thomas_w's log

[thomas_w]

I'll bet that it was amazing to see so many junked Neons without rust.

Yes, that was quite amazing. There was zero rust making it really easy to take things apart.

[thomas_w]

Started to put in the parts that I do not have to lift up the car for. So I put in the bracket for the door panel and adjusted the window a little. This may have done the trick but I am still testing.

I also painted the license frame holder with plasti dip and put it on. Looks pretty nice:

[thomas_w]

I am trying to restore some of my progress log after the loss of all these posts. These pictures are from the spring cleaning in 2015:

[thomas_w]

Since I can only go by the pictures and their titles, I will not be able to provide all the background compared to the original posts. But these images are from when I replaced the rear drums. Unfortunately, I did not think of taking pictures before I had it all put back together:


I also painted the rear control arms while I was working on that area:

[thomas_w]

The next area I had to work on in June of 2015 was the engine mounts. These are pictures of the old mounts which were pretty worn:




The next image shows the area with the passenger mount removed:


This is the new passenger mount (sorry the image is rather blurry):

[thomas_w]

The multifunction switch was pretty much not working as well as it should since I got the car. In addition, it started to not go back to neutral as well anymore. So I finally took the time to open it up and clean the contacts to make it work much better:



This is after I cleaned all the contacts:

[thomas_w]

On my way back from Carlisle, I crossed the 200k miles:

[thomas_w]

In August of 2015, I had the timing belt replaced at a local shop. They did not mount the intake snorkel properly so that it collided with the hood and eventually broke:


After going through several junkyards in the area, I finally was able to find a good repalcement:

[thomas_w]

In early 2016, I had a CEL for the fan module. After testing various things, it at first did not look like a wiring issue. So I replaced the fan control module. Here is the engine bay with the battery removed to get to everything:



This is after putting everything back together:


However, this did not fix it and the code came right back. As it turned out, the shaking of the engine made the wire loose contact as it rubbed through right at the PDC. You can see the white spot on the dark green wire in this picture:


So I soldered that wire back together and covered it in shrink wrap:


I also added some heat fabric to protect the wiring a little more. This is everything back together and the code never came back:

[thomas_w]

The next part that broke shortly after was the rail for the sun roof. I found a good replacement at a junkyard in Cincinnati. This is the old rail:


This was replace with this one to fix the sunroof and make it fully functional again:


The following shot is with the rail removed:


Once it was all put back together, the sunroof worked just fine again:

[thomas_w]

In March of 2016, I had a little coolant leak at the bottom of the thermostat housing. Once I replaced that, it was finally fixed:

[Midnight_Rider]

I. Love. Your. Car.

That is all.

[thomas_w]

In the Fall of 2016, I was chasing an EVAP leak for a while. I replaced some tubing in the engine bay. But the code kept coming back. I finally started to look at the filler neck and noticed that the tubing there was looking old and brittle. So I replaced that which finally got rid of the code for good:

[thomas_w]

I. Love. Your. Car.

That is all.

Thanks David!

[thomas_w]

The last set of images I still have on my server is from when I replaced the headlight bulbs with LED bulbs. The come with an anti flicker module:


I really like them as they are bright and white. This image is with the new bulbs in it, even though you cannot really tell:


I like the part that it still looks stock but provides quite a bit more light output. The only difference I noticed is that I no longer can run the fog lights and highbeams together for some reason. But since running highbeams during fog is not that good of an idea, it never bothered me so I never looked into why that is really. Overall, I like the additional light these LED bulbs provide. Since the headlight housing is yellowing more with them aging any additional bit of brightness helps.

[thomas_w]

I think those are all the pictures I was able to dig up. At least the project log is complete from that part even though the description is not as detailed anymore...

[Neon4Life]

Nice to repost it all. If you go to my logg everything is gone just about. I'm too lazy to repost my pictures because I had dozens of pictures posted.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

[thomas_w]

Yes, it is a bummer to have lost 3 years of posts. Especially with your project log, you had a lot of images in there with your turbo build.

[Midnight_Rider]

I still have all of my pics but no plans to restore my Progress Log. I'm glad that you took the time to dig up the photos you posted above.

[thomas_w]

I was tired of polishing the headlights every other week and even then they were still yellow. So I decided to just get new ones instead. I also got new parking lights since those were yellowing as well and not sealed properly anymore. I tried to get replacements that were close to OEM so this is what it looks like now:

[Midnight_Rider]

Looks good! I wish that I had known you were looking for replacements- I know where OEM's are still available.

[thomas_w]

Thanks David, the difference is even bigger in person than in the pictures. The automatic white balance my camera uses evens out the yellow a little in the old headlights. The fitment of these is actually pretty good, similar to the OEMs. And the light output is so much better without the haze.

[occasional demons]

OEM's will also yellow again within 3 years or less. It didn't take long at all for the ones on our '96 to yellow over once it went to DD status. I had to sand them down and clear them just to keep them decent. So much for being stock after that.

My Depots are 5 or 6 years old now, and still crystal clear.

Sorry, but I personally will go with a product that will last longer/perform better than oem in every case.

As far as 1gn headlights, staying with stock would be like using oem Yugo parts on a Yugo, when there is a far better aftermarket replacement out there. It doesn't help that NOS is so old now, it doesn't take much for them to degrade in the elements.

If it was a garage kept covered concours show car/trailer queen, I can see using oem headlights, but a DD, .. Um, ... No.

[Midnight_Rider]

It must be the 1GN's then as my 2GN OEM's are still crystal clear after 13 years. On the other hand, the OEM's on my 1GN were still crystal clear at 8 years when I traded the car.

[occasional demons]

Primarily a 1st gen issue. Probably the same plastic they used in the pre 1995 cars, as all of those seemed to yellow and oxidize terribly. And it wasn't just Chrysler.

2gn's do have an issue with the coating on the lenses flaking or crazing. My '01's were looking kinda sad until it got totalled and I replaced them.

Anything that's DD is going to suffer, that's why I would rather save oem's for a non daily, so they won't get destroyed.

[thomas_w]

I have not posted an update in quite a while. Most of the things I fixed were minor. The car runs pretty well. It tends to overheat when it gets really hot. I tried a thorough flush last summer with some chemicals but the end result is the same. I guess it is just what neons do.

A couple weeks ago, the car seemed rather loud. So I took it to a muffler shop where they put a new downpipe and catalytic converter on. It was too cold for me to work on it and I do not know how to weld as I have never done that before.

I noticed some small oil spots underneath the car so I finally got to take a closer look at that. The oil pressure switch was leaking which created a bit of a mess due to the heat insulating fabric wicking the oil everywhere. Got a new one and put it in this morning so that should be all fixed. Since I had the car lifted a took a couple of pictures of the new exhaust parts:

[Midnight_Rider]

Even the underside of your Neon is purty.

[occasional demons]

It tends to overheat when it gets really hot. I tried a thorough flush last summer with some chemicals but the end result is the same. I guess it is just what neons do.

I wouldn't say its what they do. Is it actually physically boiling, or does the gauge just show it is getting too warm?

If it is not showing actual signs of overheating, I would splice a mechanical temp gauge into the hot side heater hose, and verify the temperature. It is what I did on our '96 after going through a few aftermarket sender units to replace the original. All of them had some issue, so I ended up getting a Mopar sensor/sender, and it never had an issue after that.

I run my 2.4 with just a single fan, and it never comes close to overheating. The only time it did was when the fan connector came loose, and I was traveling under 20 mph. Otherwise I would not have known the connector fell out.

[thomas_w]

Even the underside of your Neon is purty.

Thanks

[thomas_w]

I wouldn't say its what they do. Is it actually physically boiling, or does the gauge just show it is getting too warm?

If it is not showing actual signs of overheating, I would splice a mechanical temp gauge into the hot side heater hose, and verify the temperature. It is what I did on our '96 after going through a few aftermarket sender units to replace the original. All of them had some issue, so I ended up getting a Mopar sensor/sender, and it never had an issue after that.

I run my 2.4 with just a single fan, and it never comes close to overheating. The only time it did was when the fan connector came loose, and I was traveling under 20 mph. Otherwise I would not have known the connector fell out.

I am only going by the gauge. It is an aftermarket one. But it appears to give similar readings than the previous one (but I am not sure if that was a Mopar one either). I do not think it is boiling. And it only happens if outside temperatures are well into the nineties and I have the air conditioning running. As soon as I turn AC off it cools down. So the load of the AC and the fact that it results in even hotter air going over the radiator does not allow the radiator to cool enough.