We gave up on the rear suspension halfway through the weekend. The ten inch bolt that goes through the rear knuckles is frozen solid. I called James at work and told him to source not only the bolts, but the rear knuckles. All of us took turns beating and bashing it with the sledge hammer.
We did beat the checklist down pretty hard. The front suspension is complete and back on. New struts, new springs, and new bushings. The old bushings had to be burned out and the parts cleaned before re-assmbly. Lots of bushing lube, anti-seize, and grease. I can’t wait to get the car back on the ground.
Saturday evening we buttoned up the motor, filled her with juice, and turned the key. Similar to the sound a cat makes when coughing up something unpleasant, the Neon hoarked and came to life. There was some scary rock crunching sounds that we found to be coming from the power steering pump belt being too tight. Once that was cleared up, we brought the motor up to temp and checked for leaks. The repairs we made to the radiator were successful.
Sunday was a more relaxed day. Flushing and adding radiator cleaner to the cooling system. Trimming some interior pieces that needed to be squeezed between the rollcage and the chassis. Zip-tie’ing wires up and out of the way. Checking bolt locations and tightness. Work has begun on the new foglight wiring harness, and James made some plans for the tools, jack, and tire that will sit in the trunk.
I have a good list of stuff for the next junkyard run we make. I have a list of parts that need to be ordered to finish up this “little” project. The Memorial Day goal is well within reach.
Kris’s Pics: April Garage Day Pictures from rallynotes.com
Sean’s Pics: April Garage Day Pictures from trunkmonkey.com
Dear Kris,
I’ve been reading up on your neon project a little bit on the planetkris and rallynotes sites. My wife has a red dodge Neon 1997 Dohc and I just did an energy suspension bushing replacement job on it. argh! what a PITA it was! I also had the same problem with the stuck bolt in the rear knuckle (Im sure it was the exact same bolt too, the long one) I tried brute force and propane torch but to no avail. It did come out, but only after I took the knuckle to the local shop and had them hit it with the oxy-acetylene torch. He was able to then knock it out with a hammer fairly easily. It took him 5 min to do it and I had spent at least 2 hrs LOL. (Nice guy, he didnt even charge me for it!) Hope that helps.
I am a rally enthusiast as well and I hope to someday race a stage rally. Sno-drift, cadillac and the ones in TN I think are the closest to me. I worked at SNo-drift this year and had a great time doing it. I have been doing some window shopping over at rally classifieds and I think I may purchase a car b4 I try to build one, but I dunno yet. I do wish U lots of luck, especially since you’re going to rally a 1Gen neon! I am envious because you are much closer to your goal than I am, but I hope you get there!
I am anxiously awaiting your feedback from the first stage rally (suspension, car setup etc.) Keep up the good work!!!
TTFN
Chris G
Hey Chris,
I’m going to try to source some spares anyway, but that torch trick sounds like it could work. I’m going to get the other knuckle off the car tonight and have James take them to a shop. We also picked up new replacement bolts.
Glad to hear that you enjoy the site and your into rally! A lot of people say “Buy your first car – Don’t build it.” and I know why. If I had to do it over again – I still would build my first car. It’s the journey not the destination for me. For a lot of others it does make sense to buy a used car.
Thanks for the kudos!
– Kris
um, we haven’t seen you around the orifice for a while… no more putnam? i would’ve emailed this to you, but since you don’t have an address listed on your site(s)….
I hope to see you guys there. We’ll be bringing our 95 production Neon out to Maine, if we don’t wreck it at STPR. Drop me an e-mail if I can help you guys. If not we can always swap parts in Maine.
Philip