O/T Dodge Neon

I have been looking for a "project car"/ gas saver for a while now. A friend has a friend how has a 99 dodge neon with 140K miles. All I know about this are is the engine will either have to be replaced or rebuild. I dont know whats wrong or what shape its in.
Does anyone have an experiences good or bad with dodge neons? I think it might be a good project car to swap the engine in.

Just thinking outloud

Thanks
TOm

I guess it would be ok just for a commuter car. IMO, the Dodge Neon is a rat trap. Just feels cheap, probably because it is a cheap car....

I have drivin a plymouth neon from 45,000 to 91,000 so far and it seems like a good car. I gave $4000 for it and it had air and was clean. It has been a good commuter car and I get 28 to 30 mpg if I drive the speed limit. My brother picked up an eagle talon for $300 which is a similiar car that uses the same engine as my neon. He put $500 to $600 more in an engine and other parts and has been driving it for a year or so. I would rather drive this than pay $10,000 to $15,000 for a new one to get the same mileage.

I bought a 95 from my son who had one sitting when he purchased some property. We were going to haul it to the scrap yard. That was six years ago when I thought gas WAS EXPENSIVE. I beat that thing like a rented mule, and the whole crowd can't believe what I can haul with it. I let the truck sit at the job site and run this thing back and forth. The only thing it won't haul is your pride and ego. If the women chase me, I know it isn't because of my ride, but it just keeps running. I haven't changed the oil since I got it because the thing did not value a oil change, and the throw out bearing made lots of noise. Throw out bearing is pretty quiet after about 40,000. Now I do regret not changing the oil, but still don't think it is worth it. Total of 200,000 plus and no need to add oil more than at about 10,000 or so each time.

There is little question--it is a death trap, and rides like there is no shocks. Other than wiper blades, gas, and a new set of tires, no expence at all. I double the value of it every time I fill up with gas. So far it has been a great car.

My other son bought a new one in 97, and it is used for a back up car. He refuses to sell it to me, and his has been taken care of, so I would love to take it off his hands.

I doubt if you can find one that has a working speedometer. Trick is to beat the dash with your fist real hard just right of speedometer. Windows will probably whistle at you, but sure gets decent gas milage.

Just bought and rebuilt one for my daughter who left for college.An ebay engine rebuild kit was $350 and included piston set,bearings,water pump,timing belt,oil pump,gaskets,head bolt and lifter.Parts are cheap plentiful good fuel economy and insurance is almost nothing.
We bought a clean loaded (pw,pdl,sun roof,ac,cruise,abs,airbags) 98 sedan for $400 with a bad motor.Put struts,brakes,radiator/hoses,belts and stereo the total was about $1300.
Liked the car so much I have another motor and 5-speed in the garage now waiting for clean body to become my daily driver 35mpg highway with a manual trans is common.With the price of everything that little econobox looks pretty good these days.

We bought a '98 Stratus new and it's still going strong. Still has the original battery in it. Getting ready to replace all the wheel bearings, a halfshaft and rear control arm bushings, not bad for 10 + years of good Service. Not any more deathtrap than a motorcycle or ATV.

Good Luck

We bought a '98 Stratus new and it's still going strong. Still has the original battery in it. Getting ready to replace all the wheel bearings, a halfshaft and rear control arm bushings, not bad for 10 + years of good Service. Not any more deathtrap than a motorcycle or ATV.

Good Luck

We bought a '98 Stratus new and it's still going strong. Still has the original battery in it. Getting ready to replace all the wheel bearings, a halfshaft and rear control arm bushings, not bad for 10 + years of good Service. Not any more deathtrap than a motorcycle or ATV.

Good Luck

I picked up a '97 Plymouth Breeze (little bigger than a 4-door Neon) actually I bought it to haul for scrap when scrap was higher. Turned out the engine ran good just needed a transmission.

I've got it running and on the road now doing fine it has the 2.0 Neon engine it's not really powerful but does ok.

Great gas mileage, we've been out of gas down here for 2 weeks, didn't bother me. This one has 117k I need to change the timing belt since I dont know the history of the car.

The car's are not real valuable any way but I can certainly see where you could buy one cheap and fix it and save alot of gas versus a new car payment.

The 2.0 and 2.4 Chrysler engines are notorious for head gaskets leaking oil. Find out if it had the timing belt break. If that's what happened, you can have the head redone and surfaced. Mopar has a spray on sealer for the gasket. Replace the water pump since it's driven by the timing belt. They are cheap and ugly, but efficient.

My wife has had a '98 Neon SOHC for 5 years now, bought it with 40k miles, now has 120k. We changed the head gasket, the new design doesn't fail like the originals. It's good on gas, nimble, simple construction, and cheap to work on. I recommend installing a front strut tower stabilizer bar. This stiffens the front of the car and dramatically improves handling.

The stock engine is a little under powered, but the SOHC engines have a lot of potential and can be built for a lot more power. DOHC are much more complicated and not ideal for the upgrades.

I have an '89 Cavalier z24 for a project car. It is much more powerful than the Neon, but I have to do 3x the maintence to keep it going.