Intro and advice needed on potential 99 DOHC purchase

[jogirob]

Hello everyone,
New here. Didn't see an intro section so I'll just post here. I'm Jose from Sacramento, CA. Moderate mech experience most gained while working on an old 74 Mopar. Looking to get into rallycross and have been soaking up all the rallycross related info in the racing section of this forum.

I've had a secret admiration of the lil 1st gens almost a year now. Been doing my research and been waiting to pounce on a deal and I think I found one. It's a 99 DOHC 5MT Sport Coupe. It's rare to come accross these rigid 2 doors let alone one with a DOHC in stock form. It has 170k miles on it and they were asking for $1500. I managed to get them down to $950 however this couldn't come at a worse time. Without going too much into financials let's just say that the refund I was expecting turned into a tax bill :-/ The car is bare bones with manual windows and no A/C but I don't mind the weight savings as this car would mostly be a stock class rallycross car with maybe 15% street use.

Around this area I see beat up AT 1st gens 4 doors sohc for an average of $800-$1000. Do you guys think this is a good find for the price? No clue how many miles are expected out of these cars aside from the blown head gasket breakdowns.

[NickKo]

My opinion ??
If the body is solid, and rust-free (and being in CA., probably is), I would say YES.

Out here in the Midwest, good, CLEAN 1st gen Neons, are getting hard to find.
The few that I still see on the roads here are usually complete beaters, just one problem away from the junkyard.

Neon engines will last a Very LONG time, if taken care of.
I know a guy who sold one with 300,000+ miles on it. He estimated it was at 325,000+ plus when it was sold, but the odometer had broken by that point...
Then there is this classic, posted at the Allpar site:
https://www.allpar.com/cotm/2009/neon.html

Also in this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=51&t=338936

I don't think any of my Neons, have less than 200,000 miles on them. And none of them burn oil...


- Nick

[bust0023]

That's a pretty decent deal, especially if it's rust free. I didn't know they made 99s with no AC! Was it there at some point and then removed?

Nick's right, the engines last forever. My parents had 175k on theirs when they gave it to my brother in law (who hated it and sold it for a profit almost immediately...). My previous had 270k on it when I sold it for parts, the shell was pretty rusty and it was in 3 minor accidents and looked awful. It burned a ton of oil from the valve stem seals going bad, but it still got 35 mpg without even trying and still pulled hard to 7800 rpm!

[occasional demons]

Head gasket shouldn't be an issue on a '99. I think they got most of that issue fixed before then.

[Professor_Brap]

I got over 300k on a few neons, take care of them and they can last a long time.

[anthony underwood]

You're in line on the deal, price wise and millage wise. I just bought a 96 4 door Sport DOHC 5 speed with a 131,000 on it, no rust and the inside look like new for $1500. It is really tight and reminds me of when my 95 was new.