2004 SRT-4 + 2000 Neon = Project

relenger · Post by **relenger** » Sun Nov 02, 2008 8:21 pm

If your gonna Read about this project then please read THE HOLE THING! It will keep you from posting something like "Man it looks good now" <-- (you will get that after reading)

1. Bringing Home The SRT-4 < You Are Here
2. Under Construction

This is the SRT-4 when i first got it! I was told it was in a minor curb wreck... It had a salvage title before i got. When i went to pick up the car it had a Rebuilt Title. I drove all the way to indiana indianapolis to pick it up. It was a four hour drive there! I was so happy to finally have a SRT-4. Here she is

When i got this car it only had 2,000 mile's on it
The SRT-4 was going for around $18,000.
I got this one for $13,500.
After getting it home i decided to order a few aftermarket part's
The stock boost guage was reading +5 when the engine was off. The first thing i ordered was a Autometer 30psi Boost guage
(this has been in the car now for 2yrs+ and still work's awsom!)

The stock turbo was to quiet so i helped her out. Cant beat a $60 Bov that's this loud!!

Wheel hop was horrible!! so i THOUGHT this would help some

These were cheap so what the heck, while im at it

These were not so cheap... Wish i woulda got different one's. These ride nice and the warrenty is awsome but i was to sit on the ground and my strut's are out of?? room to move? i would like to get the BC Coilover's

Got some rim's from a friend and put them on my car

contagious18 · Post by **contagious18** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 2:02 am

i dont see any pics

bstc00 · Post by **bstc00** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 5:08 am

LilSparkPlug · Post by **LilSparkPlug** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 8:49 am

This thread fails to deliver without pics!!!!

relenger · Post by **relenger** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 9:30 am

relenger · Post by **relenger** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 9:59 am

After getting the suspension on i noticed this thing's not right!! I had all four coil over's set at the same hight and the fender clearance's were all off....... but i just put it as close as possible!! Ended up not liking the rim's so i ordered new one's....

Ran these new rim's for a bit!! they were heavy. 28lbs a rim

We all decided to go to the last car show for the year and after that i was putting my car up for winter. never got it up in time. 2 deer ran out it front of me!! Slammed on the brake's........55.....40...45..30....THUMP!!! Called Progressive and They came out and inspected the car and said there was around $2300. Damage...
I told them to write the check to me and i'd fix it.
Got the check and contacted a guy who does good body work... he put the car up on stand's took some measure ment's and said the car should'nt even be on the road!!! it's twisted all to crap!!! He said he would fix it the best he could for 1000. So he tore the hole rear end off and rewelded the rear end back together (The part the the rear swing arms attach to)
After he did that the car looked better and could finally get an alighnment...... during this hole thing i got bored and ran across the warrenty paper's and found the original owner. so i gave him a call( i didnt buy it from the owner i got it from a dealer in indianna)
The old owner actually is on srtforums some were..... His story was "I was driving with a few friends and the car lost control and slid sideway's into a industial curb" I asked why they salveged the car?? He said "both bumper's, strut's, rims, were messed up and it had a hole in the block and the a/c unit was hanging off the car" WHAT????

i said???????
After doing some investigating on the block i found that they dealer just welded the busted block back together.... 2 out of the four welded spot's were BROKE!!!

If you look closely you can see were it's broke at.

Two out of the four were still holding and my goal was 400Whp for this car (still working on that) So i knew i needed to find a new motor...... i looked and looked and looked and nothing then out of luck one day i seen a GT cruiser on e-bay for 1800....
Ebay Picture's

LUCKY ME it was only an hour away. So i contacted the guy and went and picked up the new engine. Here it is after picking it up

I ended up parting out everything i didnt need. I sold enough stuff i actually made money over the 1800 i got it all for!!
FINALLY something is going good!!!!!!

Took the car over to get it painted!! here was the design i came up with

Here is the car waiting it's turn. Getting picked on by the shop guy's while it wait's!!!

relenger · Post by **relenger** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 10:19 am

Finally got the car home, I had no way to put the engine in so i took a TON of block's and lifted the car one block at a time..LOL..
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!!!!

Then after getting it high enough to clear the engine i lowered the car back down one block at a time..... Here is a pic of the engine in

Chris's 02 · Post by **Chris's 02** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 4:15 pm

woah..nice car

LilSparkPlug · Post by **LilSparkPlug** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 5:58 pm

Looks pretty damned good! I was just busting your balls.

But, I do like it. So that car had a salvage title??? Interesting...... I like your latest wheels the best out of all the ones you have had on the car. Anything done visually to the motor or interior???

Mods list?

relenger · Post by **relenger** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 7:07 pm

I went and got a few new part's to put on with the new paint job!!
AEM EMS
L.E.D Multi color Underbody light's
Stock SRT-4 Sideskirt's (i got these painted also)
Powder coated black Valve Cover
Powder coated black Coolent neck
Enkie RS-7 19" Rim's and tire's
Boompa Intake Gasket
Boompa Black oil Catch can
BWoody Big Front Mount Intercooler
T-Clamp's
Took the dash and the 4 off the injector cover and painted it black
Valve Cover Oil Cap
Carbon By Desgh PVO Spoiler
Kaminari CF Hood
DCR Oil Modifier
Boomba Stronger Engine mount bolt's
SRT4store L.E.D License plate light
SRT4Store L.E.D 3rd tail light with arrow's

I think that was it

Nope i forgot about the black bazel Headlight's

hul kogan · Post by **hul kogan** » Tue Nov 04, 2008 8:47 am

relenger wrote:Ohhh and yes that was TruckBash 07
For those of you have not been there... GOOOO that shit is nut'z!!!

yes, that is a great show. been there every year since '04.

btw, good lookin' car.

relenger · Post by **relenger** » Tue Nov 04, 2008 9:08 am

Finally got the engine in and running, with all the new part's on!!

LOOK'S SWEET!!! mmmmmm... I love it!

relenger · Post by **relenger** » Tue Nov 04, 2008 9:02 pm

Next stop
Import And Truck Bash
This car show WAS HUGE!!! i had so much fun!!! going this year for sure so if you see me there, Say something!!!

My Car sitting next to my buddy's Car. The only SRT-4 around here

relenger · Post by **relenger** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 10:13 am

The End of the year was coming up and GUESS WHAT????

Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock!!!!!
WTF!!!!

All year this knocking noise was getting louder and louder... by the time winter got here it was LOUD!!! So i tear the oil pan off and the fourth rod barring was TRASHED!!! I visually inspected the rod and crank and it looked good, so i got new barring's and installed them (i knew this was a dumb idea)
Started it up and all was good

Two day's later KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK......

I started thinking about it...... how did this one rod go bad on a engine that was low milagee?? Only thing i could come up with was that it sat for a long time before getting started... i should have turned the crank by hand before installing the engine to get the oil through the hole thing!!! But i didnt, so i think that the fourth rod went dry long enough to get a little loose and slowly died as the year went by!!!

Well pissed off again i ordered a new crank, new rod's and piston's, and barrings.... installed it all and everthing went well... So far so good!!!!

bstc00 · Post by **bstc00** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 1:02 pm

i love the paint

sullivan · Post by **sullivan** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 8:40 pm

you better keep the 00' purple..... purple represent!

relenger · Post by **relenger** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 10:52 pm

Now even though the car was fixed (body) it was still not right. the car drove like crap...... The body was still out of wack, I hated my job and was trying to get stuff on track so i thought
"Well i guess it is time for it to go"
So up for sale it went... $8000 4-15-08.... TON'S of people stopped and looked!!! But none wanted it!! Then i lost my job

I ended up putting the car out back and putting storage insurance on it...... it sat there the last part of summer and winter.....
Then i noticed that i needed to have my car back!! IM A CAR GUY!!
This was the car i wanted when i first seen it as a prototype!!
The first car i built was a 96 neon with 2.4 turbo then the srt04 came out... it was like a dream

A few Memorie's

First Turbo (Daytona)

2.4 Block

New Set Of BSA 259's (i still have 2 out of the 4)

This is what the car look's like now sitting in my back yard!!

Wish i never woulda parted it out!!

lilnicko11 · Post by **lilnicko11** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 1:01 pm

wow it came out great imo

relenger · Post by **relenger** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:49 am

SOOO after much debation i decided i wanted to keep the SRT-4 BUT i wanted it to be right!!! So here is my new FRAME (Body)

Now i just want to show some of you how far off the rear end on my SRT-4 is...
If you take a look at this picture you will see the tire is sitting in the wheel well a bit (Right Rear)

Now this one the tire is sticking out (left Rear)

The Front end is the same way... one side RUB'S bad and the other does not!!!

It is getting warm out!!! time for the project to start back up again!!

Here she is with most of the crap out of the engine bay and no dash

Sykora · Post by **Sykora** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 10:04 am

nice wheels! and I shrudder thinking what would happen to your poor sideskirts if that cinderblock was ever needed

and... THIS! looks amazing

supertrick_05 · Post by **supertrick_05** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:27 pm

I actually kinda like it.

NeonDerek · Post by **NeonDerek** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 8:45 pm

looking good.. be sure to take alot of pictures of your swap... good luck

Tam · Post by **Tam** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 9:39 pm

Your car looks amazing bro! Awesome paint job!

relenger · Post by **relenger** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 7:19 pm

Here is The Front Spindle's one is from a SRT-4 and the other is from a 2000 neon.. Compare:)

LilSparkPlug · Post by **LilSparkPlug** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 7:51 pm

Wow I just re-read through everything, come a long way. Damn that frame is way out though....wow. Nice that you're saving it

relenger · Post by **relenger** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:12 pm

Yeah, i'm saving it AGAIN.... lol... 2nd engine and new crank and rod's..... mmmmm... good part is it has not blown up. yet!!! just looked outside and this was next to my door.

I think i will put it next to my T.V till the build is done

Now it mite blow up

relenger · Post by **relenger** » Sat Apr 25, 2009 12:12 am

Well it was finally nice out side

Got the hole car stripped..

OHHHH did you know there is a pop holder in the engine bay? lol

This is my other little beast.... get's 120mpg

Sad part is i put 800 miles on it in just a few mnths...

Now onto Getting the engine out.... Easy way for me is to bust out the Deere and lift the hole car up

And if you ever woundered what all the gut's out of a 2000 neon looked like out of the car.... well here you go!!

Last but not least.... this is how much you can move your sub frame when it's not tight... read here also
[ur]http://www.srtforums.com/forums/f163/yo ... al-508415/[/url]

look at that GAP

relenger · Post by **relenger** » Sun Apr 26, 2009 10:04 pm

So i was looking in the fender area where the rain water from the cowl drain's to...... Seem's to be a problem...... Take a look

This is the cowl, you can see a square at the end, ther is one on both sides, but that is where it drains...

Now after it hits the hole it head down and goes here

This look's like a grat place for rust to start, or mold.... So im gonna fix it some how... ill update with a better fix..... also i noticed that when i put water in the cowl it ran into where you see all the leaves and sticks..... BUT it took ALOT of water till it came out the bottom of the car

......... Where is it all sitting??? the spot where the leaves are is the frame rail... i thing it goes down the frame and sits......

here is the car empty

Here is the core support that need's cutting for the intercooler

This is the left side of a SRT-4 core support

This is my srt-4 engine

ejclide · Post by **ejclide** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 9:30 pm

that's crazy man.

Makes me wish I didn't live in a neighborhood where neighbors wouldn't be happy about a stripped car sitting in the driveway....

relenger · Post by **relenger** » Tue May 12, 2009 11:35 pm

I need to update this thread.... ENGINE IS IN AND RUNNING!!!! YEAH