greetings all... i just picked up a '98 neon 4door auto sohc for $250, it has 318xxx kilometers on it, drl's, power winders and locks, sunroof, no rear struts and no muffler...
questions, i have a few.. bare with me, im not a 16 year old ricer wannabe, i like to think that i have a bit of style in my older age and i do realize that you get what you pay for... i come from the VW scene so i know what things to look for as well as some of the brand names... have a friend with a '99 neon with a 2.4 swap and a gt35r turbo on it, its FUN!!

what kind of struts should i throw on her: or should i just get some racelands and call it a day after adding strut braces, tie bars and sways to it?

what kind of wheels would you put on it? ive been looking around at other OEM 5x100 wheels and i kinda like the way the z24 cavilier wheels look on one... thoughts? would consider some BBS's as well or the stock srt4 wheels..

the motor is a undesirable sohc, for now id just like to throw a header on it, a cam and a bigger intake.. good idea or bad? my friend has a t3 turbo setup for it as well... next winter i would like to swap a 2.4 in it from a pt cruiser and do a srt4 turbo setup on it, swap in a acr trans as well with a peloquin lsd and a short throw shifter and dual friction or stage 3 centerforce clutch...

the exterior plans are a foglight front bumper w/ 5000k HID's, projector headlights with 5000k HID's, z3 fenders, srt/evo? hood..maybe carbon fiber?, carbon fiber trunk without a spoiler, m3 mirrors, smoked taillights and marker lights, 5-10% tint on sides and rear window, 35% on windshield, id consider a full body kit but i really havent found one that i like, maybe a r34 body kit?

the interior is a hot mess, its one of the areas that im pretty **** about and wanna do it right. as for the dash, im gonna steal my buddies idea and run a custom triple gauge mount in the middle of the dash as well as getting the tach cluster as well as the dual gauge pod cluster surround. id like to put in some leather seats but if thats not an option, id like to do the srt4 seats as they look classy.

as for the audio, im a nut in car audio, ive already swapped in a decent alpine deck, 1 farad cap, jl audio 1000/1 amp and a 15" kicker L7... i plan on putting in a eclipse flipout dvd, dual JL audio or PPI amps, focal components with tweeters in a custom kick panel in front, mb quart components in the doors with custom tweeter mounts in the A pillars, and some mb quart 6x9's in the rear deck... may also try to put in some mb co-ax speakers in the rear doors if there is enough room. i already have 4 gauge wiring ran but im thinkin of running 0 gauge to distribution blocks, 14/16 gauge wire to all speakers and running 2 extra stinger batteries in the trunk.. should i do a higher output alternator?


id just like to know and hear of other enthusiasts thoughts and ideas of what i have planned to my lil beater, i can spend a bit on it but would ideally like to keep it around 4k after the motor and all, i do realize how much things cost and i do also realize that used parts can typically be had for cheaper and i do know how to do all work that will need to be done including assembling and dropping in a motor and transmission.
all criticism will be greatly appreciated! thanks for your thoughts everyone!!

 

Koni's are best unless you go to coilovers. Even just adding a stock sway bar to the rear helps a lot.

SRTs look nice and are cheap and plentiful.

The SOHC can be very fun if done correctly and got a bad name from the factory. The DOHC and SOHC actually dyno'ed close together from the factory. Pair the SOHC with a 3.94 stock tranny and you will see massive improvement. If you plan to go turbo, I would hold off on the header and cam and just wait as you can't use those later on.

I personally like the "sleeper" and debadged looks on my cars but to each their own.

Pull the seats and the carpet out. Dye the carpet black and swap in the front and rear SRT seats and throw in a 2nd gen console and parking brake.

I am not an audio guy at all, so no input from me here.

Welcome to the neon world and have fun modding.

 

I'm buying a 95 Neon and your post and comment has helped me make some interesting decisions. but I have a question: I'm having wavering problem with the idle and i think I should replace the throttle body and to check the sensors to my speedometer since it doesn't quite work. Any suggestions?

 

Is your CEL lit up? If so, check that first before replacing parts and/or sensors. Idle issue could be a multitude of problems that should be properly diagnosed before wasting money on parts that don't need to be replaced.

Given that, pulling and cleaning your throttle body is never a bad idea. There is a fair amount of soot on the bottom side of the butterfly plate that can be cleaned. Also pull the IAC and TPS sensor and clean up with a sensor/electronic safe cleaner.

 

Will-do. Thanks. My uncles shop is under cleaning. I'll let you know in about 2 weeks or so if your suggestion worked.