Life long goal.

"Jay_Hoff" (jayhoff) 07/07/2016 at 20:49 • Filed to: None

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At the ripe age of 30, well as of October 1st 2016, I am learning to drive stick. I have been looking everywhere, Craigslist, Facebook, local paper, and talking to friends. I had a strict budget of $1000, not a penny more. I wanted a pure beater to learn the third pedal. After months of searching, looking for something fun, entertaining, and cheap, I found the perfect learner.

A 1998 Plymonth Neon Highline, and I paid just $500 for the masterpeice. Now I have only driven it three times, but everytime she has showed me a new way to enjoy driving. I plan on doing a few mods to take it to local SCCA Solo events, and learn the art of cone killing. Rear sway bar, bigger front bar, springs, struts, and some sort of 16" wheel/tire combo.

You are probaly wonder what is wrong with this pile of shit for $500, well to be straight forward, nothing. Well sort of, exhaust is held on by hangers, and it sometimes stalls when you press in the clutch. You could be mid coner, and poof, she dies. Double clutch or turn the key, and she fires right up. The windows roll down great, air blows cold, has a full aftermarket radio, new tires, brakes, clutch, and is a 130hp of pure SOHC joy.

All in all, I am thrilled to join the club of people who can drive manual transmissions.

Opposite Locksmith > Jay_Hoff 07/07/2016 at 20:55

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Eyyy same birthday

Phyrxes once again has a wagon! > Jay_Hoff 07/07/2016 at 20:56

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Nice, planning to teach my sister on my TDI before it goes back to vw

Flyboy is FAA certified insane > Jay_Hoff 07/07/2016 at 20:59

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Nice find. These can be really fun with small mods like you said. My dad had a Dodge version like that for 150,000 miles of mediocre bliss.

The Lurktastic Opponaught > Jay_Hoff 07/07/2016 at 21:00

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Welcome to the club.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Phyrxes once again has a wagon! 07/07/2016 at 21:19

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i imagine thats the last thing that happens to ever manual car before it changes hands “i’m getting rid of my car, who wants to learn how to drive stick”

JGrabowMSt > Jay_Hoff 07/07/2016 at 21:20

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Ah, spontaneous death. Just another day in the life of Neon (Dodge) ownership.

Could be (and probably is) a bad ground. Could also be the coil. Cheap copper plugs are all a Neon ever wants in life. Synthetic oil and running mid-grade gas will wake it up pleasantly. SRT4 parts can swap in some places, you’ll want to check out Neons.org for more info.

My Neon died protecting me. Hopefully yours doesnt have to, but they’re fantastic little beaters. First gens are great, and props with the Highline. An R/T would be about the only better option for you. The manuals are fairly forgiving, just be gentle with the shift forks, they are quite fragile. A bang shift could leave you missing at least two gears.

Just be nice to it, and it will be nice back.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Flyboy is FAA certified insane 07/07/2016 at 21:21

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EsExTee had an SRT4

its the yellow thing next to my old WRX which is behind some dudes beetle with dents on its roof

Jesse Shaffer > Jay_Hoff 07/07/2016 at 21:22

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I’ve owned 17 of these if you need any help. Obviously I do.

Jay_Hoff > JGrabowMSt 07/07/2016 at 21:28

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Trying to be, I want to replace some things with poly as well. But so far, she has taken my abuse of a new stick driver.

shop-teacher > Jay_Hoff 07/07/2016 at 21:33

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Congrats on the purchase!

Flyboy is FAA certified insane > OPPOsaurus WRX 07/07/2016 at 21:37

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Lol “some dude’s beetle”

I really like the SRT4s more than I should. There was an ACR with less than 70k miles in my hometown that was very tempting. It was owned by the nicest little old lady.

When I asked why she bought it she said “because turbochargers are fun!” I couldn’t agree more.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Flyboy is FAA certified insane 07/07/2016 at 21:39

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lol then shes like lets go sky diving next weekend

Phyrxes once again has a wagon! > Jay_Hoff 07/07/2016 at 21:41

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The Mrs had a 97 5 speed, ran like a champ until electrical gremlins did it in. The gear box was rock solid the only thing we had to do to it was redo some ends on some of the cables, we discovered that when it started dropping out of third. Like shifter popping back to neutral while down through road, that was only a bit scary to see.

Flyboy is FAA certified insane > OPPOsaurus WRX 07/07/2016 at 21:50

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She looked like she’d be that kinda lady

JGrabowMSt > Jay_Hoff 07/07/2016 at 22:19

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Booger Bushings. I had them in mine. They absolutely change the whole car. Total bitch to install though. Wear mechanix gloves to avoid cutting your hands up.

Stapleface > Jesse Shaffer 07/07/2016 at 22:33

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Okay, I gotta know. Why so many?

Long Live the Longdoor > Jay_Hoff 07/07/2016 at 22:34

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Wow, does the itch come at 29 or something? I just bought a $500 Saturn SL2 5 speed to learn myself. I turn 30 on December 21. Got to do a bunch of work to do to get it safetied, but I’m super excited to learn.

Carbon Fiber Sasquatch > Jay_Hoff 07/07/2016 at 23:48

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Is it bad that I saw “life long goal” and a neon and the first thing I thought of was how in the hell you fit a viper engine in there?

Cause I'd buy that car...

Jesse Shaffer > Stapleface 07/08/2016 at 18:03

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They’re stupid easy and super cheap to fix when they break. I bought the first one on purpose to drive when I was 18 and gas went to $4pg. Then I discovered their faults/fixes as I used them to learn to work on cars in my early 20's. Driving a shitbox can make you a great mechanic. I started buying non-runners for cheap to fix and flip them for profit.

I built one up to about 300 horsepower with a newer SRT turbo affixed. Fun throw-away cars - surprisingly good at corners.