The plan was to get the car on the trailer last weekend. The plan was to have the transmission and the struts sorted a week before the rally. The plan was to not be last minute with like 3 major things. I gave the plan enough time. I set it in motion a month before the event. I monitored and updated the plan. I called and made sure the plan was going to work and then made other plans.

New transmission, clutch, and struts. The transmission leaked out of it’s first shipping container and delayed it for a week. The clutch was ordered on April 4th and was confirmed on the 14th but never shipped. The strut bodies were sent out for machining on April 3rd and as with any ‘one-off’ custom suspension setup – it takes time. Dave Turner Motorsports did a fantastic job with them.

The transmission arrived and I went to work. When the clutch company did get back to me I learned they didn’t have my complete order. I cancelled the partial order on the 18th and called allchryslerparts.com. I spoke to their internet sales person directly and they had the clutch kit and bearing in stock and ready to ship. A call to Dave Turner revealed that Bilstein needed to ship him some small parts and that they didn’t go out before Easter vacation.

Monday: Harry from the SoCalNeon Club gave me a hand getting the clutch and tranny swapped. I’m now on a fresh R/T transmission with a PT Cruiser clutch. The PT unit has more holding force but is basically a stock replacement. Tuesday: I swapped the front control arms with stock bushings back on the car. The stiff poly bushings keep splitting apart. There is just too much play on the Neon front control arms for stiff bushings in rally. I noticed the passenger side subframe mount had broken free from it’s factory spot welds. I drilled and bolted both sides with a fat ‘grade 8′ metric bolt. (So THAT’s what the knocking noise was from… ) Today: I’ll install the struts and get the car on the ground, ready to rally. Tomorrow: I’ll drive Ze’Neon to work and get it aligned. It will have a solid 30 miles on it before the clutch drop at the Super Special Friday night.

To add to the drama: My birthday is tomorrow and I got a root canal yesterday.

UPDATE: Around 1:00 AM I discovered that the front right tire was rubbing the strut bad. I tweaked the strut out more and adjusted the spring perch. The rally tires barely clear on that side. Just enough to drive it to an alignment shop. After a warm up lap I hit a large speed bump in town at around 50MPH. Shwoom! – A successful test.