1997 neon acr coupe 2012 challenge/DD build

I've always liked these. Keep up the good work! This should make a fun daily driver for you.

iit already is a fun daily driver. put 600 miles on it in the last week and a half.

my major complaints are rattles, ingress/egress due to my being chunky, and an exhaust leak when cold. not major stuff, just minor annoyances.

also looking forward to the progressive springs. this thing beats you up on rough roads.

michael

Still way more awesome than my ACR project, it's amazing how you turned that car around. Hope you decide to hold onto it!

Also if you end up selling a spare set of Konis give me a shout, my Arvins are shot...

i do have a spare set.......

i do not have a spare set of good koni's. i have two. one front, one rear. the others are leaking......

but its sitting on the eibachs, whith a LOT of negative camber up front. i think i got up to about 3 degrees. pics and alignment tomorrow when its light out. (well, later today. its already saturday where im at.

one of those "im grateful i didnt get what i want" moments

i was trying to sell my spare konis. when i pulled the origonal konis off the car friday, two were leaking pretty badly. they would have been almost impossible to replace, so im glad i never sold the spare 99 set.

i got the fromt 99 konis slotted, sprung, etc before friday. spent two hours swapping them over to the car, and giving it an eyeball alignement. yesterday, i aligned ip for the most part. -2 degrees camber front, -1 camber rear. 0 toe front.

i cannot currently adjust the rear toe, as my rear tope adjusters seem to be siezed. so they are soaking in PB blaster for a while, then ill try again.

heres pics to show the new ride height. looks reall, really good. han dles amazing, and rides better than the ACR springs.

remember, this is with a used pro-kit.

budget remains the same, next im restoring the stock silver wheels, and getting new tires.

Looks awesome! The Konis are rebuildable but its not challenge friendly ($100ish each IIRC)

The rear arms are a huge pain. Find someone with an oxy/acetylene torch and a 3/4 impact and the air to run it. Lots of heat and oil just work them back and forth until they loosen up. Change the bushings while youre there as well.

yeah, im not looking forward to those bolts. do they go the whole way through the rear crossmember? i was able to get the nuts off the back, and start rocking the bolt a little, but im pretty sure the bushing sleeve is rusted to the bolt.

and how do they adjust toe? some sort of eccentric on them at the rearward side under the huge nut shaped piece of sheetmetal?

im just scare of breaking these off. no good way to drill them out.....

Yes whole way through, Is yours a 95? All 94 build dates and most 95 build dates have painted bolts makes this process easier but still not fun. The big hex towards the rear of the car is the toe adjuster

If you're selling, I'd be interested in a set of Konis and possibly the export turns?

id only be selling the whole deal.

two of my knois are leaking

the export turns are homemade.

Gotcha, saw your thread on the .org but missed the turn thing.

How much did it cost you to get the car painted? My ACR is/was in similar shape + a few other goodies here and there.

Really like how you added the insulation to the interior. Almost the complete opposite of what I have done (deleted A/C, no sound deadening), but the lengths you have went to add this stuff in is really great.

I'd love to DD it, it's just so clean I don't think I could let it touch salt.

i would have charged my buddy right at 2k for the job i did. as it was, we traded labor and some parts, so i didn tactually "pay" anything. we wound up replacing 1 fender, 1 door, the hood, and pulling all the bolt n panels off the car, stripping the car to bare metal, and working it out afterwards.

Not too bad really. Mine is pretty straight. Wanted the rocker panel spot welds straightened back up and a hole in the roof from the antenna filled. Just had new bumpers and a Keystone Viper Hood shot last summer. I figure maybe $3000 on the higher side. UA Black seems cheaper due to the commonality of the color.

Are you thinking if rebuilding the Konis or just finding decent used ones?

already had decent used ones, that are on the car now. but nowq have no spares......

time to save up some money to have TrueChoice or Koni-NA rebuild them as double adjustable units with adjustable spring perches :)

That thing is looking great! I love how it sits on the Eibachs! Nice work!

FWIW, I emailed both Koni NA and Truechoice about rebuilds.

Koni NA said:

The price to rebuild the ACR shocks is $155 a damper plus parts. The parts typically range in the $50-$100 per shock as well, depending on the condition of the struts. For us to convert the shocks from full body to threaded spring perches the charge is 80/hr, on top of the rebuild cost. Currently our turnaround time is at about 6 weeks.

Truechoice Said:

The rebuild cost is $170.00 per strut plus parts. The parts are usually $30.00 to $40.00 per unit. This cost includes a revalve if desired. The coil over option is an additional $150.00 per unit. Our current turnaround time to do this job is one week.

Just thought you'd like to know, just in case.

wow. i like these struts, but not THAT much. i think id stick a set of koni strt on it, and call it a day....

and i love this little car. even if it did try to kill me today. rain+tires at wear bars+emergency manuver due to moron+light car=oh E36 M3!!!

ordered a fresh set of falken 912's from my tire guy time to restor the silver wheels and get ready....

so heres where im at with the intake, pre cleaning. have not really started on the "polishing" yet. this is all just cutter work.

does anyone have advice on the turtles? i shortened and shaped the first one a litle bit. its about equal height to the second (from the throttle body), instead of the origonal much taller.

how about the divider wall in the middle of the plenum? lines up with the one port dividser in the upper intake, so i didnt want to just cut it out. but all is seems to do is block air form 3/4 runners.

so, anything im missing? any further tips? anything you see that i should address before finishing up?

budget wise, we need to subtract 200 for selling the stock wheels, and add 21 for the ECM i traded for my new head. also add 25 for my dynomax exhaust. (craigslist score from the same guy that i got the last random assortment of parts. really neat guy.)

new total: 2029.94

and current fuel economy is between 29-34 with me not being nice to it. depends on how much 4 lane versus how much 2 lane. same as it was with the snorkle setup.

i also spent a while today working on mary's christmas present. she wants a pet. she loves aquariums. therefore, goldfish are going to be one of her christmas presents. whein i was 4 or 5, my parents did teh same for me. i fund that i still had the fish tank they started me with in storage, alsong with all the pumps, aerators, etc. its a little 2 gallon acrylic tank. figured it would be pretty neat to have her use her dads tank to start with. when i pulled it out of the box its been in for the past 20 years, it was looking a little tired.

using a tip i got from this forum on cleaning headlights, i grabbed my mothers mag and aluminum polish, and a microfiber towel. an hour of rubbing later, it looked like this:

i took it back upstairs, washed it REALLY good with antibacterial soap and dishwashing deterggent. perfectly clear with water in it. we picked up some barbie pink rocks and new filters and tubing after church this morning, so were all set to put it up tomorrow night and get it running. were giving her a card from dr seuss to go with it. "one fish, two fish. red fish blue fish." well let her pick out her own from the local wal-mart after lunch at the grandparents house. (we'll make sure to steer her towards the popular ones, so when they die i can easily replace them before she figures out theyre not sleeping on their backs. i dont want hher to learn about death jsut yet at the old age of not yet four)

y'all have a merry christmas, and dont forget to love your families.

not too much going on lately. finally swapped to the ATX throttle body. the throttle body is not actually larger like i was led to believe, but has LESS of a step on the inlet side. mikes out exactly the same on the plate. just thought that was odd. also added a new 2.99 gasket. driving impressions: throttle response is greatly improved, but the car feels slower above 1/2 throttle. probably because it is a lot more linear in the power curver, without the flat spots it had before. its also suprisingly much quieter as far as intake noise. i had not expected that. the atx spring is a little weak, but after a couple of days i got used to it. now it only gives me trouble in really bumpy parking lots in 1st/2nd gear. makes it a bit jerky... dont know about gas milage. only been a week, and i havent driven much. only 300 miles this week or so.

michael

Keep it up, this looks like a fun ride now!

dude, you have three active build threads right now, plus a day job? you da man!

AngryCorvair wrote: dude, you have three *active* build threads right now, plus a day job? you da man!

thanks. i also spend a significant amount of time with my family.

the motto of my current lifestyle is: coffee, cause i can sleep when im dead.

the neon is just a spare time build. it is my only daily right now.

also, the cars that are not on threads: 58 caddy convert that im finishing vintage air nstall, 50 chrysler new yorker getting reassembled and drivable, 54 ford pickup thats at the body shop (ill be getting it ac'd and wiried and assembled as soon as its in primer), and a couple of vettes waiting in the wings.

i am freaking busy.;

michael

so i rehabbed an 01 RT for my brother in law. he didnt like the wheels. traded them to me for a set of steelies i had, cause the tires were cheap and they rode better.

tried them on my car. loved the looks. hated the ride, extra rotating mass, and rubbing.

sold for over triple what i had in them.

i think thats a win in anyones book.

oh, and i put 5k on this thing since the last update. i love this little car. ATX throttle body made no noticible difference in fuel economy. next is tio get the fully ported intake on when i get some down time.