I am restoring my 1996 Neon. It gets about 32 miles to the gallon. The body and interior are in very good shape and I have hardly had any trouble with it.It has been a peach of a car, and has been an extra good car, overall, for a Neon.
My dad offered to put a new motor and tranny in it, and I am going to drive it with the 163K engine and tranny it has now until it goes, as given advice to do by an Aamco technician.He also suggested that I buy used, with low milage, than rebuilt, as the factory engines are better.
I just put on new tires and replaced the hubcaps with replicas of the 1998 Neon hubcaps.
My dad, in about a couple of months is going to put on new struts, ball joint, and sway bars, so the suspension should be in pretty good shape after that..He used to work at Chrysler, building Neons in Illinois and was called up to Detroit to help build one of the first Neons, and gave a good suggestion to Chrysler about building it and they liked the idea, so he knows a lot about Neons.
We are doing a little autobody work now. There were three rust spots. The back fender is one spot, which I sanded, primed and sprayed with some closely matched red metallic paint, for now. The hood, I was told by an guy who went to autobody school, to sand it out, even a lot further out than the rust spot, which we did and my dad filed out the lump and I put primer on it and glazed it, then he will sand it out, and then I will spray it with the closely matched red paint.I also learned from this man, that you can get out dings by putting a towel on the spot and ironing over it. He said he spent $$$$ going to school to learn that.The third rust spot was around the bottom, inside of a door, which I primed with rust primer and painted.
I am looking to buy about a 12 oz. can of aerosol spray, the factory color. The paint code is PRE, strawberry metalic. I can get it for $19 something, with $7 something shipping. Any cheaper than that anywhere?
I also will be clearcoating it over that. I want to do the front fascia, hood, trunk, back fascia, back right fender, and above the left back fender, where I fixed the rust, and little spots, here and there, maybe mostly the whole car, if it will look more even.
Thats a fair price for the paint, but the clear coat is where you can save money. For that just go to Home Depot and buy Minn-Wax brand polyurathane clear coat. About $3.95 a can, and it gives a nice wet look shine. Polyurathan clear is just that no matter what the brand.
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