1996 Plymouth Neon ACR

Okay, so this is gonna be kind of a lame thread, but we'll give it a shot and see how it goes.

Background

In my driveway sits my wife's Scion xD and my company truck. In the garage sits a motorcycle and about 92% of an MR2. It occurred to me recently that I had lost interest in the MR2 and really kinda needed a second car, one that I could play with and that my wife could use as a backup. My little brother had just gotten a job with Flyin' Miata so of course a Miata was high on my list (still is), but I ended up with the two choices in the thread above.

I really have always wanted an ACR Neon for some stupid, undefinable reason (I've owned only Subarus for about the last twelve years, five of them to be exact). So on November 11th I scored a cheap flight to Ft. Lauderdale and drove home in one. There were a handful of issues and the asking price came down a bit:

Paint (what's left of it) is in rough shape; struts (Arvin) might be blown; exhaust leak somewhere; oil leaks everywhere (very small though); speedo and odometer are inop; seller added a stereo and speakers (only one speaker intermittently works); terrible vibration through the steering wheel; something that sounds like a noisy throwout bearing; CEL popped on five minutes into my drive home.

On the plus side, there's no crash damage or rust (beyond some very minor surface rust), and the seller threw in a set of stock wheels to go along with the aftermarket ones on the car. It was also ordered only with AC (no factory radio or rear defroster), which I was thankful for.

So I guess the purpose of this little gem, aside from having a running second car, is to have something to tinker with and autocross a bit, maybe run a track day or two. I'm not expecting to win anything and I won't be dumping cubic dollars into it to make it competitive, but I will be having fun with it. And who knows, maybe I'll be able to get my wife hooked on racing along the way...

That might be pushing it...

I'll be taking photos and updating my posts periodically. I don't really trust myself with a camera or phone when I'm working on my car because I've been known to throw things from time to time when I get really frustrated, so I kinda err on the side of caution. Photos will come later, have faith...

So to get this thread up to speed:

1. The wheel vibration was exactly what it seemed. A quick stop at a tire shop to have the wheels balanced (after the tires were swapped back onto the stock wheels) completely cured the problem.

2. The CEL was for an oxygen sensor. I suspected the exhaust leak, but some digging around turned up frayed and cut wiring on the body side of the downstream sensor. Snip, strip, solder, and splice, and the sensor is functional again. The CEL is gone and the little Neon passed its emissions test! I also christened the car with my blood during this repair, that story is elsewhere on the site...

3. I had the battery disconnected for about three weeks while I tried to find the time to make the CEL go away. When everything was buttoned back up, I reconnected the battery and discovered that the Neon had a functioning aftermarket alarm system that the previous owner didn't tell me about (I had seen the little siren under the hood but didn't think much of it since there was no remote for it). No problem, I'll just disconnect the siren and clip the wires. Now when I turn the key I get power but no start, and a steady clicking from somewhere under the dashboard. Reconnect the siren, still no start. So the stupid car has an immobilizer and I have no remote to disarm it, awesome. As I turn myself upside down with the intention of violently removing the alarm system from underneath the dash, i notice a teeny tiny toggle switch installed next to the OBDII port. Clicked that little switch and she started right up. Still not sure if the two actions were related though...

4. Since the speedo and odo didn't work, I immediately suspected a bad speed sensor. A couple of guys on here who are far more knowledgeable than I suggested I simply resolder the instrument panel circuit board first, as the original solder tends to crack and fail. I was apprehensive because my soldering skills are pretty much complete garbage, but I somehow managed to not screw things up. As a result, I now know how fast I'm going, and I didn't have to fork over $$ for another sensor (yet).

5. While searching for the exhaust leak I noticed that a bolt was missing from the exhaust manifold. Three of them, in fact. Thinking they were simply missing I ordered up some more and went about trying to replace them. Turns out the original bolts didn't actually go anywhere, they're just broken off inside the head. Fantastic! Fantastic... The resident experts advised me that this isn't an uncommon issue, especially when the motor mounts start to get soft...

And keeping in mind that I've been playing with Subarus almost exclusively for the past decade and a bit, can I just say that whoever designed this car's air intake system was way overthinking the problem? It's like some sort of Rube Goldberg contraption that eventually manages to supply air to the engine. A snorkel sucks warm air from the top of the intake manifold on the front of the motor, then routes it through a plastic tube over the top of the hot valve cover. It then enters the airbox which sits on top of the hot exhaust manifold before being sent around the left side of the engine to the throttle body up front. The air makes a full lap of the motor before it ever goes in... the WRX may have the "interwarmer" on top of the motor, but at least the intake piping is nice and short.

Anyhow, I'll throw another update on here just as soon as I fix or break something else, which shouldn't be long depending on which one it is. I'll also get some photos posted up so you guys don't have to keep staring at my Wall O' Text...

pics or it didnt happen....

White 96 coupe? Nice!

Okay, I told you guys to begin with that this wouldn't be a very exciting thread. I look at everyone else's project log and wish mine could be like that, but alas...

And along those lines I'd like to say thank you to this community for being what it is. I've lurked on here for years and absorbed the collective knowledge without providing any in return. To that end, for better or for worse, and with only the best intentions, I continue this build thread.

So anyway, I'd mentioned before that the paint on my ACR wasn't all that great. You can see that in some of the photos I posted in my other thread above. Well my little car thought that what paint was left was still too much, so one night it decided to do something about it:

It truly happened overnight. About a month or so ago we'd had about two straight weeks of rain before one night of below-freezing temperatures. I'm inclined to guess that moisture got underneath the paint and froze, lifting the paint free in big sheets that rolled up and blew across my neighbors' front yards. Awesome. On the plus side, that's less stuff that I have to sand off when it's time to repaint... which should be soon now that my engineless MR2 has been sold and is out of the garage.

So paint or not, I'm hoping to have it mechanically ready for a little bit of autox action before the end of the season (hopefully before the summer). In the meantime, it'll probably be making an appearance at the Mitty next month (I love living 5 miles from Road Atlanta) if anyone wants to see it in all its primer-and-rust-polka-dotted glory.

Hahaha that's CRAZY!!!

I knew it would be a white car when i saw "Paint (what's left of it) is in rough shape."

The chrysler products of the mid 90's had a horrible time keeping the white paint on the car. I can't remember why, but I think they even paid for some repaints in a few cases. My old white neon would peel in sheets.

And about wanting an ACR, I totally get it. I get laughed at by my buddies, but I still love my old Neon.

Cuda wrote: I can't remember why, but I think they even paid for some repaints in a few cases.

They were transitioning to water-based paint and didn't quite get it right the first couple years.

Yeah, I'd say so...

I'm gonna see if I can bum a compressor and a paint gun off of a friend... Otherwise I'll grab some rattlecans and go to town. I'd thought briefly about doing a color change, but it's definitely not a beauty queen and just doing a respray will free up money for struts and a clutch.

Also, the temptation to mod this car out of GS and straight into STC is pretty strong... Gotta remember to start small...

In reply to bluescooby:

Honestly, shell out the couple hundred for a decent-marginal single-stage paint in the original bright white. When you factor in materials for painting it in the garage, it is almost not worth it.

Do all the major prep work yourself. Sticking a string under the edges of the window molding can raise it enough to rid of a paint line without having to pull all the weatherstripping.

If/when you go to sell it later on down the line, you'll get a lot more back out of it with a "proper" paint job.

I almost bought this car. It's good to see it went to a good home.

Holy crap.... that is INSANE about the paint! I see these all the time with giant missing chunks of paint around here, but nothing like this.

bluescooby wrote: Also, the temptation to mod this car out of GS and straight into STC is pretty strong... Gotta remember to start small...

FSP is a much better choice for that car. STC, i.e. "Street Touring Civic"...is just that.

For inspiration...

Mazda787b wrote: In reply to bluescooby: Honestly, shell out the couple hundred for a decent-marginal single-stage paint in the original bright white. When you factor in materials for painting it in the garage, it is almost not worth it. Do all the major prep work yourself. Sticking a string under the edges of the window molding can raise it enough to rid of a paint line without having to pull all the weatherstripping. If/when you go to sell it later on down the line, you'll get a lot more back out of it with a "proper" paint job.

This. Also just to reiterate, keep it white. Bright white in the sun shows almost no imperfections easily so even a Maaco or the like would probably do a pretty decent job if you did the prep.

autotec wrote: I almost bought this car. It's good to see it went to a good home.

My wife probably wishes that you had...

SilverFleet wrote: Holy crap.... that is INSANE about the paint! I see these all the time with giant missing chunks of paint around here, but nothing like this.

Yep, the hood and the left front fender are about the only body panels that haven't been affected yet.

FSP_ZX2 wrote: FSP is a much better choice for that car. STC, i.e. "Street Touring Civic"...is just that.

I knew STC was packed with Civics, I was just looking to keep costs down since the tax man took us for a ride this year. I had already planned to have the car running at a couple of events by now, but the government apparently had other ideas...

crankwalk wrote: This. Also just to reiterate, keep it white. Bright white in the sun shows almost no imperfections easily so even a Maaco or the like would probably do a pretty decent job if you did the prep.

I'll keep it white. I really like NYG, but that would require a full color change and it wouldn't be "factory." Anyway I think white fits better with the idea of a stripped-down, no-frills car, and plus I dig the white wheels on a white car.

As far as progress goes, I haven't gotten very much farther. Still slowly collecting parts as money allows so I can get the motor out and fix about three or four things at once. I was pointed in the right direction till taxes hit, so now I may be derailed for a bit...

Still collecting parts but I've had the opportunity to reevaluate the condition of the car and the repairs that need to be done to get it where I'd like it to be.

After several trips to the local Pull A Part I was able to locate a stock DOHC muffler (for $30) that hadn't rusted away... PB Blaster and a cutoff wheel removed the rusted-out glasspack and now my little car no longer wakes the neighbors when I putter down the street. The Pull A Part also netted me an extra set of wheels, 15" from a '00 Neon, for $80:

An intake...

and a used (supposedly low-mileage) clutch kit...

both picked up from the good members at neons.org.

So that stuff, in addition to some standard tuneup items (plugs, wires, belts, etc.) and a timing belt thrown in for good measure, should have me off to a decent start. Some new hoses should fix the weeping coolant, and some assorted gaskets and seals should take care of the couple of oil leaks. I haven't pulled the exhaust manifold yet, but I'm holding my breath that the broken bolts won't need to be drilled out.

I figured out the alarm so now it's just a matter of tracing and rejoining wires to disable it. Also I've realized that in my year of ownership I've only actually turned on the radio once - the day I bought it - so that can probably come out too.

So that's it for now I suppose... tune in again in another six months and maybe I'll actually have done something to fix the car...

So the big three things I'm trying to get done right now are the timing belt, clutch, and exhaust manifold bolts. The conundrum I'm facing is that I'm not as confident as I'd like to be doing major repairs and maintenance so I'd be really happy to only have to take things apart once, but I don't have the time or the budget at the moment to do all of the preventative maintenance stuff (full gaskets, seals, lifters, hoses, etc) that I want to get done. If nothing else I'd like to get the timing belt done this weekend since I have no idea when/if it was last tended to... I found a Neon at the Pull A Part a few weeks ago with an exploded cylinder head, sure would hate for my 13-year old timing belt to let go and put my car in the same condition.

Oh, and as a side note, the car now refuses to start. The motor had been cutting out pretty good the last time I drove it, now it just won't fire. A quick check gave me a code for the cam position sensor. Researching this problem turned up similar symptoms, plus the fact that the '96 requires an input from that specific sensor in order to crank. Even better, it doesn't appear to be as simple as replacing the $40 sensor... wiser men than I have commented that it's normally a wiring problem somewhere between the sensor and the PCM.

Well as luck would have it, my cam position sensor wiring has been chopped up and spliced as though the sensor had been replaced at some point. I got rid of the shady wire tap connectors that had been used previously and respliced the wires, so hopefully that cures the problem. I say "hopefully" because the car is slowly being taken apart in preparation of having some manner of major repair performed this weekend.

And on that note, if anyone is in or around Atlanta (Buford) and wants to come watch me curse at my car and throw things as though it were the bane of my very existence, feel free to stop by, it'll be quite a show.

So i just read your other thread where you were picking neon or rx7 and saw this:

RX7 any day. The 7 can be a supercar. The Neon can be a really fast econobox.

So then i went back and checked the results from GRM's Ultimate Track Car Challenge, and, yep.

Just yep.

Ha, yeah, except my car is infinitely slower than an SRT-4...

I was actually wondering not long ago what happened to that RX7 I was looking at. One of the big reasons I went with the ACR was that the guy with that RX7 just flaked out and stopped returning emails. Would've been a pretty unique car though...

Glass if half-full thinking says you will enjoy both in good time. I have not owned a rotary yet (2 neons, though) but it's on 'the list'.

I've driven a couple of RX8's and was underwhelmed, though I'll admit neither was driven in anger (although the R3 I drove had a Racing Beat exhaust that made such beautiful music). I'll own some spinning triangles some day, I may just have to sneak it into the garage while SWMBO isn't looking...

All the smartest rotary owners (past and present) that i know have basically given me the impression that if you dont intend to hit the redline on EVERY drive, you should not own a rotary.

I would try that on my neon but i think my limiter is like 8100 or something like that and that makes me nervous.

Well there was a lot of cursing but unfortunately not much got done. I took care of the basic maintenance stuff, but I think the big stuff is a bit over my head at the moment. I've gone over every writeup I could find for the clutch and timing belt, but it seems I lack the experience and the confidence to actually pull it off right now.

On the plus side, the timing belt doesn't appear to be in bad shape. I'll give it another shot later.

Also, I got that stupid immobilizer disabled, yay!

Is that a modular clutch? Looks like it? Modular clutches are the easiest ones!

The timing belt job is not bad if you have the right tool for the crank pulley! Parts stores often rent the "Chrysler crank pulley puller" tool.

It will still take you a while for your first time. I wouldnt assume that you could tackle both in the same weekend unless you were highly motivated and nothing went wrong. A pro mechanic with a lift and all necessary tools could do both in 3-4 hours but it is really hard to quantify how long "first time ever" jobs will take.

Yep, modular clutch. Not sure why it's red though... looks faster?

The actual "take-old-clutch-out," "put-new-clutch-in" part isn't the issue, it's the eight hours of work on either side of it. For me, working by myself, on a teeny-tiny budget, with no prior experience with these jobs and probably (definitely) not the right tools, it seems pretty daunting. Same goes for the timing belt to a lesser extent. I actually found the Chrysler crank pulley puller tool and rented it, but then I read all the stories about how it doesn't really work on the Neon and requires some creative improvisation or expensive specialty tools.

All of my first time jobs take forever, even simple ones. Changing to oil in my wife's Scion took me like three hours the first time, ditto for the brakes. Hell it's a 45-minute chore just to get the stupid Neon airbox off and on (I hate that thing so much, what an awful design), and I gave up completely on trying to get the exhaust manifold off without snapping more bolts... forget hours, apparently anything more involved would require days of work.

Oh well, I'm just in a crappy mood right now, I'll give it a couple of weeks and try again... the timing belt at least. I think I've come to the conclusion that I don't have the time and the skills necessary to do the clutch right now.

Thanks for the encouragement though...