Insert clever tagline here

Damnit.

I noticed a chunk of metal in one of the stock wheels I’ve been rolling around on while my 5zigen fn01r-c’s are getting ready for powder. Luckily, Juan’s loaner wheels were available at the shop, Snail Motorsports so I ran over there and picked them up. Unfortunately, they’re painted black. So I got a great idea…

I thought it was kinda funny

I also realised that there has been quite a bit of car and tech talk on my blog lately, but no mention of beers. So I wanted to mention my beverage of choice while swapping my wheels around…

New Belgium Ranger IPA. At 70 IBUs its more bitter than most, but not overwhelming. ABV is on par for an IPA at around 6.5%. I first discovered it at Lee’s discount liquor, but then I noticed that my local Walmart sells it for about $7 a 6-pack.

Just a quick update. Since my last one, I’ve sold the fold out Jensen deck to a friend and ordered a new deck from a friend that does car audio professionally. Should be in soon.

Finally had the tint done. 13% all around. Thanks to RobDGAF@LVSRT

The other day I played around with the idea of removing the factory antenna. Since the connector behind the dash was broken by one of the previous owners, I’m going to install an aftermarket powered antenna. I dont have the budget right now to have the hole in the fender properly shaved so I thought plugging it would be the next best thing. I found these plugs at autozone that looked to be large enough to cover the entire hole, and some paint damage that was there from the base of the antenna rubbing against the fender. I used some touch up paint first to prevent further chipping/pealing of the paint.

Those plugs are great for both the antenna hole, and the spoiler hole. There is one large plug, approx 1 1/4″ dia, and 8 smaller ones.

Right now it is held in with some double stick tape, as it is just a proof of concept. I bought a second plug that I will paint with Mopar rattle can touch up paint so it blends better with the fender. Eventually, the hole will be properly filled and the entire fender painted.

I’ve been helping my fiancee, Ashley, set up her own blog for the NBA playoffs. Check her out over on Skirt on the Sideline. I also talked her into a twitter page, @skirtonsideline so you can follow her updates and comments.

Did a couple of little things this weekend. I packed the 5zigens up and took them to Juan’s shop, Snail Motorsports to be dismounted and get ready to prep for powder. The color should arrive soon, and I’ll be over there helping him do the prep work.

A while back a friend gave me a broken Jensen in dash DVD player. I spoke to Jensen and paid to have it repaired out of warranty. It arrived Friday afternoon from service. I took out the Sony deck that the car came with and installed the Jensen.

I’m not sure how I feel about it yet, I dont like how it covers the HVAC controls when its open. It came with the cables to hook up my iPod, but I can’t get it working. I emailed their tech support for answers, I was going to buy the Satellite radio for it but I’m waiting until I get an answer on the iPod. But it isn’t a bad deck for the less than $200 I have invested in it.

The wrecker shell is ready to go, I threw away some junk that was in it. All that is left is the body harness, most of the rear suspension, and a dented trunk lid.

My garage looks like a neon exploded in it.

Things are starting to come together for the new car, all I need to do is order a clutch and I can start transferring everything over.

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS is almost here. I plan to upgrade a couple of my machines and write my review here. Stay tuned.

So after my car sat for 2 weeks at my friend Gabe’s garage my battery completely died. It wouldn’t hold a charge for more than a day, so the fiancee and I had to car pool to work for another week while I decided what I wanted to do. A few of my friends out here have fabbed up brackets to make Red Top batteries fit in their cars, so I figured I’d do the same at some point. Well the time came sooner than expected, and so I spent some time making it work for now. I’ll clean it up for the real install, but this is just enough to get me to work.

First I had to get rid of the factory air box to make room for the Optima. The K&N that the previous owner installed came in handy with the welfare short ram.

There is a bit of a size difference.

I’ve got a clean, powdercoated (courtesy of Juan @ SnailMotorsports) battery tray ready to go in when I do the real build, but this will work for now.

A $4 strap kit and the car fires right up. It actually starts easier than the previous battery did before it went flat.

I’m almost ready to start the real build. I’m on week 3 of my wait for my DCR Oil Pump, and I have a local that is supposed to be buying my old trans so I can get some $$ together for a new clutch (ACT Xtreme 6-puck). Once those arrive, the game is on.

I Laughed.

I spent more time over the weekend finishing up the suspension. The only parts that are left to install are the sway bars. I managed to break the 4 front sway bar bracket bolts so right now I’m limping the car around without the front bar.

BC Coilovers.

Here’s an attempt at an after pic, it was dark outside so its the best i could do. I’m going to lower the car a lot more, since i dont really care about these wheels/tires

So far here’s my collection of broken bolts from the suspension upgrades. I still have sways and rear tension struts to install

My collection of parts right now

The wrecker is basically ready to go.

For those following along with my SRT-4 rebuild, the first order of business is a golf ball sized dent in the passenger front door. It was right on a body line, chipped the paint, and it looked like someone tried to brush touch it. The same door on my first SRT-4 was not damaged, so after a few nuts and a wire connector a friend and I made the swap.

Next I planned on swapping the suspension. I loaded up the trunk with the parts from my first car, which included:
BC Racing Coilovers 6k/4k spring rates
Mopar PT Cruiser Front Sway Bar 26mm
Mopar Neon ACR Rear Sway Bar 19mm
Energy Suspension Lower Control Arm Bushings
Energy Suspension Front Endlinks
Deyeme Racing Shortened Rear Endlinks
MOOG Ball Joints
MOOG Tie Rod Ends
Updated rear tension struts

The front knuckles are being replaced as well, since the new car has bad wheel bearings.

Here’s a quick picture of the car, before any modification, at the factory ride height.

I drove my car to my friend Gabe’s garage for in install day, which turned into a giant ordeal when I managed to snap a 24mm grade 10.9 bolt that holds the passenger lower control arm on the car. Without this bolt the car isn’t drivable because it is such an important part of the suspension. After some research, purchasing of special left-handed drill bits, and some 4 letter words, I managed to work the broken bolt out with an air hammer and a pair of vice grips.

I’m hoping to finish the rest of the suspension this weekend, and actually be able to drive the car. Stay tuned.

So near the end of last year, I was in an accident in my 2004 SRT-4. I had purchased the car new when I was 19 and drove it all of its 78,218 mile life up until that point. The damage was enough that my insurance company decided to total it, and made me a generous offer. I was pretty upset about it, but I wasn’t hurt and cars can be replaced. Here are some of the last pictures of the car before the wreck.

I didn’t really go public with this right away, but now I’m ready to move on and get to work on my next project. I bought my wrecked SRT-4 back from the insurance company for $750 and began to disassemble it. I searched around for a replacement and found one for sale on SRTforums for $8300. Totally bone stock, 2004 EBlue Neon SRT-4 with a sunroof and vipers…sounds familiar, huh?

Now, this new car was for sale in West Virgina and I live in Las Vegas. I am originally from Ohio so I asked my Dad to drive and meet the seller, look over the car, and make the purchase. Once the deal was done, he took the car to the body shop where he works for some minor bumper repair to damage the previous owner told me about.

I then paid a transport company to deliver the car to me in Las Vegas. It cost about $650 bucks and took about a week.

And this is how “2NDTRY” was born…

I will continue to update my blog with my build progress. I’m transferring most everything over from my old car, in addition to some new goodies. Its going to be fun doing this knowing what I do now about the car.

I want to take a second to thank all my friends in The Las Vegas SRT Club that have helped me through this and turned wrenches late into the evening getting the old car ready for the scrap yard and will be turning future wrenches getting this car to a higher lever than my last.