Returning to the Neon community *Now purchasing one*

[dangerdavex2]

Some of you older members might remember me. I had a 2001 Motorsports Edition. Well it got wrecked and it wasnt worth fixing, so I ended up with a 2007 Mazda 3 sedan (2.3 liter, manual, sunroof... very nice). However, modding a new car like that is almost stupid, given the warranty issues and the fear of screwing up stuff again. So I bought a 91 Camaro as a project car with the intention of throwing a carb'd 350 in it; however I looked in the mirror and realized I have no mullet, therefore that plan wouldnt work
So heres my question to the 2gn community... With between $700-$1200, can I get a drivable first gen, and go from there with whatever direction that project took me. Or do you all have any other suggestions for project cars in that price range?
I really missed it here, Ive been on Mazda forums, Camaro forums, Mustang forums; theres really none like this... But can anyone fill me in on whats been going on here? Any big changes?

[OB]

Hey bro welcome back. Nothing crazy has happened since you left (that I know of), just the same ol chill crowd. LOTS of new members lately, and a lot of progress on existing member's cars as well.

As far as the 1st gen goes, I dont see why you couldnt get a clean specimen for somewhere in the $1000 range. For $2k ive seen some in pristine condition.

[kevo]

you should have kept the camaro and invested in the mullet. The hairdo + motley cru tape ads 50 horses to your setup.




i have seen lots of second gens with high miles for 2k. It might be a little more than what you are looking for right now but at least you will have another second gen and this time around you can mod the piss out of it.

[racer12306]

1gn's can be had for that easily. sometimes you can even find them for $500. If you are looking for a racer then you can get a 1gn and then gut it and you instantly have a mid 14 sec car. then minor mods are more effective because it has less weight to more. You could easily have a 13 sec sohc for cheap (comparitivly, of course)

[bone-yard-racing]

My 1gn was $500 and as of now I have right about $1200 and its great. You can do 12's in a daily driven omni for less than $3000.

[dangerdavex2]

1gn's can be had for that easily. sometimes you can even find them for $500. If you are looking for a racer then you can get a 1gn and then gut it and you instantly have a mid 14 sec car. then minor mods are more effective because it has less weight to more. You could easily have a 13 sec sohc for cheap (comparitivly, of course)

So by gutting it, do you mean no carpet/ sound insulation, A/C, stereo, back seats etc? What would that even bring the curb weight down to? Its still pretty impressive either way you look at it, that a $700 2.0 liter Neon will hang with a $13000 Mustang GT.
Now its been a while since Ive been into the first gen thing, but does the SRT interior bolt right into a first gen as easily as the seats did in my old 2nd gen? What about the shifter etc...?

[racer12306]

yeah, remove EVERYTHING. I don't know exact numbers. I think someone stripped down a 2gn, maybe an SRT-4/ACR, and weighed all the parts. I think its here somowhere. weights wont be exact but similar.

if you wanted to go one step further you could follow the examples on the .org and "beer can" it.

[Midnight_Rider]

Welcome back and get a Neon!

[bone-yard-racing]

Srt interior goes in no problem but its heaver. Kirkley(sp) race seats are comfy and light.

[SteelBlue]

Welcome back! I'd say its pretty easy to find a 1gn for cheap. I bought mine for $600 and when I was looking there were at least 6 in my area under a grand. Just keep your eye out. As far as swapping the interior over, the only pieces that I remember being a easy swap were the seats (front/back) and the center console. The doors have to be modified to fit the 1gns contours. Don't know about the dash though I have seen pics of one installed in a 1gn.

if you wanted to go one step further you could follow the examples on the .org and "beer can" it.

Or go to 1gn.org as well.. Smaller group but they're doing pretty good for themselves.

[JRM]

[rOniN]

Welcome back.

As for the interior nothing will really work out of a SRT. The 1gn is a different car. You can get the SRT engine in there.

I got my 98 r/t for $500. It runs a drives just fine and I've only put maybe $200 dollars into it. They have a lot of potential too

[anomalous0]

Yeah, get an R/T.
You can get one in good condition already decently modded for less than $2000. Just make sure the previous owner knew what they were doing, and you'll have yourself a right quick little car.

[TomZ]

You can pick up a 1GN pretty cheap. Check out the 1GN.org garage page for my '95 ACR. With bolt-ons and weight redux, its running 14.74 @ 94.61 MPH.

http://forum.1gn.org/garage.php?mode=vi ... cle&CID=63

[KrackstaR]

yeah i bought my 1st gn for 300 bucks and all it needs is a motor which we all know is easy to comeby very cheap.

[dangerdavex2]

Im the high bidder on Ebay, and I might have a good chance at a 95 5 speed coupe with less than 90,000 miles for $500 .
So tentatively Ive decided on an SOHC 5 speed, then either swapping out to a DOHC head/ wiring and going the SRT turbo route, or turboing the SOHC. Either way, Im not looking to push 21 pounds of boost and run 11's, I just want something that will turn really well, but also haul ass out of the turn too.
So if any one of you wants to sell me their 1gn, let me know, I may up my offer, but I dont want to spend more than 1 grand on the car itself. In the true spirit of Neon, this will be a budget build.

[racer12306]

neons and budget builds go hand in hand, unless your user name is teamlivid

good luck

[bad04srt]

2.4 swap FTW

[yankeesking]

didn't know you r from lancaster. I live there too.

[teamliviD]

My neon still isnt finished yet........other then we still rock!!

[ChrisRT]

Remembering what I do from my 1g ACR, the car weighed in at 2350 with me in it. This was after removing the rear seats, trunk carpet, spare tire, hunk of iron on the front end, fiberglass hood, replacing the front seats with racing seats and numerous other things, including lack of console and A/C.

Even with all of that back in the car, minus the A/C and spare tire, the car was only two tenths and 1mph slower in the quarter.

Parts are cheap and plentiful.

Its a damn shame i didn't hold onto my car longer. I sold it for 2k cash and it was setup to run 13s on a proper tire. On drag radials I was running consistent 14.4x's and even ran a 14.2 on a 20x6x14 slick. The slick was to short for the 3.94 ratio.

[Diablo0]

Welcome back dude!

[dangerdavex2]

Remembering what I do from my 1g ACR, the car weighed in at 2350 with me in it. This was after removing the rear seats, trunk carpet, spare tire, hunk of iron on the front end, .

So what was the hunk of iron?
So what do you guys think of the Neon I am 36 hours away from winning? The title claims the car weighs 2269 pounds? If there is no other weight redux, and no driver, does that sound about right? Or... is this an anorexic Neon?

[bone-yard-racing]

There is a piece that goes through the front MM it probally weighs 10lbs, hurts like a when you drop it on your sholder while putting your new MM in

[dangerdavex2]

So unless something major happens between now and next Saturday, I tentatively have purchased this:

http://allentown.craigslist.org/car/386865012.html

I should be picking it up Saturday for $825. The first order of business was to go pick up a set of SRT4 seats from the bone yard for cheap... But I got busted by the po-po last nite doing 72 in a 55.. So my priorities changed a little.

[bone-yard-racing]

DOHC muffler and tach cluster wish mine would have come with that stuff.

[Midnight_Rider]

Ahh, brings back memories of my 1GN. Good luck and keep us posted!