1998 Dodge Neon Modified class rallycrosser

Knurled wrote:

cghstang wrote: Bummer to hear about Indy. I missed the news on their indiana impreza forum over the weekend.

...wait, what?

I saw the notice on the Indy SCCA forum, haven't created an Indiana Imprezas user id, and they don't allow anonymous viewing.

Managed to get the engine mount stuff sorted, along with the bobble strut, some wiring, and got the exhaust installed. Started to work on power steering, but couldn't finish. First, nowhere was it written the original bracket at the front of the pump needs to be removed, so I had left it on. Took a lot of finagling to remove it once I found out it wouldn't fit, would have been a lot easier to have done with the engine out. Once that was dealt with, it turned out one of the bolts in the adapter kit was too long, so I'll be hitting the hardware store today. Thats alright, since one of my light fixtures in the garage has been eating bulbs all winter, and now there is actually room to remove and replace it, so I'll be picking up a new fixture, too.

Hoping to get a bunch more done this evening.

Oh, and side-projectwise, the air switches I ordered yesterday should come in today, that was fast. Still hoping to get the car out of the garage before doing this job, or I'll just measure and cut the air hose in the driveway.

In reply to eastsidemav:

We're down but definitely not out here in Indy. We have leads on a couple of potential sites and we intend to fulfill our schedule. In the mean time, Dave Christie is working a compromise with the county for Friendswood.

mtownneon wrote: In reply to eastsidemav: We're down but definitely not out here in Indy. We have leads on a couple of potential sites and we intend to fulfill our schedule. In the mean time, Dave Christie is working a compromise with the county for Friendswood.

Thats good to hear. I realy like that site, it gives us lower powered car drivers a chance against the turbo Subarus.

Got a decent amount done in the last several days. Hopefully will get to fire it up in the next few days.

Went from this:

To this:

Along the way, fabbed up a small heat shield for the PS resevoir, since the exhaust manifold heat shield is not going back on:

There is a port on the back of the head you can run an oil pressure sender from. Its got a square plug in it. On the old engine, I was able to unscrew this with flat-bladed screwdriver. On this one, it snapped the screwdriver blade. After a few failed attempts with vise grips, I grabbed an 8mm bolt from my spare bolt can, and hit the grinder:

That worked great, and the bolt went into my screwdriver drawer, just in case.

Since I won't be running the stock intake tubing, I need a catch can. This'll do for testing purposes:

Would have gotten a little farther, but my new oil drain plug ended up being the wrong size. Going to try to fill the car with fluids(and put some cardboard under it overnight to check for leaks), and clean up around it tomorrow, and if all goes well, test fire it on Tuesday. If it works without any major problems, I can start working on the hood, and installing the battery box behind the passenger seat.

Well, I see your problem already. DIET Dew won't work. You need the Code Red.

From painful experience, you'll definitely want to route that to filtered air before you hit dirt.

My solution was an appropriately sized hose-to-NPT fitting threaded into my carb hat. If the air's clean enough for the intake, it's clean enough for the crankcase.

Knurled wrote: From painful experience, you'll definitely want to route that to filtered air before you hit dirt. My solution was an appropriately sized hose-to-NPT fitting threaded into my carb hat. If the air's clean enough for the intake, it's clean enough for the crankcase.

Yeah, thats just a solution to get me up and running. Once I confirm the engine is running well, I'll make a proper catch can with a filter. I'm tempted to use Bill's idea, and make one out of a pill bottle. I have some vitamin and allergy medicine containers laying around.

irish44j wrote: Well, I see your problem already. DIET Dew won't work. You need the Code Red.

Uh oh, hope they have diet code red, I'm trying to do weight reduction on both the car and me this year

Find some Diet Cheerwine. If it's good enough for helping carbureted DeLoreans run right, it should be good for your Neon.

And if you DO find some, let me know so I can get some too.

Pour in oil...no immediate leaks

Pour in power steering fluid...no immediate leaks

Pour in gear oil...no immediate leaks

Pour in coolant...after about half a gallon, we've got a gusher And of course it can't be something easy, like tightening a radiator hose. Its the berkeleying water pump inlet tube. That I replaced the O-Ring, and put a very thin coat of petroleum jelly on it, to prevent it from getting pinched when it was installed. So, I get to pull the intake manifold, and everything that goes with it in order to get to the blasted thing. I think I'll go get cleaned up and get some ice cream instead.

Oh man, that sucks.

I'm not sure how use ice cream instead of coolant will work, though. Sure, it'll be great in the short run, what with the greater viscosity and extra coldness. But, eventually it's going to stink pretty badly.

eastsidemav wrote:

irish44j wrote: Well, I see your problem already. DIET Dew won't work. You need the Code Red.

Uh oh, hope they have diet code red, I'm trying to do weight reduction on both the car and me this year

they do

Well, there's your problem:

I'm concerned the used coolant pipe may have been part of the problem, so I'm thinking of ordering a new one:

I've got a used o-ring thats not damaged, but it just doesn't seem wise to install that, so its probably best to order an o-ring (or two or three), also.

Edit: Its rather frustrating that I'm already tearing this thing apart before I've had a chance to even try to run the new engine.

Better in your garage than in the middle of an event, at least. Trust me on that one :)

I don't know if it's just an optical illusion with the oring, but the whole flange and oring seat looks pretty boogered up in that picture.

In reply to wae:

Its not an optical illusion, the flange is not flat. I went ahead and ordered a new pipe, along with two o-rings last night. Its an expense I didn't want, but I really want this thing to be reliable once its up and running. I may also try to sand the mating surface on the block down a bit to smooth it out.

So, several more days delayed while I get to wait for parts. Just means there's more time to clean up the garage a bit, and start digging out unused parts to take to the scrapper.

At least it only took about an hour or so to tear things down, hopefully it'll be about the same putting it back together, but I doubt it. I think when I out it back together, I won't completely reassemble everything, but will just funnel a bunch of coolant into the block or the radiator, and make sure its not leaking before finishing this up.

Parts came in last night, and I installed the new coolant line, then immediately started filling from the top radiator hose, until I started seeing coolant in the cylinder head, and confirmed there was no leaking elsewhere. After that, reassembled the other stuff. Before installation, I used some sandpaper to smooth out the rust on the block where the coolant line goes in. I suspect that may have been the problem last time.

Today, I'll crank it over and make sure its building some oil pressure, and if all goes well try to get it fully assembled for testing. I don't like to start up projects without someone else around, just in case, and my wife may not be getting home early enough.

At least the car is not spewing fluids all over the place...yet.

Engine turns over fine, no oil/coolant going everywhere. Tomorrow, I should have everything cleaned up around it, and get it assembled enough to fire up. I would have been ready tonight, but my scooter needed an oil change, and I'm getting tired of seeing it in the garage, and not riding, so that took precedence this evening.

Little bit of assembly done today. The brand new passenger side axle seal is leaking a bit. Anybody have one of those leak a bit initially, then seal up, or am I gonna have to pull the axle?

Would have gotten more done, but the lawn needed mowing. The joys of spring.

Do you have a brand new axle, too?

If you do, does it have brand new paint on the sealing surface where it doesn't belong and chips off and causes a leak?

Knurled wrote: Do you have a brand new axle, too? If you do, does it have brand new paint on the sealing surface where it doesn't belong and chips off and causes a leak?

It is a new axle. So, is this gonna be a pull it apart situation, or is there a chance I'll get away with leaving it alone for a bit?

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!

After way too much time for this, went out and fired the car up. Took a few tries, but eventually got it running. Had to add a bunch of power steering fluid, hopefully I didn't damage the pump (any more than already). Took it for a quick spin through the neighborhood. No hot rodding around, just a little mild driving, to see if there are any issues. There are:

Knocking sound in some turns - thought this was the passenger CV, so replaced it. Noise is still there. The driver's axle isn't too old, either. Is it possible this is the PS pump? I wouldn't think so, since I think it only happens in one direction.

Possible exhaust manifold-to-tailpipe leak. Got a little smoke initially, then it went away mostly. Not sure if it was oil burning off the exhaust donut, or something more. Will try to tight up the bolts when it all cools off.

High idle and stumble off idle. Doesn't seem to act like a vacuum leak because it catches fast, and the idle is around 900-1000 RPM. Could just be the computer relearning, but I'll check around for possible vacuum leaks. This is my biggest concern yet.

Squealing noise in some of the turns. Several possibities here. I assume the limited slip may be part of this, trying to tunr both wheels together. Also, it looks like I've got a bit of toe-out, so I'll do a quicky alignment. Its also possible its the PS belt slipping, but I doubt it.

CEL is lit. I knew this would happen, since the car no longer has an EGR system. I still should have run my code scanner before pulling the battery connection for the night, though. The EGR issue can be gotten rid of with either a resistor in the wiring harness, or switching to the Mopar computer I have waiting in the garage. I'll likely use the new computer, but I knew the original one worked, so wanted to start with it.

In addition to those things, the car also needs the battery relocated, a redone intake/filter setup (right now its sticking out of where the hood should be), and I need to fit a hood to the car, and see if it needs the bracing cut anywhere to keep from hitting the engine. I'll also be making some vents in the hood, but that can wait for a while.

I had quite a bit of smoke of the exhaust manifold when I first started my engine and it has been fine since.

Could there be something hitting when you turn to produce the knocking sound?

EvanB wrote: I had quite a bit of smoke of the exhaust manifold when I first started my engine and it has been fine since. Could there be something hitting when you turn to produce the knocking sound?

I wondered about that to, but I'm not sure what it is. The engine mounts have all been filled, so they're good. Everything under the hood seems secured. Its possible that the exhaust could be hitting something, but it doesnt sound like it to me.

When my car makes a knocking sound I just turn up the radio.

I open mine to see who's there.

There's always the possibility that the wires didn't get put in the right spots when we re-pinned the harness. Is it possible that one of the temp sensors is disconnected/malfunctioning/busted? When I pulled the IAT and CLT signals to the stock ECU on mine, the computer jammed the IAC open to the point where the car idles at around 1200.

Did you mean that before you put the car under the knife for the swap it was making the clunking noise? Or did you swap the axle tonight and still have the noise?