12/11/11 Fender Bender/ Plans

Okay one of this week's plans was to hammer out that fender and get it back on the car,

So its time to get

Hammered.

bad joke.


The fender was all bent and rubbing against the tire so last week I took it off, and for a couple hours THIS week I clamped it down and basically beat it to death

After much brute force and ignorance, the final product looks like this

Needless to say, I am quite impressed with myself.

I have learned that taking stuff off is easy; remembering how it all goes back together is much more of a challenge, as my bruised knuckles tell me.

But the fender's back on, and that's all that matters.


I've posted a lot of pictures of the outside, and not many of the inside,


So I've decided to change this, As I'm sure you guys are dying to know what it looks like.

[Roll cage/ Cameras mount/ Race Seat]

Cage will need updates for the coming season, but other than that, it's good to go.

Next on the list is buying a Quick-Detachable steering wheel, it's fine for everyday driving, but firstly, is ugly, and secondly my knee will probably hit into it when I'm going for the clutch in a racing atmosphere.

The Plan

1.) Prep the motor for being pulled, and prep the spare engine for being put in. I have a spare intake and exhaust manifold and a new header for it, along with all the other spare parts that came with the Neon.

 Yes, so I am pretty sure I'll have enough spare parts for anything I'll need.

2.) Buying and installing the new steering wheel

Next posts later this week!

 

12/04/11 Spec Neon Secured!

12/4/11

Okay so it's been quite a long day--but an eventful one.

Picturebook time.

SO.

Using this

A Dodge Ram 2500

we drove out and picked THIS up  (set of tires, couple front and back fascias, spare motor, and some odds and ends of parts)

along with this, my Spec Neon

and got this

.... and so we tow. Back to the shop we go.

We ran into no problems what-so-ever and got to the shop to assess what I had gotten myself into.

The rundown: The Neon came with a full race-seat, Five-point Harness, and partial roll cage (will have to be updated) and boxes of spare parts ranging from air-intakes, to rotors. Good Clutch, Good Trans, Blown engine.

So the obvious thing to say right now is no, it doesn't run. yet. By a lucky turn of fate, it turned out that the person I had bought this from had a spare engine block. I'll tell you the grand plan about that in a second.

The only  noticeable thing that was wrong aesthetically with the car has a crunch in the front left fender right in the wheel-well, probably a result from a previous race.

and so begins the Spec Neon project...

With a little fussing and cussing and messing around, the fender finally comes off

The Plan

This is the section where I tell you what my plan is for the coming week

1.) General Cleaning up, wash, vacuum, the works

2.) Peeling the numbers off, apparently 71 is taken where I want to compete, so I begin the most brain-numbing  task ever, it took absolutely FOREVER to get that '1' off... any thoughts?

3.) Hammering that fender straight, no problem.

4.) Getting that blown engine ready to come out: Disconnecting hoses, wires and what not, and then possibly getting that spare motor ready. All it needs are Intake and exhausts and a head (off of the blown engine?) and it'll be good to go.

Next post will be later this week,

Quick update with the plan

12/3/11
Okay the wheels are in motion! Got ahold of a Dodge Ram 2500 and a Featherlite trailer to haul with. Plan is to head out around noon tomorrow and grab the Neon and haul it back to the shop.

Pictures to be posted tomorrow!

Stay tuned!

12/2/11 Greetings! Welcome to my page/ ready for Neon-Madness

Hi there and welcome to my spec neon racing Blog,

This weekend will be the kickstart to building up my first race car and first experiences racing.

First, a little background on me: Name's Adam Brenders, 18 years old and residing in Rochester Hills, Michigan. I have always had an avid interest in cars, and when I got my first chance at getting involved in racing I jumped at the chance. After working for a company that shall remain anonymous, name-less, and faceless for a while I found that my boss, as well as a couple of my Co-workers, were involved in the Sports Car Club of America [SCCA] and were competing with a couple Spec Miata's and, a while back, Spec Neons. Working with people that possess this much experience with racing is a great resource and I began my search for a car to race. A great perk about working at this shop is that as an employee, I can borrow tools to use and use the lifts to get under the car.

I am aware that Miata's are the new deal, but frankly I am 18 and wouldn't exactly have the cash flow to be competitive in these events... but I digress.


After a long while of searching for any Miata that didn't have the typical rocker panel rot I gave up trying to find one. Not long after I had sunk to the bottom of depression's pits my Co-worker told me that he remembered that there was a Spec Neon with a blown engine that was put in a barn a while ago and has been sitting ever since.


Now we are in business.


Now the story with this particular Neon is that it was beginning to be outfitted as a Race Car when it's engine blew, from there it was rolled into a barn.

 I have had some bad experiences with barn-cars. A while back I tried working on an old Pontiac Fiero (The four banger--not the V6 ;) ) and got through about a month of working on it until I realized it was a lost cause, RUST, bolts breaking off, slamming the door and hearing all of the rotted metal drop off of it, the whole nine yards.

Although, from what I have heard, it seems to have no rust, new clutch, good trans, electronics should be good to go, and the only problem is that of the blown engine, which I've sure is pretty easy to track down another for a Neon. Got a truck and trailer ready to go and should be picking it up either tomorrow or Sunday. Excited to get going on this project, got the rest of winter till racing season so I've got nothing but time.

With a limited racing experience up until now, I'm excited to get involved in motorsport

Stay tuned! Next post will be by Sunday!