please pardon the blatent cut and paste. needed to start a legt build thread on here, is\nstead of a bunch of little odd posts.
So I bought this 1997 neon ACR on Friday after work in Burlington, NC. That’s about 90 miles from where I live. 127XXX on the odometer. Still has the adjustable konis, and they’re not leaking. Would have driven it home, but the front right wheel bearing is so bad it scares me. The wheel moves about a half inch.
Ive been looking for a 1st gen, 2 door, five speed, twin cam car for a while. Was NOT expecting an ACR, though. Don’t know if ill keep it long term or sell it to a guy to make a dedicated racer. I was looking for a pocket rocket commuter/STS car. This may be more than I want. These are the pics that made me drive 180 miles round trip and spend money that was slated for an EFI and 5 speed swap on my duster.
So we went up and got it today. Spun over three times, and fired right up from dead cold. No smoking, no noises, which is a good sign. After I had it on the trailer, I got to looking at it a little harder. This thing is tired. But solid and absolutely rust free.
It has been tapped in the right side at some point, hence the door and some waves in the quarter. They also painted the taillight trim on that side when repaired.
The front left fender is pretty much crushed, and I have no idea how I missed that.
There’s no brake fluid in the reservoir.
3 out of the 4 wheels only have 4 nuts on them, and they’re all only finger tight.
The passenger’s side window doesn’t roll down. Or up. Or seal.
New battery! No two tires are the same brand, and there’s three different sizes. All bald.
Fresh timing belt and water pump by appearance.
Both front headlights are busted.
Power steering works intermittently. And it’s full of fluid.
Doesn’t overheat, but smokes lightly when hot with the thermostat open.
No adjuster knob for the Koni's.
Fresh-ish belts and hoses.
That’s the inspection that ive given it so far. I also cleaned it up some, and drove it around the block to get a better driving impression. The shifter is vague, the clutch releases at the floor, and the motor moves around A LOT. Plenty of power and the clutch don’t slip, though. No noises that I can hear over the wheel bearing/cv axle.
All in all, I think I may have overpaid a bit at 650.
cleaned up pretty good so far, and backed into the shop so I can get it up on stands, knock the wheels off, and start giving it a thorough once over. My goal is to get it to the 2012 GRM challenge. And have it daily drivable.
So ill be tracking the budget. Car and title fees: 650 Booger bushings to fix the shifter: 22 from eBay. Cleaning supplies: free! Used the same castrol super clean I use on my concrete and siding, and dishwashing soap. Total to date: 672.
On to the pics!!
Please, feel free to comment. Michael
So, time for a good bit of an update: When I got the car home, I had 672 in it. So far, that number has one up a bunch to make it roadworthy. 61.82 At pull a part for the following items: trunk liner, PS spindle/hub assembly, rotor, brake pads, clutch pedal pads, glovebox door, air snorkel, trunk weather-stripping, a couple of lug nuts, and a few bolts. 49.99 For a new CV axle from AutoZone 10.87 for a valve cover gasket from e-bay 34.00 For plug wires 7.82 For plugs 3.49 For a PCV valve
Parts that I installed that I had lying around the shop: various rubber hoses, RTV for the gasket, various nuts/bolts/pushpins from my coffee cans, Mopar trans fluid left over from the early 2000's (had a pretty neat 98 Dakota with a 5 speed at the time), Fuses, crimp connectors, speakers (cheapie pioneers from the box sets that wal-mart sells every Christmas)
Once I got the car up in the air, I started to really look at it good. Passenger’s side door didn’t work well, and the window didn’t seal or roll down. Brakes were out of fluid. Lots of engine movement Missing intermittently Check engine light on Tires shot FILTHY (hence the build thread title) Radio only worked when it wanted to Only half the electrics worked Door ajar light stays on Shift know trashed Loose shifter linkage Wheel bearings, etc. Valve cover leaking Vacuum leaks And that was the short list. I truly began to wonder why I bought this pile of crap, and if I had just completely blown 800 bucks.
Ill admit that I felt some better after getting ~3/8 of an inch of dirt off of everything underneath it and the inside of the wheels. Don’t ask me why, but it made me feel better about my purchase.
I then went to pull-a-part in Winston Salem on weds day, as I was in Greensboro for training for work. Managed to grab the aforementioned items, but was unable to locate good headlights or a good passenger’s side door panel or door. Did look at the AC and cruise setups for these cars, which I found that I could easily add to the ACR if I keep it and daily it. I also have to say, pulling a spindle assembly like I did SUCKED. Granted I was spiking a 103 degree fever along with low blood sugar by the time I got done, so it probably should have gone easier. I still don’t know how I drove the 2 hours home. I honestly remember paying for my stuff, and then crawling into bed after a shower with my wife calling the doctor.
By Friday night, I felt good enough to putter down in the shop again. Figured id start with the tune up and valve cover, as that should be simple and not too strenuous for a sick guy. Got it all pulled apart, and found that all 4 plug tubes were full of oil up to the valve cover seal. Sucked what I could with a shop vac, and let the rest lubricate the top part of the cylinders. Cleaned up everything real good with break clean, paper toweled, and lacquer thinner. installed my eBay valve cover gasket, and put it back together with RTV at a few points in the gasket channel, and at ALL corners or turns of the gasket.
Gapped my plugs to .35 like the FSM calls for, installed my new plug wires after cleaning up the terminals on the coil. Fired it up, found a few vacuum leaks from cracked hoses. Fixed those with what I had on hand, and installed a new PCV. Ran a whole lot better now. I also installed the factory snorkel and hardware that was missing.
I then had to sit down for a while. I was still not feeling well. So I sat in the passenger’s seat and pulled the wal-mart stereo that came with the car. Whoever put it in should not have been allowed to. He just stripped everything and twisted stuff together until it worked somewhat, and then finished the install with a combination of electrical and scotch tape. In the process of all this, he had blown the cigarette lighter fuse, dash light fuse (probably from where these leads were left bare and dangling), dome light fuse, cut the factory connectors off, and broke the antenna wire. Wow. (and these people are allowed to vote!!)
He also didn’t even install the stereo to the dash adapter correctly. I don’t know how he figured this out, but he used the removal tools to wedge the mounting collar and stereo to the adapter.
So I chased the factory wiring and hooked up the stereo with crimp connectors, as well as mounted it properly and replaced the fuses. Only the two rear speakers worked, and those intermittently as they were blown. Just like the fronts. So ill toss in those previously mentioned cheap pioneers I have taking up room n my storage shelf.
When I felt better later on, I decided to work on the door. Again, a non strenuous, sick-guy-trying-to-make-progress kind of task. Pulled the door panel, which was held on with balls of duct tape and drywall screws, to watch it fall apart in my hands. I figured before I even started on the door innards, I could sit in a chair and work on the panel. Using some 3M super weather-strip adhesive and spring clamps, I started to glue it back together.
I also took this opportunity to swap out the glove box door that kept falling off. The plastic flap that Chrysler considers a hinge had split in half, leaving only the latch holding the door on. I had scored one at pull-a-part, and it only took three bolts. Before: After
I also spent some quality time inside the door at this point. I figured out why the window wouldn’t roll up and down: it was zip tied into place. Apparently the hardware for the tracks had come loose, and instead of buying a few nuts and spending some time, someone zip tied it. I had a coffee can full of nuts, so I found some that fit. All the parts were there except for one glass retainer. Ill have to figure out if a 4 door is the same and get one. Other than that, the window is back together and operable. Still needs lubed and adjusted, but then again, so does the drives side. And as a bonus, now that the window track parts aren’t rammed into the linkage, the door latches a lot better and easier
Now onto the harder stuff that I had to wait until I had more energy for. Things like shifter bushings, spindles, etc. I did the bushings first because I figured they’d be easier. When I looked at the ends of my cables, I learned that there weren’t ANY bushings in them. Just plastic loops. Saved me the trouble of removing the old bushings, I guess. I got the two fronts in, but have not done the sifter end yet. But what a difference!!! It feels so much better. Still feels slightly notchy and balky, so I may have to pull and lube/adjust the cables after I do the sifter end. I then moved on to the spindle. When I pulled things apart, this is what I found: A trashed rotor Trashed pads And a SEVERLY trashed spindle (no lie, all the parts fell out when I pulled the spindle nut. These were all the balls left to the bearing. Scary, aint it!)
I have no idea how many miles he put on it after the wheel bearing started going bad. But it did a number. I popped the CV shaft, as I knew it was shot as well. That’s when I learned that on a Mopar FWD, the trans lube will come out after removing the CV axle. I let it drain, and finished it out by pulling the drain plug. Reinstalled the drain plug and axle
And filled it with genuine Mopar trans fluid
Couple of neat pictures of the factory adjusters for camber on the front struts:
Got it all buttoned back up with the junkyard spindle and hub (from a 99. has a different hub thickness and bearing retention, but its what they had. I’m going to TRY to save the original ACR spindle and hub, but I'm not holding my breath), filled the tires to 35 PSI cold, and took one last slide under the car to give it a visual before test drive that’s when I discovered that the front motor mount was shot, and the rear bobble sheared.
I have ordered prothane inserts for the motor mounts, and ill weld the bobble back together for the time being.
So, I was off for a test drive. I was really tired, and just wanted to try out my new car. Got two blocks from the house before the noises started. Turned it around to come home, and they got worse. Apparently I forgot to tighten the wheels down. Take this as a safety note: don’t work when feverish!!!! You WILL make mistakes. And some of them could kill you, or damage your car.
Luckily I only lost one lug nut and boogered up a stud. I had to walk back to the house to get a torque wrench and socket, and upon returning and tightening the wheels, the car wouldn’t start. I figure it was god’s way of telling me to double check all my work.
So I parked it for the day to check my work in the morning.
Sunday after church, I got home and changed, fixed the loose battery terminal I had created when I was doing the booger bushings (took em loose so as to not arc from the battery), and went for another test drive. This one went very well. The clutch felt good, the shifter much improved, the car pretty tight and solid. Check engine light came on about a block from home. So I went to the gas station about 3 miles from here, filled it wit fresh gas and some sea foam, and went to see my buddy at o-reilleys. I was honestly expecting an 02 sensor code based upon what the previous owner told me. It wasn’t. It was a P1390, timing belt slipped a tooth. I had visually checked the timing belt to see if it looked fresh, and it does. So I'm assuming he screwed up the cam timing, which as I understand from my research is easy to do. No biggie.
The motor cleared of smoking within a mile or two, and has some decent power. Not what I was expecting though, and I’m hoping retiming the cams and gutting the stopped up cat converter fixes that.
I spent Monday driving t around town getting a feel for it, and took it the 20 miles to my dads place Monday night to park it on the lift for the mounts and timing belt job. Were planning on working on that Friday. I also got a set of free tires to replace the redneck racing slicks that are currently on it. Ill be picking those up tomorrow night after work. They’re a set that were on my Camry, went to a buddy of mines truck, and now are coming back for the neon.
I still haven’t had enough seat time in the car to decide whether or not I want to keep it.
Next steps:
- Fix tires. Right front started to separate
- Fix speedometer. It only works intermittently.
- flush and bleed brakes
- flush radiator
- change oil
- install motor mounts
- re-time cams
- gut cat and make 02 simulator
- align
- drive
- Drive some more.
Ill be back with more when I do more.
Again, as always, please leave feedback.
Michael