11/00 - We spent the better part of two Saturdays disassembling the 2.4-liter engine to the point that we had all of the burnt parts and accessories removed. We had yet to remove the bottom end or any of the valvetrain components from the head but from this point we could tell that the engine was going to work well for this project.
2/01 - All 2.4-liter American Parts were ordered from my good buddies at Metro Dodge in Columbia, Illinois. Here is a list of all of the parts that we needed to refresh the 2.4-liter engine (Some may not be needed if you are trying to rebuild one yourself): Valve Cover Gasket, Spark Plug Gaskets, Oil Pan Gasket, MLS Headgasket, Cam Seals, Valve Stem Seals, Head bolts, Water Pump, Water Pump "O" Ring, Timing Belt, Timing Belt Tensioner (which looks like a grenade because you pull the pin and run), PT Cruiser Lash Adjusters, PT Cruiser Rocker Arms, Valve Springs, Neon Upper & Lower Radiator Hose, PCV Valve, and Timing Belt Cover.
4/01 - We made a shopping list of parts from the Mexican Stratus R/T engine and managed to find a way to get them from there to here. Here is a list of all of the parts we received from my good friend from across the boarder: 2.4-liter Turbo Exhaust Manifold, Rod Bearings, Main Bearings, Crankshaft Thrust Bearing, Piston Rings, 8:1 Pistons & Connecting Rods, and 2.4-liter Turbo Intake & Exhaust Cams.
6/01 - We completely cleaned the 2.4L cylinder head so it will be ready to accept the new valvetrain components when the time comes to install them.
Dennis has posted the camshaft specs for 2 of the cams (2.0L and 2.4L) we currently have in our possession on This Page.
Deyeme Racing Filled Motor mounts - These were installed in the ACR which still had the 2.0L DOHC MTX to replace the older OEM motor mounts that were shot after 104,000 miles of driving. The new mounts actually held the engine well enough to divert more power to the ground instead of letting the engine torque back and forth in the engine bay.
7/01 - After total disassembly of the 2.4-liter engine (i.e. entire bottom end and valvetrain removal). We then had the block sent out to a engine rebuilding shop to have the piston clearances checked, cylinders honed & bored, rods & pistons balanced, and tanking of the block to clean it and get the rest of the junk that Dennis and I missed on the first pass.
9/01 - Blew-up the 2.0L DOHC Motor in the ACR during a skid pad test. I suspect that I spun a bearing in cylinder number 4.
We began working on the project again for the first time in 2 months and completely assembled the cylinder head in one day, which included all of the valves, valve springs and locks, upgraded lash adjusters, upgraded roller rocker arms, and 2.4-liter turbo cams.
The next time we got back together to work on the engine we started cleaning the block the rest of the way getting machining material off of it for final assembly of the bottom end.
The final time we got together we began the installation of the bottom end of the motor. We got almost all of the main bearings installed on the engine the previous time except for half of one bearing that we had issues with. It had a gash in it and a burr that stuck straight up which could have potentially damaged the crank so I opted to go buy a $12.00 part to save a $8000 engine from self destruction. We also installed the crank and bedplate and had everything ready to start putting the pistons in the engine. But we still had to clean the pistons and rods before we installed them. Let me say this about the little snap ring in the piston and rod assembly it sucks to get them back into the piston to keep the full floating wrist pin in place. We both battled with the darn things for the better part of 45 minutes. After that we called it a day and figured we would install the pistons and rods eventually.
11/01 - About 1 month has passed since we worked on the engine and progress has begun again and moved forward swiftly. We would have started sooner but we decided to find a decent tranny and get it to the transmission shop so we could get that section of the project out of the way before it got way too cold and damp to go salvage yard shopping.
I spent the afternoon removing the AF/X Underdrive Pulley from the GT Neon with the help of Dennis so I could use it on the new motor to replace the stock 2.4L pulley, which can't be used. This was something I have been wanting to remove from the GT for quite some time because it doesn't do a whole lot to help the cars' performance other then making it easier to shred belts which kind of helps pickup HP when the power steering is gone but also discharges the battery when the alternator belt is missing. The real sad thing about it all is after I removed the UDP the car kind of sort of feels like it picked up speed for some reason (figure that one out).
The next time we got together we installed the pistons/rods, MLS Headgasket (or so we thought), and the head (after we removed the cams due to the fact that they were in the way of the head bolts) onto the 2.4L Block.
12/01 - Dennis had a bad feeling about the first MLS Headgasket we installed because we missed a step in the process. We didn't use some sort of gasket spray that Mopar recommends to use to help the headgasket live longer. So I went to the parts department of my "Local Friendly Dodge Dealership" and I ordered another MLS headgasket, head bolts, and Mopar gasket spray. When we got the headgasket out of the shrink-wrap we noticed some very interesting differences between the 1st MLS headgasket and the 2nd MLS headgasket. The first one was made of 3 layers a rubber coating on aluminum, steel, and another layer of aluminum with a rubber coating. The second MLS headgasket was made of several layers of aluminum and steel and looked like it was a whole lot stronger then the one that came with the gasket kit I got from my "Local Friendly Dodge Dealership". After all of that was said and done we managed to get back to the point where we were before we changed the headgasket. We also got the turbo manifold installed and we checked the 2.4L intake manifold for clearances in the GT to see if it had a snowballs chance in hell of fitting on the ACR. Needless to say it would not fit in the engine bay with out removal of the passenger side-cooling fan, which would mean I had to remove the A/C too. We opted to leave the fan in until we got the engine in the car just incase it actually fit. If it didn't fit then I would probably order the 1996 2.4L intake or have the luck of finding one on a 2.4L motor in the junkyard.......errrr salvage yard.
Not much progress was to be made the next time we got together. I bought a new oil pump, cam seals, front and rear main seals, and upper and lower timing belt cover thinking we would actually get the timing belt on. Little did I realize that the turbo gods had it in for us that day and they intended on fighting us the entire way. We went to install the new oil pump and noticed that we forgot to put new oil pump "o" ring gaskets on the list of stuff to buy. So we had to hunt for an open Chrysler Dealership parts department in the middle of the day on a Saturday. Needless to say we were lucky enough to find one that was open and had the gaskets we needed. This was where our luck ran out for the duration of the wrenching session. We got back from getting the parts and lunch and we had 2 hours to go before I had to jet. First we decided to prime the oil pump and lets just say that we decided to do it the hard way. We started to pour oil into the pump while rotating the pump to suck up the oil that we poured in which started to make a mess. After that we decided to put an oil filter full of oil to help minimize the mess (which did not help). Then we put the anaerobic gasket maker on the oil pump and proceeded to put the oil pump on the engine, which made a little mess but nothing like we made earlier. Next we decided to put the water pump on and noticed that the water pump gasket was the wrong size. It was about 1" to big and it would not work and we were forced to stop. Dennis got the timing belt sprocket on the crank installed and that was about it for the day. So needless to say we had aspirations to get the timing belt on the engine but it just didn't work out that way and we came grinding to a halt.
2/02 - The day has came that the ACR has been moved down to Dennis's house for the final phases of the project.
The day after we moved the ACR down to Dennis's house we stripped the blown motor of some of the parts that have already been sold. The only thing left of the motor is the block, pistons, transmission, accessories, wiring harness, and some miscellaneous odds and ends parts.
We spent the morning working on the final part of the 2.4L motor that we didn't get finished way back in December. We installed the new water pump, inner timing belt cover, cam gears, timing belt, outer timing belt covers, and AF/X Underdrive Pulley from Howell Automotive. The underdrive pulley is needed in the motor swap because the 2.4L crank pulley is too large and it doesn't clear some part of the engine bay / frame and it also doesn't use the same style of belts as the Neon accessories. The rest of the day we battled with the accessories and mounting brackets. We found out that there is no way to attach the Neon accessories (i.e. Alternator & Power Steering) to the 2.4L motor with out some custom modifications to the brackets. The funny thing about it is the AC bracket fits with no problem, which is the last thing we need on a racecar, but since I have the system fully charged we decided that if we could get it to work then we would keep the AC on the car. We are doing some research on the bracketry and we should have it all figured out before the next time we get together to wrench again.
We spent the day playing around with bracketry and figured out how to make the Neon Power Steering Pump and Bracket work with some minor modification and fabrication of parts. Otherwise we determined through our research that the PT Cruiser alternator bracket works flawlessly and I currently have it on order from Metro Dodge waiting for me to pick it up.
3/02 - Dennis spent most of the weekend tweaking the Oil Pan baffle to get it just right and I spent the same amount of time working on removing the last few things holding the 2.0L DOHC in the ACR. I removed the A/C from the car and left it dangling (literally), pulled the starter motor and put it aside for use in the new motor, pulled the oil pressure sender plug (a lot of good that damn thing did), and pulled the axles. The last things holding the engine in are the rear bobble strut, front motor mount, and tranny mount. We installed the PT Cruiser Alternator bracket and what do you know it worked. The motor is almost finished and it will be ready for installation by the end of the month.
We spent the better part of an hour removing the 2.0L block and tranny from the ACR. After that I reorganized Dennis's garage to get some of the stuff out of they way so we could move the 2.4L motor on the engine stand and A413 out easily for the final installation. Dennis spent the rest of the day working on the turbo oiling system and I made an EGR block off plate and ported out the Neon intake manifold just below the throttle body and around the 90-degree bend. Dennis tapped the EGR Hole in the Intake manifold for a hose barb to attach a vacuum line to the waste gate actuator for boost control. Dennis also tapped the upper part of the intake manifold for another hose barb to go to the boost gauge. We are getting extremely close to installing this monster in the car and I can't wait to get her out and tear up some asphalt (after the 1000 mile break-in period of course).
I spent both days working on getting my Autometer Dual Gauge Pod, 2-1/16” Oil Pressure Gauge, and Boost Gauge on the A-pillar worked out, running the wiring for the lights in the gauges, and running the plastic hoses for my oil pressure gauge and boost gauge. I also pulled the clutch cable and clutch position switch while I was working on the car. Dennis spent the weekend fighting with the bracketry and accessory belts on the motor again. Dennis also installed my NGK sparkplugs. If all goes well we will be installing the motor and transmission next weekend.
4/02 - We took the 8 hours to go from the engine on the engine stand, tranny on the floor in the closet, to engine and tranny together, and engine and tranny installed. There were also some casualties during the installation: crushed the temporary oil filter and the speed sensor We had to cut the radiator support for the A/C Compressor to clear. Then we had to do some grinding on some of the other brackets to make them fit. After we installed the motor mounts and Magnecore Plugwires we called it a day.
Magnecor 8.5mm Plugwires - These are mostly used to smooth out the idle and increase the amount of power going to the spark plugs.
We had to cut holes in the hood support for the engine to clear. After that we installed the shifter cable to the transmission and adjusted it. I installed the 1996 2.4L PCM. Dennis rewired the clutch position switch to work with the ATX. Dennis also installed the oil supply line to the turbo. We installed the Stage 2 ATX Racing Axles. After they were both installed Dennis's friend noticed that there was something wrong with the passengers’ side axle. It was then brought to my attention and when I looked at it the axle it looked like it was not engaging into the differential case even though it was attached to the hub assembly it was not the right length. So one of the two the axles that I bought from last year were built wrong. I just happened to be the first person to buy the Stage 2 ATX Racing Axles and I suspect that the manufacturers used the same tubular section that the MTX versions of the axles used and it made the entire axle too short, which caused it not to engage properly into the case. So I have to get it all taken care of before next weekend when we attempt to fire this bad boy up.
The next day we were busy dodging rain drops for the entire day but even with that we still managed to get a lot accomplished. Dennis installed the Power steering and A/C Compressors with the brackets. I battled with the exhaust for most of the day. Dennis also installed the B&M tranny cooler and Hooked up the boost and oil pressure lines. I hooked up the new speed sensor and we tinkered with a few of the little things like hooking up sensors and checking things over to make sure they were hooked up and tightened. We also made a list of items that we need and problems that need to be resolved before next weekend.
We started the weekend out with a mission to start the car and drive it before the end of the weekend. But we were slowed down on the first day since it was threatening to rain on us for the majority of the day and sometimes did.
Here are the last few items that we had to complete to fire the beast up:
Finish fabricating passenger's side mount - Finished
Finish building downpipe and have it welded together - Finished
Install alternator and the rest of the accessories and beat/drill/shim/bend/slot until they fit right - Finished
Plug everything in and hook up the fuel lines - Finished
Fabricate air cleaner to turbo and turbo to intake pipes - Finished (Sort of)
Install Radiator - I put a hole in radiator with channel locks while trying to install lower radiator hose to water neck and while running around looking for a radiator on a Sunday Dennis soldered it and it held water finally - Finished
Finish building turbo oil supply line and install it - Finished
Put fluids in the trans and engine and change the oil filter to a proper one - Finished
Put PS fluid in the PS pump, check the brake fluid, and put anti-freeze in the cooling system - Finished
Mount battery and tray - Finished
Put on tires - Finished
Turn Key - Well we were not able to turn the key because there was a wiring issue when we did the conversion from an MTX to an ATX. What did happen was the emergency
brake light came on every time I turned the key. So we had to run a wire from the starter to the battery and we forced it to turn over. Once we did so she fired right up with a thunderous roar.
For all of those who said that the 1996 Stratus PCM wouldn't work you owe me money because it does work and it runs all of the gauges including the Engine Temperature Gauge, Speedometer, and Fuel Gauge. It doesn't run the tachometer but I am not concerned with it since the PCM is a temporary item until we go to upgrade the fuel system, install the intercooler, and attach the waste gate for boost. The car will be making its maiden voyage next weekend to begin the 1000-mile break-in phase.
Dennis has a few small issues to work out before the vehicle takes it's maiden voyage next weekend like the ability to start the car with the key rather then hot-wiring it with a direct feed from the battery to the starter (which is just a minor wiring issue), the ability to run the cooling fans (since the Stratus PCM doesn’t run them he needs to temporarily wire a direct feed to the fans from the ignition switch which is a fix until he reinstalls the 1997 ACR PCM), connecting of the 3” exhaust system (eventually I will have a 3” muffler), and connection of the turbo to the throttle body (with the waste gate disconnected so the turbo doesn't make any boost).
Dennis found the problems and has fixed them. The car will be ready to be driven this Saturday.
9/02 - The car was finally dynoed and it put down some pretty impressive numbers 238.4 hp @ 6300rpms and 261.3 ft/lbs. of torque @ 2300rpms. While on the dyno we noticed that the car was running lean at a 14:1 ratio, which puts it at an almost dangerous levels so in light of the new information, I opted to disconnect the turbocharger to keep the motor from having a melt down. There are some plans to fix it but we are still doing research on the system at the moment.
10/02 - After several weeks of not working on the car or even driving it that much due to a broken AC bracket that was held on with zip ties I finally got around to replacing it with a modified AC bracket from a 2001 ATX PT Cruiser. In order to get to the bracket and condenser I had to remove the radiator fans and unbolt the throttle body. After that was moved I found the initial cause of the bracket failure. I know that at least one of the bolts vibrated loose from the motor and the second was starting to loosen up when the bracket broke. But I found out that one of the bolts broke off in the block and the second one was half way out of the hole before the bracket bit the dust. So in order to get a good angle on the bolt to drill it out and use an easy out I had to drain the radiator, remove the radiator, remove the bumper cover, remove the steel bumper, remove the intercooler and assorted intercooler piping, remove the AC, and swing the AC cooling core out of the way. I test fit the bracket and noticed that it kept banging into something. After further inspection I noticed that it was hitting the oil pan with some sort of threaded hole in a huge nub that didn't bolt to anything on my motor so I proceeded to hack it off. 1/2 hour later and a gallon of sweat I was finally ready to install the new bracket and bolts with the blue thread locker. The nice thing about this bracket is that it uses 4 holes that are already cast and machined into the block as opposed to just using 2 bolts with a bracket that was tweaked to make the AC line up with the UDP. I took the car out for a drive (minus boost) after I had everything back together with all the fluids topped off and it looks like it is going to work out better then the last bracket and it should be much more durable since it is made out of cast iron as opposed to cast aluminum like the Neon bracket was. Granted it isn't weight reduction but who cares when it isn't technically a racecar and we are not looking to see just how fast you can really go with the lightest combination possible we are just looking to see how fast we can go with a street able car.
5/03 - I set out with the task of completely removing the intake manifold and installing the entire EGR system in one day. Well, after 2-1/2 days of work on the car I managed to get the thing back together after replacing the EGR system, intake manifold to cylinder head gasket, plenum gasket, and throttle body gasket. I also managed to relocate the boost reference for the waste gate and tee into the EGR vacuum reference for the Cartech so I could actually have fuel when I go into boost.
After installation of the EGR system I managed to pass the local emissions test. The next day the EGR burned a hole in the oil feed line to the turbocharger causing me to lose an unknown amount of oil, completely cover thee engine bay in oil, and caused there to be a serious concern for possible turbo damage or spun bearings.
6/03 - Further digging into the cause of the problem I determined that the EGR had not burned a hole in the oil feed line like I had thought previously. I then thought that the gasket on the turbocharger oil return line was the cause and I proceeded to look to see if the gasket blew out. It turned out that it was sealed properly and as I laid there scratching my head under the car for a half hour I began to notice that the oil seemed to be localized to one area of the engine bay. So I went back to the drivers side of the motor and began looking for a place where oil could have shot from and low and behold while staring at the cylinder head I saw an oil drop coming from a hole in the head where an oil galley plug normally resides. Thinking that this couldn't be the problem I looked at the 2 other Neon's that just happened to be in the driveway and I saw a threaded plug in the hole rather then a friction fit plug.
Bought the parts from Metro Dodge that I needed and I reinstalled the galley plug with a socket and a hammer to push it back in the hole. I also used some sort of sealant that I bought at AutoZone that also acted as an adhesive. Reinstalled the plug, added 6.5 quarts of oil, and fired the car up hoping for the best. She turned over with no hesitation or any strange metal on metal sounds that I was expecting (I am dodging bullets like a mad man now).
8/03 - For the last year and a half or so I have been having some oiling system issues with getting too much oil into the cylinder head and when I would take a turn the oil would either get pushed into the crank case breather hole or get sucked into the PCV system and get burnt by the motor. The cause for this specific problem was the PT Cruiser Valvetrain that was the hot thing to have at the time that we did the motor swap. The combo tends to put a bunch of oil into the cylinder head because it not only has a large set of bleeder holes but it also fires the oil straight up at the valve cover. The system was installed to fix the problem of a section of the Neon roller rocker that made contact with the valve springs which was not as stout at it was suppose to be and the problem of the Neon lash adjuster not having a way to bleed off the excess pressure. Under high rpm use the lash adjuster had the potential of getting pumped up and becoming a solid lash adjuster with no give in it to take up the slack in the valvetrain. In doing this the weak point in the system would eventually break and push down the valve spring and not the valve which would then remove the valve locks and let the valve drop into the combustion chamber. The new fix for the oiling system problem is to use a set of the 2.7L V6 Magnum roller rockers with the PT Lash adjusters. The nice thing about the new roller rockers is that they only have a smaller hole for the oil to bleed off and the oil not doesn't fire up at the valve cover anymore but is put to better use and is fired at the lobe of the cams. I also installed the toasted 2.4L valve cover that you see in pictures that were taken several years ago which was bead blasted by Dennis and spray painted with a ceramic engine paint. The installation of the valve cover also helps eliminate some of the problems that also plagued the Neon valve cover that I had on the motor. The 2.4L valve cover puts the crank case breather hose line higher up then it use to be and it moves the PCV line into the middle front of the valve cover and it has a better baffling system to help keep the oil from getting out of the valve cover. I also installed a 1 - 150psi check valve in the PCV line from the valve cover to the intake which will completely close when the car goes into boost and will not allow any pressure to enter the valve cover to possibly get into the oiling system.
11/03 - THE BEAST IS BACK - I finally got my radiator leak issue figured out and I installed a set of the radiator brackets from Deyeme Racing. The leak was caused by the hose that goes from the bottom of the radiator to the PT water neck. I readjusted the hose and the leak was gone for good. So I was going to take my car out for a short drive to get newer gas in the car (car has been sitting for several weeks) and some more fuel system stabilizer. My Dad wanted to go for a drive with me this time to see what the car was like (hehe he hath been warned). So we got the stabilizer and new gas and I needed to make one last stop to get windshield wiper blades for the car since the current ones were shot. I needed to take the highway there so to give him a little taste of the boost I punched it on the on ramp and in no time we were doing 120mph and he couldn't take it anymore due to his old age (hehe) and he wanted me to slow down. After we slowed down to 60mph he said do you have any oxygen for me because I think I am having difficulty breathing (he was warned about how fast it was). I personally was unfazed by the performance and I was happy that the car was running so smoothly on boost with the new injectors. So sometime in the next month I am going to hit a dyno with a wideband and tune the AF curve to 12:1 but for now I have the car set at the maximum rate of gain and I think it is running super rich due to the amount of fuel that the car burns under boost. So I am finally excited to report that the car is doing well and I am really happy that I don't have to work on the car over the winter this year (which sucked due to the rain and sleet last year might I ad). The car is finally running the way it was meant to run from day 1 but do to some bugs and gremlins it has taken me 20 months to get her to the point where I can say that this project is done and there is nothing else in the near future that needs upgrading or modifying. I am crossing my fingers in the hopes for no more gremlins or bugs that need working out because all I want to do is drive the darn thing.
1/04 - There are some things I am going to be working on here in the new year. First off I will probably replacing the radiator with a New C&R Radiator because in doing this the engine will stay cooler then it would if I used the stock radiator and being cool will keep the cylinders cooler which will help fight detonation. Once I do that I need to work on a different method for cooling the transmission fluid because the C&R radiator doesn't have the transmission cooling fins built into it. So with that I am going to then have to buy the B&M transmission cooler which has its own cooling fan. I am also going to see what would happen if I installed the OEM 2.4L Stratus Intake on the car. I have some ideas as to what will happen which will mostly be tire smoke due to the amount of torque that they are rumored to add to a stock 2.4L. I personally would think that due to the design will give me more torque but it will also give the car more power in the mid to upper range. This is just a theory I have so the only way to see is to hook it up and give it a try.
2/04 - The radiator is apparently leaking and I am about fed up with it so I am going to chuck the damn thing and use one of those expensive C&R Racing radiators and hope that they are a much better product. In doing this it will take up less space and allow me to install the 2.4L Stratus Intake in the car to test my theory about it and see just how much more torque I can make with it. Dennis tells me that I really shouldn't install it but being as that I am not a person to listen to people's advice on occasion I am going to go ahead and try it to see what happens. If all else fails I could always reinstall the Neon intake. I get the feeling that I am probably going to be leaving the intake on due to the amount of torque that I am figuring that it could make.
3/04 - I got the chance to work on the car for two days and made some substantial progress in ripping the thing apart so I could upgrade and replace some of the components. I basically removed the radiator fans, fuel injectors, fuel rail, battery, battery tray (replacing it with an Iceman battery tray), dropped the fuel tank, and removed the fuel filter. The next phase will have me draining the transmission fluid, removing the radiator, removing the intake manifold, and slowly reinstalling pieces back into the car. I am hoping to get the car completely put back together and running sometime next month. I would love to have it together for the May 8th event at Deyeme Racing in Troy but if I don't then I am not going to throw it back together and risk something breaking due to an oversight. I am going to take pictures of the car when I am completely finished removing all the parts off of it to show everyone just how in depth I am going into this latest round of replacing and upgrading of parts.
About the only progress made in the engine department is I managed to make my way to the local car wash and power wash the Stratus intake (which ironically enough still needs more cleaning after a good power washing) and the Iceman battery tray. Tomorrow I plan on rewashing the intake and painting both it and the battery tray with black engine enamel. That is of course if the wind would just die down to a very light breeze instead of the 20-30mph gale force winds that we had today. Pictures to come soon of the engine bay after the intake and radiator are removed.
4/04 - Lets see my month mostly consisted of getting married, moving into a new place, and a family member dying. It was a pretty busy month but I managed to remove the radiator and intake manifold. The problem with the radiator was the drain cock spout on the radiator was cracked which caused it to constantly leak. So it was never going to get better and never stop leaking. The removal of the intake manifold was enjoyable as usual. It took me several hours to remove the manifold after the radiator was removed. Most of the problem with taking the manifold off was caused by the power steering bracket which did not allow easy access to the last two bolts on the bottom left of the manifold.
5/04 - My first goal was to put the new intake manifold together with all of the parts from the Neon intake manifold (fuel rail, injectors, thermostat housing, throttle body, and some miscellaneous hose barbs for vacuum references) so all I needed to do when the time came to install the Stratus intake manifold I could just bolt it up and move along to another item on my list. I did however run into a problem where there were some distinct differences in the throttle bodies and thermostat housings between the Neon and Stratus. So I was forced to stop putting parts on the intake manifold and order some more parts.
Rich was over the next day helping me remove the AC system from the car since it was found to be leaking. Being as that I have had the AC repaired once before and since I rarely used the AC I just decided to have it removed and benefit from some weight reduction. While over there Rich managed to add another item to my to do list like moving the battery to the trunk to free up some space in the engine bay. While he was there I test fit the intake manifold and radiator for the very first time to see how it all lined up. Things didn't go in quite so well and the intake didn't go on right at all. Apparently the power steering bracket that is on the engine is causing the water neck part of the manifold to not line up with the holes in the cylinder head. So after inspecting the PS bracket it was determined that it would have to be removed and a new bracket be put in its place or something else needed to be done for power steering since I wanted to try to autocross the car again rather then be limited to drag racing with a manual rack. I did some research on electric power steering for the car but the further I got into it the more it seemed like it was not possible to install electric power steering on a car that was never designed to have it so I fell back on the old idea that a new bracket should be made to replace the one I have. Since I can't weld and I have no place to fabricate anything I had to outsource the work and found someone from the Neon Enthusiasts website that had a rather unique solution to the power steering bracket on a 2.4L engine. So I got in contact with him and managed to convince (beg) him to make a bracket for me.
All of the parts that I ordered for the intake finally arrived from different sources for me to install (throttle body, EGR tube, thermostat housing, and thermostat). From there I proceeded to install all of the components on the intake manifold and waited for the PS bracket to arrive.
Eric VanDyke did a good job on the new power steering bracket for me and after it was installed the new intake was also installed and everything bolted up correctly with no problems. The only problem that cropped up after the 2.4L intake was installed the C&R Racing radiator would not fit properly. It turns out that the water neck on the top of the radiator bangs into runners 2 & 3 and it can't be installed.
6/04 - I called C&R Racing and they agreed to take my radiator back and modify it but they were going to charge me for time and materials since if I would have returned the radiator sooner it would have been an even exchange. So rather then have to sell it and take a serious loss I opted to send it to them and have the work done to it to make it work for what I needed it to do.
Waiting to install the radiator I decided to work on the other miscellaneous parts that needed my attention. I installed new cooling lines (which I was not completely happy about), New EGR components, and made an attempt to get the vacuum lines sorted out (which didn't go quite so well).
Rather then work on the car I decided to go get the wires from the junkyard that were needed to extend or completely change that plugs in the ACR wiring harness to work with the sensors in the Stratus intake. It took me some time to track down the cars that had the parts but I eventually got what I was looking for. The wires and sensors needed for this swap are Neon coolant temp sensor w/ pigtail of wire, Neon Map sensor w/ wire rerouted to reach the sensor, and Stratus IAC plug with wire. I also found a complete Stratus engine with all of the components still intact but most of the wires on the drivers side near the rear were completely toasted due to a fire. The engine had a completely different intake installed then the one that I am using and it also used a different hard line then the Neon lines for the coolant feed and return lines to and from the heater core (PN 4596261AA). The only way to effectively get those hard lines off was to remove the intake manifold. So I removed the intake manifold and snagged the hard lines but rather then leave the intake manifold just lying around I decided to buy it too with all of the components intact (injectors, fuel rail, throttle body, and miscellaneous sensors) incase I needed it for something some day (paper weight, box intake.....)
I spent the day installing the new cooling system hard lines (which royally sucked) and sorting out the vacuum lines to all of the different components that required a vacuum signal or source.
Things are starting to move quickly in the project and I would go so far as to say that it will only be a week or two before the car is ready to fire back up. Today I finished working on the vacuum lines with the installation of the Greddy Type-S BOV. I also hooked up the belt to the power steering pump but later was informed by my younger brother that the belt was really loose and needed some tightening. I also purchased parts to install the catch canister.
I did some electronics shopping for components needed to hook up the big honking cable coming from the battery in the trunk to the wiring harness and hook up the radiator cooling fans.
First off I installed the radiator and worked on the wiring up of the radiator fan. Well, I messed up the prongs on the plug and hooked them up wrong so I had to drive out to get the new prongs. After returning I hooked up the prongs wrong again so I decided to call it quits for the wiring of the fan and moved on to other things. I attempted to install the flexible lower radiator hose but about all I managed to do was cut the palm of my hand on the metal flex hose after I modified it with a hacksaw so put the car away and called it a day.
I made it a goal to get the lower radiator hose connected as the first thing to get finished. I played with the metal flex hose for a while and modified the rubber couplers and twisted and bent the thing to make it work but couldn't so I decided to take the rubber hose that was originally installed on the car that was used with the OEM radiator and make it work. Next I returned the PS belt and exchanged it for the next size smaller, reinstalled it, and tightened it up. I spent some time looking at the catch canister and figuring out how to mount it and the fuse block in the space that the battery use to be in but being as that I couldn't do anything with it I moved on. I started working on installing the Big Mother Fing ground strap that was needed since the battery was moved to the trunk and determined that I needed another bolt a washer to attach it to the block since none of the bolts that I had were short enough to make it work. After returning from the parts store I found a spot to put the strap. The strap is bolted to the middle of the block and it runs down and is attached to one of the front motor mount bolts. The rest of the day I spent working on the transmission coolers.
I finally made time and forced myself to rewire the new IAC wires, lengthen the IAC, and connect the cooling fan wires into the harness. Being as that I had never rewired anything on a car it took me several hours to get everything finished but I completed the rewiring and the car is put that much closer to completion.
7/04 - The PDC (Power Distribution Center) needed to be secured so that it doesn't move around in the engine bay or rest on top of the transmission and get in the way of the shifter linkage. So my dad came up with an idea to mount a bracket to the bottom of the PCM and support it out of the way while still being able to open it with ease.
The next thing on the list was the installation of the catch canister. There wasn't anything difficult about install it but my initial thoughts of installing it where the battery use to go were trashed since the PDC was installed in that area and there was no way to install the canister in that area, which was no big loss. The next best area that I could come up with was in the area where the AC compressor use to live. So after drilling two holes in the frame I installed the catch canister with steel braided line and AN fitting and called it a day. The list keeps getting smaller before the day I start the car and it is looking like it will be fired back up sometime in the next few weeks (pending the arrival of certain important parts from Jeg's).
This past weekend I worked on getting some of the minor details wrapped up before I made the final push to start the car up next weekend. One of the things I had to deal with was the upper radiator hose which I thought I had nailed until when I test fit the hose from Jeg's which didn't clear the cooling fan shroud. So unfortunately that issue is still hanging around waiting to be dealt with. Another one of the issues to look at was the relocating of the intercooler pipe to clear the shifter cable and oil return line but the turns out that all I could do with that was determine that I needed to get a different fitting for the oil return line and then the problem with the shifter cable should be fixed. I also cleaned the K&N filter since it was already out of the car and I hung it up to dry but for some reason I put it right where I would bang my head into it every time I went over to my area of the basement where the tools and parts were stored. While the car was down I took it upon myself to replace the turbocharger coolant line with a new one. I also removed all of the pieces of wiring harness that were no longer needed since the battery was now in the trunk. The only wire that was left behind was the ground for the starter. I cut the battery ground off of the wire and tucked it away so I could deal with it at a later date. I completely removed the power wire that usually goes from the PDC to the battery and from the starter to the battery which I will replace at a later date also.
Earlier in the week I purchased the 4 gauge wire and crimp connectors for the wire that goes from the starter to the battery. Then yesterday I went hunting for the fix for the upper radiator hose and after a few trips to a parts store I had the problem resolved by finding a hose that was about the dimensions that I needed and fit with the least amount of trimming.
Today my main goal was to get the upper radiator hose installed which was the easiest install of the day since I already did a test fit of it the previous day and knew it would work. The rest of the day was spent running the power wire from the battery to the starter motor to complete the battery relocation which basically does everything that the battery did when it was in the engine bay minus the fact that it was in the way. I will be working on a How-To page on how to relocate the battery to the trunk after this coming weekend. I first off have to see if it works the way I have it setup before I write a bunk how-to if it doesn't work.
The last few things left to do on my list were to install the 45 degree fitting on the drain line from the turbo, put gas in the tank, put coolant & distilled water in the cooling system, and put the positive power cable on the battery. Well my first attempt at firing the car up didn't work so I checked the engine codes and came up with a 12 and a 24. The 12 is a normal code to get but the 24 which is the TPS being out of range was downright annoying. After swapping out two TPS sensors I finally was able to start the car because the Stratus TPS sensors apparently don't play nice with the Neon Electronics or both TPS sensors were shot (don't know and don't care). Amazingly enough the Neon TPS hooked directly to the Stratus throttle body so I installed the TPS that I knew worked before and moved on to bigger and better things. I finally got the car started but the CEL came on and stayed on because the car was shaking like mad and the engine sounded like it was not firing properly and there was some sort of vacuum leak which I couldn't find but later determined that the evap line could be damaged and causing this vacuum leak. Shut the car off and ran the engine codes and came up with 12 and 21 which was a completely new code which tells me that there is a problem with the O2 sensors. After reading that code and firing the car back up I noticed that the idiot light AF gauge was not working at all which tells me that either the car is running super rich or I have no clue what I am doing under the hood of a car and I should give up now. Flustered and defeated I put the car away to work on it again another day (tomorrow). After getting home and relaxing Dennis called me up and we discussed what could be wrong with the car. Dennis nailed it down to what he things to be an issue of poor grounding or improper grounding (b-e-a-utiful). So tomorrow I need to buy more expensive 4 gauge wire cut more holes in the fire wall and try firing up the car again after the ground wire is run from the negative battery terminal to the back of the cylinder head. So after some 6 months of working on this car it is finally looking like I will have it wrapped up and drivable (Well at least to drive it around the block a few times to see if everything is working properly) tomorrow afternoon.
Today I ran the ground wire from the block to the battery to fix my terrible idling issue and the all around problem of the car not wanting to stay running for very long. Once that was installed I went ahead and fired the car back up to see if the problem was fixed. The car started and idled marginally better but for some strange reason there was a coolant leak and a weird hissing sound coming from the injectors. So in shear defeat I put the car away to worry about it another day.
I got back to the car to diagnose the problem of what was causing the leak. For a while there I thought that the water pump might have been leaking but the weird thing about that line of thinking is the water pump hadn't leaked before. After some poking around I found the leak which was coming from the water neck/thermostat housing side of the Stratus intake. I tried tightening the manifold gaskets down a little more but that didn't seem to fix the problem. I determined that the only way to fix the problem was to remove the intake to see what was going on. The hissing sound seemed like it was coming from the injectors due to not being completely seated in the manifold due to the divots that were cast into the manifold not being large enough for the 36pph injectors.
So I set out to remove the intake manifold that morning before the temperature got too hot and the driveway became unshaded. I got the intake manifold off only to my complete surprise I immediately found the problem with the leak. Stupid me forgot to clean the old gasket material off the manifold before I installed it. I ran to the hardware store to buy some grinding bits for my dads drill so I could grind out the injector humps to clear the larger injectors. Later that afternoon I reinstalled the manifold and put silicone around the water inlet to the thermostat. After reinstalling everything the coolant leak and hissing sound are gone. I took the car for a few test laps up and down the street (didn't want to get too far away incase I needed to push it). On the drive I noticed that the car feels like it has more torque at much lower rpms but it still feels like it is stumbling. When I got back from the drive I noticed that the turbocharger smokes due to a poorly draining return hose which I had a feeling was going to cause a problems when I installed the new 45 degree fitting.
This past weekend I tried to fix oil drain but bought the wrong fitting and had to return it and the store needed to order new fitting. I took the car out for another short drive up and down the street again and car still stumbles and the CEL came on with a engine code of 21 again which has me stumped. After talking it over with Dennis he determined that my grounding location for the Autometer A/F gauge to the frame could be the cause of the problems with the gauge not working and the crappy stumble at idle and low rpms just above idle. The reason being is that the gauge is hooked up to the sensor wire which could be effecting the overall grounding of the up stream O2 sensor. With two more things still on the list before I can drive the car I am trying to be positive that the car will be done for Monster Mopar Weekend in September to either drag race (which might be a long shot) or just put in the car show in all of its dented glory.
I spent the day moving the ground for the O2 sensor to the trunk which was pretty uneventful. After the ground was moved to the trunk I started the car up again. Wouldn't you know the car run tons better. So I got the courage up to drive the car down the street and out for a short low rpm drive around the block. This time I gave the car a little more gas and was delighted to feel the extra low end torque again or at least my butt dyno says that there is more torque so only time will tell and a visit to the real dyno will tell the whole story. The stupid oil fitting has yet to arrive at the local performance shop and I am thinking that this will probably be the last time I order something from them since both the distributor and the shop don't seem to be in too much of a rush to get it to me. I had a feeling that I should have ordered the hose and everything from Jeg's from the get go. Oh well. Lesson learned.
8/04 - Today I got sick of waiting for the local performance shop to get me my fitting so I took a trip to a shop that had a similar fitting that looked like it could work. So I bought it, installed it, and then went out for a drive. After the short drive I came two conclusions: 1) This car is going to be a tire smoking monster when the car is finally tuned correctly because at 3/4 throttle the car makes 10psi of boost & spins the tires and 2) the stupid fitting I bought is two tight of a 90 degree bend and could be causing the oil to back up into the turbocharger. There could be another cause for the stupid smoke but at this exact moment it appears to be the oil fitting draining to the pan is too sharp of a bend. Some time this week the fitting from the local shop is suppose to arrive (3 weeks late). So since I have enough hose I can make a 3rd oil drain hose and experiment with it to see if I can get the turbo to stop smoking.
I spent some time thinking about what the cause of the oil smoke could be and the symptoms that seem to be occurring when it is smoking. I concluded that the oil drain flange on the bottom of the turbo is the problem. I remember removing the flange a few weeks ago to put lock washers on the bolts and I apparently broke the seal between the flange and turbo and never resiliconed it and put on a new gasket. So I removed the flange and scraped off the old gasket and silicone. I reinstalled the flange and fittings and pushed the car back into its parking space to let the silicone cure for at least 24 hours before I started the car up to check to see if it smoked.
9/04 - Just when I thought I fixed the dumb smoking turbo problem it comes back. This time it only happened when I blipped the throttle to make the oil pressure spike. After that the turbo would smoke and then a second or two later smoke would come out of the exhaust. So I took my old oil line that originally came off the turbo and shortened it about 3/4" and installed a new -10 AN Straight fitting. After that I added 6 quarts of Mobil 1 5w30, which would be the first time the car has ever had synthetic oil in it since it was built 3 years ago. After wrapping it all up I started the car up to let it come up to temperature. The turbo didn't smoke and no smoke came from the exhaust so I was satisfied and put it away.
10/04 - So the car has been running for the past month with no major issues other then the minor smoking problem and a fuel system glitch which I will expand on in the fuel system area. Just a week ago the car went on a 180 mile road trip with GWNMM and only had some minor issues but all and all it was running the way it should.
5/05 - The car has been doing well these past few months and I really don't have much to update in the engine department aside from the installation of an MSD DIS-2 ignition which improved the idle quality and when the fuel system is tuned correctly will be able to light off the fuel charge every time.
5/06 - The engine has finally blown the headgasket and one only wonders how long it was going to last running 19psi of boost with the stock head bolts instead of head studs. The actual incident occurred back in November but it has taken me some time to come to terms that the project is over. This thing was like trying to tame a wild beast and I never got full control over it until just before the headgasket bit the dust. The headgasket wasn't the only thing that went but it was a major contributor to the final decision to dismantle the car and get out from under the project. This is the end of this project but the ending of one project spawns another project to build an all motor torque monster which you can check out on my other site.