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Death Of The 420a?

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BLACK'98DSM

5+ Year Contributor
4,450
1,889
Feb 9, 2019
Alabama
Why has the amount of members with 420a's died down over the years? A while back this site seemed about an even split between n/t and 4g63 members. But now this site seems dead anyway, especially on the n/t side of things.

Think about it. They produced way more of the n/t cars (base, RS, GS, OZ) than they did the GST/GSX. I remember reading on Wikipedia (i think) that only 3% of the cars were turbo. And 1% was the GSX. Don't know if that is true or not but either way, what happened?

Did all the horny teens beat the shit out of them? Did everybody burn them up in racing? Did they all go to the crusher?
 
I highly, highly doubt that 1% of total DSMs were GSX. I would guess that there are more 4G63-powered DSMs than 420A, if anything.
They are old cars without much resale value or performance potential. They fall into disrepair, they get recycled. The circle of life.
 
I have to agree... I bought my 420a parts car for $170.

They are cool looking, but because they dont have the same power potential, people generally dont bother with them.

As for the forums, I am not sure they were ever anywhere close to 50/50. But, they still may be thinning out...
 
The price range that you guys have is not the case for me. I paid $1000 for my car. And it was in terrible condition. To find a GST in terrible condition for less than $1500 is a rare occasion.

It's odd how the GST/GSX is more common than the n/t? Either way there used to be a wealth of these cars and the owners could be easily found. But that's not the case any more.
 
The price range that you guys have is not the case for me. I paid $1000 for my car. And it was in terrible condition. To find a GST in terrible condition for less than $1500 is a rare occasion.

It's odd how the GST/GSX is more common than the n/t? Either way there used to be a wealth of these cars and the owners could be easily found. But that's not the case any more.

I saw an n/t for $300 a couple months ago. I thought about buying it for some body parts but passed because I didn't want to deal with it.

The fact that there is not a lot of upside to the platform and they are becoming much older and harder to find parts for. It's a whole lot easier and cheaper to go different routes.
 
that is unfortunate! Have you joined any cross-platform forums for cars that also use a 420a? Thinking neons...
No, not really. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that this is the only forum that I still use. It's not really that I need help or anything, because my 2 hands and my brain do most of the work here LOL. But it just sucks that I can't have anybody to really talk to that can relate. And also that parts are pretty scarce. Especially performance parts. I think the market for 420a performance parts is so small that nobody wants to produce them anymore, and the places that sell are selling old parts for ridiculous prices.

And if I'm not mistaken, the Neon has a SOHC 8 valve, and has a different transmission. I've also heard that some of the Sebrings had the 420a, but I can't find any useful info about that.

I probably should have named this thread "Death Of The N/T's" because it seems like most people buy these cars just because of the turbo, or the AWD. "Oooh, a 90's car with a turbo? Let's buy it!" O can imagine that LOL. I bought mine because it was solid, cheap, reliable (once fixed), and because before I bought it I never remembered seeing one in town.
 
No, not really. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that this is the only forum that I still use. It's not really that I need help or anything, because my 2 hands and my brain do most of the work here LOL. But it just sucks that I can't have anybody to really talk to that can relate. And also that parts are pretty scarce. Especially performance parts. I think the market for 420a performance parts is so small that nobody wants to produce them anymore, and the places that sell are selling old parts for ridiculous prices.

And if I'm not mistaken, the Neon has a SOHC 8 valve, and has a different transmission. I've also heard that some of the Sebrings had the 420a, but I can't find any useful info about that.

I probably should have named this thread "Death Of The N/T's" because it seems like most people buy these cars just because of the turbo, or the AWD. "Oooh, a 90's car with a turbo? Let's buy it!" O can imagine that LOL. I bought mine because it was solid, cheap, reliable (once fixed), and because before I bought it I never remembered seeing one in town.

The SOHC Neon was a 16 valve engine, and many DOHC versions were made too (Sport, R/T, ACR coupe). The Neon forums died too.
 
I remember when I joined the site back in 2010, it was a bee hive. New posts and threads every minute. All car forums were busy. Nowadays a lot of activity seems to have moved over to social media, like facebook. I had FB for a while but deleted that crap a few years ago. It was handy to communicate with certain people, organize events, and the new marketplace looks good, but I couldn't stand everything else about it.

But DSMs in general, whether talking about activity on this site or the ones you see on the road or available to buy, have slowly been disappearing. They're all crashed, crushed, or hidden away in a garage, n/t and turbo. It's being whittled down to a die-hard handful of fanatics. So long as Luda keeps at it, I'll be on this site though.
 
Hey budy I should be getting my 420a soon and I’m always here lurking if u wanna chat, I’ve been borderline pestering this guy for my eclipse, we are waiting for the mechanic Lien to come in the mail saying that he’s the new owner before I send him my 200$$ for the car. It was towed from an abandon lot and never claimed, runs and drives and has very little rust, I wanna restore it and then turbo itttt!
 
Why has the amount of members with 420a's died down over the years? A while back this site seemed about an even split between n/t and 4g63 members. But now this site seems dead anyway, especially on the n/t side of things.

Think about it. They produced way more of the n/t cars (base, RS, GS, OZ) than they did the GST/GSX. I remember reading on Wikipedia (i think) that only 3% of the cars were turbo. And 1% was the GSX. Don't know if that is true or not but either way, what happened?

Did all the horny teens beat the sh** out of them? Did everybody burn them up in racing? Did they all go to the crusher?

Did you really just join in Feb this year? Just curious as to how you noticed it previously being more heavily loaded with 420a's than now.
 
Did you really just join in Feb this year? Just curious as to how you noticed it previously being more heavily loaded with 420a's than now.
I've been watching the site for longer than I've been a member. But beyond that, there is this beautiful thing called the search function that shows threads from all times and members. LOL
 
To be fair, pretty much all of the information you need is already outlined on this site or another. There is very little 'new' ground that needs to be covered, since product development stalled a while ago for the 420A. You can easily take a build as far as you want to go with the knowledge that's already available.
 
I have an N/T. :thumb: :dsm:

I still see a bunch of N/T Eclipses come across my Facebook feed from DSM groups too.

Maybe we should buy some DSM Tuner stickers, slap them on our quarter windows and help spread the word about this amazing resource? :cool:
 
Maybe we should buy some DSM Tuner stickers, slap them on our quarter windows and help spread the word about this amazing resource? :cool:
I really considered it, but I hate having a car full of stickers. And plus if nobody around here has a DSM then I would be doing no good.
 
Years ago there were big enthusiast followings online for almost every car out there. That doesn't seem to be the case these days unless the platform is really popular, especially for older cars like these - most people who own an N/T DSM likely see them as nothing more than a basic mode of transportation. Not very many people modifying them.
 
402A here, but I haven't modded mine. I think many people on here are right, most people don't see any value in bothering to tune the base engine. Mine is running great still, but probably has a warped engine so might not be a good candidate for slapping a turbo in it or anything like that. I've looked around to see if anyone is even selling these cars within 100 miles of me and there's nothing out there. I think maybe the only reason mine is doing well is because it was just driven as a commuter car all its life and wasn't rode hard. This car has been in the family since 01 so I know it's been taken care of.

I'd love to restore it simply because it's getting more and more unique, plus it's easier to work on than new cars. But idk if it's worth it. Husband sees too many dollar signs to fix something with relatively low mpg and HP/torque when we could get a newer car for less with either good mpg or good performance (I can't practically own an electric where I live) Maybe it'd be better to sell it to someone who wants to tune it and have fun with it.
 
If you look at the car scene in general, the newer generation of car people want new, tunable, and “flashy” cars... the people who love the 90’s cars, especially the DSM are getting older, having family’s and such and being more “responsible” (for what that’s worth). And the kids out there are all wanting “status symbols” such as the Camaro, or even the ridiculous 4dr chargers ‍♂️ They don’t understand anything other than “oh, it’s new and popular, so I want it”
 
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