Neon SRT-4 Tuning Potential

[Repo Man]

Now before you guys go crazy on me, I don't like Neons. However, I've read a couple articles on the new Neon and for those that don't know, it's really damn fast from the factory. It got me to thinking, which I do every now and again, where would one go from here tuning-wise if one were to buy this car?

Consider: It already has an FMIC, no mufflers, 14psi boost from the factory, etc.

Where to go? Maybe gut the cat, cold air intake, couple more pounds of boost and then what? Any thoughts? I wonder how much boost it could take before blowing a head gasket on 94 octane.

[redrocket]

I would loose the exhaust manifold with the intergrated turbo and put a seprate turbo and manifold not one single piece and go for more boost

[Cold_Zero]

If the 240 has the SR20DET swap, would the Neon have the SRT10 swap?

j/k

[chrispy]

that neon does sound pretty fast. i think we are going to have another "Civic" thing happening with it.

[UncleBen]

i would like to have that kinda power, but think about it. its a neon. why would you want a NEON in the first place? i mean people are going to buy this car, run the crap out of it, and wonder why they blew a head gasket at 20k miles. people will also have to know how to take care of a turbo'ed car to make it last as long as they would want it to. i bet most people out there have no idea what to do. to be honest, i don't know what all you really NEED to do, but i know to keep the oil changed frequently, and stuff like that. alot of pepole now a days dont change the oil hardly ever. and they wonder why their car starts runnin like poo.

[MaineExport]

that neon does sound pretty fast. i think we are going to have another "Civic" thing happening with it.

Yeah... but THIS neon is actually a sports car from the get-go! The civic is still just an economy car, Dodge has taken the neon one step further. I would take this neon over a Civic anyday.

[TrueSlide]

I have to disagree there, a neon is not a sports car nor will it ever be one, its just a quick family/economy car. I do not consider it sports car due to the FWD it posses and how can you put a fwd drive car in a sports car class with our 240s, mr2s, camaros, s2ks and the other great beasts in that catagory. Sports = RWD

[MaineExport]

I have to disagree there, a neon is not a sports car nor will it ever be one, its just a quick family/economy car. I do not consider it sports car due to the FWD it posses and how can you put a fwd drive car in a sports car class with our 240s, mr2s, camaros, s2ks and the other great beasts in that catagory. Sports = RWD

Well, if you want to get all technical on me, the only cars in YOUR list that qualify as sports cars are the MR2 and s2000 (definition being a 2 seater). The 240sx is a sports coupe or hatch. I'm just saying that THIS neon is designed as a PERFORMANCE car, and that is what I should have said originally. Sorry for the ambiguity.

For the sake of clarity:

Sports car literally means a 2 seater, not RWD.

[jEzTeR]

MOPAR! The first mod will be a motor swap after the first one blows!LOL I saw a video of this new neon (with some mods I think) smoke a stock Viper on a 1/4 mile track.Ill look for a link to it after I post.No doubt the car is fast but will it last and what kind of quality does it have as far as interior?

[Stoneage_Turbo]

The 1991 Lotus elan is sports car in every sense of the word , but its front wheel drive and will outhandle the neon or the 240 anyday....

Dont mean to be a arse but in the automotive world there is always a exception to the rule ...

Just because something is front drive doesnt mean it cant handle equaly well to a compareable rear drive car....

Some much FWD hate ooozeing out of that 240 camp

[TrueSlide]

For the sake of clarity:

Sports car literally means a 2 seater, not RWD.

Agreed

jEzTeR, seen the video, the big difference there viper is stree legal and i doubt that neon is.

Stoneage, I never said a FWD couldn't handle, there are lots of FWD that have good handeling, and the mini cooper is a FWD that can handle. I just don't consider a FWD car to be sports, they are not as fun, sure a lotus will be fun due to the fact its a lotus. Iam just a person that doesnt consider FWD sporty.

[jEzTeR]

Quote »jEzTeR, seen the video, the big difference there viper is stree legal and i doubt that neon is.[/quote] Yeah your right. But you'd think a neon wouldnt have a chance against a stock Viper no matter what they did to it.LOL Just pointing out that the modification of the new "super Neon" is going to still be out there. I remember when Ford made a Focas that was as fast or faster than a z06.It took over $100,000.00 to do it but hey. BTW I couldnt find the video.

[Mayhem_J30]

does the new neon have an all new motor or is it the same old thing with boost? if it's the same old motor then it's not worth it because it was rental car junk! I went through 3 neons in one week once. Problems with the motor was all I had though. Every thing else worked fine. and for the price of the new one...i may just be fun if you could stand the UGLY!

[AZhitman]

My buddy owns Bell Acura here in Phoenix. He says they (Acura) have replaced literally hundreds of engines (nationwide) in the new RSX's due to blown motors... He described one that came in last week on a hook - Had 1200 miles on it and a rod through the block. Kid says all he did was downshift from 5th to 4th.) More like 5th to 2nd). Acura's been pretty cool about it, but aren't doing more than 1 engine per car - They've drawn the line. He says it's killing their profit margin but his techs are rolling in the overtime... BTW, he also says last quarter was the lowest sales quarter for Acura in eight years.

[Mayhem_J30]

My buddy owns Bell Acura here in Phoenix. He says they (Acura) have replaced literally hundreds of engines (nationwide) in the new RSX's due to blown motors... He described one that came in last week on a hook - Had 1200 miles on it and a rod through the block. Kid says all he did was downshift from 5th to 4th.) More like 5th to 2nd). Acura's been pretty cool about it, but aren't doing more than 1 engine per car - They've drawn the line. He says it's killing their profit margin but his techs are rolling in the overtime... BTW, he also says last quarter was the lowest sales quarter for Acura in eight years.

is it really because kids are buying them up and abusing them or are they actually low quality?

[AZhitman]

I choose to believe the former. I've always known Honduh engines to be bulletproof for the most part. There could be a design flaw that we're not being told about, but it's doubtful.

[redrocket]

i would not doubt it if it was low quality honda knows the acura market has skyrocketed what not capitalize on that make the same car use cheaper parts and sell for a little more price wise.

The new neon is a 2.4L with an exhaust manifold and intergrated turbo the FMIC is to attempt to cool that air being compressed but when everything is intergrated do you think it is going to be worth a damn no.

The old neon pushed somewhere around 130-150 this pushes 215 with 14psi is it just me or does that sound odd to ya'll

[Repo Man]

i would not doubt it if it was low quality honda knows the acura market has skyrocketed what not capitalize on that make the same car use cheaper parts and sell for a little more price wise.

The new neon is a 2.4L with an exhaust manifold and intergrated turbo the FMIC is to attempt to cool that air being compressed but when everything is intergrated do you think it is going to be worth a damn no.

The old neon pushed somewhere around 130-150 this pushes 215 with 14psi is it just me or does that sound odd to ya'll

Well, it may just be underrated if we are to believe the dyno test SCC did. They got 223whp.

[redrocket]

so what would that horsepower be at the crank

[Repo Man]

so what would that horsepower be at the crank

245-250 or so?

[redrocket]

thats sounds about more like but 215 is just wrong but still i would lose the intergrated ****

[Cold_Zero]

Chrysler is coming out with a Turbo PT Cruiser. Wonder how it will match up to the Neon?

[jEzTeR]

I stoped by the Dodge dealer today to get more info on this RT-4 Neon. They wont be getting to the dealers till like june or july. They did have a 2.4l turbo PT Cruser with the FMIC.The salesman I talked to had no clue about turbos or the specs on the neon or PT. He did let me take the Cruser for a ride. Its ok, the one they had was an auto(auto-stick) but was pretty fast for a bread box.The motor compartment is very tight and hard to get to anything due to the size and shape of the front end. The MOPAR also had some quality issues IMO. BTW the PT was 25,500. and about 215hp.

[johnpoppy]

i think the body styling really looks pretty good, plus its a nice four doors, well i think its nice

[PalmerWMD]

For the money it's a lot of car...

As for it's tuning potential.It's obviously maxed out.yes you can dial up the boost but that should be detrimental.

Also I believe our site should be more about the love we haev for our cars rather than hatin' on other cars.

Fred...

[wingzero]

I personally hate neons, but dodge might be onto something here. I think if the aftermarket community embraces it, all us non-Sr20 guys might have a problem on our hands. As long as everyone doesn't rice the hell out of it, it might actually be a decent car. But It'll never take the place of a rwd, if I wanted a fast fwd I'd do more work on my civic. I just wish nissan had the cojones to bring out something like that (within that class, 350z excluded).

[Repo Man]

For the money it's a lot of car...

As for it's tuning potential.It's obviously maxed out.yes you can dial up the boost but that should be detrimental.

Also I believe our site should be more about the love we haev for our cars rather than hatin' on other cars.

Fred...

Just so you know there, CPT Palmer, I didn't start this thread to hate on the Neon. I just had the thought that it may not have much potential left, as most of the streetable hp/tq is already dialed into it from the factory.

For a moment disregard your feelings toward Daimler-Chrysler and Neons. I think it's very cool that they're turboing (is that a word?) American cars again. I give Chrysler credit for that and actually using their concepts for more than eye candy. Hopefully, GM will follow that practice now that Bob Lutz is there. We'll see. I'd also like to see more factory turbo cars come out.

Turbos are kewl...:ylsuper

[redrocket]

Repo GM motorsports has a supercharger kit for the cavaliers and sunfire they just don't put them on the cars stock for now. I have also heard that they might be coming out with a special edition sunfire with the supercharger on there. I agree with wingzero we non SR20 guys are going to be hurting after this stuff comes out

[Repo Man]

Repo GM motorsports has a supercharger kit for the cavaliers and sunfire they just don't put them on the cars stock for now. I have also heard that they might be coming out with a special edition sunfire with the supercharger on there. I agree with wingzero we non SR20 guys are going to be hurting after this stuff comes out

Maybe so, but J-cars still suck quality wise. There are several supercharged cars in GM's lineup but I was referring to turbos. IMO, turbos are better than blowers. Far less parasitic drag and they're "on standby" for when you need them. That's another thread altogether though.

Yeah Red, we need to do something about the power thing. Cold_Zero and I had this conversation last night. He's contemplating either doing a swap or just buying a WRX. Pros and cons either way. Have you any thoughts on that?

[redrocket]

thats a rough decision personally I would go with a swap.

1. I don't have the cash flow to buy a new car2. I just don't like the tought of having 5 clutches in a car like the wrx has it has one for the transmission and one for each wheel3. Boxer style engines are *****es to work on4 Its tough to find a good mechanic to work on them (around here at least)