Come spring time...

Savior00 · Post by **Savior00** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 11:51 am

Id like to have a few things done to the car.
i was wondering what the best way to reduce costs and how much the total would be for the following.

1. Fix thermostat and drain refill coolant
2. get front brakes machined
3. new rear drum brakes
4. piping from cat to vibrant mufler (already installed) incrased to 2.5 inches
5. Drop on first gen stock springs

thanks

soldierofink · Post by **soldierofink** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 7:32 am

If your sure its your thermostat. Its very simple. Grab some wrenches and pull the old one out yourself and install a new one yourself. Make sure your thermostat is bad, boil some water in a pot, and drop it in there to see if it activates. It's way to easy. Your brakes all depend on the place you locate and buy from. And your exhaust is as simple as going to a metal yard and digging around. The best way to save money is to do it yourself.

Savior00 · Post by **Savior00** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 8:32 pm

thanks!
wheres the thermostat located ?

eVilcreations · Post by **eVilcreations** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 9:51 pm

Savior00 wrote:thanks!
wheres the thermostat located ?

Locate the Top Radiator Hose, and trace it from the Radiator to the Engine Block.....there should be a fitting on the block. 2 bolts(I think) and the Thermostat is behind that fitting on the block.

Josh

Savior00 · Post by **Savior00** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 7:11 pm

Anyone know what a good temperature rating to have on the thermostat is?

edit: Also the best coolant to buy for this model?
2000 Lx atx.

JeremyJ · Post by **JeremyJ** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 3:07 am

Increasing the piping from the cat to the muffler to 2.5" will do just about nothing for performance. The bottlenecks are still there, so it won't do any good. 2.25" is plenty big for a mostly stock 2.0 anyway.

As for brake rotors...save some money and buy Powerslots from Modern Performance. They aren't expensive and will last longer than resurfaced stock rotors.

DannyBoy · Post by **DannyBoy** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 3:15 am

1. Thermostats aren't very much money at all, and for coolant, go to a dodge dealer and buy the mopar stuff, I got a gallon of coolant for 14 bucks.

2. Make sure your brakes need to be machined, get a micrometer and check for parallism between the whole rotor, and check for runout too. It wouldn't hurt to have .002 taken off though.

3. What do you mean by new rear drum brakes? The actual drum? the shoes? or the whole backing plate and the hardware? Usually new shoes and resurfacing the drums should be enough, the hardware for drums last a long time.

4. Like Jeremy J said, 2.5" piping is overkill, I had 2.5" piping on mine, and I lost some bottom end torque, then I went with 2.25, and gained some torque back.

5. Find a junkyard and rip the springs off a first gen, or a WTB ad on the org, people are always getting lowering kits for the first gens, so they always have the stock springs laying around

Hopefully this helps

Savior00 · Post by **Savior00** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 8:02 am

JeremyJ wrote:Increasing the piping from the cat to the muffler to 2.5" will do just about nothing for performance. The bottlenecks are still there, so it won't do any good. 2.25" is plenty big for a mostly stock 2.0 anyway.

As for brake rotors...save some money and buy Powerslots from Modern Performance. They aren't expensive and will last longer than resurfaced stock rotors.

I actually got some rotors off of ebay a while back, they are powerslot too. they just sound like they are rubbing a little bit with i dont know what...so someone told me to get them resurfaced and it may help.

Oh, and theres lots of temperatures for thermostats i was just wanting to know what temp is good for a neon.

Kernel Panic · Post by **Kernel Panic** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 9:40 am

Stick with the stock temp. Going too low will cause the PCM to flip a code, and your car will be running rich which in turn will foul the cat. You want 1st gen springs? I have a set sitting around in my basement from an ACR if your interested.

Baal · Post by **Baal** » Fri Mar 11, 2005 8:17 pm

Lots of of ppl say 2.5" doesnt help at all, i have 2.5, the car is louder and i honestly can say if it helped or not.

GaryHowell · Post by **GaryHowell** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:25 am

Savior00 wrote:Id like to have a few things done to the car.
i was wondering what the best way to reduce costs and how much the total would be for the following.

1. Fix thermostat and drain refill coolant

The T-stat is a pretty straight forward job. Just be careful not to over tighten the t-stat housing.

Savior00 wrote: 2. get front brakes machined

If your not buying sloted or drilled rotors, it will probably be cheaper for you to just buy new rotors.

Savior00 wrote: 3. new rear drum brakes

New shoes or drums?

Savior00 wrote: 4. piping from cat to vibrant mufler (already installed) incrased to 2.5 inches

I usually recommend something better than a Vibrant. The are a decent muffler for a cheepie, but there are a lot of more cost effective choices.

Savior00 wrote: 5. Drop on first gen stock springs

I have done that rides like crap. We are running a killing spring special right now if that helps you. http://www.howellautomotive.com/Howell/ ... ts_id=1368

Savior00 · Post by **Savior00** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 10:50 am

Hey Gary,
i got the vibrant beacuse i like the looks of it when it is installed right, also its not gonna go rusty on me (i have to drive it in the winter seasons sometimes).
and I thought that stock 1st gen springs were one of the best ways to go for dropping the neon (or at least for a starting point)

and the rear drums i just need new shoes.

..the link you poset wasnt working for me.

thanks for your help

GaryHowell · Post by **GaryHowell** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 11:26 am

Try it now. We have a spider get stuck in the server.

2GN.ORG

Come spring time...

Come spring time...

Re: Come spring time...