Joey's Budget Rallycar: RallyX #10 - Oakshade Raceway
- Thread starter Joey D
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Joey D
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So final damage report: warped head, blown gasket, bent valves and the cooling system needs some TLC.
What it looks like was that something clogged the coolant delivery system since there was also sorts of brown rusty stuff in there. We aren't sure what failed yet, but we know something needs to be replaced in the cooling system. Luckily our buddy (the Neon Nerd) has all the stuff we need to fix it, all we have to do is buy a new gasket and get the head milled a bit (which he can do). It should be relatively easy to repair....knock on wood.
What it looks like was that something clogged the coolant delivery system since there was also sorts of brown rusty stuff in there. We aren't sure what failed yet, but we know something needs to be replaced in the cooling system. Luckily our buddy (the Neon Nerd) has all the stuff we need to fix it, all we have to do is buy a new gasket and get the head milled a bit (which he can do). It should be relatively easy to repair....knock on wood.
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- whiteboy4hire
I must say,it has been very interesting seeing this Neon being built.Keep it coming!
Joey D
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Nope, not Greg. His name is Alex and he's currently rocking a 1st gen with a built 2.4L swap and an added supercharger. It produces something like 300hp and is insane. He's engineering a twincharger setup for it right now, which will make it more insane.
I'm sure Alex knows Greg though, he knows anyone in Michigan that does anything serious with Neons.
Thanks 👍 Hopefully we get it back together soon.
CAMAROBOY69
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I was just jumping in to see how this project was going. Was wondering if you made it to Grattan this year but now I see you still have some parts to replace and more shaker runs to iron out before it sees any road track action. I would love to come out and watch you beat it up. Might even get my Camaro back to the track too. So let me know if you decide to make a trip to Grattan. I know the group I run with has an event coming up soon.
Joey D
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Funny enough we just finished rebuilding the engine last Saturday and installed it in the car Sunday. I was with a buddy of mine tonight doing some odds and ends to finish it up and I took it for quite a drive around the back country roads. It drives 100% better than it did the first time around, more power too and a better sound.
I'm just waiting on a few more parts to come in for the gauge pillar to be complete and a couple other odds and ends. It should really be ready to run come Thursday.
I left my camera in the car which is in my buddy's garage so I'll have to post pictures either tomorrow or Thursday when I get it back.
Hopefully we get it racing soon!
I'm just waiting on a few more parts to come in for the gauge pillar to be complete and a couple other odds and ends. It should really be ready to run come Thursday.
I left my camera in the car which is in my buddy's garage so I'll have to post pictures either tomorrow or Thursday when I get it back.
Hopefully we get it racing soon!
Joey D
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Engine II Ready
After about 2 months of inactivity due to work and waiting on the machine shop we have finally got engine number two in the car and running. It runs about a 1000% better than the last engine did, probably because it's essentially a new engine.
We had the block completely machined and bought a used, but in good condition, head. All the valves and the lifter were bought new and the cams came out of a junkyard Neon (the 2.0L cams were better than that 2.4L). The pistons got new rings as well. All in all it was about $600 to fix everything.
It took 2 nights and 2 cases of beer to complete the engine and get it back to something we could actually put in the car. We also had some high temp purple paint that suited the block and the valve cover nicely.
And here we go...
We had the hardest time with the clutch and flywheel since they have be bolted on in a very specific way or else the bolt holes wouldn't line up.
Putting the engine in the car.
While getting the axles back in the car we came across a whole bunch of NOPE in the passenger side front suspension. I couldn't get a picture, because admittedly I was a bit scared, but there was the biggest spider I've ever seen living in there. I believe it was a grass spider since the web matched up right and the thing ran really fast. NSFL Wikipedia link.
After that we pretty much ran out of day light and energy and packed it up for the next day.
======
Returning the next day we finished hooking out the rest of the hoses, intake, cooling system, etc. We also swapped the thermostat out for a 180 degree one to make sure the engine stayed cool enough. We wired the fans to a switch as well since they were turning on at bizarre times.
We installed a water temp and oil pressure gauge in the sorry excuse for a gauge pod that came with the car. It worked though.
We also put in our new cluster that had a tach on it so we could see what we were doing in terms of revs.
And finally I pulled this out of some 80's Chrysler, it's real wood too. Figure the racecar need a bit of class.
I should be getting the car this weekend to do a few more things to it so I'll get some more pictures then, but I figured an update was in order!
After about 2 months of inactivity due to work and waiting on the machine shop we have finally got engine number two in the car and running. It runs about a 1000% better than the last engine did, probably because it's essentially a new engine.
We had the block completely machined and bought a used, but in good condition, head. All the valves and the lifter were bought new and the cams came out of a junkyard Neon (the 2.0L cams were better than that 2.4L). The pistons got new rings as well. All in all it was about $600 to fix everything.
It took 2 nights and 2 cases of beer to complete the engine and get it back to something we could actually put in the car. We also had some high temp purple paint that suited the block and the valve cover nicely.
And here we go...
We had the hardest time with the clutch and flywheel since they have be bolted on in a very specific way or else the bolt holes wouldn't line up.
Putting the engine in the car.
While getting the axles back in the car we came across a whole bunch of NOPE in the passenger side front suspension. I couldn't get a picture, because admittedly I was a bit scared, but there was the biggest spider I've ever seen living in there. I believe it was a grass spider since the web matched up right and the thing ran really fast. NSFL Wikipedia link.
After that we pretty much ran out of day light and energy and packed it up for the next day.
======
Returning the next day we finished hooking out the rest of the hoses, intake, cooling system, etc. We also swapped the thermostat out for a 180 degree one to make sure the engine stayed cool enough. We wired the fans to a switch as well since they were turning on at bizarre times.
We installed a water temp and oil pressure gauge in the sorry excuse for a gauge pod that came with the car. It worked though.
We also put in our new cluster that had a tach on it so we could see what we were doing in terms of revs.
And finally I pulled this out of some 80's Chrysler, it's real wood too. Figure the racecar need a bit of class.
I should be getting the car this weekend to do a few more things to it so I'll get some more pictures then, but I figured an update was in order!
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Any updates?
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Head gasket?
Joey D
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Race Day
So ya, funny this thread should be brought back up because we finally did our first race since owning the car on Saturday. It was a rallycross on the other side of the state and was ran on a dirt horse track. It was interesting to say the least and I'm not sure what I was expecting going in, but it was ten times hard than I thought it would be...and I assumed it was going to be pretty damn hard. The race consisted of two heats, one ran in the late afternoon and one ran when it was completely dark out.
To start off we were grossly outclassed due to our engine swap. We were in the modified FWD category, which basically put us up against race prepped rally cars that had tires that were more expensive than our entire car. Our skill was about a tenth of what everyone else's was as well, but we went out there and gave it hell and we feel more or less like Ken Block
The night before the event, after driving the two hours to Grand Rapids, we had a few things to finish up. We got our rally lights hooked up in a half-assed manner and did a few other odds and ends to the car. The car was ready to go Saturday morning though, accented with some custom blue painter's tape.
The race was quite a bit of fun and the car didn't handle as bad as I thought it would on worn Hankook Winter i-Pikes. The thing that surprised me the most was how much the car would rotate when whipping it through the corner. Here's some picture from practice and during the race. My parents showed up and so did my buddy's dad so I had them take pics.
I was #42 and my buddy was #142, but the numbers seemed to get mixed up during practice.
No pictures from the night race, at least not from me. It was raining and I didn't have any equipment to take good night photos with. Someone might post them later on the Detroit SCCA forums.
My first run of the day was 56 seconds and by the end of the afternoon I had dropped it to 44 seconds, night through me for a loop but I was still clocking 45 second runs. I was about 6 seconds slower than pretty much everyone else, but I consider a 12 second improvement pretty damn good. But hey we were both pretty happy.
Anyway we left after the race was over and headed back towards Grand Rapids (about an hour and twenty minute drive). We were about 5 miles west of Battle Creek when the transmission slipped, caught, slipped, slipped and then we lost all drive with the car. We eased it to the side of the road and tried to start it. All we heard was the starter motor whirring and not even connecting with the flywheel.
So it was dead. We called my buddy's dad who was about 20 miles ahead of us and had him turn around to come rescue us. Since we couldn't leave the car sitting on the side of the road for any more than 24 hours we had to think of a plan. So we ended up taking my buddy's dad's Envoy and driving to Saline (about 85 miles away) to pick up a car dolly from my buddy's uncle, drove back to the car (another 85 miles) then back to Grand Rapids (about 60 miles). Trying to load up the car on the side of the road sucked because we had stopped on an uphill and there wasn't much of a shoulder to work with. But with the help of a Michigan State Trooper who stopped to help we got it loaded up.
Sunday morning we got up after a few hours of sleep and set off towards Lansing where another buddy was meeting us with his Jeep so we tow it the rest of the way home. As you can see, our recovery vehicle wasn't exactly in the best of shape
So the car is back in the garage and we are 99% sure the clutch is gone. And so continues the adventure of the NYG Neon.
Other photos from the event from another racer:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/christauph/RallyX/Marshall 11-10-12
So ya, funny this thread should be brought back up because we finally did our first race since owning the car on Saturday. It was a rallycross on the other side of the state and was ran on a dirt horse track. It was interesting to say the least and I'm not sure what I was expecting going in, but it was ten times hard than I thought it would be...and I assumed it was going to be pretty damn hard. The race consisted of two heats, one ran in the late afternoon and one ran when it was completely dark out.
To start off we were grossly outclassed due to our engine swap. We were in the modified FWD category, which basically put us up against race prepped rally cars that had tires that were more expensive than our entire car. Our skill was about a tenth of what everyone else's was as well, but we went out there and gave it hell and we feel more or less like Ken Block
The night before the event, after driving the two hours to Grand Rapids, we had a few things to finish up. We got our rally lights hooked up in a half-assed manner and did a few other odds and ends to the car. The car was ready to go Saturday morning though, accented with some custom blue painter's tape.
The race was quite a bit of fun and the car didn't handle as bad as I thought it would on worn Hankook Winter i-Pikes. The thing that surprised me the most was how much the car would rotate when whipping it through the corner. Here's some picture from practice and during the race. My parents showed up and so did my buddy's dad so I had them take pics.
I was #42 and my buddy was #142, but the numbers seemed to get mixed up during practice.
No pictures from the night race, at least not from me. It was raining and I didn't have any equipment to take good night photos with. Someone might post them later on the Detroit SCCA forums.
My first run of the day was 56 seconds and by the end of the afternoon I had dropped it to 44 seconds, night through me for a loop but I was still clocking 45 second runs. I was about 6 seconds slower than pretty much everyone else, but I consider a 12 second improvement pretty damn good. But hey we were both pretty happy.
Anyway we left after the race was over and headed back towards Grand Rapids (about an hour and twenty minute drive). We were about 5 miles west of Battle Creek when the transmission slipped, caught, slipped, slipped and then we lost all drive with the car. We eased it to the side of the road and tried to start it. All we heard was the starter motor whirring and not even connecting with the flywheel.
So it was dead. We called my buddy's dad who was about 20 miles ahead of us and had him turn around to come rescue us. Since we couldn't leave the car sitting on the side of the road for any more than 24 hours we had to think of a plan. So we ended up taking my buddy's dad's Envoy and driving to Saline (about 85 miles away) to pick up a car dolly from my buddy's uncle, drove back to the car (another 85 miles) then back to Grand Rapids (about 60 miles). Trying to load up the car on the side of the road sucked because we had stopped on an uphill and there wasn't much of a shoulder to work with. But with the help of a Michigan State Trooper who stopped to help we got it loaded up.
Sunday morning we got up after a few hours of sleep and set off towards Lansing where another buddy was meeting us with his Jeep so we tow it the rest of the way home. As you can see, our recovery vehicle wasn't exactly in the best of shape
So the car is back in the garage and we are 99% sure the clutch is gone. And so continues the adventure of the NYG Neon.
Other photos from the event from another racer:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/christauph/RallyX/Marshall 11-10-12
MedigoFlame
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Cool to see the Neon in its first race, must have been fun! 👍 Sucks that the transmission went out on the way back though. Plan on bringing it on a trailer for the second time you race it?
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Looks like fun 👍
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So after all the breakdowns, is it actually cheaper than buying, say, a Miata or other track car still?
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Does look like a whole heap of fun 👍 Just as well it's fun though, having scuppered yourself by putting a new engine in and dropping yourself into a higher class!
Joey D
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So it wasn't the clutch that failed, it was the flywheel. Throwout bearing is gone too.
New parts are in the mail and we are going to replace the clutch too since we have everything tore apart already. Sounds like we'll be getting a PT Cruiser Stage II clutch from a buddy of ours that no longer needs it.
New parts are in the mail and we are going to replace the clutch too since we have everything tore apart already. Sounds like we'll be getting a PT Cruiser Stage II clutch from a buddy of ours that no longer needs it.
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Did I just hear "PT Cruiser" and "Stage II clutch" in the same sentence?!
Atleast it'll be back in running condition for (somewhat) nothing.
Atleast it'll be back in running condition for (somewhat) nothing.
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Any more news? This is one of the best threads in here!
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That looks like a flexplate, not a flywheel. Do Neons have some strange flywheel setup that bolts to a flexplate?
Joey D
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The other guys have been racing it twice a month, but since I moved it's too hard for me to drive 2.5 hours to race the thing. There's some races on this side of the state in the fall so I'll be doing those.
I think you're right on it being the flexplate. I wasn't living on the east side of the state when all this happened so I'm not entirely sure what they did to fix or what exactly was wrong.
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Joey D
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Rallycross #7 at Crystal Motor Speedway
My buddy and I went racing yesterday in some little farm town in the middle of Michigan. I came in last and my buddy came in second to last but the car ran good and we had quite a bit of fun. The only issue was the dust was really bad, especially when we were working the corners.
I was #42 and my buddy was #142.
As you can see, it was really dusty.
===
We've decided now the car is in serious need of a new suspension since the struts are pretty much blown and the tierods really should be replaced. But that shouldn't be too hard. The exhaust also has a pretty bad leak which will need to welded up.
My buddy and I went racing yesterday in some little farm town in the middle of Michigan. I came in last and my buddy came in second to last but the car ran good and we had quite a bit of fun. The only issue was the dust was really bad, especially when we were working the corners.
I was #42 and my buddy was #142.
As you can see, it was really dusty.
===
We've decided now the car is in serious need of a new suspension since the struts are pretty much blown and the tierods really should be replaced. But that shouldn't be too hard. The exhaust also has a pretty bad leak which will need to welded up.
