1995 Base Plymouth 4dr Neon with 98 R/T upgrade...

Do you have a project going or will you be starting a project here very soon and just want to keep a log of everything you and when? Share with everyone every step of the way what sort of progress you are making on your project.
Rags
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Posts: 55
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 1:47 am
Location: Arizona

Post by Rags » Sat Jun 05, 2010 2:26 am

Friday-

Got the engine compartment wiring cleaned up ,routed and mounted, Mounted PCM, had to mod and grind the PCM mounts to fit flush on apron, 95 apron is different then the 98 apron, it sits higher,less space between where the PCm floor is to fender mounting lip. I would say a good 1 inch, no room to even mount the 98 washer bottle neck on the 95 apron above the PCM, had to reuse the 95 washer bottle and cut the neck off,should be able to refill with a trans funnel.....I will figure out a remote filler neck off something else later......Mounted fuse box inline with frame rail like I had before with no battery box, had to move Intrepid Jump start Cable block since fuse box is longer, had to make a new fuse box 12 volt feed from Intrepid cable block,got rid of the 95 Airbag crash sensors on the core support since the 98 system does not use them,installed OEM fog lights, OEM bumper support to replace the cheesy tin can repop one I had on the front,took off the 95 Vapor cannister and had to drill holes for the 98 Evap set up which uses a Leak detection Pump and mount it,mount 98 horn,Installed 98 Front fascia with good end brackets,right front fender,R/T bulge Hood and ran new washer line. grill piece,98 Headlights and turns,Expansion valve and A/C lines and dryer, Mount the 98 Fan relay to frame rail and drill holes as 95 relay is on fan shroud.....

Removed-

I took off K-Member and rack and pinion, both suspension knees left and right, drained auto trans, removed axles, Removed complete exhaust system, removed engine and trans., Took out ATX shift cable.... Split trans and put in back yard in my metal pile for scrap, removed Underdrive pulley off SOHC and belts...... Spent 2 hrs hauling all the stuff I took off to back yard by gate to be hauled off, cleaned garage floor and picked up my tools and mess........

Tomorrow-

I need to split trans off 98 DOHC in the back yard in the hot sun to dollie to garage, then dollie DOHC to garage, run to autoparts store and get a rear main, front crank seal, engine oil,filter,gear oil, gallon of antifreeze, 2 cans of freon,P/S fluid,Brake Fluid and loan a tool harmonic balancer puller.... install front crank seal, toss all the plastic t-belt covers, inspect belt,water pump and tensioner/idler puleys,put the t-belt back together ,install underdrive pulley... Then install rear main seal, inspect clutch and clean inside bellhousing, put trans back on engine, get it hoisted on to my movers flat dollie and roll under Neon, let Neon off of stands and lower body onto engine and Trans and get bolted on both ends, then jack it up and put back on stands and put the k-member in and all the front suspension..... Hope I can get it fired tomorrow..... waiting for my Booger shift bushings and have to order some kind of shift boot as the OEM one is wasted......also I have to bleed brakes... Gonna be another long day... :)

custom95neon wrote:keep at should have it done in no time. :thumbleft:
1995 Plymouth Strawberry 4 door was SOHC ATX with now a full 98 R/T DOHC MTX everything swap front to back ....300,000 miles on 95 before being reborn as a 98 R/T with 68,000 miles.

http://www2.cardomain.com/ride/779073

Rags
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Posts: 55
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 1:47 am
Location: Arizona

Post by Rags » Sat Jun 05, 2010 3:00 am

Image



Image

JmAnneonrt wrote::ttiwwp: :D
1995 Plymouth Strawberry 4 door was SOHC ATX with now a full 98 R/T DOHC MTX everything swap front to back ....300,000 miles on 95 before being reborn as a 98 R/T with 68,000 miles.

http://www2.cardomain.com/ride/779073

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JmAnneonrt
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Location: BANGOR,MAINE

Post by JmAnneonrt » Sat Jun 05, 2010 3:39 am

hehe thank you for a couple pics lol, keep em comin!
Image

Rags
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Posts: 55
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Location: Arizona

Post by Rags » Sun Jun 06, 2010 4:04 pm

Saturday-

Drug SOHC and ATX to back yard, that was a job in itself, Split DOHC and MTX that is in back yard in blistering sun, had to drag the compressor and 50 ft of hose and handful of tools to do this, I forgot how light the MTX trans is, drug it to garage, then drug the motor to garage...oh more heavy fun,then drug compressor back to garage......Run up to Autozone, grab trans inner axle seals,Rear Main Seal, brake cleaner, and the Loan a Tool Harmonic Balancer puller,that saved me 70 bucks, took apart clutch...yuck,modular but has 50 % life left, pop seal out of throwout bearing,clean and pack with Mobil 1 Synthetic grease, clean clutch assembly,inside of bell housing,lube quill and and fork pivot points,Install PTFE Rear Main,attach trans... Pop of harmonic and tear down t-belt stuff.... 1 noisey tensioner pulley,waterpump is so,t-belt good, leaking cam seals..... Well I am stuck.....To late to get parts.., clean up and to bed early..............


Sunday -

Up at 6:00 am today..........Run to Autozone, return Puller, get cam seals, waterpump, 1 tensioner pulley......Run to PepBoys grab A/C/PS belt for Underdrive pulley as Autozone did not have the belt......Install cam seals, install tensioner pulley,waterpump and belt......Button up and change small parts on motor,reseal crank sensor,,,Repair wiring harness to downstream o2 sensor plug,looks to have melted together at one time,,,, Jockey engine and trans on flat movers dollie which was fun,to heavy for me to move,had to take trans back off then put engine on dollie and then bolt up trans.....1 hr wasted... and slid assembly under Neon, lower the body and bolt up the engine and trans assembly.......Take back up and install back on jack stands.... Sitting inside with A/C at 70 degrees cause it's hot :) it is 12:50 PM ........Back out in a bit..... :roll:

Back at it 2:30 pm.......Finished bolting up motor mounts,installed NVH motor mount weight center mount,Used my center mount off the 95 as it was good and I have a Poly Insert in it,the 98 center mount was wasted, probably because the bobble strut had missing bushings,,,,hooked up heater hoses, installed shifter cables and booger bushigs that came in Saturday,installed center console out of 98 which the front mounting holes are not the same as the 95,repaired shift boot,Inside of Neon is done! :)...accept I have to repair radio harness someone hacked off,have a nice in dash DVD player...Stereo system is going to have to wait till next week,have In dash DVD player, Alpine 6x9'xs for the deck, couple amps...boston acoustic mid bass for the doors, have a set of crossovers but need tweeters.......and an AudioBahn Dual voice coil 10" in a Plexi top band pass......Never installed another system since my Neon got broke into a couple years ago and they stole everything.....

Installed cruise control,had to find a new home for the servo ,installed vacuum cannister under washer bottle, installed EGR Transducer, 5 foot long throttle cable :/,EVP hoses, radiator,fans,hoses, and so on...Made and installed some poly bushings I found in my toolbox for Booble strut...Should have installed 98 steel fuel line from tank,had to bend tube around to get line to work from firewall to fuel rail,all wiring hooked up,all vacuum lines hooked up........Think I am done up top...... Hot and really tired,got up to 104 Degrees today.....

Tomorrow-

Install full stock R/T exhaust,Down Stream O2 Sensor,install left and right front suspension,install axles, repair left inner tie rod socket on R/T rack, was bent from accident,took inner socket off my old Rack and Pinion,install rack on k-Member before I hang it, install MTX K-Member,Hook up P/S lines,Install front tires, drain the rest of the crappy fluid out of trans and fill with Penzoil SyncroMesh,change oil filter,drain oil and repair oil pan drain plug, has some expandable rubber plug in the pan, install oil pan to trans NVH brace. fill up with oil, reseal gasket around t-stat housing, fill with antifreeze, fill powersteering, bleed brakes, install battery tray back in trunk after I paint it and get new bolts,install my Yellow Top Optima Battery...and hope to fire :)....... the engine wiring and component placement since I have no battery box, drilling holes for clips and grounds the 95 did not have sure burned up time today......Some things are different from a 95 to 98. first thing I noticed is the trunk bump stops on the 98 truck lid to get height adjustment on left and right sides do not touch anything and do nothing on the 95 body,the rear tailight panel is way different, also no holes to hang the carpet around trunk striker,had to drill those,also center console mounts different on a 98 compared to the 95, the front braket is in a different spot, the screw holes are in the bottom of the cup holders compared to behind and up from the cup holders on the 98,I should have cut out the console front bracket out of the R/T before it went to scrap, I could have cut the 95 bracket out and welded in the 98 bracket....also placement of wiring harness clip holes all over the place,not in right spot or not there at all.....I drilled alot of holes :)... also 95 Steel fuel line is bent different at firewall compared to the 98,also the 98 HVAC case has vacuum servo for recirc door and different A/C control head which the 95 HVAC case used no vaccum or line going to it,also 2door A-Pllier trim is shorter then the 4 door trim at the headliner......

Need to buy a new cold air intake,my old AEM for the SOHC and autotrans will not fit and the 98 R/T stockair cleaner was all broken and cracked....Need to buy an ATX throttle body set up for Cruise Control as my ATX throttle body off my SOHC has no place for cruise cable :/...

And will spend days sorting old parts,tossing out the junk, and calling the scrap metal guy again also.... Have to clean,test parts and gather up for sale items I am not going to keep...I can't keep it all! Also scrub and acid the garage floor,,,,what a mess :)
1995 Plymouth Strawberry 4 door was SOHC ATX with now a full 98 R/T DOHC MTX everything swap front to back ....300,000 miles on 95 before being reborn as a 98 R/T with 68,000 miles.

http://www2.cardomain.com/ride/779073

Rags
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Posts: 55
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 1:47 am
Location: Arizona

Post by Rags » Tue Jun 08, 2010 5:01 am

Monday-Installed the rest of the R/T stuff ....

I installed R/T full stock exhaust,Down Stream O2 Sensor,install left and right front suspension,install axles, repair left inner tie rod socket on R/T rack, was bent from accident,took inner socket off my old Rack and Pinion,install rack on k-Member before I hang it, install MTX K-Member,Hook up P/S lines,Install front tires, drain the rest of the crappy fluid out of trans and fill with Penzoil SyncroMesh,change oil filter,drain oil and left weird drain plug in untill I figure out if I swap pans or buy a large tap and plug, install oil pan to trans NVH brace. fill up with oil, reseal gasket around t-stat housing, fill with antifreeze, fill powersteering, bleed brakes, install battery tray and battery,install fire extinguisher in trunk which has been rolling around for years :)make a fuel line that fits and looks clean,change overflow bottle twice as one was cracked after I filled it up,install Screamin Demon coil, modify AEM SOHC cold air to work...looks good :), just cannot stomach the Ebay cold airs,and another AEM is just to expensive....Hit the key and she fired like it was never apart in a million pieces! Yippie! Burb cooling system, let it warm up, fans cycle,,, P/S topped off, cooling system topped off..... no leaks :)..... Charge A/C and it works! Ice cold...... turn on lights, holy crap, bad bulbs everywhere.... used what I had,,,, need 2 marker light bulbs and license plate bulb....tomorrow....check all fuses,,, One burnt Fuse for cigar lighter,put in another one...pop...wtf? found the lighter pushed in, pulled it out and fuse did not pop,pitched it in trash and put in spare from 95....Take her for a spin and runs great, steering wheel is crooked and wanders around on road.... Get to looking the left tire is leaned in at the top compared to the right side, left was hit.... take out the level and check right wheel, center bubble, check left ,bubble all the way to one side, ...jack up and take off tire on left side...strut dont look bent, knuckle hard to tell if bent which it probaly is, have about 10 sets of cam style camber bolts in my tool box, found the right size, install it and lean out the top of knuclkle, tighten it all down,install tire and use level again,,, yippie! Bubble in center, same as right side...... break out tape measure and measure center to center tread grove front and back of front tires, toed out from center about 3/8 of an inch, set toe from left side and give me a 1/4 inch toe in.... drive it...feels better :).... come back to garage and time to center steering wheel..... wheel at 2:00 O'Clock, lengthen left tie rod 3 turns, shorten left tie rod 3 turns, drive it.... wheel at 11:30...opps,to much,...back to garage... shorten left 1/2 turn and lengthen right 1/2 turn...drive it...wheel at 11: 50..... crap.... back to garage...add another 1/2 turn on each side....test drive! Got it! ...back to garage...check toe,still 1/4 toed in...good enough untill I can get a 4 wheel thrust align.......

Open trunk to recheck battery and connections...Holy cow! a trunk light! never had that :) ...took her back out and some speed runs from 1 st to second gear up and down my street,cant venture out to far in the dark with no license plate light and expired tags :), runs way better with a MTX trans, shifts good with the booger bushings also....little engine vibe from the stiff bobble bushings I made and the poly insert for the center mount..... I have to say the MTX swap makes the little motor sing and 100% better then the ATX on a N/A motor......will toss on a 30 day permit and put some miles on her and get her I/M test ready status good for emmisions testing..... I never had to run this Neon to test for emmisions since I lived in the sticks, moved into town and have to test.....sucks, I do not think they plug in to test for codes or care about check engine lights because it is a 95, I think they do 96 up with the plug into OBD connector :).... should pass exhaust probe with no problem, I noticed this is a California compliant R/T Neon I used all the parts from........I will take her and put some miles on her tomorrow, need to get bulbs, stereo install plate kit, fix the harness for the stereo and install the OEM connectors I took off the 95 harness, and get the female plugs that mate to the OEM plugs and solder those to the Indash DVD player, need to install front door speakers.........

I am going to tear apart the R/T doors and take out the harness on the right door, and power lock latch,, the left door is crushed and had to cut the harness to get the door off, I think I can solder it back together and use it, gonna gut it also... I think I am going to install the R/T door harness and power lock latches in the 95, might as well, the dash is wired for it... can have front power locks and power mirrors! Have one good right outside power mirror,need a left and the trim plates with no holes,I don/t know if the 2 door mirror trim plates will fit the 4 door..... I have my eye on some gray interior pieces to get rid of the tan stuff, only thing is door panels. can't seem to find a complete set of Agate or black 4 door panels with manual windows cheap....found a couple Neon part outs on Craigslist,gonna hit them up... Interior stuff can actually wait, I might try the SEM plastic dye kit they offer....

Gonna ditch the Map Light rear view mirror I have and remove the wiring I installed for it, does not work right with the 98 interior harness, I cant turn them onwith the doors closed, they only work with the doors open, something to do with the timer which the 95 did not have....But going to peel the sunroof harness apart from the 98 and use the select wires and plug to hook up the lighted Visor vanity mirrors... :)

All I can say quite the adventure doing this swap, alot harder to do stuff at home then at the shop, no 2 post lift and limited space,,,,,,I think I got it done pretty quick for the circumstances....I would estimate about 60 hours of actual working time to gut 2 Neons and build one with different year parts.....I think I spent about 300 bucks to swap stuff out, that includes a new 600 pound upright movers dollie and a flat 4 wheel movers dollie,Fluids, seals,waterpump,tensioner pulley,belt, brake cleaner,Freon,fuel hose and clamps,friction tape,bulbs and Gallons of Crystal Light :)

Now I need to clean up back yard pile"o parts, separate good from the bad, need to test sunroof assembly out of R/T to see if it is good as a member wants it, will have some goos stuff to sell as I cannot keep it all...................

Need to get some good zip ties and button up stuff under hood tomorrow also...Also need to make a bracket to secure lower half of the AEM cold air to frame rail so it don't bounce around... need to check my new to me Cruise control also..........Need to check on a nice muffler that is not as loud as the SRT4 dual tips I had with a long cherry bomb, no more rice for me, but need a little noise :)...... The R/T stock exhaust is to quiet, all I can hear is intake noise when I punch it.....

Well this adventure is done so far, I will keep adding to this thread as i do stuff to my New to me 95 R/T 4 door Neon :) Happy to give my Work Horse Little Strawberry Neon a chance to last a few more years.....Going to start on Body work and get her in Primer/Sealer next month or 2, change rotted headlight gaskets, find all the door moulding,locate at least the hood stripes with the cut out 16 V DOHC and get the rest made to have ready after paint.......... Have to decide if I want Strawberry or make her R/T Red :) ................sigh, hate color chages,,,,,,so much work..... :D ...

Also get to spend some time tomorrow at the car wash. cleaning and degreasing engine comaprtment, engine and trans, k-member....the 98 R/T stuff I installed is just nasty....had to have ben the headgasket before it was changed to get so much oil on everything..I really hate greasy things, one thing about my ATX and SOHC it did not leak or burn a drop of oil....A gallon of ZEP purple stuff,a spary bottle and a handful of quarters for the car wash!....

No more slammed springs, no more rough riding 17's with 205/40.'s, no more SRT4 loud ass hacked exhaust,no more Nitrous, crane 12 cam,no more creaking poly urethane suspension bushings,no more Split Second ACR1 fuel tuner, no more manual steering, no more EGR delete and check engine light glowing,no more boxes of SRT4 turbo stuff gathering dust, no more MSD DIS4 gathering dust..........It is all gone.........gonna miss it actually, but will enjoy the good ride of stock stuff, Power steering and cruise control....at least I will have fun shifting :)
1995 Plymouth Strawberry 4 door was SOHC ATX with now a full 98 R/T DOHC MTX everything swap front to back ....300,000 miles on 95 before being reborn as a 98 R/T with 68,000 miles.

http://www2.cardomain.com/ride/779073

Rags
1GN Registrant
Posts: 55
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 1:47 am
Location: Arizona

Post by Rags » Wed Jun 09, 2010 8:09 pm

Installed a new Stereo Head unit today, I repaired the harness that someone had cut off the factory plugs and soldered the OEM plugs in, I ran over to BestBuy and bought a Metra radio mount kit and the OEM female jumper plugs.... The wifey gave me a new in box VR3 head unit with DVD player...It rocks, I put one in her 1978 Trans-Am a few years ago....she was missing the plastic box that the faceplate gets stored in when you take it off, they sent her a complete other Stereo new in box to replace the little plastic storage faceplate box ....:) So she was nice enough to let me have it.......... http://www.roadmasterusa.com/product.php?p=VRVD630

For a $100 head unit it sure is nice,sounds good and has outputs for rear monitor,and back up camera input that comes on when you put car in reverse,plays DVD's and has an SD card slot.........powers my Alpine 6x9's and stock dash tweeters and stock Stratus door speakers just fine....Guess I will run my Rca's to the trunk again and install a subwoofer and amp I have in office gathering dust....

I do notice a small coolent leak, looks to be the oring out of the back of the water pump ,the tube that connects to the lower hose...... I bought an intake gasket set and the big o-ring for 10 bucks,guess I will drain and save the new coolent ,pull the intake and pull the tube and reseal it......all in all the Neon runs great :)
1995 Plymouth Strawberry 4 door was SOHC ATX with now a full 98 R/T DOHC MTX everything swap front to back ....300,000 miles on 95 before being reborn as a 98 R/T with 68,000 miles.

http://www2.cardomain.com/ride/779073

Rags
1GN Registrant
Posts: 55
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 1:47 am
Location: Arizona

Post by Rags » Sat Jun 26, 2010 3:35 am

Been doing odds and ends since the total swap, I installed the front door checks out of the 98 R/T 2 door into my 95 4 door,they bolt right in and alot more positive and no chance for the door to slam on your leg,my original left front door check was just plain worn out on the 95 sedan,the coupe door checks are designed different for the heavier front door on a coupe, they bolt right in and pop on each detent,alot more positive,a nice small silly upgrade for a 4 door front doors........ also installed all the R/T power goodies in the right front door,cut up the infinity front door speakers that where blown and installed 5 1/4 Boston Acoustic shieded mid basses in the skelton 6 1/2 infinity baskets,changed left front strut and knuckle as it was bent from the R/T and had a knocking noise,ordered another can of ColorBond 160 to dye b -piller trim and rear door opening trim that goes along seat up to package tray, found a left front loaded power door harness,oem left front power latch and power mirror,waiting for that,ordered to universal 2 wire door lock actuators for the rear doors,dug out my old plexiglass 10 inch bandpass woofer,had 3 subs and only one good one to install in box,tried 3 amps and found only one good one,760 watt Sony Explode,installing the RCA's and remote wire tomorrow to trunk,degreased engine bay ,trans and engine,kmember 3 times already and still dirty..trip to the pressure washer is next.....got about 900 miles on her since the swap,running good and happy.....
1995 Plymouth Strawberry 4 door was SOHC ATX with now a full 98 R/T DOHC MTX everything swap front to back ....300,000 miles on 95 before being reborn as a 98 R/T with 68,000 miles.

http://www2.cardomain.com/ride/779073

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