ducktapetg's 98 r/t

[MyNeonSaysHi]

Nice setup. Not a fan of that rear section. Sits way too low. That thing has got to go and is a huge eyesore to the rear end.

[ducktapetg]

Now that you mention it, I notice the gap. For now, that is the way its going to sit though.

Thanks for the feedback

[BlackRT?]

love those bbs wheels on 1gens... car loogs good

[ducktapetg]

love those bbs wheels on 1gens... car loogs good

Thanks man I love the BBS wheels too

[ducktapetg]

Its been awhile since I have updated. I bought a few things this winter and plan on installing them shortly.

Items bought:
no 90 AMM intake
Honda Hunter PDC mount
Full srt4 seats (I got a hell of a deal at 150 for everything)
Set of offset trailing arms
DM racing K brace (looks awesome btw)

Progress has been slow as I have other things going on. I did install the seats and fixed the sunroof so it actually opens. Both plastic slides were destroyed. I also planned on installing the offset arms but my battery was dead. I think I have some parasitic draw which I will have to find. Also, as the car was running, the thermostat area started to gush antifreeze out like crazy. Just another thing to look into.

I am picking up some struts and springs for the daily this weekend so I probably wont have any progress until next week. The near future of the car is to replace the tie rods, ball joints, control arm bushings and wheel bearings. I am up in the air about relocating the battery which is why I bought the PDC mount. I want to leave it in the stock location so that I do not have to run a kill switch just in case I want to go to the track. I may just use it to make a battery tray for an Odyssey battery. I will have to see how much clearance there is for the intake and go from there.

Hopefully, once all that is done the car should be ready for the road. I also have a near mint set of stock lights I will be putting on.

Onto some pictures.

The seats installed

[ducktapetg]

Some more quick updates. I got Vitor's offset trailing arms installed and now there is clearance for the tire. Also, I removed the front control arms which was a total bitch. Everyone complained about the vertical bolt being a pain (which I could imagine it is if the nut in the frame broke loose) but I had a wicked time trying to remove the horizontal bolt on both sides. Nothing a big hammer, heat and an air hammer couldn't fix but I did destroy the nuts. Thankfully, the DM Racing K frame support came with new ones. Onto the pictures.



Seized Bolt


End Result




I also noticed my speedometer lights not working. ..just another thing to fix.


I also picked up some SRT ACR struts with Eibach lowering springs to get rid of that gap. I plan to install them on my daily while I am installing controls arms on that too. I hope it goes smoother than the 98.





The next order of business is to clean up the control arms and install new energy bushings and ball joints. I still need to get the knuckle/axles to upgrade the brakes. I had a lead for the calipers and brackets but they are not being responsive. I will just search car-part.com some more.

[ducktapetg]

Since I haven't updated in awhile...

I finally installed the energy suspension bushings in the control arms. While there, I also installed new ball joints. Also, in May, Suspension Techniques was had a mail in rebate of 75 off a sway bar kit, so I bought it. It includes everything from bushings to beefier sway bar mounts for the rear sway bar. I am happy for now. I still have to install the k frame brace as well as torque everything down. I also have 60mm tb coming and I purchased a new Odyssey battery to replace the crappy one I have now.

Some pictures:








I also installed new control arms, tie rods and struts/springs on the daily. It turned out alright.

[ducktapetg]

Its been a while since I have updated this. I decided to go for the 11" brake upgrade so I bought the 91' Spirit knuckles and I found some warehouse clearance loaded calipers. My dumb ass, however, didn't realize they came with the larger caliper bracket and I already bought some of those. Returning them will cost basically how much I paid for them in shipping so I we will see.

I still have to buy the axles and rotors but I will do that tonight. Quick question on that though. I can use both passenger and driver side of an 01 neon mtx axles for the swap? I pretty sure I can but it would be nice if someone could confirm.

Knuckle with ABS


big ass caliper with bracket

[ducktapetg]

I some what finished the passenger side of the car for the brake upgrade. The knuckle and axle is installed. I hooked up the ABS sensor to the knuckle so everything (hopefully) will work like factory. I wont know for sure until probably late August at this rate. Also, the future wife installed my headlights so we are making some progress.

Anyway, some pictures because who likes reading

Stock vs. 11"


A comparison (which is very difficult to see)


11" Mounted for looks


List of things to be done prior to seeing road action:
Drivers side knuckle and brakes
Re-bleed brakes
Transmission oil
T-stat gasket (leaks now)
Install rear ST swaybar
Hella supertone horns (while front bumper is off)
aim headlights
misc. interior bits

Future:
no 90 lower install with 60mm throttle body (have just need time)

[ducktapetg]

Made some progress. I wanted to finish this up but I left some of my sway bar hardware at my apartment. Nonetheless, calipers and brakes are on and the abs sensor was spliced to work. Should be ready to rock and roll after another solid day of working on it. Torqued most bolts and also installed my DM racing brace.

My goal is to finally get it registered and drive it. (I've owned this car since early 2010 and have never driven it on the road)

Brakes installed


Drivers side


Passenger side


Brace (which I need to clean up a bit)

[Jean-Seb]

Very nice progress. You've done a lot of work to it, it will pay off. It will feel like new when you get it on the road.

I also like the mouse pad and how nice the rear end turned out.

[occasional demons]

Wow, I totally missed updates on this thread. Nice work!

I thought about doing the 11" brakes when I did my knuckle swap.

But since I had the 10" stuff sitting there....

Even with factory ride height and Koni struts, the knuckle swap makes the handling much nicer. No more pressing wheel bearings, and all that BS that goes with it.

[ducktapetg]

Thanks guys!

11" look great with the wheels on. Part of the reason to do the swap was I needed new wheel bearings and brakes and the knuckles themselves were cheaper than 1 wheel bearing so it was probably the same cost in the long run.

I am running into a long pedal travel which, I think, is too long. I may still have air in the system and have to look into it further even though when I bled the brakes no bubbles were coming out. The best part though is the ABS works!

I need to get headlight gaskets and spacers for the front wheels. The tires are too close for comfort to the coilovers. Other than that, it should be road worthy soon.

Pics:


stock clear(ish) headlights of which the picture doesn't justify

[occasional demons]

If the calipers have a lager bore, it will take more pedal travel to move the pistons. My 10" shadow calipers take a little more travel, but it makes a nice balance in the braking. You don't look like you are making a panic stop by barely pressing the pedal. But too much difference, and you may need to get a bigger bore MC.

[ducktapetg]

If the calipers have a lager bore, it will take more pedal travel to move the pistons. My 10" shadow calipers take a little more travel, but it makes a nice balance in the braking. You don't look like you are making a panic stop by barely pressing the pedal. But too much difference, and you may need to get a bigger bore MC.

The good thing about the ABS master cylinder is that it does have a larger bore so the pedal travel shouldn't be too long. I think it has to do with a vacuum leak from the egr valve removal. I keep meaning to look into it.

As far as progress, I installed the rear st sway bar the other day. I am also working on installing the hella supertone horns.

[ducktapetg]

Got a couple of packages from rockauto this week to do my timing belt on my daily. I also got some head light gaskets for the 98. The hellas are installed and they are LOUD compared to the stock horn. Night and day difference.

Hellas installed. Below is a video.

http://vid43.photobucket.com/albums/e39 ... 14d6e1.mp4

[ducktapetg]

No real progress on the project car but made some progress on the parts car. Ripped the body kit off and the exhaust. Debating on making it a race car or just plain scrapping it. It had a Mopar stainless exhaust on it which I will be putting on my project car.



Mopar stainless cat back


Right or Left? Both Mopar mufflers


Parts car

[ducktapetg]

Decided to clean up the parts car and its paint is pretty good for being neglected. Also, this car had the "premium" speakers in it so those are going into the project car.

Since the paint on the parts car looked good (along with most of the body), I decided, for now, to make it a race car. I would like to make it a hillclimb car for now. Onto some pics.

[MyNeonSaysHi]

Looks like pretty country up there. I vote for the right one. More aesthetically pleasing having 2. The single one would look nice also.

[ducktapetg]

It is a beautiful place especially in the fall. The winters suck though haha. Thanks for your input. I may try both and see which one looks better.

[thomas_w]

I would probably vote for the double one also. But then you are right; it would be relatively easy to mock it up to get a feel for how both look on the car.

[ducktapetg]

Well, I jacked up the car to put the exhaust on and, after seeing I needed to cut stuff, I stopped. That is going to be a spring project. I decided to put the headlight gaskets on and the trunk carpet in. The real last thing I need to do is the heater core. (for future reference https://neons.org/viewtopic.php?f=125&t=388401 which is a GREAT how-to)

In the meantime, I took the rear end suspension bolts out of the spindles/frame of the parts car. I forgot just how much that sucked. Now that they are free, I can do the rear in the spring (if I have a job by then haha). I also banged out some of the crashed section of the car to put the fender on. It still needs a good deal of work but I am slowly getting there. Also put a rear bumper on and taillights so it looks like a car from behind. I started to take the interior apart to get to the heater core because something is living in there. When I took the front cowl off, I found 3-4 snake skin sheddings. I don't like snakes so I am not looking forward to what I will find.

headlight gaskets (needs paint pretty bad)


rear bumper and lights


front fender

[occasional demons]

Just in case you still lurk here, did you ever figure out the long brake pedal travel?

Looking to do the Shadow spindle/11" brakes on a 2gn...


The calipers are bigger bore: 60mm vs 54mm IIRC. I think I have an ABS MC sitting around I got from a RockAuto clearance a while back.

[ducktapetg]

Nope, just rocked it as is. There is a difference but the car still stopped fine. I guess I just got used to it. There is a guy on the .org selling hawk pads too for the upgrade. Last I knew, he still had some. Another bit, I am not too sure there was any benefit of having the bigger brakes, only to be different i guess.

Haven't driven it in at least a year. Doing a 2.4 swap with LSD. Still has the rust issue though haha. Ive been busy rebuilding the srt and nyg.

[occasional demons]

Okay, thanks!

[ducktapetg]

Figured I should post some updates to the few people who still visit.

I parked the ST for the winter and am now driving my SRT4. It had some rust repaired (see pics) and I changed the clutch, pivot fork, timing belt, front brake calipers, rear brakes/wheel bearings, all brake lines, and am in the middle of swapping the front end to the much nicer looking 01-02 r/t front. I was going to drop the bumper off at the guy who fixed my rust issue but I think I am going to try to paint it myself. Whats the worst that can happen? Passing inspection was a chore though. My steering rack was leaking so I decided to replace it with a manual rack. I called the inspection shop and they said they didn't see a problem with that. Anyway, guess what I failed for. I was furious, it is a bunch of work to replace the steering rack. Plus, the manual rack was SO NICE. Obviously at low speeds it sucked but when driving, wow, it was nice an heaving with tons of feedback. I miss it already haha.

I am very surprised by the difference in driving dynamics between the st and srt. The ST seems to have power all of the time where the srt is a dog until 3-3500 rpm then it is an absolute rocket ship. I have never driven a stock srt so I am thinking all the mods that have been done to it bumped the torque curve to a higher rpm range. Anyway, I will probably end up trying to sell the srt in the spring as I have too many cars haha. This is especially true since there were no real bites on the nyg. I did price it high-ish but I am going to be taking an insane loss on that car.







rust before


rust after








Speaking of the nyg, since I lost all of my previous posts, I will give a quick overview. I bought the car for 1200 with a shit engine (I found out later) so I decided to rebuild it. It also needed all this small stuff that added up to a lot of money in the end. I dumped a bunch of money into the engine to have it never run right. It was always ticking. Well, one day, I was driving to work and poof, huge cloud of white smoke coming out of the exhaust. Well, there goes the head gasket. I took the engine apart to find out the pistons were scraping the walls meaning it needed new pistons and a rehone. I let it sit for a bit. I decided to replace the engine out of my r/t into the nyg so I could at least drive it. I am sure glad I did because the car is a blast and, with almost everything replaced, its like brand new. With the new Falken tires, it just hugs the road. I actually like the nyg more than the srt (and probably the st).











Lastly, I bought a rebuilt engine on ebay for $100. It is a 2.4 so I decided to plop that in the r/t. I also decided to put an LSD in the transmission while I was there. I checked the torque and the bearing play and it was all good. Dropped the engine/trans into the car and hooked everything up. Started right up (and there is a god damn ticking noise). also, car wont go into 2nd, 4th, reverse. I am thinking I didn't hook something up right. I will look into fixing it in the spring. Its too cold now and we have already got a foot of snow.

[Midnight_Rider]

Interesting read about the steering rack. I had the rack in my SRT replaced a few years back and was told that it was the last new SRT rack available. In fact, the selling dealership in California refunded the core charge without my sending a core as they said that FCA wasn't going to rebuild them anymore. Indiana hasn't had state inspections for many years now- I wonder if my car would pass since the mods...

[ducktapetg]

From what I read in your project log, you are probably fine but each state has their own rules. I also failed because my car didn't have a muffler. Well, they all don't so...I ended up bringing it to another shop. The car has a 3" exhaust all the way back and it is sort of loud but the new mustangs are louder, not to mention harleys. The rules are written in such a way the it makes it hard for us enthusiast to enjoy working on cars.

[Midnight_Rider]

Mufflers? I wonder what would have happened there with my car there stock since since SRT's didn't come with a muffler. My main concern with having the Mopar (Borla) exhaust and Stage 2 mods is being able to pass emissions testing if my state ever resurrects annual inspections.

[occasional demons]

Mufflers? I wonder what would have happened there with my car there stock since since SRT's didn't come with a muffler. My main concern with having the Mopar (Borla) exhaust and Stage 2 mods is being able to pass emissions testing if my state ever resurrects annual inspections.

As far as strictly emissions testing goes, you could have a straight pipe from the cat to the rear bumper, and it wouldn't mean a thing. The SRT does have resonators, (stock) so there is that. As long as the cat is functioning well enough, it will pass with the Borla. Now the Stage 2, I don't know that it was smog legal. But if they don't know it's there, and if they only hook up to the OBD port, it will probably pass. At least in Ohio it would. Ohio only does the sniffer test on pre 1996 cars. If the cat is there, the fuel tank and cap check out, and the CEL is off/monitors are ready/no emissions related codes, you're good.

Now the other stuff like noise level, rust, original equipment, thankfully they are not that strict in Ohio.

I have heard of folks having troubles with the DB level on stock SRT's when they first came out. But in the end, it was factory equipment, and the cars were approved for sale in the State of California.... But if they were to break out DB meters, well you might have an issue with aftermarket mufflers/lack thereof.