Project winter beater
 

I realized I hate driving my sister's Dodge Neon w/SRT design package during winter. So I thought about a Colt or Mirage. I looked around but didn't find much. Then one day a friend of mine sent me the ad on Craigslist to this. We went and looked at it that weekend. I picked it up Saturday. The puctures;

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4262975325.jpg

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4262309282.jpg

I'm not sure what to think of the original owner after having taken these off..

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4262998483.jpg
When I started Saturday.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4262331907.jpg

After awhile my friend who was with me started complaining about being tired so I ended it at this.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4262350473.jpg

Yesterday or Sunday night.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4235516078.jpg

In all of it's unfound glory.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4262361857.jpg


At this point I BELIEVE I found the problem..lol

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4262419787.jpg

From here I'm not sure what to drop into it as far as an engine. 4g63t, 4g64, whatever the 1.8Ls are; 4g18s? Either way it needs something different.

Re: Project winter beater
 

Sweet pickup for a dd. I say 4g63 with a 14b and keep it stock. Itd be a blast to drive in the winter

Re: Project winter beater
 

Looks like a fun little project. Can't wait to see the finished result.

later,
Curt

Re: Project winter beater
 

1.8 is a 4g37.

Re: Project winter beater
 

Thank you sir.

Re: Project winter beater
 

I yanked the engine harness and dash out on Monday. Woohoo; not much, I know.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4400187730.jpg

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4400238209.jpg


I have to say, after finding all of the hidden bolts; it was one of the easiest dashes I have ever taken out of a car.


Tonight after picking up a few parts for the Talon I stopped off at Fleet Farm and got some of this stuff:


http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4400292135.jpg

It was the cheapest with a brand name and I have heard of it before. I figured I would give 'er a try. After lightly scrubbing the driver’s side of the engine bay I was surprised at how well it cleaned up. I still think new paint is going to be in order. A few hours of scrubbing might reveal otherwise though; who knows.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4400258370.jpg

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4400276154.jpg

I'm pretty sure I will be sticking to the 4g15 for now. The funds to do a 4g63t swap just aren't there considering the prices some people are asking for certain things. Oh well though. I'm sure I'll start a nice slow build on an extra block when the time comes. A person can always swap it over.

Re: Project winter beater
 

BOOM

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4832253057.jpg

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4834767926.jpg


Stripped the front and cleaned it once. After a few more cleaning sessions I can fix some rust, undercoat a few things, and paint a few things as well.

Progress is progress.

Re: Project winter beater
 

I did some sand blasting to the driver's and passenger's side wheel wells, along with a few spots in the engine bay. This was on Tuesday I believe. The pictures can do the talking.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4917535081.jpg

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4917557283.jpg

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4917581261.jpg

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...4917595984.jpg

There are only a few places left to 'blast; finish up on the front, pinch-welds, front corners of rear wheel wells and behind the rear bumper. I still haven't decided if I want to paint the engine bay or not. I just don't feel like stripped the whole thing down.

On another note, I got some purple clear to add a little bit of color to the engine bay. I won't give away what I am doing, not that you are all going to die to find out. lol It should add a nice off-set to the black and white though.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...5041340152.jpg

I think that'll be it until the shop slows down. Lately it has been full of my uncle's/cousin's cars. Then I can pull the car out of the shed and get working on it again.

Thanks for looking!

Re: Project winter beater
 

Should be an interesting project!

Re: Project winter beater
 

The purple is going to be a Vikings helmet under the hood!

Re: Project winter beater
 

Looks like a similar project. Good luck but, id find a different motor than the 4G15. Junkyards will probably be the only place youll find one and there asking $400-$600.

Doing the 4G63 swap there are alot more added costs than just the motor. Ive been talking alot with mark (tkr) and asking questions on the mirage boards. If you do go that route your gonna need a 1G harness and ecu, patch harness thats $200- $400 alone if you can find them cheap.

I picked a 7 bolt 2.4 up for mine.

Re: Project winter beater
 

Seems like a lot of work for a winter beater!

Re: Project winter beater
 

Make sure you get the correct primer for that metalcast paint.

Re: Project winter beater
 

Mmm, no. lol

I'm not planning on doing the 4g63 swap for the simple fact of cost. I am however acquiring some of the parts to do the swap when I can afford to do it. As far as finding an engine; well, I have. I surely will not be paying $400 for it either.

This is simply my opinion but, anything else would be half-assing it. I mean if you have the car this far apart, there's no point in not fixing the rust and cleaning up the engine bay. Idk, maybe it's that I like my stuff clean and done my way. But who knows; I'm a weirdo. Lol

What do you mean primer? I'll be applying it over a silver which will have a self-etching primer beneath it.

Re: Project winter beater
 

Nice work man. Take pride in your stuff, even the beaters.

Re: Project winter beater
 

Nice! Put in a 4g63t, it'll be cheap!

Re: Project winter beater
 

Thanks! And exactly my point/feelings on the subject.

On who's budget? Lol

Re: Project winter beater
 

Cheap on anyone's budget if you know what you're doing with the motor/car.




Looks like a very fun car to go thrash on. I would also love to see a 4g63t but leave those bike tires on it....lol

Re: Project winter beater
 

I guess it depends how much you make. I don't make much on my bi-weekly check(s). Our lovely tax raise over last year has me clearing about the same amount as last year, yet I'm worKing 20 hours more (in said pay period), than last year.

Re: Project winter beater
 

I just got offered $450 for the shell.. Not sure what I want to do with this from here. Opinions?

Re: Project winter beater
 

Sell it. That's good money for a shell

Re: Project winter beater
 

I figure at this price I am making a $109 gain.

Re: Project winter beater
 

Then why question it. Just sell it an buy a beater that you wont want to mod and keep the money you wouldn't spend on the daily for the dsms

Re: Project winter beater
 

I'm going to let it go... The same guy is now buying my 1g shell as well I guess. LOL Nothing like making $730 off of two hunks of metal taking up space.

Re: Project winter beater
 

Who is buying it? Friend or a member on here?

Re: Project winter beater
 

A friend of mine. He's not on here.

Re: Project winter beater
 

I'm keeping the car. The guy who wanted to buy both my Colt and 1g couldn't figure out a way to get both of the cars back home. Then he just wanted all if the suspension shit from the 1g. I just kind of said screw it after a week if no solid answer

Does anyone have a 1.5L or a 1.8L they'd sell? I'm looking to get this thing running ASAP.

Re: Project winter beater
 

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps438af31b.jpg

Found an engine, at least I hope. lol More to come.

Re: Project winter beater
 

I went and got an engine Saturday, then started prepping it for a timing belt and water pump. I'll be doing a few other little things to clean it up.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...32748410_o.jpg


Shined up the engine bay a bit as well.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...90570412_o.jpg

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...24641266_o.jpg

That's all I've got for now. Thanks for looking.

Re: Project winter beater
 

Engine and trans. are in.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...0806297815.jpg

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...0806296930.jpg

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...0806296035.jpg

I went to our shop today with plans to just clean the main engine wiring harness. lol I was wrong. A few buddies of mine showed up, and by 10 or 11 tonight or "last night" (technically), everything was together and in, even though we did run into a little problem with my new throwout bearing completely the wrong one.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...0786966040.jpg

By the pictures I obviously still have to connect the wiring, fuel lines and get the battery set up. Not to mention mounting a radiator that I still need to source, and all the body parts. That will come in due time though.

My plans for tomorrow are to have the lower control arms and outer tie rods replaced Then get the shafts in and chip gaurd the wheel wells. Maybe I'll be able to get the interior back together too. lol

Thanks for looking!

Re: Project winter beater
 

I got the battery relocation done and got the car running.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...87475877_o.jpg

http://youtu.be/b8a3ITqU4-w

Then this morning I went back to our shop and found this.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...03214104_o.jpg

An axle seal is leaking. Kind of pissed about having to take this apart again but its whatever I guess.

Re: Project winter beater
 

That thing is insanely clean. You should just get a honda for a rusty winter beater haha

Re: Project winter beater
 

This has its fair amount of rust. Nothing terrible though. I plan to wash it at least once a week if not every two weeks. Plus I'll be undercoating/chip guarding the whole underside. Plus I can't stand Honduhs.

Re: Project winter beater
 

As of last night around 12:20, I drove this beeatch around our shop.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...68509550_o.jpg

After having the stupid output shaft seal break I said to hell with it and replaced the front wheel bearings and seals, as well as both output shaft seals. I threw some new rotors on it as well, seeing as how the previous owner put new brake pads on but left the nasty rotors.

Gotta love the taped on headlights to see where the hell I was going. lol

Re: Project winter beater
 

I suppose I should update this and get some pictures up too.

The Colt is almost done. Besides having a low idle issue it runs. It isn't getting shit for MPG right now, but it threw a CEL about two hours into driving it. I mostly finished it last night, so you can imagine I drove it all over hell. Lol

One thing I do need is to put the speedometer gear into the transmission. I was driving around Brained/Baxter area last night, and if you've ever been there on a Saturday night from 10pm on you would know how nerve racking it was. We probably seen 5-7 people pulled over in an hour. Plus 15 cops/state-patrol in that time. Sketchy.

Re: Project winter beater
 

Looks like a pretty nice beater!

Re: Project winter beater
 

Well here is the car as of now, thawing out the frozen coolant.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...6888491183.jpg

I let a friend add the coolant when we initially started it because he said he knew what he was doing. Evidently he didn't. Thank God nothing (as far as I can tell), is wrecked. I may need a new rad. cap, but that is it.

Re: Project winter beater
 

Good luck to you, nice to see you are getting it done.

Re: Project winter beater
 

Thanks guys. It isn't the prettiest thing but it's a car. lol After this and some tires, I hope I can square away the CEL and idle problem for good.

Re: Project winter beater
 

After the car was "finished" it had run very rich. So much so it dumped most of the gas into the oil. So I set out so solve the problem. A coolant temperature sensor didn't do it, nor did a new o2 sensor.

What I found though was this.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...8227477587.png

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...8227502338.png

In that diagram, what Mitsubishi calls a "gas filter" was causing a vacuum leak. Not only that but it was supposed to have a nipple on it to connect to what was the MAP sensor. Here I had the MAP sensor connected to a different vacuum line off of the throttle body. A little JB Weld solved that up until this past week when it started breaking off of the rubber vacuum line.

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...8309941677.jpg

These things are a PITA to even find if you wanted to buy a new one. After a little searching on Google I found one from Toyota. After spending $35.xx I sure hope it's right.

Last night I grabbed some Plasti-Dip I had and dipped the front bumper. All I can say is this stuff impressed me. It goes on so smooth even after one cans nozzle gets half clogged and spays like undercoating. Lol

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...9270364695.jpg

http://i467.photobucket.com/albums/r...9270363682.jpg