1998 Dodge Neon Modified class rallycrosser

Putting the stock airdam back on the RX-7 was the difference between running 165-170 and running 225-230 on the highway.

Ran it with a big sheet of aluminum as an airdam today. Highest temp on the highway was 208, whereas yesterday it was up to 234. I'll either reinforce what I built, or run out to the junkyard and see if I can find a stock airdam, and if it will be compatible with my skid plate.

FYI: the Neon's idiot gauge stays in its "I'm happy" position all the way up until the coolant hits 230 degrees.

...and the lean code is back. Guess I'm headed to the junkyard to pick up a 2nd gen neon fuel pressure regulator. Hoping it'll work, and not make the car run too rich.

Pulled 4 58 psi regulators at the junkyard, and bought the two most promising. Took a bit longer to install on the car at home, but got it on there, and cleared the codes. I'll try to get some miles on teh car, and make sure no codes return.

Also, picked up a stock Neon airdam, and now understand why I didn't realize the car originally came with one. Of the half dozen or so first gens at the yard, only one had an intact airdam. All the others were missing or heavily damaged.

Not sure if you'd run into clearance problems, but I always made ones out of garden edging. Cut two equal-length pieces that are as wide as the core support. Then cut the round portion off the top. There are lips as the "bottom" of the edging. Put the end you cut on each piece into the lip of the other piece. They will interlock and form a pretty strong piece. Cut/drill as needed to mount in stock location, just a bit taller.

In reply to Mazda787b:

I'm actually thinking of replacing the aluminum with garden edging. I will be making the current one easily removable for rallyx, but it would be nice to make one that wouldn't cost much money or time to replace if I forget to remove it before an event.

Yeah, I got sick of bending the Vitor air dam on the ACR thanks to speed bumps. It has held up well.

Today, I modified the airdam so it could be removed without dropping the skidplate. My wife and I also bled the brakes, which took a lot longer than I planned for. I think I'll build a pressure bleeder before its time to do it again.

Went to reinstall the skidplate, and between the damage it has taken, and the new engine, it no longer fit. Enter the 3 lb sledge, and the dremel to "adjust" the mounting holes. It now clears the oil pan by about 1.5", so I probably went to far, but I'll let the ground fix that at the next event.

My wife and I took it for a quick spin, since she has yet to drive it since the swap. Went to a parking lot, so she could practice getting it going, an area she had an issue with in the past. With the newfound torque, she didn't stall the engine once, didn't even make it sputter, so she'll be a lot less nervous when moving it through the grid next weekend.

I'll be driving it to work this week, and hope it doesn't reveal any other issues. Other than going back and reworking the battery mounting, I think it is pretty much ready for rallycrossing.

Out of the garage again:

The temporary airdam:

eastsidemav wrote: ...so she'll be a lot less nervous when moving it through the grid next weekend.

This answers the question that I came here to ask.

cghstang wrote:

eastsidemav wrote: ...so she'll be a lot less nervous when moving it through the grid next weekend.

This answers the question that I came here to ask.

I suspect she won't be stalling as much as last season

...or were you checking to see if there'd be a couple more entries for the next event?

Yes.

First event with the new engine tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Have fun!

Loving the extra power and grip, especially coming out of the corners!

Well, two drivers, total of 20 runs. Temps exceeded 230 degrees once the entire time, although by the end, I was spraying water onto the radiator after each run to keep it cool. It also appears to have a failing thermostat gasket, cracked thermostat neck, or a dying cap. After the event was over, there was a small amount of coolant on the thermostat neck, intake manifold, and upper radiator hose, and no certain sign of where it came from. Already picked up a new thermostat and cap, and just in case, I have a spare thermostat neck in the garage. I've also found someone makes a 180 degree thermostat for the car. Tempted to try it, as I suspect it'll let the car cool down a bit more while its sitting, so there's more cooling capacity while its on course. I don't want to swap to a bigger radiator until the off season.

Oh yeah, out of 20 entrants, (12 of which were Subarus), I took 10th place and my wife took 17th. We were also in the first run group and had to deal with the worst mud. The second run group had considerably more grip. More importantly, with the exception of the first run, which I royally botched, I was running much closer to wae's turbo Neon that I was last year. It was a tight course, though, so his car wasn't able to stretch its legs as well as usual. We'll have to see how we compare to each other at National Trails in a month.

eastsidemav wrote: We'll have to see how we compare to each other at National Trails in a month.

Probably still slower than RWD.

EvanB wrote:

eastsidemav wrote: We'll have to see how we compare to each other at National Trails in a month.

Probably still slower than RWD.

Challenge Accepted.

eastsidemav wrote:

EvanB wrote:

eastsidemav wrote: We'll have to see how we compare to each other at National Trails in a month.

Probably still slower than RWD.

Challenge Accepted.

Can I get in on this action?

Edit: come to think of it, I'd take the challenge in any of the vehicles being discussed

Yes, you are welcome to try to beat the RWD cars with your FWD car. I really like my odds in that situation.

I want to see Chris drive Bill's Neon, then...

Yeah Evan, my fwd car was not part of the discussion. None of them.

eastsidemav wrote: I want to see Chris drive Bill's Neon, then...

I want to see that, too, actually! I was able to make some decent improvements after comparing video of ZB driving my car with video of me driving my car on the same course.

In reply to wae:

That can be pretty easily arranged from on my end!

(I'm just sitting back enjoying the popcorn right about now)

Back on topic-ish...

Picked up a 180 degree thermostat at lunch today. Going to install that and a new cap first. My usual temps during normal driving were 202-208, with some higher values stuck in heavy traffic or going up steep hills. If the new temps end up being 187-193, I can safely assume the thermostat is the big restriction just driving around. Since temps didn't get below 211 in the grid on Saturday after we started racing, its not the issue on the course. At least having a lower starting temperature will give me a bit more leeway during an event.

After that, I'll be cutting down my airdam a bit. It got bent up going up and down the hill to the event. Hoping this doesn't affect on-road performance. If it does, I'll switch over to garden edging, and consider it to be a consumable.

Finally, I'm going to cut some holes in the hood, attempting to hit somewhere behind the radiator, but before the high pressue zone near the base of the windshield. I may also see about sealing up any gaps in the front end near the radiator. These things will probably help most in the grid to let hot air out of the engine compartment, but should help a little bit on course, too.

My cruising temperatures were 199-201F with a 193 thermostat. I switched to a 180 and my cruising temps are now 185-187. However I also switched to mostly water with water wetter and improved the radiator ducting so that may have helped.