Things I've learned about 2g's

chipdogg · Post by **chipdogg** » Tue Jul 27, 2010 10:34 pm

Well after parting out this R/T, I've determined a few things about 2g's vs 1g's.

The good:

Motor mounts, way cooler. It doesn't even budge.

Interior, way fucking nicer, by far. Almost makes it worth driving a 2g. (We do take the 04 whenever we go a long ways, but part of that is cuz I hardly trust the 95 to make it to the gas station).

The bad:

Brake booster. I hope I never have to replace one on a 2g with ABS. I was trying to get the damn clutch pedal out tonight with no engine, trans, etc in the way and that damn ABS bracket was in the way of the brake booster. Of course they mounted it to the beefiest bracket I've ever seen so it had 3 bolts and 2 tangs holding it in. And 2 of those bolts were buried nicely. Would suck even more to do with engine/trans in the way.

EVAP solenoid. I think that's what it was, had 2 vacuum lines going to it and that thing was buried. Maybe to make it harder to remove for emissions purposes? If so, it worked. I just tore it off the bracket, which was in the way of the ABS bracket bolts.

Clutch master cylinder. No thanks. First, the top nut holding it to the firewall under the dash looks like fun getting to with the pedals in the way. Second, that damn line weaves in and out of crap to get to the slave cylinder. Third, you can't even find that fucker with the brake booster and evap shit in the way. Oh yeah, the fluid reservoir also needs to be weaved through the engine bay to remove.

More to follow when I get more torn out of this car.

Oh, can you remove the side airbags from the seats? They'll be pretty worthless in my 97.

r/tguy02 · Post by **r/tguy02** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:27 am

just leave the airbags in the seats, they wont work unless you hook up the modules to them, just stick them in the 97 and dont worry about pluggin them in.

Post by **occasional demons** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:43 am

Yep brake booster is a bit of a pain, even without antilock brakes. There isn't any "just moving the master cylinder aside", it must be removed. After all that, I'm not sure it was even the problem. And if you paint it, there is no way to get it back in place without scratching it somewhere.

Edit: On the air bags, you may want to connect the leads together, so no random static electricity sets then off. If they are shorted to each other, it shouldn't fire them.

chipdogg · Post by **chipdogg** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 1:06 pm

I was more concerned with the weight of them as I drag race the 97, but the base 1st gen seats in it now are like sitting on plywood.

r/tguy02 · Post by **r/tguy02** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 1:10 pm

i cant imagine a side airbag module weighing enough to make much of a difference. to be honest if you wanted to remove them you would have to tear the seat apart and have it sewn back together.

OB · Post by OB » Wed Jul 28, 2010 2:37 pm

Maybe just buy a single light weight racing seat like most people with drag cars?

Fuzzyneon · Post by **Fuzzyneon** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:29 pm

OB wrote:Maybe just buy a single light weight racing seat like most people with drag cars?

^this

TheRandom1 · Post by **TheRandom1** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:40 pm

Or, I'll happily trade you my seats (without airbag) for yours?

chipdogg · Post by **chipdogg** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 7:21 pm

OB wrote:Maybe just buy a single light weight racing seat like most people with drag cars?

This one isn't an all-out drag car, just a cammed 2.4 with bolt-on's and megasquirt. Otherwise I'd have it gutted like my 96 is. It's supposed to be my daily driver as well, but the MS isn't letting me drive it at all as of now till I get my laptop fixed.

I'm swapping in the 04 seats due to the price (free) and comfort of them compared to the cloth covered plywood base seats it has in it now, which are the lightest OEM seats you can get, but also the worst ones to drive 100 miles in each way to the track. Just figured if the airbags could be removed semi easily, I'd do it. Otherwise it's not that big of a deal.

TheRandom1 wrote:Or, I'll happily trade you my seats (without airbag) for yours?

I'd be up for that, I'll even throw in some pieces of white plastic too! Seats are already out of the car, haven't gotten around to putting them in the pirahna yet.

OB · Post by OB » Wed Jul 28, 2010 7:49 pm

You should look into trading someone who has non airbag seats (shouldn't be hard to find). Then they'll be free AND light weight

chipdogg · Post by **chipdogg** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 10:48 pm

Well if anybody near Madison wants to trade, I'm game!

TheRandom1 · Post by **TheRandom1** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 10:49 pm

This deal seems WAY too good to be true, lol

chipdogg · Post by **chipdogg** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 11:42 pm

TheRandom1 wrote:This deal seems WAY too good to be true, lol

Why, are the airbag seats better or something? Or are you guys fucking with me? I don't need the airbags, it's a base. I'm surprised it even has the front 2 airbags. Besides, if I need the side airbags it's probably too late for me anyways.

Post by **occasional demons** » Thu Jul 29, 2010 12:01 am

You could always wire them to blow the doors off, if you need an escape.

Midnight_Rider · Post by **Midnight_Rider** » Thu Jul 29, 2010 3:32 am

chipdogg wrote:
TheRandom1 wrote:This deal seems WAY too good to be true, lol
Why, are the airbag seats better or something? Or are you guys ******* with me?

There were more non-SRS Neon seats manufactured than ones with airbags so, for those of us with SRS seats who need replacements, an even trade is a good deal.

TheRandom1 · Post by **TheRandom1** » Thu Jul 29, 2010 6:36 am

No, they're just a much more expensive set of seats than stock base ones are. Plus weren't the SRS ones leather?

chipdogg · Post by **chipdogg** » Thu Jul 29, 2010 7:20 am

TheRandom1 wrote:Plus weren't the SRS ones leather?

Yeah I don't think so...

Well if anyone wants to trade, I don't need the SRS ones. Straight up trade, I don't care if they are worth more or not. The non-SRS ones are worth more to me than these are.

TheRandom1 · Post by **TheRandom1** » Thu Jul 29, 2010 8:03 am

If only mine were in better shape, I'd probably go for it. Oh well.

TeckNeon · Post by **TeckNeon** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 12:46 pm

I have seen SRS seats in cloth (in a 2002 ACR of all places) and in leather (03+ SRT-4...it was actually an $800 option over the Viper style seats if you can believe that).

Man, if you were closer, I'd let you have my 04 SXT seats in good shape plus money for them if they were as nice of shape as I think they would be.

NickKo · Post by **NickKo** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 3:16 pm

About the ONLY thing that I find annoying about 2nd gen Neons, compared to 1st gens (besides the Lower Control Arm bushings), are the OUTSIDE door handles / latches.

For some reason, they bind up on my 2000..... I have to take the inner door panel off, remove the door latch or lock assembly, lubricate the Hell out of it to get it moving freely again, and re-install it.

Repeat process, a year later.

I have never (not yet, anyways) had to do this on a 1st Gen Neon.

I am seriously considering drilling some 'lubrication holes' on the door latch, so I can stick a spray straw in there, and lube the mechanism regularly.
It sure would be better, than having to remove the mechanisms every year or so....

- Nick

TheRandom1 · Post by **TheRandom1** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 3:36 pm

In the 5 years I've owned my 2nd gen, I've never had that issue.

NickKo · Post by **NickKo** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 4:14 pm

TheRandom1 wrote:In the 5 years I've owned my 2nd gen, I've never had that issue.

Maybe it was an issue, on the 'early' 2nd gens ??

Or it could be that mine is older, and has started to rust......

- Nick

Post by **occasional demons** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 8:07 pm

Mine did that also. I completely removed the handles, drove the pins out, sanded the rust off, and sprayed them with LPS 3 rust inhibitor. It's similar to cosmoline. Been over a year now, and still working good.

ianguilly · Post by **ianguilly** » Sun Aug 01, 2010 11:25 am

I got another problem with 2gn...no coupes

chipdogg · Post by **chipdogg** » Sun Aug 01, 2010 11:32 pm

Well that's a given

theTeejmiester · Post by **theTeejmiester** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 4:00 pm

my problem is the rear door window cranks, pisses me off like nothing else

TheRandom1 · Post by **TheRandom1** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 4:11 pm

Yeah, that was incredibly cheap on Dodge's part. I understand their reasoning of "keeping costs down" but really? $100 dollars a car or whatever is really going to make that much of a difference? Come on...

Forest Green 2k · Post by **Forest Green 2k** » Thu Aug 12, 2010 5:34 am

How the rear end is raised 3 inches higher and looks like a 4x4.