My 2.4 swap had issues on the highway without the air dam. Occasionally had to stop and let it cool for a while to prevent it from overheating. I used plastic garden edging to make one and it worked great.
My 2.4 swap had issues on the highway without the air dam. Occasionally had to stop and let it cool for a while to prevent it from overheating. I used plastic garden edging to make one and it worked great.
Its top priority when i get back from Ohio. Swear.
Well, thats assuming that the painter finishes by then. Goes in Thursday night after work, supposed to be picking it up monday in arctic white and clear coat.
My boss said it needs to be "more professional " looking
She'll love the hood stripe. 
How was it not professional looking?
Surface rust, paunt falling off, and 4 different shades of white.
When the main office parking lot is full of BMWs, Audis, and a handful of Maseratis interspersed in all the new Hondas and other higher-end cars, it really stands out.
in theory i pick it up painted today
We go pick it up after my daughter dance class ends. Excited to see it in person. In the sun.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
Thats looking sharp..... I might paint my strawberry now.
Nah. It looked good enough from where i stood
Blows my mind your paint guy can do such a good job on a dirt floor
In reply to Norma66 :
He does better in my driveway under the bamboo. However, i do all the taping and prep for those jobs. He lays down paint amazingly well for the price, though.
This whole job (base,clear, 2k primer, and epoxy primer, and his labor) was 350. I took out the stuff i knew he wpuldnt mask, washed it quickly, and he picked it up and dropped it off.
Best cheap painter i e ever met.
Full writeup when its all back together
Previous total: 1540
paint: 162.50
clear corners: 9.99
kewood head unit, knob, and microphone: 60
sub and amp and wiring: had
door foam: had
vacuum hose and pcv: 9.75
seat heater and foam: 53
usb outlet: had
Rt itself cost as of today: roughly 1835.24 ish
update time, and its a doozie!
When we left off last, I had it back up and running better than ever. The new ecu and trans had me averaging 27-29 mpg, with occasional misfire codes and a lean code. Even though the back bumper had evidence of it being pig rich. Additionally, it was using a ton of oil for some unknown reason. Turns out that I had copied the previous owners vacuum routing and method. Which was WRONG. And there was no PCV valve at all. I was sucking all the oil from the pan out via the valve cover due to this. Fixing that made everything much better. Idle quality, throttle response, etc. 250 miles so far on this tank since that correction, so its still unknown about success as far as fuel economy and oil consumption. But the codes are gone. So, I have that going for me. No pictures, cause that doesn't really look any different.
I also rebuilt the factory RT drivers seat, using foam from the 96 parts car passengers seat. While I was in there, I tweaked a bunch.
First, I found that the springs in the bottom of the seat were garbage. Wires broke, springs broke, etc. no bueno. But I had a whole extra seat to work with, so I soldiered on.
20190320_160855 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
when I got the covers off, I realized just how bad this thing was. Wow. I apparently didnt take any pictures of the back foam, but it was worse. Trust me.
20190320_172628 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
I then stripped down the 96 passengers seat. The foams were perfect.
20190320_172608 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20190320_172620 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
After some dinking around with trimming foam on the backrest to make the passengers foam fit the drivers side, it was time to get the modification groove going. First, supplies.
A memory foam mattress topper from family dollar, and a seat heater kit from dorman.
20190320_172658 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20190324_152852 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
I apparently only took one picture during reassembly. I used some leftover race seat foam under my butt (much denser than the memory foam, and helped space the seat base differently for me), a couple of layers of memory foam on the bolsters and upper back area, installed the heaters, and hog ringed the covers back down.
20190324_154132 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20190325_080110 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
while were talking about the interior, ill touch on what else ove done.
First, the factory deadening on the doors was junk. Almost none left from where it had become brittle and turned to corn flakes. So I wanted to try something ive been thinking about. When I built the door panels in my el camino, I bought volara foam. Its a closed cell, dense, waterproof foam intended for vinyl tops, poker tables, etc. not a soft or spongy foam. But they were QUIET. So I lined the insides of the doors with it as a vapor barrier. It works pretty well, to be honest. I think it would be better when paired with dynamat as well, but I dont feel like doing that to this particular car. I also took the time to tighten, adjust, clean and lube all the parts inside the doors, and space my speakers properly. I only have one in process picture, as im a slacker.
20190402_145245 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
also, as I drive for work, I decided to upgrade the stereo to one with a functional tuner, bluetooth, and a sub. So I scored an open box kenwood kdc-bt768hd, volume knob, and microphone from ebay to run. Went ahead and added my goXt magnetic phone holder, an old dual brand amp bridged for mono, a spare polk db8 leftover from my truck in a .5 cu ft sealed box, and various bits of different lengths of wire. Drilled the second gen console for a 2amp usb outlet for fast charging and the seat heater switch before putting it all back together. And cleaned the console, tightened all the nuts and bolts and screws I came across, cleaned grounds, etc. general TLC and preventative maintenance.
20190407_110010 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20190407_110004 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
so this brings us to the big part of the update.
Before I left for ohio, I purchased a quart of GM arctic white, a gallon of clear, a gallon of reducer, and a gallon of epoxy primer. Delivered that to art, and stripped the car quickly and delivered it.
Before:
20190328_203459 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20190328_203506 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20190328_203513 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20190328_203530 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
I then went to ohio. The trip did not go well. Good to see my friends again though, even as pear shaped as the whole thing went. While I was in the snow in a 5/7 slammed silverado, art was working on the neon.
20190331_091400 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
imagejpeg_1 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
imagejpeg_4 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
he sprayed the base and clear about the time we were getting the truck back to north carolina on the trailer.
20190401_152948 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
my wife gave me a ride over to pick it up, and it looked FAR better than I had hoped for, and was actually finished on time (well, a day late, but for art that's perfectly early!)
20190401_155127 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20190401_184636 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20190401_185043 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
art did two things I was really not expecting, but very happy he did. First, he filled the spoiler holes.
20190401_192419 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
second, he color matched the license plate screws to the plate. Stroke of genius!
20190401_160313 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
anyway, reassembly began promptly, as I need the car for work. I used the outer window weatherstripping from the parts car, the power folding mirrors from the parts pile, snagged a set of clear corners from newegg.com, installed the mudflaps, readjusted both fenders, doors, hood, and remounted the front bumper, adjusted headlights, etc. lots of effort. But.....
20190402_145933 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20190402_173029 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20190403_123106 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20190403_123054 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20190403_123116 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
for a car I don't particularly want to own, I sure put a hell of a lot of work in it. Next is window tint, cruise install, rear eibach springs, headliner and sunroof repair, and more miles pounded on it than I care to admit to.
None of the Flickr photos are showing up for me? 
Snowy street is mine
edit: you’re right in front of mustang guy’s house. Very typical mustang guy, whose daily is a lifted f150 that’s loud and has punisher skulls on it. He has a fox body and sn95.
In reply to Norma66-Brent :
hmmm
areyou the only one? i can see them from my phone and computer, but thats not a guarentee of anything.
Working now!
Man, I cant believe I'm saying this but, that Neon looks great! Lol, I know a lot of yall like these, I dont get it yet because I've never even ridden in one
I just noticed that poor stupid truck on the trailer
Patrick said:I just noticed that poor stupid truck on the trailer
My neighbor goes " tell him to buy a real truck"
In reply to Professor_Brap :
That is my real truck. My truck before this was a 64 El Camino. Unless it's broken this truck actually does truck stuff really well.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
looking forward to driveabeater truck update. i know it came home on a stretcher but i got lost on what caused the stretcher to be required.
In reply to AngryCorvair :
Uncontrollable steering and issues despite the parts Cannon being fired at it. It's going to be a minute till the update of when I figure out what actually is broken. Need to stop being pissed at it first.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
call me crazy but i'm betting on something berkeleyed in the rear suspension. my '66 cutlass was nearly undriveable before i replaced the bushings in the OE triangulated four-link.
tint time!
striped!
This is one hell of a decent crappy car.
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