This is a cool thread, checking in is a new and interesting nostalgia trip for me.
Did you clean up the casting flash in the water pump opening of the block?
This is a cool thread, checking in is a new and interesting nostalgia trip for me.
Did you clean up the casting flash in the water pump opening of the block?
Thank you for the kind words. I had considered smoothing the flash down to nothing since it's a known problem area in Neons, but mine didn't really look bad enough to warrant it. I was more worried about not getting all the metal shavings out of the area if I did, than losing a fraction of a HP leaving it in there. Actually come to think of it, the machine shop may have done it for me since my block looks like some 'after' pictures I see floating around.
Before/after examples taken from neons.org:
Way more excited for this, than I outta be.
Today was an engine day, attacking the cam timing. I was really nervous about this due to all the variables but some ignorance and perseverance should get it together. First step - fix those cam fixture tool pins that don't fit the cam holes.
For this, I deployed the tactical lathe (I didn't even know we had it but apparently we have everything). Some emery cloth and some trial & error got the pins to sit nicely.
Then I timed up the engine according to stock specs. I wasn't sure how much the cams and gears were going to affect this but I set the gears at zero and applied the belt like a normal car. It worked!
Mechanical timing belt tensioner set according to factory specs. The slots line up and the pin is centered - timing belt tension is correct.
I really want this car to run properly with the Crane cams. Dialing in cam timing is critical for this, and I will hit the dyno when the car is done to maximize the setup. The setup has to be set to true TDC all around first. Dial indicator and degree wheel deployed!
This setup went really smooth, actually. You just lock the cams at TDC with the cam tool and sweep the crank to find TDC with the cam gears free wheeling. I found that the piston dwells around 3 degrees at TDC, so I cut that number in half and locked the cams at the middle of the dwell sweep. The final cam timing numbers are in line with what I've seen on neons.org before - a 0.025" head shave advances the cam timing approximately 1 degree on each wheel. So with the cam gears each retarded by 1 degree, it's dead on.
Exhaust side:
Intake side:
And with that, the cam timing is all set! I really panicked about this with the stubborn crank sprocket, head shave, aftermarket cams and cam gears. But it all makes sense and I'm confident it's good. I threw everything together temporarily to see what it looks like; the timing cover still needs to be holesawed to give access to the cam gears on the dyno. I'll hack my crummy original cover, then revert to a full timing cover in good condition once the cam timing is all done.
A quick side job was to get the troggle body ready. Since the manual transmission Neons only have a 49mm throttle body and automatics have a 52mm TB, obviously I went with the latter to match the ported manifold. I decided to do this job properly by swapping the manual transmission half shaft, otherwise I'd have the ATX Neon's weird throttle curve that exaggerates low-pedal input. A quick clean-up and swapping to all the proper brackets, it's good to go.
Other than some piddly stuff with the intake manifold, the engine is effectively done and we'll move it back to my house and get it combined with the transmission soon. Stay tuned!
My Neon still isn't running, but this past weekend we got my brother's Mustang (HiPo 289 for you Mustang nerds) running on its freshly rebuilt engine instead. We rebuilt the engine before but the original block had a crack in it (I’m sure the previous owner just forgot to tell us) and dumped coolant into the oil. Hopefully this block has better luck. We chased electrical gremlins for a while - the original alternator doesn’t charge in the car but tests okay on every bench test. No clue why.
It’s still on break-in but it’s extremely rowdy with 4.11:1 gears (original) and concours reproduction exhaust that doesn’t actually have mufflers (also surprisingly original).
In neon land, we have small stuff.
The brake master cylinder is totally dry and needed to be bled. Turns out it probably should be replaced, too. I got a Cardone replacement from RockAuto a while back (just in case), and noticed that my rear prop valves have different thread sizes. Is that normal?
I’ll start the lovely task of bench bleeding shortly.
The troublesome door is back together with working regulator and closes *beautifully*. The only issue is that the Hertz speakers are too deep and need a lot of spacer to clear the window, so now the window crank rubs on the panel. Can’t win.
The passenger’s door panel is two panels cobbled together badly, so I need to find a way to combine them properly. I’m also working on closing up the huge door gap to the quarter panel, hopefully by next update.
I think I mentioned it before, but the alignment let go on the car previously. I still don’t know why, but it toed out significantly one day. I bought inner & outer tie rods and went to swap them, but found the inners were new and came with the reman Shadow rack I installed in 2012 (the original rack was truly broken). The outer tie rods were a breeze to change, and hopefully were the problem.
Still waiting on the control arms and steering knuckles to come back with fresh stuff pressed in.
Next, I went to find the new clutch clip I got to get the clutch fork ready for the engine/trans install and couldn’t find it, so I called Mopar. They said 19 days to get one in. Then I remembered the old one was still intact (just with a broken off pivot inside it), so maybe it was still usable. I got the old pivot out, cleaned off the many layers of caked oil, and it’s actually totally fine. No 19 day delay for me!
Lastly, I had some old friends delivered by my good buddy last night. These used to be in my turbo Neon R/T, which I sold to him, and eventually sold the seats to him, as well. The matching rear seat is in the car but I realized I have no clue where the rear seat belt bolts went, so I have to hit the junkyard to get replacements. This just feels right.
It was also decided that we’re going to bring our ACRs out in the spring for HPDE. We’re both in our mid/upper 30s but neither one of us has ever been on track with our own cars. That’s got to change.
Since the last update, the seats are in. Sorry for the poor lighting, they look a lot better in person. I kind of like the blue brace peeking through the rear, a bit of a Type-R look I guess.
Last week, we trucked the completed engine over from my dad's place to my place and got it set up to go back in. I had hoped that it would be in last weekend, so I'm a few days late, but better late than never with this car.
So here it is, with header and accessories installed. Compare again from day 1:
The coolant pipes don't fit great with the manifold in place, but they fit well enough to go with it.
Anyway, mag_ner dropped by again to help me with the install yesterday. We went to install the clutch and found that the flexplate was immediately a no-go - it was from a PT Cruiser 2.4L Turbo with the wrong clutch bolt pattern! I dipped out of work early for an emergency trip to the junkyard today to fix that.
Installed with a new AMS (reboxed LuK) N/A PT Cruiser clutch kit, my $42 RockAuto special. It's perfect.
A new clutch pivot ball was punched in, along with the old fork and new TOB. I had all the correct hardware for everything and all the parts are in good condition, so it went together super easily. What a relief. I know some Neon owners pitch the two engine-to-transmission braces, but I kept them. This system is as good as I can do, and I'm pretty proud of it.
And the engine went in very smoothly, as well. The Prothane motor mount inserts gave no issues at all.
The only speedbump I need to overcome right now is the front motor mount bolt snapped off. This thing is an absolute bastard, gonna be fun drilling it out. The clutch pedal also has a bit of free play that I hope will be taken out when the other mounts are in place, but I think it's going to need to be shimmed/preloaded. It's miles ahead of where it was, at least.
It's the home stretch, I want it running and driving at 100% by the end of September.
In reply to CanadianCD9A :
Can you pull the door panel off and take a dremel cut off wheel or something similar and make a new groove in the window crank splines a little further out. This way you can clip the window crank handle to the new groove. Might give just enough clearance so it doesn't rub.
Back with another update.
You'll see an aluminum radiator now in place. It's an eBay cheap-o rad and the shroud needed some massaging to fit properly. It bolted in, plus some Gates hoses and new MOPAR hose clamps. The cooling system is effectively done at this point.
The engine bay is mostly complete now, too. Since the last post, the fuel system is back in with new injector seals and less crud.
I re-wired the car with a junkyard DOHC wiring harness, since mine was absolutely roached. I had to modify and fix a few wires, including extending the coolant temp sensor wiring to reach the new sensor location. I also installed a new fan control module, since they are known to go bad frequently and I'm pretty sure mine failed, which led to the overheat. With a good wiring harness & new module, new CTS and wholesale change on the coolant system, I'm hoping the overheating issues are a thing of the past.
Next, a good friend of mine (GRMer Run Away, with the Nissan VQ35-powered Neon) came by and gave me a hand with some snapped bolts - two battery tray bolts, and the bastard FMM bolt. I think the FMM bolt took him around 3 hours, it's not a fun job. He ran a tap through the original captive nut and it's fully functional.
The FMM is now in and fits perfectly with the Prothane inserts. My bobble strut assembly is weird, though - my car didn't have a bobble when I bought it, since it had nowhere to mount it on the trans. I eventually got a '95 bobble bracket to make it happen. I had an old Vitor solid bobble and when I went to adjust the jam nuts to put it in place, I found that they were absolutely fused to the rod, and so I now have 4 jam nuts on it to make it work. It seems like it's got the proper load on it, and I'm not messing with it anymore.
With the battery tray hacked up for the Iceman (still pending permanent installation since the tray bolt holes still need to be cleaned up), I fired up the ACC setting to test the stereo, and it didn't explode! I wasn't expecting much from $50 Hertz speakers and a Chinese head unit, but I'm genuinely shocked how good it sounds. It's a super simple setup but holy moly it's effective. I can definitely recommend Hertz X165 6.5" speakers and X690 6x9 speakers on deck power for a low-buck setup. It sounds even better on 45x4 power. The Chinese head unit is going to take some getting used to, but it's loaded with features and the Bluetooth audio is good.
On the subject of the interior, I got to try out the new clutch setup and the Maddog STS. The clutch has a tiny bit of free play but it feels good overall. The Maddog STS is pretty stiff on a dry transmission, and wow is it direct. No slop whatsoever and it has really short throws on a 50% reduction. I actually haven't driven my own manual trans car since 2018 or so, yikes.
On to the front suspension. I had new wheel hubs pushed in since the old ones were a mismatch of (1) original ACR hub and (1) crusty aftermarket thin hub. I also had new ball joints pressed in to cover all the bases.
Scrubbed, cleaned and painted. The old Prothane bushings will stick around.
Suspension all in with new tie rods and some SPC 81260 camber bolts. I have no clue what the alignment is going to need, I'll just drop it off like this and ask for the spec I want out of it. The calipers are RockAuto replacements but I'm reusing the Hawk HPS pads that were on the car before. I also stepped back from Prothane front sway bar links to some Moog OE-type links. Apparently poly bushings in the links are too stiff, which isn't great for geometry.
The latest issue I discovered while trying to align the passenger's side door is that the upper bolt hole in the door on the top hinge is stripped, which makes the door all floppy. I assume a lot of the alignment issues are coming from this point. I'll try to helicoil it to fix it, fingers crossed.
It's the home stretch. This is the to-do list to get it done:
-Install brake master cylinder and bleed brakes
-Alignment
-Exhaust fabrication (modify stock piping to install header and new muffler)
-Finish battery tray installation and re-assemble fuse box, etc
-Add all fluids
-Fix passenger's side door (and door panel), install fender & splash shields
-RUN IT!
Blunder said:In reply to CanadianCD9A :
Can you pull the door panel off and take a dremel cut off wheel or something similar and make a new groove in the window crank splines a little further out. This way you can clip the window crank handle to the new groove. Might give just enough clearance so it doesn't rub.
It's worth a try. I think there's a better solution than double-stacking speaker adapters, it's not my best work and I can do better once I actually put some effort into it.
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