"Jesse Shaffer" (7esse)
09/10/2014 at 06:38 • Filed to: None
12
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"Jesse Shaffer" (7esse)
09/10/2014 at 06:38 • Filed to: None | 12
| 29 |
... with rattle cans and top gear magazine:
How it looked before I knew it was going to work:
After fixing broken things:
cletus44 aka Clayton Seams
> Jesse Shaffer
09/10/2014 at 07:25 |
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Wow that thing must be a monster. Amazing work.
theuserformerlyknownasaluminumfoil
> cletus44 aka Clayton Seams
09/10/2014 at 07:32 |
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I was about to say! Thats quite a sleeper you have there. Must run like a raped ape (whatever that means.)
rhorizon
> Jesse Shaffer
09/10/2014 at 08:01 |
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Cue an "oh shit..!" at the end
Looks good!
Rock Bottom
> Jesse Shaffer
09/10/2014 at 08:03 |
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At first I was like "meh"... until I saw the engine. Now I'm like "!"
That must be hilariously fun!
Andrew P. Collins
> Jesse Shaffer
09/10/2014 at 08:28 |
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Cool Neon! And I think this is the first time I've said that sans sarcasm.
JGrabowMSt
> Jesse Shaffer
09/10/2014 at 08:33 |
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How bad is it that I recognized the intake manifold instantly?
Are you running a tune, or the stock SRT4 tune and leaving it? Regardless, great color combo on that, looks really good.
mr2gud2u
> Jesse Shaffer
09/10/2014 at 08:42 |
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Nice work. Ive heard so much about the SRT-4s. I'd love to try one out one day. (I know this is not a real SRT-4)
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Jesse Shaffer
> Andrew P. Collins
09/10/2014 at 09:10 |
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I get that a lot
MonkeePuzzle
> Jesse Shaffer
09/10/2014 at 09:19 |
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wow, huge change!
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Jesse Shaffer
> JGrabowMSt
09/10/2014 at 09:23 |
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Thanks. Custom VE tables. It's MegaSquirt 2.0 with an LC2 Wideband tuned for 19psi. @7.8 lb per horsepower - it is quite possible that it has made an evo owner or two question their investment... or at least their driving ability.
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JGrabowMSt
> Jesse Shaffer
09/10/2014 at 09:43 |
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I can imagine. I knew someone who built up a motor and stuffed it into a black second gen SXT body and had very similar results.
Do you run a separate trans cooler to avoid the death knock of the stock radiator design?
I'm getting ready to forgive my second gen. It hasn't been particularly kind to me, and it's time is up. I'm trying to find someone who knows what they're getting into, and will take the car as-is and do whatever they want with it.
FriskyDingo
> Jesse Shaffer
09/10/2014 at 11:06 |
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I like the neons, I'd be happy with the 2.0l dohc but SRT4 FUCK YEAH!
Shifty
> Jesse Shaffer
09/10/2014 at 11:30 |
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Looks great! Who cares what it is, if you make it the best it can be...
Vimto
> Jesse Shaffer
09/10/2014 at 14:07 |
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#1 pet peeve regarding Neons: they look like they're sagging under their own weight in the middle.
thebigbossyboss
> Jesse Shaffer
09/10/2014 at 15:43 |
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How hard is it to lift an engine? It seems like it *should* be relatively simple, but somehow I bet it's not.
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Jesse Shaffer
> thebigbossyboss
09/10/2014 at 16:03 |
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It depends on the car. It was a lot easier in my GTI because the core support comes off.
So that car vomited out a larger VR6 fairly easily.
Not so with the weeon. The trick is getting the engine assembly back in. If you have two people - it's a little easier - but not much. I've tried everything:
Engine in without the transmission - PITA to line up the pilot shaft of the transmission and even lift the transmission at the proper goofy angle to get it bolted to the engine.
Engine dropped in with transmission - PITA to clear the welded-on transmission mount. The power-train has to twist almost vertically for the transmission to get tucked under its mount.
Remove K-Frame and steering rack to lift the assembly up in to the engine bay from underneath - (unbolt the struts from under the hood, and the four k frame bolts, and the entire steering assembly comes out.) Good luck trying to align four strut mount bolts in to their holes, while lining up holes in a K-frame with mounting holes on a frame - while at the same time trying to align a steering shaft to meet up with the steering box - as gravity is pulling these things all over the place while your jacking up a K-Frame. Life-shortening stress inducing PITA. Don't do that one alone...
But getting the engine out? Eh, that's not so bad.
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thebigbossyboss
> Jesse Shaffer
09/10/2014 at 16:23 |
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Thanks for this. It sounds really hard. All I have successfully done is change my struts myself and cheat through air care.
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Jesse Shaffer
> Jesse Shaffer
09/10/2014 at 17:17 |
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I feel like I left out the nicest pic of the nicest piece. It was a pita to bend this to sit within my OCD tolerances and to paint it, as well. At first it looked liked this, which drove me INSANE:
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Jesse Shaffer
> JGrabowMSt
09/11/2014 at 07:37 |
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Tried to embed video - failed
Kanaric
> Jesse Shaffer
09/12/2014 at 22:14 |
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Is this a neon with a SRT-4 swap or a SRT-4 with neon body parts?
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Jesse Shaffer
> Kanaric
09/13/2014 at 00:14 |
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Profess about my car, you say? Don't mind if I do... why don't you have a seat.
This is something soo0 much better(read: cheaper) than either of those. Even though you see the valve cover switched to an SRT valve cover in the latter pic- the head underneath is still the old head from the first pic.
This is a 1998 Dodge CARAVAN engine (yes, this is a minivan engine), stuffed with a set of brand new pistons and connecting rods for a neon SRT-4 (same basic block construction for all 2.4s from the Daimler era. The pistons and rods are directly interchangeable, forged, and rated for 500ish HP, and can be had with the pistons already pressed on to the rods from modernperformance.com for $350), and the SRT turbofold bolted to the rear of the old caravan head.
If you can build 300HP for cheaper - please let me know how you did it. I had to buy an engine mount adapter to upgrade the neon from a 2.0 to a 2.4 block - but the cylinder heads are the same from 95-99 for the 2.0 and the 2.4, and rumored to have been designed by Lamborghini.
Even from the get-go with boost leaking from EVERYWHERE, and me short shifting as I guessed at my rpms because my tach was going nuts - it pulled 60-40 like a supercar: In this video - the engine looks like pic #1, and the air intake looks like this:
...after the throttle body (discovered late in the project - prior owners solution for mating the throttle body to the intake manifold) So, use that image as a lesson not to over-do it on the permatex because you couldn't wait three days for a gasket to get to autozone. Even so - it ran like this:
After that video I fixed my wiring, upgrade the throttle body, the intake manifold, the waste-gate, the injectors, and fixed the poorly designed catch can setup that was allowing excess oil vapor to cause the boost leaks...
If you try to floor it at this speed now, even in 5th gear, it just spins the tires until the body catches up around 110. It's terrible for the drive-train, terribly funny to watch, and even more terrifyingly fun to feel.
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Kanaric
> Jesse Shaffer
09/13/2014 at 00:28 |
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You should post an article about this build if you haven't already.
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Jesse Shaffer
> Kanaric
09/23/2014 at 11:18 |
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Working on that now. Should be done by the end of the week.
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Jesse Shaffer
> Jesse Shaffer
09/25/2014 at 07:02 |
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Post Script - I did not put those stickers under the hood of that GTI. They were there when I bought that car... along with blacked out burned out fog lamps and a few other aesthetic maladies. It had been sitting, dust-covered, with a hole in the block for a few years. It was found on Harrisburg's Craigslist and negotiated down to $400. I found a decent VR6 at a scrap yard 40 minutes away from my house for $300... My AAA premium account was much obliged for taking care of what would've been a $500+ tow (with a little maneuvering)... that was a sweet project, for the money.
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Jesse Shaffer
> Kanaric
09/28/2014 at 18:45 |
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uhh.. I got distracted - still in the works!
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Jesse Shaffer
> Jesse Shaffer
11/10/2014 at 00:27 |
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done: http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/cheap-tricks-1…
Denver Is Stuck In The 90s
> Jesse Shaffer
11/10/2014 at 00:28 |
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I usually dont like neons (because boy racer). But I like yours because its humble
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Jesse Shaffer
> Denver Is Stuck In The 90s
11/10/2014 at 00:43 |
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Humble is as humble does.
Trevor Mohr
> Jesse Shaffer
11/10/2014 at 03:04 |
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I can't hate on Neons. They're so good to work on and simple. I like it, nice job!