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Who loves obscure domestic econoboxes that utterly dominated SCCA IT and ProSolo for years? I do. Well, really just one. Unsurprisingly, I allowed first Neon ACR project thread to fall into the archives. If you have archives, it’s worth a read if only to watch the seasons pass, my commitments fail, and the paint deteriorate over the course of the thread. I have a fundamental problem with buying something, tearing it to its component pieces, and getting really excited about how I'm going to reassemble it. A quick recap:quote:Midway through 1994, Chrysler began offering the Neon ACR, a base-model SOHC sedan equipped with aggressively-valved Arvin dampers, five-lug hubs, four-wheel disc brakes without ABS, 22/16mm front/rear swaybars, 16:1 steering rack, 3.94 final drive, adjustable camber (vehicles were shipped unaligned), improved cooling system, radio delete, and minimal insulation. An SCCA license was required to order a 1995 ACR and a rear defroster was the only option (though later years would introduce A/C and radio as additional boxes on the order form). For late 1995, the ACR sedan (SOHC-only) was joined by a DOHC-only coupe, and both versions received thicker hubs. 1996 purchase no longer required SCCA licensure and 1997 brought rebound-adjustable Koni yellow dampers as standard, though the re-alignment warranty rate was so high due to incorrect dealer prep for unknowing customers that the camber adjustability was removed during the 1998 model year. 1999 was the last year of the first-generation Neon. By the end of production, the ACR had won three consecutive SCCA Showroom Stock C national titles (1995-1997) and dominated Pro Solo and Solo II. In early 2015 bought a 1996 Plymouth ACR with the National Championship Interior Package (featuring a leather wheel and leather-wrapped horse cock) and air conditioning. It once won an SCCA Nationals Event in October 1995, so I proceeded the flog the loving piss out of it through 2015, not knowing what I was doing but earning the admiring mumbles and knowing nods of every greybeard at every autocross. With a freshened factory suspension, it took second- and third-in-class for 2016 (beaten by a Focus ST since we skipped two events).       Somewhere along the line I bought another ACR, a late-production 1999 Plymouth, from its original owner, as I feared that it would be sold into a life of mobile meth cooking like every other first-gen Neon. After a year or so, I sold it to a collector in the Northeast, thereby funding everything else I could ever want to do my 1996. This included buying all 16 remaining OEM Koni Yellow struts for the first-gen Neon, beginning my horde.   End of recap. I bought the ACR knowing that it needed paintwork, but underestimated the rabbithole that I'd be diving headlong into.  STEP 1: Excise PO electrical fuckeryI started disassembling the car in January with a simple goal: clean out the debris-filled unibody pockets under the fenders and redo a scary stereo installation. What I found was a labyrinth of tweaker poo poo. After discovering that most of the M8 bolts mounting the dash support were sheared off at the first engaged thread, I started finding... more wiring. Extra wiring, stuff that shouldn't be there, either held in place with vampire taps or just wrapped around scratched-bare sections of the OE harnesses. I ended up pulling an entire redundant column harness with at least 100ft of twisted wiring, and lying on my back, found a cheapo toggle switch positioned next to the OBDII interface. Really suspicious. Oh hey, a DIY immobilizer! With an interrupt scratched into the fuel pump circuit that runs under the carpet, under the leaky frameless window seals! And power door lock actuators in a car that was never available with them! gently caress. In the dash I found an stereo shop invoice from July 1997, reading "No Green (BONG IT) Interier darkness it seems it be better". Dope. I pulled every inch of wiring with the help of Garage Dogge.        This car was not equipped with the stereo from the factory, so yanking a semi-functional 1995 Blaupunkt and speakers is no loss. But the rest of the wiring spooked me into peeling away more layers of this poo poo onion. I gutted the car of everything except what was necessary to make it roll, and tricked forums user and coworker MonkeyNutz into painting it for me, thereby stopping any work on his decade-long Opel GT project. More on that later. STEP 2: Improving the drivelineAs mentioned, the ACR sedans were all SOHC 2.0L to run in SCCA SSB, while the coupes were DOHC to run in SSC. The DOHC produces an additional 18hp and 4lb-ft, but this is really only attributable to its higher redline and more aggressive calibration, requiring 92 octane. Chrysler offered off-highway-only ECUs with far more aggressive mapping and rev limits, but the benefits were roughly equal for the two engines. The SOHC is generally preferred as it produces more low-end torque and has a reputation for absorbing abuse in violation of the Geneva Convention. So what was my problem? I've got an early DOHC, which can experience catastrophic lubrication issues when kept at close to redline under high lateral G. The oil pump can outflow the head's ability to drain back into the sump above ~7500RPM, and what does drain back is poorly baffled within the pan. The resultant lack of flow at the rocker crown can quickly result in cracked rocker arms and dropped valves. Although on the original timing belt and used almost exclusively on-track for 96,000 miles, none of my sixteen rockers showed signs of fatigue. Knowing this was a lucky break given the countless near-9k excursions I'd subjected it to, I grabbed the 2001MY+ rockers from a 2.7L Chrysler application, as later models do a better job of lubricating the follower and are more modally resilient. Problem solved. Early last year, I ran across a freshly-rebuilt 2.4L mated to a freshly-rebuilt ACR-spec transmission with a new Quaife SRT4 LSD. It was too good a deal and I had it shipped from California. Supposedly the combo was used for two trackdays at Laguna Seca and Willow Springs. I paid about 15% of what it cost the PO to build, knowing that the trans was built by a reputable shop, and that the LSD alone was worth twice what I paid. An engine with $3k in Crower valvetrain was simply a bonus. The 2.4L, barring some other differences, is essentially a 2.0L with an extra 1/4" of deck height - everything above the block is identical. In my case, I had a PT Cruiser head and Stratus block. Such lineage! The LSD bumps the ACR out of stock class, but I'll see what alphabet soup class it ends up in. I believe it's probably good for ~195hp/165lbft at the wheels - not bad for a 2.4L.  I'm now attempting to figure out what precisely the gently caress was done to this 2.4L. As with the 2.0L, it uses a full bedplate rather than individual caps to retain the main bearings. This and the oil pump require sealing using an anaerobic sealant, not only due to oil exposure but since conventional sealants will add (in one axis) to whatever bearing clearances are intended. Haha, nope, PO used red RTV squeezed out with a ketchup bottle (Fram filter is just the icing on this cake):  Additionally, the 2.4L featured a large balance shaft assembly under the crank. It was oiled by a high-pressure circuit at the mating face of the bedplate. PO removed the balance shafts and did not spend $3 to tap and plug this circuit, thereby shooting oil back into the pan rather adding to the top end circuit. It's the machined face visible on the top right (small drill adjacent to the drainback hole) behind the vestigial chain gear, no longer needed without the balance shafts.  Knowing this, earlier today I pulled the valve cover to see what other surprises were baked in. Given the Crower S4 cams, springs, and ti valve retainers, I expect to see the 2.7L rockers and lifters required to support the additional rocker loading and lubrication demands of a very aggressive profile. Nope! Someone found early DOHC Neon rockers and lifters to install them in this engine, saving about $10. Neon/PT rockers are immediately apparent as the oil outlet is at the "tip" of the crown, rather than pointed at the follower as on the preferred 2.7L design. Additionally, engine vacuum may be very inconsistent with the Neon lifters. Several companies offer designs that leak down more effectively at idle, creating more vacuum, while maintaining pressure for full valve lift under load - not a durability concern, but necessary for proper air:fuel ratios at idle and throttle tip-in.  From what I read, the follower on the intake valve of Cylinder 1 is the Canary In the Coal Mine of lubrication issues, and I'm seeing an odd wear pattern on the follower itself with some surface erosion of the cam lobe. It passes a thumbnail test, but I wonder how quickly it'll degrade. Don't know what the hell I'm talking about with lobe failures or failure modes, but the upstream oil system build issues don't leave me confident that this is coincidental.   STEP 3: ReassembleMonkeyNutz has provided me with a gorgeous literal body-in-white:    That's as it sits currently, awaiting the funds and emotional fortitude needed to begin the next steps. Which are of course very minor:
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Aug 21, 2017 07:06
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Only passion could drive a man to these depths. That, or mental illness maybe. Reminds me of that Australian civic that captured the hearts of the internet. May the car gods smile upon you!
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Aug 21, 2017 08:17
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One of my old roommates had a 98 or 99 ACR (in the same blue color, even). That thing was insanely fun to throw around - got to drive it a few times, and it just reached up and slapped a grin onto my face every time. Hopefully that cam isn't too hosed, that looks a lot uglier than I expected after seeing "passed the fingernail test". OneOverZero posted:the preferred 2.7L design Also uh this is probably the only positive thing I've ever heard about the 2.7 (to be fair I'm not a Mopar guy, so most of what I know about their engines outside of the 4.0 and slant 6 is negative). randomidiot fucked around with this message at 09:32 on Aug 21, 2017 |
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Aug 21, 2017 09:29
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Were the trans and the 2.4L rebuilt by the same company? I can't imagine those guys are any better at setting gear lash than they are at building engines.
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Aug 21, 2017 15:18
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Are you using the motor in the autocross car? Cause that's gonna bump you to SMF. With a stock motor the diff would land you in FSP. ~SCCA~
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Aug 21, 2017 23:22
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Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:Also uh this is probably the only positive thing I've ever heard about the 2.7 (to be fair I'm not a Mopar guy, so most of what I know about their engines outside of the 4.0 and slant 6 is negative). Seat Safety Switch posted:Were the trans and the 2.4L rebuilt by the same company? I can't imagine those guys are any better at setting gear lash than they are at building engines. Crustashio posted:Are you using the motor in the autocross car? Cause that's gonna bump you to SMF. With a stock motor the diff would land you in FSP.   So yeah. I'll probably run FSP with 205/50 RE71Rs.
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Aug 25, 2017 00:46
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My dad was still autocrossing a good bit when these cars were new, so I remember hearing plenty about them. Looking good so far!
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Aug 25, 2017 08:47
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This is awesome. My first car was a 1995 neon sport coupe dohc. I loved that thing and I really want another to just sit in the collection, but you nailed it on the head with them going out to meth-duty pasture. Iirc we live close-by, is there a decent amount of autocrossing in the local area?
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Aug 25, 2017 13:56
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I never got to drive one because I was far too young to own a car but I always liked Neons, God knows why.
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Aug 25, 2017 17:31
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A side effect of the first-gen Neon's demographic is that nobody (aside from a enthusiastic microcosm of society of which I'm totally not a part ) seems to want OEM parts, or really anything that doesn't feature knockoff Monster logo poo poo. Behold, bourgeois fatcat OneOverZero now owns the world's reserve of turquoise hood badges for '95-'99 Plymouth Neons: Ground floor. Don't even know what the raised gel badges are for but I'm just gonna cash out in five years and retire on the interest anyway. Garage2Roadtrip posted:This is awesome. My first car was a 1995 neon sport coupe dohc. I loved that thing and I really want another to just sit in the collection, but you nailed it on the head with them going out to meth-duty pasture. Central Carolinas Region SCCA has events at ZMax Dragway outside Charlotte and at the Michelin Black Lake Proving Grounds in SC. I've only done local autocrosses but several people drive two to three hours to CCR ones as they're larger and more competitive. Maybe I'll be less leery of that when my timing belt isn't from Clinton's first term.
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Aug 28, 2017 01:08
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OneOverZero posted:A side effect of the first-gen Neon's demographic is that nobody (aside from a enthusiastic microcosm of society of which I'm totally not a part ) seems to want OEM parts, or really anything that doesn't feature knockoff Monster logo poo poo. Behold, bourgeois fatcat OneOverZero now owns the world's reserve of turquoise hood badges for '95-'99 Plymouth Neons: I'm down., and I'd like to flog on my AW11 some more after the taste of autocross I got up in Carlisle this year.
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Aug 28, 2017 03:40
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For once in my life, I'm going to keep a project thread out of the archives. Before putting the dash support back in, I cleaned and brushed it since I hate dealing with rusty stuff.  Not entirely certain what to do against the firewall, as the factory sound deadening is definitely getting toasted by the exhaust and I don't want the foam carpet backing to catch fire. I'm guessing that the mid-tube header has something to do with it, as its heatshield only keeps radiant heat off the cowl, not the entire firewall as the factory cast manifold's heatshield did. I might look into having some bosses welded to the header (or if all else fails, bolt some through the firewall itself) and tap them for a sheetmetal shield.  There are a number of steering racks available for Neons: 22:1 manual (base), 18:1 power (base option, midrange, export), or 16:1 power (Sport-R/T-ACR). 14:1 manual and power racks can be swapped from K-cars, but I went with a new OEM replacement ACR rack last year. Several months ago I shipped the original ~96,000mi rack to a shop that rebuilds them as manual racks. Tanks the body, installs new seals/rings, plugs all the redundant hydraulic ports, welds the quill to remove ~15-20deg of play, packs with appropriate grease, and coats with POR15. Apparently all of the slop I felt in the "worn" rack just came down to sludge (supposedly the worst he'd ever seen), blown seals, and shot inner tie rods, as the R&P themselves had only the slightest polishing. Probably not surprising given the use and neglect this car apparently saw.   OEM Koni Yellows were always black, but I always liked the corporate Koni yellow. So I repainted a set of Koni Yellows in Koni yellow (well, Duplicolor School Bus) since the guy who shipped all three sets did so with a blunderbuss full of ball bearings. Not the best use of time, but I like the result and paid like a dollar for a bunch of replacement stickers.  So it sits.  Unrelatedly, I walked back to my car the other day to discover that I had entered a bizarro alternate reality, one in which everyone has B5 Blue Challengers and I'm the only one not wearing MMA poo poo (sike, I'm always the only Challenger owner not wearing MMA poo poo). 
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Sep 24, 2017 23:54
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I didn't realize there was such a variance of steering racks in the Neon world, nor that there was so much Neon and K-car interchange.
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Sep 24, 2017 23:59
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Seat Safety Switch posted:I didn't realize there was such a variance of steering racks in the Neon world, nor that there was so much Neon and K-car interchange. I remember when I found out how much the Neon shared with the K-Car years ago. It was a big "well that explains some things" moment. Fuckin love 1st gen Neons, particularly the ACRs, glad to see this you back at it.
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Sep 25, 2017 03:48
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Mid 90’s wise the best gearboxes I enjoyed were neon/Altima/Honda/v6 Camaro/nsx (winner) No point to this except I always enjoyed delivering a manual Neon
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Sep 25, 2017 04:25
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I can definitely agree on the Altima gearbox. It wasn't bad at all for what it is. I can agree on some Hondas. On the Hondas... ehh the Civic gearboxes were always kinda weird for me. The Accord ones were butter smooth though, that famous "snick snick" action. Even on my 80s Accords. The gearbox in my Saturn is like rowing through a gravel pit, despite being cable operated. "Smooth" is not a word that gets associated with a Getrag F23. I've driven manual Neons - 1st and 2nd gen - and they really weren't bad gearboxes. One was an ACR, one was a poverty spec 2nd gen.
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Sep 25, 2017 07:45
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Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:
People swap F23's into Fiero's for greater torque capacity and SMOOTHER shifting. I can't say I really gave a poo poo about Neons before this thread, but it's really satisfying to see something torn apart and rebuilt by someone who cares about doing it well.
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Sep 26, 2017 19:39
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Flush with familial nostalgia, I took a break from all this bullshit to visit Scandinavia. Visit the Volvo museum in Göteborg for all the AI poo poo. It's maybe a twenty-minute bus ride from downtown, and easy to spend three or four hours meandering through.             My girlfriend left the Volvo museum even more devoted to the idea of an LS in a 740 or 940 wagon, so I've started the search for an LM7 or LQ4 to cam the bejesus out of. This has the added benefit of ridding my life of her god damned 2007 Fit, which is the most bewilderingly unreliable non-German vehicle I've ever had the displeasure of maintaining. Most importantly, I was glad to see that Sweden and Norway still appreciate the best vehicle ever designed, as I saw quite a few of them, and almost always on BFG KOs:  And returning from Denmark, I had a box containing all the colors of 1:24 ACRs that I didn't already have! It's 1995 and I'm eight again and I need these.  Again disoriented with eyes dilated from the K-car experience, I spotted this Aries K up the road from work and, under false pretense of getting lunch, forced MonkeyNutz to look at it. This would be a riot with ACR bits, and the high-nickel block will take beaucoup boost, but the K-car-specific struts mean that the Konis won't bolt up without modifying the lower sleeve. Last I saw, it was $1400. I'm tempted to offer $800 and see if I can flip it on BringATrailer in the spring, but the prospect of RE71Rs with Plastidip whitewalls is hard to pass up.   This afternoon I started a quantitative check of the 2.4 I bought. Began by Plastigage'ing the clearances on all 12 cam bearings, and it wasn't that bad - everything was very close to 0.090mm of clearance, while the spec calls for 0.069-0.071mm new. My guess is that the space cadet who rebuilt this engine ordered standard 2.0/2.4L-spec cams from Crower, as the journals themselves measure out within a micron of "correct", and threw them in a head & cap set that was diametrically worn 0.040mm. Not the end of the world, but c'mon - this was a one-off cam grind and you don't order the journals ground to match the head?   Then, removed the bedplate to begin the bottom end. The bedplate was indeed sealed with red RTV - including the portions constituting the main bearing caps. Oh, oh god no. Hello darkness, my old friend I've come to talk with you again  Because a vision softly creeping Left its seeds while I was sleeping  And the vision that was planted in my brain still remains Within the sound of silence  Component quality is predictably great. On the other hand, build quality leads me to believe that PO installed the main bearings with the rear end end of a breaker bar (hence the cracked thrust bearing piece above), and a combination of assembly debris, unplugged pressurized oiling circuit, and RTVed caps killed the bearings and crank. 
OneOverZero fucked around with this message at 00:11 on Nov 13, 2017 |
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Nov 13, 2017 00:06
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God, if my 240 was half as clean as those I'd probably still have it.
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Nov 13, 2017 00:21
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Museum shots have me wanting back in a turbo 240, thanks.
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Nov 13, 2017 01:46
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Two things: 1. Who makes toy Neons to that level of detail? I'm gonna go warp some kids' childhoods. 2. That Aries is loving mint as all hell.
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Nov 13, 2017 02:10
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Wait holy poo poo neons have 2 piece blocks?
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Nov 13, 2017 03:47
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Seat Safety Switch posted:Two things: 1. Dealer promos. Made by Brookfield if memory serves me. I have one of my Intrepid. 2. Hell yeah it is.
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Nov 13, 2017 04:59
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Veeb0rg posted:1. Dealer promos. Made by Brookfield if memory serves me. I have one of my Intrepid. When I was a little kid, I remember getting super excited because the natural gas company's local office had a promotional scale model of their work service vans, which were first gen work-spec Caravans. I wonder what happened to those. Promo models are so drat cool.
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Nov 13, 2017 05:01
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That Aires...  That thing's pretty drat clean. I'd drive that myself, though it's probably safe to assume it's a 3 speed auto. Can you swap a later 4 speed auto into those? What year is that one anyway.. 86?boxen posted:People swap F23's into Fiero's for greater torque capacity and SMOOTHER shifting. I know this is a super late reply, but... what's funny is GM rated the F23 for around 170 ft/lbs or so, but people bolt them up to the LS4 with no internal mods. They can handle a shitload more power than what GM claims they're good for. So long as you keep wheel hop under control they seem to hold up pretty well, and they're so drat common that when you do blow one up behind a LS4.. go grab another one for $100 from something with a 60 degree pattern.
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Nov 13, 2017 08:26
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Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:That Aires... It's an '87, and it's a column shifted auto, at that.  (not posting the whole ad in case OneOverZero wants to snipe that car).
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Nov 13, 2017 14:25
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OneOverZero posted:And returning from Denmark, I had a box containing all the colors of 1:24 ACRs that I didn't already have! It's 1995 and I'm eight again and I need these. NYG 
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Nov 13, 2017 15:05
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Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:That Aires... You can almost always run a transmission in excess of the rated torque. It’s just that poo poo wears out that much faster, possibly instantly, and you might have to baby it. Getrag did an okay job with the F23 though. IIRC the shift forks are what explodes when you shock load it. There have been a lot of junkyard grade F23s in LeMons and they seem to do well if only because the cars attached to them are too slow to tempt the driver into breaking things. Same deal with the early Saturn diff pins. Some cars seem to go forever even with power adders and other cars get a clutch drop from the right side of the tachometer and it’s all over. Seat Safety Switch fucked around with this message at 15:54 on Nov 13, 2017 |
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Nov 13, 2017 15:52
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OneOverZero posted:Flush with familial nostalgia, I took a break from all this bullshit to visit Scandinavia. Holy poo poo they sold the 850 with porno-red interior? Need Shame about that engine build, some people shouldn't be allowed access to the toolbox.
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Nov 13, 2017 18:54
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Seat Safety Switch posted:Same deal with the early Saturn diff pins. Some cars seem to go forever even with power adders and other cars get a clutch drop from the right side of the tachometer and it’s all over. That was an issue with some Honda gearboxes too, and happened to a roommate's car (I, uh, may have contributed somewhat, we would drive each other's cars occasionally). Think it was mostly the older B series gearboxes. I killed a few D series boxes too (and an A series once), but it was always the main input shaft bearing that would start howling. On the one that I actually bothered to get rebuilt, they said they had to replace drat near everything inside.. only the casing and a couple of gears were still good. It still drove up until I took it in, but howled like a motherfucker and was popping out of 5th occasionally. Also said the clutch had most of the springs broken... and was a cheap generic clutch (I had paid for an ACT clutch when the engine was last out - they showed me the clutch that came out, definitely not what I had paid for).I was a stupid kid and liked sidestepping the clutch with the tach pointing to the right... (now I'm just a stupid adult) randomidiot fucked around with this message at 19:13 on Nov 13, 2017 |
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Nov 13, 2017 19:11
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Seat Safety Switch posted:Two things: Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:That Aires... Garage2Roadtrip posted:It's an '87, and it's a column shifted auto, at that. Terrible Robot posted:Holy poo poo they sold the 850 with porno-red interior? Need   Seat Safety Switch posted:You can almost always run a transmission in excess of the rated torque. It’s just that poo poo wears out that much faster, possibly instantly, and you might have to baby it. Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:That was an issue with some Honda gearboxes too
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Nov 27, 2017 00:07
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OneOverZero posted:I always found that amusing. My 1990 Jeep Comanche has an Aisin AX15, rated at a capacity of 260lbft in a 225lbft application. Toyota used essentially the same trans (R154) behind the twin-turbo 1JZ-GTE, and GM put it (AR5/MA5) behind in the 260lbft Solstice GXP / Sky Redline, where they'd happily provide a factory-warranty-backed flash for 340lbft. Given the large number and low cost of these transmissions, I may very well put it behind an LM7 if I can't find a good, cheap T56. I've been sorely tempted to do this myself. LSX-compatible Tremecs of any variety (TKO / 3550, T56, 6060) are way expensive.
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Nov 27, 2017 00:12
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Waiting on some backordered LCA bushings and steering rack bellows, so in lieu of Neon progress, a beloved friend got its overdue bajillion-mile service. I've never had an NP231 that didn't have internal square drives for the plugs. 30mm hex it is. 1-3/16" socket from a 240 steering wheel retention nut or some other one-time poo poo did the trick.  OneOverZero posted:Component quality is predictably great. On the other hand, build quality leads me to believe that PO installed the main bearings with the rear end end of a breaker bar (hence the cracked thrust bearing piece above), and a combination of assembly debris, unplugged pressurized oiling circuit, and RTVed caps killed the bearings and crank. Block: although definitely remachined recently, the bores differed in size by about 0.010" total, had considerable taper, and didn't even have a consistent bore centers. (I think in microns, gently caress this thou poo poo.) The walls showed considerable scoring on the thrust side as the new pistons were undersized and slapping, and the #1 piston was missing a ring altogether. Likely needs to go 0.040" total over to be salvaged. Machinist is going to give that a first pass this coming week, and if that suffices, I'll order a set of pistons that he can measure to hone the block accordingly. The good news is that the main bores are perfectly concentric. Pistons/rods: Cast pistons aren't readily available in +0.040" sizes for this engine, only forged (JE, Carrilo, Wiseco). SRT rods (forged with fully-floating wristpins) have become pricey, so I'll either have my standard 2.4L rods resized and machined for floating wristpins or order a set of forged Crower rods that already come with ARP bolts. Crank: unlikely that it can be cleaned up given the deep scoring. If I get the no-go, either need to find a good used crank to grind or settle for a new one. The factory SRT crankshaft (cheapest and most readily available) uses the same casting as the standard 2.4 crank, but features a different trigger wheel (for the "Next-Generation Controller", NGC) so no-go for my EDZ computer. Should be able to swap the wheels, though. Cams: Scrubbed by lack of lubrication and abundance of freed bearing material. Since the Crower springs and retainers appear to be fine (along with the cam journals, surprisingly), the head is being stripped and will be measured out once new cams go in. I'm inclined to use Crower STAGE  grind since it's the most applicable option without reverting to stock springs.Oil pump: Stratus pump casting on this is scored and has an integrated filter mount, which isn't ideal for a first-gen Neon. Quality, non-SRT pumps are no longer supported. SRT pumps are essentially a 4.7L V8 gerotor packed into a 4-cyl package, but overflow since I won't have piston oil squirters or a turbo to feed. I'll find a used PT Cruiser pump and machine/rebuild it with a Melling kit. So after blowing god-knows-how-much on this, I'm going to have a naturally-aspirated  So the original 2.0L is going back into the car for the time being. What I thought were hairline fatigue marks on the rockers were actually just stamping tool marks, so it appears to be good to go. IOwnCalculus posted:I've been sorely tempted to do this myself. LSX-compatible Tremecs of any variety (TKO / 3550, T56, 6060) are way expensive.
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Dec 31, 2017 23:58
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OneOverZero posted:SRT pumps are essentially a 4.7L V8 gerotor packed into a 4-cyl package, but overflow since I won't have piston oil squirters or a turbo to feed. 
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Jan 1, 2018 22:09
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MonkeyNutZ posted:Well you don't have a turbo to feed oil at the moment but I'm sure we can talk you into one. Might even know where to get one or two May or may not have just bought three SRT4 engines with full harnesses though.
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Jan 1, 2018 22:16
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Block is now rough-bored 0.040" over awaiting pistons for hone. Welp. Unsurprisingly, piston availability for the 2.4L is largely focused on turbo applications, and not so much on NA. I can get ~8-9:1 forged pistons in 0.040" overbore all day long, but anything above 10:1 is stuck in stock or 0.020"-over territory. I'm going to get a quote from JE for their 10.5:1 floating-wristpin forged pistons in 0.040" but have a feeling that I'll poo poo my pants at the total. Even if I do obtain pistons, there's the question of how much the existing block and head have been milled, so I'll have to measure the volume the combustion chambers and clay the piston-to-valve clearance and check quench height and maybe order a custom head gasket from Cometic and    Drove 14 hours for these. One's out of an SRT4, the other a GT Cruiser (same engine, different intake). One may end up in a CJ5 or XJ as it's a fairly simple swap - mechanically, at least - in front of an AX15. The engine harnesses in question were hacked so I passed on that opportunity. Still don't know what my plan is, if anything. Neither the block nor crank of these newer engines ('03+ 2.4L "EDV") can individually be swapped into an earlier, pre-'03 2.4L "EDZ" since the trigger wheel is positioned at the opposite end of the crank. As a pair, EDV block and crank will fit perfectly under the earlier head (as the 2.0/2.4/2.4T heads were all essentially common), though I'd then need a 2nd-gen or SRT4 computer to control it, which would mean new engine harness, dash harness & cluster, and chassis harness. Not looking to go Megasquirt right off the bat. So I have some fancy aluminum valve covers if nothing else.
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Jan 21, 2018 19:10
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Glad to see you still progressing on this one.
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Jan 22, 2018 01:25
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I've accomplished nothing of note but I did spend too much on a windage tray and forged rods and fresh crankshaft and adjustable cam gears and stainless valves and everything else for a 1996 Plymouth Neon. Had a setback today, as I realized that my lower control arms were radially split by the shop that hot-tanked them and pressed in the spherical bearings. So much for having the car on the ground this weekend. I'll see if I can negotiate something tomorrow (I can't) but I've ordered used OE LCAs off eBay, as all aftermarket arms, regardless of manufacturer, use different bearing diameters since they use molded-in rubber bushings with steel inserts rather than the OE-style bearing. Settled on a full SRT4 oiling system instead of rebuilding a used PT Cruiser pump. The additional flow rate (if my math is right) shouldn't be an issue for head flooding even at VIR Grand, and by using a crank scraper / windage tray, I can better control the oil within the bottom end. For the engine orders to be wrapped up, I'm just waiting on JE to complete the +0.040" 10.5:1 pistons so the block bore can be finished. Then driving back to Memphis to pick up the block and head, and then building it all. No pressure. Also got a new plate for my actual car. It was really hard to pass up the alternatives.    Dog detour as we need a PSA (and it's why I've done nothing). A month ago, we drove to a rural kill shelter to foster a very malnourished, absolutely terrified, neglected shepherd, as she needed care and general affection. The "owner" had declared that he no longer wanted her. She had a clean bill of health and was loaded up in my ol' Cherokee to be whisked off to safety.   But wait! Though Sasha was visibly malnourished at only 57lbs, a week later, our vet pronounced her pregnant. With six puppies. Within 10 days. She went into labor under my back deck (North Carolina, I guess) only hours later and had four puppies over the course of a day, with us crawling on our stomachs to keep her and puppies surrounded by blankets. Unfortunately, the last two were stillborn. She was not yet physically ready for puppies (and they weren't quite to term) and despite bottlefeeding and all the care in the world, we lost a little guy early that morning, a fact that has woken me up every single night for weeks. After two more sleepless days that went downhill, made a third high-speed drive to the emergency vet, who stepped in with 48hrs of round-the-clock attention to continue bottlefeeding the pups and attempt to get their mom capable of nursing. It worked. These little rooters are pro relaxers:    Five days later, drove a healthier mom and three vigorous pups eight hours north to a medical foster on a farm. Everyone is doing well - pups have opened their eyes and have started loping around, while mom has gained weight due to eating fresh meat and goat's milk. Sweet, sweet Neon content once the parts arrive.
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Mar 2, 2018 03:25
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Saving puppies is a way cool thing to do. Sorry about the one that didn't make it, that is always brutal.
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Mar 2, 2018 03:53
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Big Box(es) o' Neon Parts should be here Wednesday. In the meantime, a shifter improvement. The stock 2015+ Challenger shifter is a vast improvement over the earlier version, and one of the better-feeling mechanisms I've used. I always assumed that it worked through a rod linkage running far forward, but logically, it is pinned to the tailhousing with one additional bolt cradling it to the unibody, with the gear selector rod straight into the tailhousing. But there's room for improvement! With a second set of centering springs - within the shifter itself rather than just in the trans - motion into the center row of the gate is a little more natural. More importantly for me, I'm able to adjust the angle of the unit in two planes, useful since I'm awkwardly crammed into a Challenger even with the seat all the way down and pushed against the rear cushion.     No help from this one. Doesn't like the cold basement floor this time of year. 
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Mar 12, 2018 01:57
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