Last Wednesday I realized that Ze’Neon wouldn’t be on the ground anytime soon. I called up John Black (my buddy and mentor) and roped him into dual driving his DOHC Neon ExpressO at the rallycross. On Saturday, Christine and I showed up with the helmets, intercom, tent, chairs, and two rally tires. After John’s runs, we scraped off the mud and slapped the rally tires on the front of his Neon.

I really forgot just how much you bounce around in a stock car at a rallycross. My knee has a nice egg on it from the power window switches and I could barely hang onto the steering wheel half the time. We took 2nd in 2WD Rally and collected some needed CRS Rallycross points for the season. John was smacked with a super muddy course and got 3rd in 2WD Modified.

Check out a handfull of pictures here.

This is a classic restoration story. It goes like this: The kitchen in your house is original and you want to reface the cabinets and replace the vinyl floor. You rip up the floor only to find water damage from a leaky dishwasher. The cabinets are held onto about 2 of the 20 studs they should be and they used 1/2″ plywood in the floor instead of 3/4″. Now your $300 renovation project just added $2000 of stuff and 4 more weeks of work.

After taking the motor out and getting a good long look at the damage. I can honestly say: I don’t know how we got it back from Washington on the tow dolly… The solid bobble strut, 1 loose control arm bolt, and half of a welded mount were all that was holding the wheels on that car. Need I mention that the bobble strut is there to hold the engine UP? Good stuff.

After an over-extended week of prep Todd and Mike came over last night to start welding. The seam welding is done and the new subframe mounts should be fabricated and on tonight. While we had the motor out we took advantage of that fact and cleaned up a lot of little things. The brake lines will now be routed through a hole in the inner fender rather then around (or - up under) the frame. The AC, airbag, foglight wiring, and connectors were removed. We cut out the front broken radiator support. A new set of shifter cables have been installed. What you see to the left is the inside of the left fender right before welding. Notice I just chopped off what was left of the existing mounts.

Tonight I’ll have camera in hand to take some more detailed shots. I also will take some finished pictures once it’s all painted and back on 4 wheels. I’m excited because I can finally see the end of this ‘current’ project.

Update: Pictures of the welding and mount fab are in the gallery.

I finished going over the damage and soon it will be time to get working on fixing it. My goal is a rallycross at the end of the month. A quick summary includes a new exhaust, new skidplate parts, new subframe, and a new power steering rack. While that’s apart I need to replace the shifter cables and the clutch cable. I also need a bunch of consumable items like new pads and rotors and a fresh set of tires. I’m on the lookout for a workshop space / garage I can rent in the OC Area.

I enjoyed the summer break, but now it’s time to get back to work. On Saturday I was able to get a complete subframe and power steering rack for the car. John and I found a decent looking new front bumper skin as well. At the SoCal-Neon Meet, Harry and I talked about pulling the motor at his place and welding the front frame and new subframe up properly. I’m not 100% cool with pulling out the motor, but it will let me get to all of the pieces and parts that are broken. Subframe mounts, engine mounts, etc. I’m also going to seam weld the front frame rails. They are made up of 3 or 4 pieces of metal shaped and overlapped into a metal… um… metal taco. - and I certainly don’t want beans and cheese going everywhere.

More: Check out our new section - Upcoming Events

Is that awesome? I came up with that last night and I’ve already got a couple on order. If you’ve ever done something with a car that you probably shouldn’t have been able to ’save’ - you know what I’m talking about. Get one for yourself or a friend. Support rallynotes.com and buy one now!

Jan Gerber runs his Neon at a rallycross in Nebraska.
He regularly beats the AWD’s with a stock Neon and a set of snow tires!

Check it out in our new feature - “Rallycross Your Neon!“
Need to find a rallycross in your area? Click here for the SCCA listings. Click here for CRS events.