Not for Nuthin' But Close!

[doglover44]

Hows the progress coming Billy ?

[Billy Nees]

Well, I guess that depends on what you consider progress. I'm pretty sure that we are done racing for the year. I've taken the cooling system apart to try and understand it so that I can come up with a way to cool it with some kind of an electric pump. A header is in the works. I have access to a trans with the best final drive ratio and I'll probably take the converter too. I haven't been able to find out much on converters yet but I haven't spent a lot of time looking. I'm sure that certain models will have different stall speeds based on weights and gear ratios. The engine has 120K miles on it and it is blowing a good amount of oil smoke and I'm being "pressured" to re-build or replace it (in my spare time).
I can't say enough how thankful I am for Doug Hoven taking some time to "play" with this project. Without him, I would be totally lost.
It would be awfully nice to see a hard-core Mopar Racer step up (in his spare time) and build a 2.0 Neon just to see how it's done. Same way, junkyard refugee, see what it'll do (the Cavalier will kick it's butt!).
It would also be nice to see someone get some later-model FFFords in the guide so that it could be seen how they would stack up.

[Tom Meyer]

On rebuild, go back to a gm dealer for all of your parts they have best prices and good parts. Gm head gaskets are thinner than aftermarkets. The head responded to more air flow with less valve angle [30*] on a flow bench but never did a back to back on dyno.
But I am sure a good stocker valve job would help. For cooling just take the middle of the thermostat out run a wire to the cooling relay to a toggle switch and you will keep it under 140 all day. I think you could keep this dime rocket build under a nickel. We have a lot of spare parts if you need anything let me know. We have a claim rule that another racer can claim your whole car for 1500. dollars so you have do builds as cheep as possible. Tom

[Billy Nees]

Originally Posted by Tom Meyer

We have a claim rule that another racer can claim your whole car for 1500. dollars so you have do builds as cheep as possible. Tom

Now THAT is a rule I would LOVE to see in STOCK Eliminator!!!!! But if that ever came to be, my life expectancy would be measured in minutes.

[Tom Meyer]

More stuff. Did you know that cavilers had three different spring packages for ride and handling. I think you could keep your weak springs in the front but go with heavier in the rear or stack 1/2 washers under the rear rear strut mounts and adding spring rubbers too, keeping more to the front and giving the car some front rake. Also make sure your rear struts are not leaking and are hard to compress. If you are doing stuff too the trans, welding the spiders may be a option, but you will have to get the front alignment right so it rolls easy. More to come. Tom

[Billy Nees]

Originally Posted by Tom Meyer

More stuff. Did you know that cavilers had three different spring packages for ride and handling. I think you could keep your weak springs in the front but go with heavier in the rear or stack 1/2 washers under the rear rear strut mounts and adding spring rubbers too, keeping more to the front and giving the car some front rake. Also make sure your rear struts are not leaking and are hard to compress. If you are doing stuff too the trans, welding the spiders may be a option, but you will have to get the front alignment right so it rolls easy. More to come. Tom

With the wheel/tire combo that's on the car it definitely has a forward rake. I've had to raise the front slightly to get to the 3" minimum ground clearance.

A million years ago, I played with "welding spiders" in a FWD car. That won't happen again.

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by Billy Nees

A million years ago, I played with "welding spiders" in a FWD car. That won't happen again.

Times 2 !

[Dave Noll]

Originally Posted by Billy Nees

A million years ago, I played with "welding spiders" in a FWD car. That won't happen again.

Originally Posted by Mark Yacavone

Times 2 !

Would be interested to hear about these as I was toying with doing this on the Escort. Is it the torque steer or something else. I did find an lsd for it though.

[BigBlockBill]

Originally Posted by Billy Nees

Well, I guess that depends on what you consider progress. I'm pretty sure that we are done racing for the year. I've taken the cooling system apart to try and understand it so that I can come up with a way to cool it with some kind of an electric pump. A header is in the works. I have access to a trans with the best final drive ratio and I'll probably take the converter too. I haven't been able to find out much on converters yet but I haven't spent a lot of time looking. I'm sure that certain models will have different stall speeds based on weights and gear ratios. The engine has 120K miles on it and it is blowing a good amount of oil smoke and I'm being "pressured" to re-build or replace it (in my spare time).
I can't say enough how thankful I am for Doug Hoven taking some time to "play" with this project. Without him, I would be totally lost.
It would be awfully nice to see a hard-core Mopar Racer step up (in his spare time) and build a 2.0 Neon just to see how it's done. Same way, junkyard refugee, see what it'll do (the Cavalier will kick it's butt!).
It would also be nice to see someone get some later-model FFFords in the guide so that it could be seen how they would stack up.

For what it's worth........you can find a wealth of knowledge on the 2.0 Neons at some of the small paved oval tracks that run a fwd class. They were all the rage several years ago when I was helping a friend get back and forth to the track until the judge saw fit to reinstate his drivers license.