life of my 96 neon with a 2.4 swap!

[08kgraves]

or i could get them at a junkyard for $50 for the set

[08kgraves]

alright, gonna go see what i can pick up at a junkyard. be on later ladies and gents

[08kgraves]

So, went junkyarding again. I had the option of $25 a fender plus $2 core charge and then tax. Or the other big junkyard said they wanted $45, well I was able to talk them down to $35 flat and it was already pulled so I went that route. They also wanted $50 for a trunk lid but the only ones they had all had the factory spiked which I didn't want. But the u pull it yard only wanted $28 with core charge plus tax. So I went there to go get one. Turns out they changed their hours so I walked in 5 min before they closed. I looked over at their little parts table and seen what looked to he neon headlights. So I start checking them out and it says 99 neon on the bottom which means they fit any 95-99 neon. Well they happend to be almost brand new Chrome housing halo projector lights with clear corners as well. I asked how much and they said $50 so I took one out to compare to mine to make sure it was correct and they were. Being as I kind of wanted some anyway I couldn't pass up the deal. I looked them up on my phone and the cheapest set I found was $130 so I got the hook up. I'll post pics later cus I'm at my friends pizza place delivering since his 2 drivers both quit yesterday. So I'm down to make some cash flow lol

[08kgraves]

so pretty much how it sits now. still working on getting the overspray off. but pretty much just got a second job at my friends pizza shop so now i have even less spare time....... but more money lol







see how the fender is all sorts of jacked up right beside the headlight? yeah, this is why i bought a new one lol



new lights at a steal of a price for what they are and the condition

[08kgraves]

gotta gas up the daily for my unufisual job later. and im gonna try and get something done to the neon. atleast finish scraping windows and get weather seals back on.

[Shadow7g]

One thing ffor sure about the first Gen neon... the headlights were horrible!

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2

[08kgraves]

fresh out the car wash lol. and yes my friend is chilling in the car lol









old headlights............



new perrrrdy headlights lol

[1979chevy.]

Car is looking really good, are you going to paint the hood matt black like the rest of the car?
Headlights make a huge difference.

[1979chevy.]

Looks like your friend will be baking in the car if he stays too much longer haha.

[08kgraves]

Yeah it hit prbly 100 degrees in the 4 minutes we closed the Windows for the auto wash lol. But yeah everything will be going flat black eventually

[08kgraves]

ok, so the car has been giving me a few minor issues.

first: any day that its like above 90 F. outside the car does not want to run after about 20 minutes. it will litterly bog down loosing power until it gets so bad it will actually shut off. after the car cools down some it starts back up again. doesnt overheat on the gauge at all or anything. and any day that its cooler the car runs just fine the entire day. now i have been talking to the original builder of the car and he was having the same problem. he said theres a vent tube to the old charcoal canister that i guess was supposed to be vented but he capped it off. so is this my problem? i dont know just yet, need to play with it more.



second: car started to overheat the other day on me for first time. been smelling antifreeze and i did have to add a good amount. well ive been checking my floor board and it hasnt been wet or anything (carpet pulled out to reduce weight). there is still a rubber flap like deal on the firewall which i lifted up today. on the backside of that there is foam. well, its soaked so looks like i need a new heater core. this is probably also why my defrost doesnt work for poop and actually seems to fog the window up more when i turn it on.


thats the big things for right now.

[67Mustang]

ok, so the car has been giving me a few minor issues.

first: any day that its like above 90 F. outside the car does not want to run after about 20 minutes. it will litterly bog down loosing power until it gets so bad it will actually shut off. after the car cools down some it starts back up again. doesnt overheat on the gauge at all or anything. and any day that its cooler the car runs just fine the entire day. now i have been talking to the original builder of the car and he was having the same problem. he said theres a vent tube to the old charcoal canister that i guess was supposed to be vented but he capped it off. so is this my problem? i dont know just yet, need to play with it more.



second: car started to overheat the other day on me for first time. been smelling antifreeze and i did have to add a good amount. well ive been checking my floor board and it hasnt been wet or anything (carpet pulled out to reduce weight). there is still a rubber flap like deal on the firewall which i lifted up today. on the backside of that there is foam. well, its soaked so looks like i need a new heater core. this is probably also why my defrost doesnt work for poop and actually seems to fog the window up more when i turn it on.


thats the big things for right now.

I bet it's for sure your fuel pump. Those are very typical symptoms of a fuel pump that should be replaced. Next time the car bogs down and looses power and stalls, turn the key to the ON position. Chances are you should hear your fuel pump running. This is another way to enforce that your fuel pump is faulty.

However it could also be the fuel pump relay. Another way you can narrow it down (if your car has a fuel pump in the tank) when your car is low on gas, it will behave differently because the fuel pump isn't submerged in gas.

[lubecakes]

I'm thinking fuel pump as well, but it could be loose crud accumulating on the fuel pickup as you drive. I doubt the charcoal canister has anything to do with it.

It's probably a 1 line fuel system so make sure it isn't routed near anything that gets too hot, could cause a vapor lock situation.

[08kgraves]

i dont know, i had a cheap vacuum line on the car sucking shut on me before when it did the same thing, so im thinking maybe theres another one.

but yeah, my heater core went out, then i seen my alternator belt was loose (only belt on car now) and went to adjust it to find the lower pivot bolt was loose, along with all the bolts holding the lower bracket to block, and then i loosened the top bolt for the adjustment to find the upper bracket was broken. so once i loosened it the alternator just decided it would be cool to pivot down until it was basically not attached to the car even......................... yeah................ found that out right after i bypassed the heater core for right now.

[08kgraves]

ok, went to the drag strip last night and right when i got there it started doing the bogging down issue again. threw my fuel gauge on it and its right at 49psi where its supposed to be so its for sure not fuel. i do hear like a weird sucking noise that sounds like its from the general valve cover area but i cant figure out where exactly. after i shut car off a while and it cooled down along with cooling down outside some it ran great. track was super busy so i left after 2 passes since i had plans to go see a movie with my friend. but i ended up running like 16.5 first pass with wheel spin and hop. the second pass i ran a 16.1 still spinning wheels and hopping a bit but not as much.

the important thing about the night was me racing my friends mustang both times........................

and beating him both times

2 more cylinders, 2 less doors, 1.4L bigger engine, and my car was loaded full of stuff and his was empty and he still lost

his was a 95 mustang 3.8L v6 engine, 5 speed transmission, headers, high flow cats, and a single stage flowmaster race muffler.

mine obviously is a 96 neon with 2.4L engine out of a 2000 stratus. 99 neon R/T transmission, wheels, pcm, interior. other upgrades are a no 90 lower intake manifold, hand ported upper intake manifold, MP underdrive pully, MP stage 1 pt cruiser ceramic clutch, everything removed but alternator, booger bushings, urithan motor/ transmission inserts all around with solid bobble stut, head shaved .035", and muffler cut off. also has kyb grt struts in rear (fronts need installed still) and hate rate x force coil springs with fronts needing installed still.


mine may be far from stock but a mustang with a bigger motor got beat by a neon.............. and thats all that matters at the end of the day lol

[Double G]

The 3.8L's are dogs and do not have much power (stock ~145hp)--even with the power adders; in addition your car weighs probably 750-1000lbs less given what you had in it. I would not doubt that power-wise your engines are about the same.
I would be impressed if you beat a GT. Yes at the end of the day it may matter who won, but also who has more power and better power/weight ratio.

[08kgraves]

im not sure how much that car weights, i do know that mine weighs 2,300lbs empty, but was far from empty. and my car has right around the same hp ratting as that i believe. i want to say 140 or 150 at the crank.

mine also has cold air intake which i forgot to mention before.

[Double G]

mine also has cold air intake which i forgot to mention before.

Mustang may have been around 3100 lbs (http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1994-1...ifications.htm)

[08kgraves]

The 3.8L's are dogs and do not have much power (stock ~145hp)--even with the power adders; in addition your car weighs probably 750-1000lbs less given what you had in it. I would not doubt that power-wise your engines are about the same.
I would be impressed if you beat a GT. Yes at the end of the day it may matter who won, but also who has more power and better power/weight ratio.

145 hp and 215 ft lb torque for the mustang is what i just found.

147hp for one option and 150 hp for the other option for the stratus motor
cant find the torque rating for the stratus motor right now though.

just found a site saying the mustang weighs in at 3077lbs though. so im about 700lbs lighter is all.

[Double G]

Good info here: http://www.allpar.com/mopar/24.html

[tbonemcniel]

I applaud your efforts. You seem to be on the right track, fixing both drivetrain and exterior issues with the car. Time is coming soon for some boost I say!

Btw, my pickup runs 10's.

[08kgraves]

Good info here: http://www.allpar.com/mopar/24.html

that reminds me............... the chain for the balance shafts inside my engine has been removed to free up horsepower as well lol.

[08kgraves]

I applaud your efforts. You seem to be on the right track, fixing both drivetrain and exterior issues with the car. Time is coming soon for some boost I say!

Btw, my pickup runs 10's.

yeah after i get all the little things fixed i want to work more on making it go even faster

as of right now need to fix the hot weather running issue, the rear brakes, heater core, driverside outer tie rod end, winshield, either get a manual rack and pinion or put power steering back on, get me some new sway bar link bushings, and work towards getting my aftermarket front coils and struts on.


oh and get my other stock dohc exhaust put on so its not so loud, and its not hanging down all retarded anymore.

[08kgraves]

my two neons together

[08kgraves]

what causes this anyone know? the bouncing tachometer

[08kgraves]

so the neon let me down today. i had to jump start her................... im wondering if i have an issue other than the battery itself? because once in a while my battery light would come on and i checked the codes once in a while when it was doing this. according to the code my battery was being over charged. not sure if the charge is regulated by alternator or pcm, and not sure what it considers as an overcharge? because anything under 15V and above 12.6v is technically a safe charge range. they actually say 15.4 but thats pushing it to much for me and most dont charge past 14.7V. i think i need to put in a voltage gauge so i can monitor this issue more closely before i get to involved in it all. i do want to go through and re run all the wires for the relocated battery as well as redo the mount. the mount is kind of questionably mounted to the car lol.

[lubecakes]

Voltage regulator. It's probably inside the alternator.

[08kgraves]

more than likely. i thought i heard something about it being in the pcm or something though. so ill have to look into that a little more. but im wondering if an under drive pully would cause a problem. because i have an underdrive pully on car lol. i want to hook up a voltage gauge though so i have something other than just a light when theres a problem lol. and if the voltage regulator is in the pcm then i need to find someway to wire one in seperate, cus rt neons are not so easy to find a pcm for lol.

[lubecakes]

I doubt it's inside any ecu, pcm, or bcm. An underdrive pulley won't cause this issue either. The only thing that can happen with them is under-charging at low rpm.
If the regulator isn't inside the alternator you can always rig a different alternator that does have one.

[08kgraves]

yeah thats what i was thinking. dont know if ill have time to mess with it before winter much. my big concern right now is finishing my 97 daily so i can go and look for a job lol. currently the top of the engine is sitting in my bedroom on my little work table and im putting the valves back in it lol

[08kgraves]

i wanna go fast, i wanna go fast..................

so after doing some talking over on the neon forum i found out some things.......... one being that i need to run my slicks or up the size of my street tires if i want any sort of respectable 1/4 time. my time is so bad because of my 60' times.

the other thing i figured out is that i need a "driver mod" meaning basically that i just need to get better and improve my skills with the car. which i knew that already, i mean ive ran maybe a handful of days at the strip ever and only 2 times in this car lol. also found out that im shifting to early lol. oh and theres a problem with my transmission i was shifting at 6k for 2 reasons, one being that any higher and my car doesnt like to go into 2nd gear (rest of gears are fine), and 2 being because thats where the power was dropping off on my other neon when i dyno'ed it in college. but that neon was all stock as well. yeah everyone says the same thing......... i should be shifting more around the range of 7k minimum more like 7500rpm's lol.

and for those wondering yes my car revs that high lol

so next summer i will have to play some more and fiddle around with the car at track

[1979chevy.]

i wanna go fast, i wanna go fast..................

so after doing some talking over on the neon forum i found out some things.......... one being that i need to run my slicks or up the size of my street tires if i want any sort of respectable 1/4 time. my time is so bad because of my 60' times.

the other thing i figured out is that i need a "driver mod" meaning basically that i just need to get better and improve my skills with the car. which i knew that already, i mean ive ran maybe a handful of days at the strip ever and only 2 times in this car lol. also found out that im shifting to early lol. oh and theres a problem with my transmission i was shifting at 6k for 2 reasons, one being that any higher and my car doesnt like to go into 2nd gear (rest of gears are fine), and 2 being because thats where the power was dropping off on my other neon when i dyno'ed it in college. but that neon was all stock as well. yeah everyone says the same thing......... i should be shifting more around the range of 7k minimum more like 7500rpm's lol.

and for those wondering yes my car revs that high lol

so next summer i will have to play some more and fiddle around with the car at track

Take all the cpu controlled stuff out of there and drop in one of these - http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...9QEwAQ&dur=380

[08kgraves]

do whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa that is freaking sweet! didnt know they made a v configuration 4 cylinder engine................. what is that supposed to be for a utv or something im guessing? what kind of power those things put down?

[Light351]

I applaud your efforts. You seem to be on the right track, fixing both drivetrain and exterior issues with the car. Time is coming soon for some boost I say!

Btw, my pickup runs 10's.

Its not just any pick up tbone lol

[08kgraves]

so i want to add a voltage gauge and i seen one on ebay i was considering.

heres stock setup...........



and heres the one i found. it allows you to add a gauge on each side of the cluster.

[1979chevy.]

do whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa that is freaking sweet! didnt know they made a v configuration 4 cylinder engine................. what is that supposed to be for a utv or something im guessing? what kind of power those things put down?

I know right!? I'm not sure what the hp ratings are for that engine but I could see it putting out 250 with the stuff that's on it.
Pretty big blower on that thing
And yeah they actually make those, Ford did quite a few of them back in the day.

[08kgraves]

ok ok ok............... ford might have gotten a little bit cooler lol, not much because they dont make them anymore from what im gathering, but a little cooler none the less.

[08kgraves]

ok so who like how i have to jump start my car? lol could do it easier but i get best connection here and bumper was only zip tied right now




since ive been having charging issues with my battery i decided it was time to pull it out. from what im gathering the alternator is putting out 13.9V at idle and thats at the battery so unless its getting overcharged then my problem is the battery. since fully charged is 12.6V (2.1V per cell (6 cells)) and anything up to 15.4 is technically safe but anything over 14.7V worries me 13.9 charge rate should be perfect and not have any issue. well im thinking i may have a dead cell in my battery because i keep getting a random overcharge light sometimes (only when going down the highway) and my battery is now dying over night. when i took it out the other day it was at 10.35V so if it was just a dropped cell it would go from 12.6 down to 10.5V and a dead cell could easily be pulling it down to the 10.35V



also i noticed before my battery was moving around more then i felt safe with. so i wanted to go through and redo my mount for the relocation. but here is how it is right now. i still need to get pics of it off the car.



also decided it was time to yank off the beat up fender to fit the junk yard one i picked up awhile back. need pics of the fitment as is and the two mounting tabs in the doorjam are bent and need straitened. also the clips are missing to hold bolts in for these two locations.



i will try and get more pics up as soon as possible of the battery tray off and stuff.

[1979chevy.]

You need to coat that undercarriage with 3M undercoat, great stuff, sand it down and spray it on. The stuff is very thick and durable. I've had it on my project for about 3 months and I drive on a gravel road a good bit.



The picture is Rustoelum undercoat which works almost as well but I would go with the 3M.

[08kgraves]

oohhhh shiny lol, i might have to but the car is summer only now pretty much so i might not bother.