1998 Dodge Neon Modified class rallycrosser

you dont happen to have the hvac out of the car and laying around that you could take some pictures and measurements for me, do you?

Not yet, but I'll be starting to tear it up today or tomorrow. What do you need measurements on?

what I need is overall diemnsions (length/width/height), and to take detailed pictures of all sides/angles of the box with a ruler from one end tp the other so I can determine where the inlets/outlets/fittings are.

if the control head comes out as well, some detailed pictures of the workings as well to see if i can adapt that as well.

im thinking of using a neon unit in the 64. thanks. michael

Ahh, that I am probably not removing - I don't have a non-AC unit to throw in there, and I still need to use the heater. Just going to be pulling lines, compressor, and condensor...

ok. thanks for being willing!

Got the underhood A/C components ripped out, along with the power steering pump and high pressure line, and the radiator. The new high pressure line is attached to the steering rack, I just need to reinstall a couple of brackets for it.

Tomorrow, I should be able to get everything else back together, bleed the cooling system, bleed the PS system, and do an oil change. After that, it'll be a matter of coming up with some sort of protection for the radiator, and reinstalling the skidplate. Then, time to drive it for a few days to make sure nothing else needs to be done before the next rallycross.

Had to use the original PS pump, since I couldn't get a hold of a pulley remover/installer that would work on it, Chrysler and all their "special" tools. New radiator is in, and I've improvised some ducting with tape, and I think I've manage to bleed the cooling system.

Tonight, its time for a quick spin around town, and I'll hope that there's nothing else that needs to be done. If it all proves okay, just needf to reinstall the skidplate, and head out for the rallycross this weekend, assuming it doesn't get canceled due to the amount of rain we've been getting this week.

In reply to eastsidemav:

I've been watching the weather all week as well. If it's canceled I'll have time to install the short-shift adapter in the Abarth. (And wire up the Hella's in the Sub!)

Drove around last night, and it seems to be running fine. Trunk floor is still heating up something fierce. I am suspecting there may be another exhaust leak somewhere, but it doesn't sound like it to me. This all seemed to start last season, so I am assuming a combination of my airdam and the trailer hitch are trapping hot air under the car. As much as I hate to do it, it may be time to get out a hole saw, and drill some holes in the rear bumper cover.

Tried drilling a few holes in the bumper to let air out from under the car, and hopefully stop the trunk floor from getting cooked.

It didn't work. I'm getting very frustrated at this point. Its getting hot enough to smell, and the seam sealer is actually getting pretty soft. At some points, you can't keep your hand on it for more than a few seconds, or it could get burned. Next work session, I guess I'll pull the trailer hitch off, since that seems to be when all this started.

Haven't updated this as much as I should be. I removed the trailer hitch, and if that helped, it only helped by a tiny bit. Got under the car and looked at things a bit more closely. With the way the exhaust has been getting knocked around, the muffler is very close to the floorpan at some points, but there's not much I can do to correct that for now. I did manage to put a sheet of adhesive heat reflective material above it, and that has helped tremendously.

It could still use a bit more up near the top of the photo. I'll probably pick up a roll of heat reflective tape, and just run a few strips there.

In an attempt to make life a bit easier at events, I built a new airdam out of garden edging, in order to replace the aluminum one. With this, I should be able to leave it in place at events.

We had a rallycross on June 28th, the first I've made it to this season. The course was rough, and the weather got bad at a few points, but the car held together. The new airdam got partially ripped off, but I was able to patch it back on to get it home. More importantly, the overheating issues appear to be gone. The car tends to keep a steady temp or it goes down while on course, and only rises while sitting in grid. I am thinking the water pump just isn't moving enough volume at idle. Fortunately, its pretty much staying away from being dangerously hot, so for now, it'll stay as is. As for the car's performance, it is decent, but nowhere near wae's car. I should be second in class, unless he coned away a bunch of runs.

The airdam/front skidplate bolts are just very course thread sheetmetal screws. I think the next project will be to drill some holes, and insert some weld nuts, so everything will be held together more securely.

wae's car is not a good benchmark in that it's all-conquering. That Neon reminds me of the CRX except with structural integrity and a lot more horsepower and he seems to be using the car to great effect. I also seem to remember close to an entire season where the car wasn't able to finish all of its runs... teething problems suck but the effort is soo worth it when everything gets figured out.

Now if only ZB could get his car together. I may be joining you guys in MF in a little while, depends on Factors. My plans have all of y'all beat for power/weight

True that I shouldn't compare too directly, but since we took different routes with the same car, he's the closest comparison I have. The power difference is pretty extreme, though. My car makes decent power, but his is on a whole other level. I'm kind of regretting going with the 2.4 swap instead of a turbo install.

In reply to eastsidemav:

It's never too late for a turbo...

EvanB wrote: In reply to eastsidemav: It's never too late for a turbo...

It may happen someday. The earliest would probably be the break bewtween the 2015-2016 season, though. Too many other projects going on right now.

Did a little prep, and took that car out to OVR's "Duel in the Dirt" this past weekend. No timed runs, just head to head on a loop. First one back to their starting position wins. Best two out of three.

They ran 4 seeding rounds in the first session, then after lunch was two sets of single elimination rounds, one for 4wd and one for 2wd.

I lost 3 of the 4 seed rounds, only barely beating Evan. If he hadn't spun on one of his runs, he'd have probably beat me. Got demolished by a Honda Civic Si rally car, and was kind of embarrassed when an E36 BMW beat me. Can't remember the 4th round competitor.

During the eliminations, I was put up against a Fox body mustang, and managed to advance against him. Second round, despite a very valiant effort on my part, I was beat by someone driving a Toyota Matrix rally car. One of the drivers of that car went on to win the 2wd overall.

So, the damage for this round:

-On the way up, the gauge needles stopped working multiple times. Hitting the dash usually fixed it. AFAIK, this is related to poor soldering done at the factory. Will have to see if I can get wae to stop by and reflow the solder joints and see if that will fix it.

-My oil overflow is filling up rapidly. I don't think this was a problem last year. I'll need to figure out whats happening, and maybe just go to a larger overflow container.

-Overflowed the P/S fluid resevoir. There's no P/S cooler on the car, and, being a two driver car on a course with a lot of corners, it got overheated by midday. Not sure if there's anything I'm going to do about it, but just live with it.

-The car seemed a bit noisier on the drive home. I'll have to get under it and see if I damaged the exhaust somewhere.

I have an extra gauge cluster if you want to reflow that one and swap it in. I have no idea how many miles on on it or if it's an 8k tach, but I can check. It came in some big box o' Neon parts I bought a while back. Either way, I'm happy to help.

Where you say "damaged", I say "opened up". =) We can do up a 3" in a Saturday sometime if you want. I'm just using a Magnaflow glasspack resonator and it sounds pretty good -- although the turbo is helping to quiet it down a bit.

Great read................

Bumping this thread up as the car is back in the garage for winter upgrades. Life was insanely busy, and we only made it to one event in 2015. The plan is to make it to quite a few more in 2016.

Winter plans include:

-Improving the skid plate mounts

-Battery relocation

-Larger oil overflow canister

-Fix the gauge cluster

-Install an R/T rear sway bar.

...and other stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting right now.

The car developed a big oil leak while I was moving it around,but the weird thing was the oil looked really clean. Finally got the skid plate off today, and saw a bit of oil around the filter. Fired up the engine, and it started dripping out around the gasket area. I know I didn't double gasket it on the last change, has anyone seen a oil filter gasket fail?

I also spent a bit of time messing with the battery box. I think it'll fit in the spare tire well alright. May start pulling the interior tomorrow, so I can run the battery cables inside the car.

Well, it's a bit less of a street car now, I've mounted a battery box in the spare tire well. Its not where I want it to be, but it looks like it can't go behind the passenger seat and still be within the rules:

Cabling still needs to be routed. I think it'll be either right up the center, or it'll go along the driver side. The driver side seems to make the most sense, since I think I can make room in the hole the main wiring harness goes through, and that should put them fairly close to the stock battery cables.

While I've got the interior ripped out, I'll also be adjusting the shifter a bit. On occasion, shifting into 2nd and reverse are not always easy.

Still haven't decided if the rear seat is going to stay, or if I'll build some sort of shelf for tires, including the displaced spare tire.

eastsidemav wrote: Well, it's a bit less of a street car now, I've mounted a battery box in the spare tire well. Its not where I want it to be, but it looks like it can't go behind the passenger seat and still be within the rules:

Sure it can. Lots of people have interior mounted batteries, including me. Make it secured, ensure the positive terminal is covered, and put it in some kind of enclosure if it has liquid electrolyte, and you're good.

Knurled wrote:

eastsidemav wrote: Well, it's a bit less of a street car now, I've mounted a battery box in the spare tire well. Its not where I want it to be, but it looks like it can't go behind the passenger seat and still be within the rules:

Sure it can. Lots of people have interior mounted batteries, including me. Make it secured, ensure the positive terminal is covered, and put it in some kind of enclosure if it has liquid electrolyte, and you're good.

I think its safe that way, but it doesn't match the letter of the rules. It has to be in the trunk or the cargo area. In a two seater, the cargo area is right behind the front seats. It's one of those things that doesn't make sense, but I don't want to get called on it if I got to a national event.

If you remove the rear bench it becomes a two-seater!

wae wrote: If you remove the rear bench it becomes a two-seater!

Works for the Abarth.