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.....
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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