New guy from Ohio

95neoner · November 11, 2013

Hello all, my name's Justin. I'm originally from SE Ohio. I joined the Navy just shy of 5 years ago now, currently I'm Waterford, CT. I also spent a little while in Summerville, SC prior to moving here. I have about another year on my contract then I'm planning on heading to Atlanta to go through a race car prep tech school then back to Ohio to help my dad run the family business.

My 1st car was a '95 Neon that I drove until just prior to joining the Navy when it threw the timing belt and chewed on some of it's own valves. I had planned to make a weekend swap of putting a SRT-4 motor in, and here we are 6 years and a few months later. My job doesn't allow me much time at home to work on this car (which will be a recurring theme with a lot of these), so not a lot of progress and lots of unfinished bits I've barely been able to get started on. Here's where that project sits:

I just want to point out too... all of these cars I currently own. I have 6 different projects I'm playing with now, so this is going to be a multi-post intro. I'll try and keep the other cars short and sweet, but I play with all of them, so I love talking about all of them. I'll add on my old cars later on too.

If you just want to jump to looking at my Z, I've already started a project log here:

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/check-out-my-ride/50924-95neoners-71-z.html

Edited November 11, 2013 by 95neoner
I'm just here talking about Neons and all you want to see is my Z

95neoner · November 11, 2013

I feel like this should go in chronological order to make it the easiest to follow, so next up then would be my '90 240SX. I bought this car knowing full well that I had an uphill battle ahead consisting of everything needing to be re-done. I at the time wanted to turn it into a drift car being the adrenaline fueled teenage high school student I was. Naive me didn't know of the pitfalls awaiting on the internet. So I bought this car sight unseen from central SC while I was still living in Ohio. I got the car here, immediately began ripping out the interior because who doesn't love free performance upgrades? Also on the list to go was the KA24 which was in an unknown condition and already partially taken apart so I could swap it for a SR20. After taking the interior apart, I noticed the floorpan had a weird looking shape to it, but I didn't think much of it. Fast forward to almost having the motor out, the radiator came out and I found this:

That would explain why the listing only showed the rear, because the front looked like this:

Here's a few more shots of the car when I first got it:

I refuse to let that car die that way though... I've got a new radiator support and we have a frame machine. If anyone has thought progress on the other cars has been slow they haven't paid attention to this one. It will happen though. I'm no longer looking to make it a drift car. I have a different motor in mind. I'm glad time has passed so I can get some solid plans laid out for this car, it's just on the back burner until I get the Neon above done. I have already collected a lot of OE urethane parts to make this car look a lot like a 180SX Type X on the outside now though. Here's a few current pics:

All of the tar is gone now. You can see the warped tunnel and floor pan in this pic.

Also have a NASCAR COT wing that both this car and the Miata will share, depending on which car is in use. Both will have thier own mounts.

Zed Head · November 11, 2013

Using a Z car site for photo hosting doesn't seem right.

95neoner · November 11, 2013

Shortly after I got the 240SX to build, the Neon broke, and since the 240SX wasn't close to running, I needed to find something in a hurry to get myself back and forth to to work. So started my story with the Civic. This is the first car I bought that I no longer own. Another internet buy from the NE corner of Ohio, this one already had an exhaust on it and sounded like a Subaru, so it was cool, it just needed some rust repair. Not car stupid me now says a Honda shouldn't sound like a Subaru and it was more like "a lot" of rust repair. Turns out the previous owner threw a turbo on without any means to tune fuel and decided to ditch the car when one of the exhaust valves ended up with a pea-sized hole burnt through it. Enter car stupid me...

I just realized I hadn't shown you the Neon before it started getting turned into a legitimate (in my eyes... call it what you will, we'll see what it actually does when I finally get done putting it together) race car. Maybe it'll help with understanding my level of car stupid at the time. I used to be the typical "first car was a Neon and I thought it was fast" kind of guy, so I tend to take it easy on those guys now. I like to think we were all there once. Here's what that Neon above originally was:

Terrible, isn't it? They're like baby pictures we hope no one will ever see. So anyway, that car stupid me...

I found buying this car to be a good idea. Here's what we had to start with.

Look second cylinder up from the bottom, left hand side, top valve. No kidding. You could probably fit a pea in there.

I got a new mirror, radiator, replaced the head after trying a distributor cap, plugs, and wires, replaced the alternator, blocked off the broken antenna (I have rarely had a car with a working stereo. I still rarely use them even when available now.), replaced the corner lights with amber ones, replaced the wheels with the stock ones off my Miata, and then we got into the rust repair and body work. The car was really starting to come around and I had a plan for it then while my little brother was using it to get back and forth to school in, myself being stationed in SC at this point, the harmonic balancer bolt decided to back off and vibrated until it took the key that held it in place and used it to make the keyway suddenly go all the way around the crank. I was tired of dealing with it so I sold it. I wasn't at a point where I was ready to put another motor in it and still had the black Neon, the 240SX, and by this point the Miata and the Neon ACR to deal with too. It was time to get rid of one. Here's what we finished off with:

95neoner · November 11, 2013

Using a Z car site for photo hosting doesn't seem right.

Photo hosting? That's what I've got flickr pro for. All 6,193 pictures stay there. I'm just giving some background and some very abbreviated stories on all of the cars. Seems like an appropriate introduction to me. I just kind of figured I wasn't the only one who liked car stories. I'm getting to the Z. Unless a mod would like to dictate otherwise, I'll continue.

Edited November 11, 2013 by 95neoner

Zed Head · November 11, 2013

Why are you not posting this on a 240SX or Neon site, and why are you posting here? Frankly, these cars are boring, nothing like the reason people buy a Z.

hls30.com · November 11, 2013

OK! Lets all take a breath! This is a Z site, we crave Z content, Some of us are interested in your automotive history and some are not. List the cars you have done, tell us where we can find them, and get to the Z content...The point here is: If you picked up a book about Neons and the first four pages were about A Gremlin, a Pacer, and a Mustang II would you keep reading it or put it back? What he is politely telling you is that your extensive and interesting automotive history is obviuosly posted elsewhere, let us know where and get to the Z content that brought you here. I don't mind hearing about and seeing a few details on previous cars-but ...a simple before and after with a mention of where more info could be found on the non Z projects would suffice... This is a Z community, most of us want to see what you are doing to your Z...Multiple posts of what you did to a Neon, a Honda, and a 240SX-while interesting, not what anyone comes here for-including you.

95neoner · November 11, 2013

My next car would have been my '99 Miata which I bought due to needing a car in South Carolina and my little brother was driving the Civic at the time, which I didn't find particularly reliable for going all the way to SC in anyway. Good move, huh? This was the second nice car I had from the start and also I think provoked a major change in my idealisms when it came to cars. This car and the South Carolina Region SCCA which was a much more friendly bunch than any of the many bodies I've dealt with up here introduced me to autocross and got me hooked. I've been able to stay out of stupid stuff on the street since. I've been slowly tweaking this car. I still use it as a daily driver and I've been working with it since I joined the Navy, so I've had it about the last 5 years now. This last year I've been rather slow at working on it because the fourth Neon that I haven't made mention of yet had kept me rather busy. Hopefully between saving for college I can manage to play with it a bit more next year. Anyway, I originally got this car from the Agusta, GA area. Here's what it was when I was first getting started with it:

I've since made a lot of small tweaks. Most of the major things have been in the suspension department. The Ohlins coilovers and Swift springs being the first things I think will be easy to notice in addition to the Carbing strut tower bars, and it uses Eibach sways underneath. Also under the hood it's easy to notice the ARC intake w/ HKS mushroom filter, The Mishimoto radiator (they also offer one for our Zs) and fans, and the Garage Vary radiator panel. The motor, transmission and diff all use Royal Purple, just like the rest of my cars now. It uses Hawk HP+ pads, and Goodridge stainless steel lines with EBC DOT4 fluid. I've changed the exterior to look like an '01 to maintain a stock look, but I believe it still looks drastically better than the '99-'00. I also got a set of Garage 502 mirrors sent over from Japan on a one-run production, and have installed a hardtop. I haven't messed with this car's motor much. I plan for a swap down the road and it maintains me in a lower class for now. I've swapped out the steering knob and steering wheel for a Maruha and Mazdaspeed piece respectively, and switched out the E-brake handle for one from IL motorsport and installed a leather shift boot from Moss to hopefully help to provide an updated look when I finally swap in a all black interior. Also installed a Hard Dog roll bar and door bars for a bit of added safety, and the added body rigidity didn't hurt anything. Those are the major bits. Here's what I have now.

95neoner · November 11, 2013

OK! Lets all take a breath! This is a Z site, we crave Z content, Some of us are interested in your automotive history and some are not. List the cars you have done, tell us where we can find them, and get to the Z content...The point here is: If you picked up a book about Neons and the first four pages were about A Gremlin, a Pacer, and a Mustang II would you keep reading it or put it back? What he is politely telling you is that your extensive and interesting automotive history is obviuosly posted elsewhere, let us know where and get to the Z content that brought you here. I don't mind hearing about and seeing a few details on previous cars-but ...a simple before and after with a mention of where more info could be found on the non Z projects would suffice... This is a Z community, most of us want to see what you are doing to your Z...Multiple posts of what you did to a Neon, a Honda, and a 240SX-while interesting, not what anyone comes here for-including you.

Saw this after putting together that last post. I'm going to edit this and post now to avoid further feather ruffling.

EDIT: So... this is a bit awkward now, and one hell of a welcome, but anyway, cliffnotes of cliffnotes, since I assume no one here owns nothing but Zs and may have dabbled in other cars in the past, If you find any of the following remotely interesting or just generally enjoy pictures of cars doing what car guys love for them to do, pm me and I'll get you a link. I like BSing about whatever car you've got, restored or modded to the point that it's not even remotely related to what you started with. I can learn and take pointers from either.

Black '95 Plymouth Neon sedan - FWDU time attack build

Cherry Red Pearl Metallic '90 Nissan 240SX - another track build to-be

Steel Gray '94 Honda Civic - the daily post Neon meltdown

Highlight Silver Metallic '99 Mazda Miata - current daily

Bright White '96 Dodge Neon ACR - The LeMons car that never made it

Stone White '05 Dodge Neon SRT-4 ACR - The daily that slipped through my fingers

Nitro Yellow Green '95 Dodge Neon Sport Coupe - the new autocrosser

Red '76 Toyota Celica - my first Toy with a carb

Red '71 Datsun 240Z - project log here (To prevent a thread that was about as successful as a penguin trying to fly from going further): http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/check-out-my-ride/50924-95neoners-71-z.html

Flickr's here: Flickr: proud95neonownr's Photostream

If you go into my sets there you can look at specific cars, events, or whatever else I have on there. Same goes for there. If you have questions or care to talk about any of the other cars afterward, feel free to shoot me a PM. I'll put up a couple links to other logs in a few.

Edited November 11, 2013 by 95neoner