02 neon sxt

I've been wanting to build my neon to make it somewhat competitive in its class for drag racing any ideas or any helpful tips would be much appreciated

Is it a drag only car or a daily driver? What class do you intend to race?

Assuming it's a drag only car, the best thing you can do is take out a ton of weight and strip it down to an ugly interior.

yay, finally another neon member lol.

^like he said, getting the weight down is one of your best options. how far you go with it is up to you. General rule of thumb is for every 100lbs you take out, you get .1 sec faster in the 1/4. were you intending on staying N/A or turbo?

I wanna keep the car as a daily driver. But I just want to make it alittle quicker just to go have fun with. I also have a turbo,5lb wastegate,exhaust manifold and intercooler and pipping. I just don't know which fuel delivery mods and the other components I need

you probably could do a piggyback system using megasquirt. i dont have much experience with it but i know its the best thing out there. you can run up to about 10lbs on stock internals fyi. talk to eric at ASP (aspturbo.com) for info, installation, tuning of MS. Hes the best!

Yeah ill take a look and see what's up. Also I'm really good friends with morgantowns own Andrew Kisner. And ask what he thinks. Also with 10lbs on stock internals I really don't trust going higher than 8lbs because my motor is getting old and neons tend to have trans failures. I may end up leaving the car n/a and selling the parts I do have.

Also have you heard of Neons.org that is the site I was banned from. I do not recommend them to anyone

oh yeah i've known about them for many years, i go on there, but not often. as you've seen too much BS over there.

chris hoopengarner wrote:

neons tend to have trans failures.

yes and no, they dont fail because of excesive torque or hp, its because a lot of times neon owners dont take the time and do a little preventative maintenance.
first of all if you havent already done so, drain the shitty factory atf fluid out of the trans. fill it with something like penzoil syncromesh, royal purple syncromax, or redline mtl. they are much better fluids and will extend the life of the syncro's.
second the diff pin on our trans likes to come out when used hard. (most failures come from this) install some diff pin saver tabs or weld the diff pin in place (dont weld the spider gears).
lastly, invest in a good shifter, namely a maddog (maddogsts.com) get one with a rod brake. this will prevent overshifting, which is hard on the block rings and shift forks in the trans. doesnt matter what reduction you get, just make sure to get the rod brake.

Yeah that's all they do is troll people. I was also considering making my car a daily driveable rally car. Then I realized how expensive it would be

chris hoopengarner wrote:

Yeah that's all they do is troll people. I was also considering making my car a daily driveable rally car. Then I realized how expensive it would be

Not only expensive, but it's patently unsafe to drive a car with a roll cage and not wear a helmet.

Well my car is indeed an auto it was given to me for graduating on time. I have been usingg castrol atf+4 I have no idea if that helps or hurts. My car is on its 2nd trans because my brother drove it before me and used the gear selector as a manual shifter. According to the company that replaced my trans "this trans is from a 6cyl stratus." Not sure if that's true or possible

Oh it's auto, nevermind my previous post. Yes the automatics kinda suck I'll admit, trying to throw anything more than stock power and they start burning up clutch packs and slipping. If you have the money first thing I'd do is a manual swap.

Hmmm Chrysler.... get a good team to help you and try a 440ci RWD reworking for it

kidding, kidding

Well a guy took a 1st gen neon and stuffed a mopar 540ci hemi in it I do not know how

I would like to eventually get the srt4 motor and the caliber srt4 6spd manual.


I always thought the srt4s should of been awd. Probably just because I love rally racing

i dont know of anyone that's tried to mate those two together, i'm sure there would be some issues with that, if its even possible.

Hmm you know what your right I think I remember someone saying the bolt patterns are way different.

My first purchase so is monza pacesetter dual exit catback I think I'm gonna order it nexxt week for when my car gets repaired.

Then I'm thinking about either a better trans or suspension

def go with trans man, you'll thank me later! its a bit of a pita to do but its worth it. if you need a parts list lmk

Is there anyway to make the auto stronger and more reliable without putting myself into a financial crisis that rivals that of our government

LMAO

yes there are kits to make them stronger, although i'm not sure where to get them as i'm not much of an ATX guy myself. i can get all the MTX info you could ever want though lol

im not gonna lie im not exactly quick on the stick so to speak

i wasnt laughing at you, i was laughing at the gov reference. i'll do some digging though for the atx rebuilds, stuff is getting harder to find for these cars the older they get.

yeah i thought someone might appreciate the gov comment also i was wondering if the r/t version of the a588 shared any similar engine components. like say the huge intake manifold and higher flowing exhaust

you mean s4re? thats the proper engine code

yes everything is compatible between the r/t and the base model

well i just found a way to increase horse power by 20bhp if i just get the larger intake manifold and larger throttle body and the higher flowing exhaust manifold. also getting the pacesetter catback soon. i was also informed that i should get new valve springs. but that will have to wait until i get car repaired and repainted