parabola's project log-New oil pan
Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2011 8:45 am
My car is a black 2003 neon sxt.
I purchased her June 24th 2008 from plaza pontiac buick jmc in Omaha,nebraska with about 120,000 miles on her.
Plans for Le Future:
Radiator brackets (powder) -DONE
upper motor mount (just spray painting that gloss black)-DONE
Radiator fill cap (spray gloss black)
Radiator shroud (powder gloss black)
Oil fill cap (buying a billet one from MP, powdercoat red)
VALVE COVER (powder gloss red)-Done
rear sway bar
CORRECT front sway bar bushing kit
get a fuel rail to powder coat-DONE
paint hvac bezel same red color
POSSIBLY get lower controll arms installed-Done
The day i drove her home (I only had a learners permit)
This is about 6 months later, I had gotten some depo tail's and did some pin striping.
Then we JUMP two years to last summer
as you can see, new headlights,tail lights,markers,eyelids,stripe,srt seats and other small stuff I was able to do on my own.
about a year later the car was down due to over heating and In that time,I decided it was time to tone it down a bit and I removed the side mouldings and 99% of the stickers/stripes.
It looks kinda plain.....
I'm contemplating going back to how it looked in june of '10 but I wana know what you guys think 1st before I order the vinyl
Well,
Sarah got me a eBay CAI for Xmas, and last night I had time to put it on. It was fun and took me a few hours (I clean everything I take out, and clean all parts I can get to when I remove something)
I had to go get two breather filters since the hose they included was a joke. They cost me 10 bucks each, but look kinda cool IMO.
Im glad I had that powder coated battery tray I did laying around, since that is MUCH more visible without that air box. The tray that came on the car will now be stripped and PC'd and probably given to d-railed or sold.
I am a bit nervous however that the filter will fall off and I will suck crap into my engine, I pulled on it and it seemed tight,but I worry wayyyyyy tooooooo much
_____________________________________________________
New struts were put in on Saturday with the help of Daryl (d-railed neon) and friend Rob. The day started out at noon ( it's the weekend) and with the help of some beer things got started quickly. Old struts were out and new ones in rather quickly. The plan was to replace the lower control arms as well but we decided to make that a project for another day. After the new struts I drove home and the ride was nice but I knew something was wrong as my steering was sloppy and downright scary at times ( pulled to left and right randomly) After a front end alignment the problem was still there and the mechanics suggested new tires..... ( uhhh....no) so Today I left work with the goal of tearing the front end apart and checking every bolt to make sure nothing was loose. sure enough I had loosened a bolt on the lower control arm and had thought that I hadn't loosened it. In fact I had backed it out by a 1/4" or so. After tightening that I decided to FINALLY address the motor mount issues (needed replaced) So new motor mounts and inserts later, and the car handles beautifully! as a side note, I was finally able to powder coat my cold air intake today. A nice deep red to match the battery trey.
PICS!
Old ones OUT!
The sun makes it look orange but its realy same color as the battery trey
removing sway bar bushings....
(come to find out, I got sent rear sway bark bushing kit instead of fronts.....sad day
)
strutless!
on the stands
realizing I had got the wrong bushing kit....fml
The end of a great day!
thanks for the help Daryl!
_____________________________________________________
Closeup-
and my next project......
UPDATE!
Powder coated the spare tire hold down hardware:
and did an injector cover 9I do NOT like this plastic with liquid paint crap...)
and color matched grille trim again. thank god!
The valve cover is clean and ready to be masked and powdercoated, excited! I hope to do that tomorrow (Friday) after work!
_________________________________________________________
5/4/2012
so! do you hoes remember this!?
well now it looks like this!
cant wait to put it on!!!!
next plan:
possibly a coil pack cover
lower controll arms
rear sway bar
woohoo! was a very fun project!!!
___________________________________________________'
9-10-2012
God damn is my neck soar, I replaced the oil pan over the weekend, I was planing on doing a regular oil change, and installing an oversize drain plug rather than spending the moneys for a whole new pan and gasket. Well, I went to start the oil change and the plug nearly pulled straight out! I DODGED A HUGE bullet! thing could have easily lost grip while driving and left me with a blown engine. I thank GOD that it did not. I fudged around with the oversized drain plug and I finally said screw it, and me and dad ran to the parts store. I'm here to tell you, oil pan replacement is a breeze. I ran into no snags, and it was done within a hour from the time i got back with the new pan.
Now I need to find the source of this damn vibration. Only does it in the mornings after it's sat all night. does it when i accelerate, and at stop lights it has a real choppy idle. Goes away completely in neutral. after it has been driven, it goes away and it wont do it on the way home from work. My upper and lower torque struts are torqued to spec. I'm not sure what to make of it.
I purchased her June 24th 2008 from plaza pontiac buick jmc in Omaha,nebraska with about 120,000 miles on her.
Plans for Le Future:
Radiator brackets (powder) -DONE
upper motor mount (just spray painting that gloss black)-DONE
Radiator fill cap (spray gloss black)
Radiator shroud (powder gloss black)
Oil fill cap (buying a billet one from MP, powdercoat red)
VALVE COVER (powder gloss red)-Done
rear sway bar
CORRECT front sway bar bushing kit
get a fuel rail to powder coat-DONE
paint hvac bezel same red color
POSSIBLY get lower controll arms installed-Done
The day i drove her home (I only had a learners permit)
This is about 6 months later, I had gotten some depo tail's and did some pin striping.
Then we JUMP two years to last summer
as you can see, new headlights,tail lights,markers,eyelids,stripe,srt seats and other small stuff I was able to do on my own.
about a year later the car was down due to over heating and In that time,I decided it was time to tone it down a bit and I removed the side mouldings and 99% of the stickers/stripes.
It looks kinda plain.....
I'm contemplating going back to how it looked in june of '10 but I wana know what you guys think 1st before I order the vinyl
Well,
Sarah got me a eBay CAI for Xmas, and last night I had time to put it on. It was fun and took me a few hours (I clean everything I take out, and clean all parts I can get to when I remove something)
I had to go get two breather filters since the hose they included was a joke. They cost me 10 bucks each, but look kinda cool IMO.
Im glad I had that powder coated battery tray I did laying around, since that is MUCH more visible without that air box. The tray that came on the car will now be stripped and PC'd and probably given to d-railed or sold.
I am a bit nervous however that the filter will fall off and I will suck crap into my engine, I pulled on it and it seemed tight,but I worry wayyyyyy tooooooo much
_____________________________________________________
New struts were put in on Saturday with the help of Daryl (d-railed neon) and friend Rob. The day started out at noon ( it's the weekend) and with the help of some beer things got started quickly. Old struts were out and new ones in rather quickly. The plan was to replace the lower control arms as well but we decided to make that a project for another day. After the new struts I drove home and the ride was nice but I knew something was wrong as my steering was sloppy and downright scary at times ( pulled to left and right randomly) After a front end alignment the problem was still there and the mechanics suggested new tires..... ( uhhh....no) so Today I left work with the goal of tearing the front end apart and checking every bolt to make sure nothing was loose. sure enough I had loosened a bolt on the lower control arm and had thought that I hadn't loosened it. In fact I had backed it out by a 1/4" or so. After tightening that I decided to FINALLY address the motor mount issues (needed replaced) So new motor mounts and inserts later, and the car handles beautifully! as a side note, I was finally able to powder coat my cold air intake today. A nice deep red to match the battery trey.
PICS!
Old ones OUT!
The sun makes it look orange but its realy same color as the battery trey
removing sway bar bushings....
(come to find out, I got sent rear sway bark bushing kit instead of fronts.....sad day
)strutless!
on the stands
realizing I had got the wrong bushing kit....fml
The end of a great day!
thanks for the help Daryl!
_____________________________________________________
Closeup-
and my next project......
UPDATE!
Powder coated the spare tire hold down hardware:
and did an injector cover 9I do NOT like this plastic with liquid paint crap...)
and color matched grille trim again. thank god!
The valve cover is clean and ready to be masked and powdercoated, excited! I hope to do that tomorrow (Friday) after work!
_________________________________________________________
5/4/2012
so! do you hoes remember this!?
well now it looks like this!
cant wait to put it on!!!!
next plan:
possibly a coil pack cover
lower controll arms
rear sway bar
woohoo! was a very fun project!!!
___________________________________________________'
9-10-2012
God damn is my neck soar, I replaced the oil pan over the weekend, I was planing on doing a regular oil change, and installing an oversize drain plug rather than spending the moneys for a whole new pan and gasket. Well, I went to start the oil change and the plug nearly pulled straight out! I DODGED A HUGE bullet! thing could have easily lost grip while driving and left me with a blown engine. I thank GOD that it did not. I fudged around with the oversized drain plug and I finally said screw it, and me and dad ran to the parts store. I'm here to tell you, oil pan replacement is a breeze. I ran into no snags, and it was done within a hour from the time i got back with the new pan.
Now I need to find the source of this damn vibration. Only does it in the mornings after it's sat all night. does it when i accelerate, and at stop lights it has a real choppy idle. Goes away completely in neutral. after it has been driven, it goes away and it wont do it on the way home from work. My upper and lower torque struts are torqued to spec. I'm not sure what to make of it.
However, MOOOOAAAARRRR PICS! 
