GOAL:
To build a Turbo Neon the turns, stops and accelerates well without breaking the bank that I could continue to daily drive, AutoX and road course track day with no loss of the everyday conveniences like power steering, AC, cruise control and gas mileage. I wanted to have not the fastest car but the most reliable. Loud exhaust, solid mounts, rough ride, roll bars and batteries in the trunk are not acceptable to me. There can be no extra switches or gauges on the dash that don’t look like they came from the factory. My neon is my daily driver. I have other cars but it is the only one with insurance on it so I have to drive it. Oh-no!
VEHICLE:
A left for dead 1998 Neon R/T. The car was brought to a repair shop because of a broken timing belt. The owner never came back for it, so 2 years later my bubby bought it for $125. What a steal! Then at a road course track day I let him drive my Black 98 R/T and he rolled it 4 times with me in the passenger seat! So he gave me this car. He and I swap all the best parts from the black car. Hell of a guy, way to make things right!
I sanded and rubbed it out, paintless dent removed it, spot paint repaired all the dent and scratches that couldn’t be removed and paint the engine bay with base/clear.
With the car strip of parts I lifted it up with a HiLo so that I could power wash it, scuff it, and paint it mate black. To improve the cars looks I painted all the textured trim pieces base/clear black; cowl, appliqués wiper arms and the side mirrors body color. In the interior I added SRT4 seats and the only additional gauge I added is a stock SRT4 boost gauge that will be installed into the cluster bezel.
Just in case the wife gets mouthy!
Neon Engineering and Racing Development
Just because our neons are fast does'nt make us cool. Always remember that a neon will not get you laid
ENGINE:
Stock 2004 SRT4 engine with 1000 mile on it. I bought the motor and trans complete for $2000. It came with everything, belts, hoses, wiring, PCM (not used), axles, PS, PS line, AC, AC lines ect. I sold the trans for $1000 so the total investment was $1000 for the engine! I painted the Cam cover and the Intake base/clear silver
AGP WGA added
TRANSMISSION:
1995 neon 3.55
Quaife dif.
DSS stage 3 axles that need a rebuild (PT/Shadow axles are installed for now)
Stock SRT clutch turned down to fit with the neon trans and flex plat.
DRIVETRAIN MOUNTING AND ADAPTING:
I uses all stock (windshield urethane filled) neon motor mounts.
LEFT TRANS MOUNT insert is flipped up-side down to lower the trans.
RIGHT SIDE ENGINE MOUNTING is accomplished by using 1/8” plate steel with a threaded boss welded to the back side of it. Then, I bored a hole in the stock SRT4 side mounting bracket .005” larger to accept the threaded boss. The 1/8” plate steel is merrily there to hold the boss into the bored hole. Attaching the1/8” plate steel to the SRT4 side mounting bracket are (2) 10mm bolts that were drilled and tapped into the SRT4 side mounting bracket at the bottom and the existing 13mm bolts on the top. The entire load of the engine is taken by the SRT4 side mounting bracket, not the 1/8” plate steel; also notice the engine lift eyelet that was integrated into the 1/8” plate steel! (I wish to took more pix before I put it together)
FRONT ENGINE MOUNTING bracket had the two ears that bolt to the rubber engine mount cut off and new ones were welded on so that I could get the engine install at the proper angle. I measured 9 degrees on the flat of the cam cover on my buddies SRT4 and then I matched that angle on my car, drilled new holes in the ears and welded on the nut. It’s just like if it was stock! The SRT4 Inspection cover/brace that goes between the engine and trans had to be modified do to interference with the front mounting bracket. I cut of the front two bolt hole and those hole are now used to bolt to front engine mounting bracket to the engine and trans. No engine to transmission bracing was compromised.
POWERSTEERING:
I used the SRT pump, lines, cooler and routing. The A/C lines bolted right up to the neon rack and the cooler fit over the K-member like it was ment to from the OEM! One of the bolts holes in the cooled lined up perfectly to the bolt hole that used to attach the old PS line clamp to the K-member! I just had to drill one more hole in the bottom of the K-member to bolt the cooler down.
A/C:
I used the SRT compressor. The larger A/C line just had to be twisted a little so it would bolt up. The smaller line worked perfectly. To top it of everything the electrical stuff just plugged right in!
CHARGING:
I used the SRT alternator; however the neon PCM cannot control the voltage because it requires a crank signal. The problem is the SRT engine give a different signal so I used an external voltage regulator from a Dodge Omni and mounted it on the fire wall behind the right (passenger) strut tower.
CRUISE CONTROL:
I mounted the neon servo under the intake manifold so to would line up with the throttle body. Then I fabricated a double turbo PT throttle cam on to the stock SRT TB because SRT4s never came with cruise. I may abort the stock cruise and put an after market piece on it because the servo needs to see a crank signal. Again, the problem is the SRT engine give a different signal. TBD.
RADIATOR AND FANS:
Neon radiator was used and I was only able to use the right (passenger) stock fan because the left fan impacted the intake manifold. I will have to use go with an aftermarket on the left side. The fans are controlled by the MegaSquirt.
EXHAUST:
2.5” 304 stainless down pipe wrapped with header tape to an aluminumized True Bends cat back kit to a 304 Stainless Borla muffler to a 304 tail pipe.
INTERCOOLER AND PLUMING:
A way to small Treadstone (12.5” x 12” x 3.5”) TRV125. I will be replacing it with a big (25” x 12” x 3.5”) TRV25S The small one heat socks to fast on the road course
Pluming is 2.5” CX racing aluminum mandrel bent pipe that I fabricated.
First I cut a hole the left side of core support next to the radiator for intercooler pluming to pass through. Then the intercooler was mounted so that it is visible on the right side of the fascia opening and lightly blacked it out to hide it!.
BATTERY; To make room for the pluming I use a smaller SRT4 battery and battery cables and shortened the IceMan battery box. To hold down the battery I welded on ¼ 20 studs to attach the hold-down strap that I made out of a 3M sanding block and a piece of aluminum. The fuse box still hung over the end of the battery box after it was shorten so I cut and moved the mounting tabs over to get it out of the way of the pluming.
PLUMING; From the exducer of the turbo I could have used a 90deg coupler off the turbo to a 90deg pipe but I didn’t because I wanted the charge pipe to be easy to remove for serviceability. Instead, I attached a 2” to 2.5” coupler on the turbo, routed the aluminum pipe 180 deg down to the steering rack and come back up and connected the pipes with a 2.5” coupler. From there it routes up next to the cylinder head, around the battery tray, over the throttle body to the topside of the hole I cut in the core support. I placed the SRT4 rubber coupler hose on the pluming so that engine movement will be take up just before the point where the pluming passes through the core support. When the pluming passes through the hole in the core support, travel inside of the crash beam into the intercooler, passes down through the intercooler and exits. From the outlet of the intercooler it routes back under the crash beam to the lower side of the hole in the core support were it will attach to the rubber coupler hose that is connected to the throttle body. I welded the aluminum pipe directly to the inlet and outlet of the intercooler to reduce the chance of boost leaks. Very soon I plan to create mounts that bolt the pluming solid to the engine, making it move with the engine which will keep the pluming from rubbing anything. The intercooler side of the pluming will bolt to the core support so that it is not stressed from engine movement. The only flex point will be at the rubber coupler hoses that were installed by the core support hole. I installed the Air Inlet Temp Sensor in the pluming right before the throttle body.
AIR FILTER is mounted in front of master cylinder and is bolted to the strut tower so that the filter doesn’t move with the motor. Again, I don’t want any holes rubbed in the filter. The stock SRT4 bellow connects the filter and connects to the turbo. I need a neon cruise control air duct reinstalled on the hood so that it blows cold air on the filter.
FUEL SYSTEM
Starting from the tank I used the Walbro 255 with a Deyeme Racing non-regulated fuel pressure regulator that looks just like the stock one. The fuel travels to the injector rail though the stock line and exits the rail at the shradder port where an AN-4 line then takes the fuel to the 1:1 boost referenced Mallory 4305M Fuel Pressure Regulator that is mounted to the right (passenger) motor mount with a piece of aluminum. From the regulator I used another neon feed line, zip tied it to the other one to return the fuel to the tank. I used a Hahn racecraft style return into the fuel canister
ENGINE MANAGEMENT:
420A MegaSquirt from RS Motorsports. I was like the 6th or 7th person to get one!
GM electronic boost controller, controlled by MegaSquirt
Innovative wideband O2
Coolmist water injection controlled by MegaSquirt
Special thanks to DOMINICK MARINO (dmarino on neons.org) for his help with teaching me, wiring and tune the car. Dominick is one of the smartest guys I’ve met and at 24 years of age I just don’t know how he has managed to pack so much information in his brain. I was so impressed I had to offer him a job as electrical project coordinator at QEK where I work.
The MegaSquirt ECM was mounted under the drives seat with 1” spacers to keep the box off the carpet. Dominick told me a story of a friend that spilled a Big Gulp drink on the carpet drenching the ECM. All wires were sottered, and shrink wrapped with OEM sealed shrink tube (has glue/sealant in it). Tuning was so cool! The car kept getting faster and faster as we tuned it in.
BRAKES AND SUSPENSION:
The knuckles are from a base PT cruiser with the surface of the strut mounting flange milled down to accept the neon struts. I used SRT4 bearings, calipers, rotors and hoses. The neon steel lines had to be bent 90 deg to bolt up the hoses. The steel lines on the fire wall near the turbo were insulated with line insulation.
17”x 7” 2005 Turbo PT convertible wheels
215/40-17 Falken RT-615 tires
Stock R/T spring
Mopar 22mm rear sway bar
Prothane Bushings (not yet installed)
This picture is from when they were on my black neon
wish i could have been there for the MS install, but i was unable to attend =/
