Neoru (AWD Neon)

Neon

The finished product, 3.5 years of hard work.

Day 1 of the build, Sept 19, 2019, both cars run and drive.

The cut down 1999 Subaru Forester. I bought this car with front end damage for $300.

What’s left of my faithful 2000 Neon, it served us very well for 8yrs, now time to take it to the next level.

Starting to fit the Neon body onto the Subaru platform

In the shop now that the big pieces are moved around.

Had to shorten the body and rear doors to match the shorter Subaru wheelbase.

This is just an example of how rusty the Neon had gotten and that’s why I chose this direction to salvage it.

The trunk area lined up nice and I also added some structure.

The Subaru had platic moldings for it’s rocker panels, this wasn’t gonna work for my needs so I built new rocker panels using 16 gauge and thick wall pipe.

I added the Subaru roof beam and also beefed up the perimeter of the roof structure. Neon’s were lacking in this area so I felt the need to improve that since my family will ride in this car. 

Had to relocate the Neon fuel door to match the Subaru fuel cap.

I beefed up the front frame rails to handle my snow blade.

I joined everything with spot welds just like a factory car.

My fog light recesses, I went with some really nice Aux Beam yellow fog lights.

Bracket for the fender, it mounted totally different then the Forester fender.

PCV tank, the EJ25 has 3 breather hoses, this links them all to the intake.

Had to move the car out to clean up and shuffle other cars.

Exhaust recess, the exhaust is all custom and high clearance.

All 4 strut towers are heavily reinforced and lift added.

Rear strut towers wrapped in 18 gauge x2.

The Neon body has a lot less overhang at the rear and didn’t have the room for the original unit.

I incorporated the original screens and filters from the Subaru unit.

I built a fire extinguisher quick release mount out of a piece of used ABS pipe.

EJ25 boxer engine, with the custom exhaust and intake it does 0-60mph in 8.0 seconds, much faster then a stock Neon or Forester.

If you wanted to find flaws the interior is the place to do it, but I knew that going in, it’s not my area of skill and I knew things wouldn’t match up perfect. This was a high trim Subaru and the interior was very nice so the seats and dash are very nice, just the Neon parts don’t exactly match up perfect. It’s not a show car.?‍♂️

Parked next to my custom Mercedes in front of my shop, it’s a proud moment for me.

Hauling a load of garbage to the local transfer station, pulls a small trailer really nice.

Neon

Neoru (AWD Neon)

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