www.neons.org

//Note: The log has changed directions. It now follows the work I am doing on a 97 Coupe chassis.


TY~

Fire


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=============== Table of Contents =================


Pages 1-4 Work on the black 95 DOHC ATX coupe

Pages 5-+ Work on the white 97 DOHC MTX coupe

Littered thru all pages: Shenanigans



OK I guess this is the start of a long overdue writeup on various things I have done to the car over the past year and a half I have owned it.

I will get into all the different things I have done later, right now I wanted to get this wing mod up for everyone.



I will edit this post as sort of a TOC of the log for easier navigation as it grows. I will mainly be including ideas and work I have either came up with myself or taken an idea a step further or 2 or 3 :D

Main point here is I do not want this to end up being a re post of info that is already up but mainly unique ideas.



Enjoy.




`Fire





edit: I found these pics of when I first got the car and wanted to post them. They are a few of my favorites :D

Ok here is a basic rundown of what I ended up with after about 3 revisions.


The stock wing now sits 1 inch higher and 1 1/4 farther back on the deck. Here is a picture of it when I had just moved it back.







I chose 1 1/4 back b/c that left about 1/2 in before the trunk ends so there is still some space there and it does not look like it is hanging off or was installed by some nut.





I put masking tape over the area I was going to drill A to keep the surface clean and B you can write on it.





I can not stress this enough~ Measure 4 times and drill once. You screw it up and you may have to kick it forward 1/2 in to drill a new hole etc.





On the inside of the trunk I had to drill holes in the bracing/frame to access the upper most bolt. The lower one is no problem to access.




Here is the hardware I used to plug the hole until it gets some body work.
I took 2 rubber washers with metal washers on each side to sandwich the body so water would not get in and I could tighten it down with out the rubber washers sliding around. Has not leaked yet.






Ok so that is how to scoot it back.


Wha? You want it higher up too?


Here is a list of everything I used to get it done~

4x bolt couplers (sorry I do not know the size)
4 bolts that will screw into the other side of the couplers
Modeling/ pottery clay
Bondo
Fiberglass kit
various grits of sandpaper 150ish to 1000
level
tape measure
etc




The basic process I used was this: Install hardware -> mold clay shape -> fiberglass -> bondo -> paint -> install



Well I do not have a lot of pictures of the molding, I really wish I did. They went down with an old hard drive on another computer. I was able to find a few off other machines, so this won't be a total bust. I have taken some new ones to help out in showing the process.

That and I can draw a pic explaining it better. It is really pretty easy to do. And it won't fly off the car!



First thing was to figure out how I was going to be able to raise it up while using the stock studs on the fin. I did not want there to be any chance of the wing flying off the car.


These are not the ones I used but you can see what I mean by couplers and a bolt that will go through them. One end screws to the fin, and then the bolt goes from the inside of the trunk -> out.

Something like this:





I used loctite on the wing stud to coupler bolts also. I don't see how they could spin off, the core of the riser is solid, but I did it anyway.



Here is a picture of what I ended up with~ I think it is pretty self explanatory.






Now its time to mold the risers. I took the clay and just created the shape I wanted for the riser. I thought about making it taper either in or out but decided on a straight sided riser.


You want the clay to be just below the ends of the couplers, a layer of fiberglass and bondo has to fit in that space. I would leave at least 1/8in to be safe. Keep in mind the shape you make here will be slightly smaller once the clay dries but not much. So make this just a little smaller than the final riser you want.

Now one mistake I made is I went right to laying some fiberglass to give me a nice sturdy base to work on. Well as the clay dried inside the fiberglass it made the outside wavy and I had to do it again.

So let the clay sit for I would say 24-48 hrs or until it feels dry to the touch.



Next I laid 2 layers of fiberglass over the clay. Let it dry and then the final layer was bondo. The reason I used 3 different things was to get the shape I wanted with the clay, seal the clay with the fiberglass and give it strength, and bondo for the final surface to apply paint.

I am sure there are 10X ways to do the same thing, this is just what I came up with after trial and error.


Once the bondo is on sand it down to the shape you want. I did most of this by hand b/c I did not want to remove too much material. Just take a lot of time here and make sure the risers new surface is 100% true and level and that the new risers match each other. If you don't it will look cheap and people will laugh. If it is not really good and level it is not going to sit on the car good.



Next I primered the entire underside of the wing and applied a few coats of black and then like 4ish coats of clear. I then took 1000 git sandpaper and wet sanded the surface and then
buffed it to a shine. Turned out pretty good and still looks good today.


Primer







Black added




Clear drying





















One little hint I picked up is using a heat gun the dry the paint faster and also after you wet sand. I found out if I applied a little heat the buffed clear surface would go back to transparent. Too much heat and it will boil lol.



GL!

Sweet thanks!! I love that wing. Gives the surf board a whole new look

Ya I do not think I will ever part with it.

Nice write-up on the wing alterations

OK so a few updates today.



Over the weekend I traded hoods with a good friend here in town. He was wanting to go back to a more stock looking car, so we ended up trading my DOHC hood for his CF one plus a song. The hood has (had) a crack by the scoop that was pretty bad. Well I have a good friend that is good with fiberglass and CF so I called him over to help out with fixing it.


I wish I had a before pic, the crack was really bad.

Well we cut the crack sides flush and inserted a small piece of CF to fill the gap. Added more glass to the damaged area as well as some other spots, sanded the crap out of the repaired areas and the put a coat of clear on it.

I think I will end up painting it black when this is all said and done. We were able to repair the crack but you can still see the repaired area through the clear so I do not think it will ever be of show quality.


Few pics~





I think it will look just fine black with clear. I love how the hood only weighs like 5 lbs.







Also installed a Walboro in the tank today.





Not to hard to install either, just be very careful messing with the fuel canister and make sure you get the new pump in there correctly!

I think the wing looks great furter back.. can't say I'm liking the height increase, but someone here has taken two surboards and extended them that way (not stacked, but cut up and lengthened).. and it looks like crap.. yours on the otherhand is a great job!

Edit: Actually.. it might grow on me a bit.

I think you would like it if you could see it in person. The inch higher is not a big increase but enough to make ya say hmm.

Which exhaust do you have...?

SRT cat-back with an extra little muffler in front of the rear drivers side tire.

Might of just been the angle in the intial pics. I do like the last picture... so if you take any from further back angles post them up!

New hood should look good.

Screw pulling the tank to put in a new fuel pump. Did that the first time. Last two times I just wait until the tank is almost empty and jack it up on the passenger side

The wing mod is cool because it's something that is different, but not obvious.

I know, because I didn't notice it myself when I saw Hawk's car.

Pete I will hook ya up for cheap man. Just as a friendly favor. Say like the cost of materials plus 4 cookies.

Car looks sharp !
I love early sport coupes and ACR's !

Congrats Jason !

TY.

It would prob be bone stock if you guy's and the .org were not around.

Over the last few evenings I have been messing around a little more with CF~ I took a little that I had laying around and covered my shifter in it for a few reasons.

It would give me some more experience working with the stuff, I had the materials already and third why not??


I wish I took some pics of actually laying and glassing the stuff. I had only went and got the camera after the resin was dry (sry).



Here I was sanding the resin down with 1000 grit for a nice smooth finish~






Here it sits drying with a coat of clear on it~





And an installed pic~





The yellow hue you can see is not as strong as it shows up in the pic but it does match the hood just right.




And just for fun a pic of the rear bumper getting new paint last week in my "paint booth"~

OK a few member's have asked for more pictures of the car so I am going to add some.


Keep in mind these have been taken over the last 18 months with the car in various stages. Most of them should have the date on the pic as well.



I will add descriptions where applicable.


these few are from IFO San Antonio late Feb 06. I had just got the rims on the car and was very proud of how the car looked. I am also next to one of our members, Ryan915 (red car).











































And here is 2 beer after 2 beers! The look on his buddy's face is priceless!







Bottle placement~





Air filter after a 75 shot @ 1200+psi back fire






Here is the engine bay back when I had the iceman and no front strut tower bar and all that silly blue silicone hose going everywhere~





First time I showed the car~ IFO Houston Jan 06~ I had only had the car about 4 months when this was taken.






On my way to the last MPx meet~ Ignore the stupid ex g/f sticking her tongue out.









@ Modern







My uber leet graphics guy doing his magic.






Here is a shot back when the purge was a single out just in front of the windshield. Now there are 2X in front of the hood. I need to get a pic of that bad. It looks soo sweet.






A not very smart way to heat up a bottle~






A smarter way to heat up your bottle~






A great shot of the motor when it was REALLY clean during the rebuild~





Intake mani bored to 60MM to match the MPx TB






These pictures are mainly showing the porting and smoothing of the intake mani and head. Everything was also gasket matched.































Marking the material that needed to be removed~










Clean pistons ready for rings and part of the intake mani~






Interior~ still need new carpet and headliner but all in due time~







And I guess that is about it for now~

GREAT Job! Looks awesome.. love that shifter!

Thanks AJ.

I could have made it a little smoother, but I finished it up with 1K grit and I was happy with the result.

Just wish the glass was a little more transparent. Not bad for my first time using CF on something tho.

LOL jason nice start on all the things u have done. why o why u got to put that pic of me lol.. o well. o the good times

I could have posted the one where you were on the bed about to pass out giving me the finger!





Ahh good times.

go ahead man i dont care lol

This is a great project log. I like that you went into detail, and that you can tell you are passionate about your. Good stuff!

I appreciate it.



I really do enjoy sharing my knowledge and what I have done with the car.

In the end it makes everyone better and that can't be a bad thing.



~Fire

I love everything execept that it is autotrans

I am debating doing a MTX really soon until I can build the auto.

We are putting a built auto in a buddy's Hahn S3 car this weekend so I will have a better opinion on how the 3 speed will act once it has been beefed up a bit.


Then again, a MTX may just stay in there.

wait what did i hear u say u are going mtx. is that so. i though u did not want to go mtx. lol.

jason did u do any pic of the dash swap. also a how to on the n2o setup would be cool i dont think there is one on here yet. and damn man the car is looking good.

Yes I have a bunch from the dash swap.


I will get those up this weekend and possibly a N2O how-to.

Also, I just took a video of the dual purge finally.



It looks REALLY sweet going down the road when you hit it. Each stream will follow the hood lines and hit the outside mirrors. Looks kind of like a wind tunnel test on the street or contrails.

Very intimidating if you ask me.







http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oQgOWaTvhU

Whats this dash swap you speak of???

Well my car came with tan interior (puke) and I have been swapping it all out piece by piece as I find what I need.


I swapped out the dash core (the part that has the VIN riveted to it) as well as everything that bolts up to it.


And a bunch of other parts lol.


It was a pain but I found a few shortcuts.




I will post it up tomorrow.

Black car with tan interior didnt look good?

Well it looked ok but I added SRT seats and they are dark grey. So The interior followed.

OK so I have an SRT turbo/mani & O2 housing on the way. I already have the downpipe so that will be an ez bolt on.

It will prob be a month before I can order a port fueler bot that's ok, I am in no hurry. I need to find a FMIC that I want to use there are a lot of options and I can not make up my mind.

Still need a boost controller, WGA, BOV and get the pipes made.

So if everything goes well it will be done by summer, hopefully by Neon 2K7, I am thinking about going now.

OK I finally got my other set of SRT rims on the car today. I wish I had put them on sooner, I like the gunmetal a lot better than the OE finish. I went with new chrome lug nuts and chrome valve stem caps to sort of of-set the dull gunmetal finish. I think it turned out pretty good.




In the driveway~








I know this picture is dark but I like it~









That's all for now.

Well the turbo and O2 housing arrived today. Yay!



The turbo looks to be in really good shape as well. The seller said it had 8K on it but who really knows right? No left to right shaft play at all. It feels very solid plus it is very clean so it does look to be a low mileage part.

I was also able to score an AGP WGA (the mani already had a block off plate on it, so why downgrade right?) from a local friend for $50 and also a stock SRT IC for a song.


So now after I get my tax refund I can order the port fueler and then boost controller, a bunch of gauges and I think that will be about it. I already got the OE oil and water cooling lines for the turbo from the dealer as well as some other miscellaneous items.


Should be an interesting next few months.

your car reminds me of mine soo much... After my k sports im getting that hood next..soo badass

nice Jason