Yeah, its been like 1.5-2 years but hey...

So, the life of my neon has been kinda tough.... within the first year of buying it back in 04 I went thru three trannys in the first year. Then right after my warranty expired the motor took a poop. That was about late 05 early 06 I believe. So I put a new motor and tranny in it, picked the set up with only 10k miles for $150. Also Did the Tokico kit on it at the same time.
Then, all within about 7mths my buddy decided to laid his gsxr down in front of me at about 50-60mph on a old curvy road, causing me to make a left turn on a right hand corner and then make sweet love to a guard rail on the front and both sides. Couldn't call insurance as we were young and dumb on a back road, I had a few and had a suspended license..... So she was pretty beatin..... then I moved from CA to Michigan and drove her all the way like the great little neon she is. Soon after my wife decided not to yield to a chevy astro van..... yeah at 35mph, the neon got a whoopin right in the drivers door, yet the lady had only a tiny dent on her hood from my mirror.
Well she took a likin and kept on ticken. I hadn't had a motor problem since the new motor and was up to about 50k miles, so I kept driving it.... it looked like poo but hey, it runs good right? Well, then I lost my license and parked the car out back. Where it has sat for about a year. In the process having been broken into, and a damn tree fall on it.

So about a mth ago, I realized I had to do something with it cause we were moving into a new condo. I took the new Trailblazer out, threw the jumpers on it..... and BAM! It started right up! I had too drag it out of the yard but damn.... a year, thieves and a tree, with half a tank of gas and it starts right up! NICE! The wife had it sold for $500 but I told her no way in hell. So, now I am on a mission to have it ready for the paint shop when I leave for boot camp in about a mth.

The pics of the back passenger side fender look amazing compared to how the back drivers side looked, but I forgot to take pics, the drivers door has so much bondo on it.... I think it has to be scraped. But on a good note, I pick up a used front and back bumper, both front fenders, and both front doors for $125 next weekend. Now I just need head lights, and a carpet kit (window was broken for a year, had about 4'' standing water and mold when I tore it out) and another weekend or two, then paint shop here I come!
I have mopar "lip kit" I got about 2 years ago that will need to be painted, but I am excited as hell to have her back and lookin good again.....


So here are some pics of the progress so far, mind you this is the first time I have ever done body work. Give me a motor and I'll pull it, rebuild it, and drop it back in in less then a weekend, but I have never been good at body work.... I think I did good tho... Sorry for the wall of text....

now a few pics:

Rear passenger fender (looks nice compared to the other side):




Drivers side rear after bodywork:




Driver Door (gonna scrap it (used it for pratice):


Got a little bored so I shaved the 3rd brake light:




Headlights:
you can see the screwed lip kit here:




And one quick one of the inside with nothing:



Car is it sits now in the garage:






HOLY CRAP thats alot of pics!



All my friends tell me... dude, just sell the POS..... but I can't for some godforsaken reason, I still love this damn thing.





anyways thats my story, soon she will be looking good!

 

sorry, pics are a bit out of order, but you get the idea

 

damn its been a while since u been on. car looks in bad shape but a lil love could fix that

 

I think that car need ALOT of love, not just a lil

 

And I thought my car needed alot of work! wow...you got alot of **** on your shoulder.

 

dam how in the world do u get all that rust accumulation by the rear wheel.

anyways i wish i had a car like that to practice stuff on like fixing i mean.lol.

 

I've got a neon with really bad hail damage. You can practice filling in all the dents with bondo. lol

 

cool bondo work.
i just got done earlier fillin in some big cracks with bondo but i used bondo with fiberglass resign.
yumm gotta love the dust of sanding.lol.

 

So I'm resurrecting the dead!!!!!!!

After the bit of work I did on that one... and a great deal on craigs list I decided the old neon (above) would be a donor, and a practice one. Just too much work to make it worth it. I found a 2003 Neon SXT on craigslist for $600. Body is in fair to good shape, interior is almost perfect. Dude hit a deer and ruined the front end. The back passenger fender needs a bit of work but nothing I cant fix in a sat evening with some bud lights! I have bought all the front end for the old neon so that will all go to the new one. The new one has 127k on it.... old motor has 55k and runs like new..... so I I have no worries about the motor going.

I'm gonna see just how much abuse this 2.0 can take. Has some issues, its noisy as hell. I believe it's timing gear or the water pump..... I am gonna abuse the poo out of it.... see what its got. Blow it, and put a new one in!

The old one is gonna get stripped of all usable parts and go to the scrap yard for recycling ($200 bucks at the local yard) All the new one needs is a radiator now. (both ones I had are cracked.

I didn't take pics of the new ones front end damage, just when it was off. But you get the idea I guess.

All in all, I should have a good looking peon again for about $1000 - $1500 depending on the cost of a paint job, minus whatever I can sell parts and the old frame/shell for.

Now for Pics.....

New neon passenger side:


Another of passenger side:


Damage to rear passenger fender:


Little damage to rear driver fender:


Front end of new neon torn off:


Front clip and new neon:


same as above:


Old neon with front end torn off:


Damage to sub frame of new neon.... nothin a little hammer didn't fix:


closer pic of above:


New neon on stands getting the radiator pulled:


Old neon minus the radiator... (gunna trade struts next weekend, old one has Tokiko HP blues) sits nice and low:


Old neon as it sits with some parts torn off:




And now it looks much better..... bad pics I know, it's kinda late and I need the sun.... still gotta get a paint job and a new radiator though....









Headlights will be here tomorrow ( http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWNX%3AIT ) got to buy a radiator Wednesday but my patch should hold till then......


Looking good if you ask me.

 

I was reading the first post, thought those pictures looked familiar! Good to see it's coming along!