfortunately. I won't be able to get more comprehensive pics of it until I have it mobile and can pull it out of the garage.
Vigo
UltimaDork
9/23/17 10:59 p.m.
I haven't looked at the injector sub-harness yet... was kind of wary of it since it's tangled up with the vacuum hoses and I didn't (until earlier today) have the vacuum diagram.
I don't want to encourage you to lower your standards but if the only reason you are going by the factory vacuum diagram is to make sure the engine runs right, then throw it away because the actual vacuum you need is so simple you're better off just running it all yourself the way you want and forgetting about the stock setup and its greater opportunities for leaks and misrouting. My .02.
As for the pump placement, i honestly don't think it really matters. Ideally you would place it at or below the fuel level when the tank is low so that whatever fuel is between the pickup and the pump doesn't run back into the tank when it's off, resulting in 'dry' pump starts. Or, if you put the pump higher than the tank, maybe route the supply hose with a hump in it to retain liquid fuel between the hump and the pump while sitting. I don't know that the effect either way is quantifiable but it seems like good practice to me.
In reply to Vigo :
Oh, not worry- I'm not too concerned with following the factory routing, just that I have everything getting hooked up to where it needs to be and not missing anything...
While I can't take Akron good pictures of it myself at the moment, I do still have copies of the ones the previous owner took...
Yesterday I got the Rampage harness trimmed down and am now ready to start splicing. Unfortunately I'm not sure I have or am going to be able to find locally a terminal block to do the initial testing with- I'll obviously solder them in the end, but don't want to go there until I'm sure everything is working properly.
Also did some checking with the rads- the one I the bed is larger than the one that was installed, and doesn't fit the lower mounting points on the front crossmember- so I'm guessing the larger one was from the Lebaron and the one installed is the original Rampage one. The larger one also looks like the lower hose connection interferes with the front of the trans- so I think I'm stuck with the smaller one.
I was at my storage locker this morning, and found a Prothane poly bushing kit for a Neon. I think the only ones I used were for the front control arms. If you end up finding any cross compatibility on the Neon/Rampage, let me know.
I don't think I have any Neon struts right now. Probably have stock springs stashed away, though.
In reply to eastsidemav :
What all bushings does the kit involve? I'm not sure about the springs- there's differing opinions on whether it's better to use the Neon springs, the original Rampage springs, or coil-overs on the Neon struts. It would be nice to be able to experiment and see which I liked best- but unfortunately I don't think I'm really going to have the time for that with the Challenge rapidly approaching.
Didn't have as much time as I would have liked today, but still made good forward progress and got started connecting up the two harnesses. All of the wires that feed +12V back to the bulkhead harness are temporarily connected up with wire nuts- if I'd had a few more minutes I could have gotten ambitious and hooked the bulkhead connector up and tried powering up the car, but I'd rather wait and do that with all the connections made so I can test more things out at once (and not have unconnected wires hanging around in the bay).
I really need to figure out what I need to order from RockAuto in the next few days so it can be here by the time I hopefully make an attempt to start the car in the coming week...
Ashyukun said:
In reply to eastsidemav :
What all bushings does the kit involve? I'm not sure about the springs- there's differing opinions on whether it's better to use the Neon springs, the original Rampage springs, or coil-overs on the Neon struts. It would be nice to be able to experiment and see which I liked best- but unfortunately I don't think I'm really going to have the time for that with the Challenge rapidly approaching.
Here's the kit I used: Prothane 4-2002. I suspect I've used the sway bar bushings, too, but I can't remember. Next time I'm at the locker (or under the Neon), I can check.
I've been wrestling with what I should try and order to put on the car before trying to start it, and weighing that ideally I'd like to just make one large order to save on the shipping (wish I could find a free shipping code for RockAuto or that Amazon had competitively-priced parts, but alas no luck there)- and I've largely come to the decision that I'm not going to order anything more (have only gotten the fuel pump so far, which I obviously can't do without) until I've got the car running and see if there are things that very definitely need to be replaced and then figure out what all I can get in the way of upgrades to other areas.
