Hello, i'm new to the forum. Now try not to laugh too hard when i say this, but i just bought my first car, a 96 neon that need some work... the funny part... i'm 23 years old and won't have my license until june of 05.... it's a long story of why i am not driving already... if people actually give a damn... i'll post a quick version at a later date

Anyways, the reason i am here is because i want to figure out how to improve my car's performance, The exterior is not important to me, if anything i'll just paint it black, but i am more about what can go under the hood to make the car faster, handle and perform. the car, from what i know, is a 1996 neon sohc 2-door, with 80,691 miles, 5-sp manual... the engine needs work on it, but my brother is actually doing it for me, he bought me the car, since he's going to teach me to drive, since none of my friends will

Any extra info on the car can be found here for prolly the next 60? days: www.ebay.com auction #: 7963655144

I'm by no means made of money, but here and there i can afford maybe a few hundred dollars to the car. I do know that i like a car that can perform, off the line speed and acceleration... I don't need the fast and the furious style 10 gazillion dollar parts.

And i know nothing of cars, i know they have a front, and a back end, and the damn wheels spin... so if you do give me advice, i thank you in advance, but please for my sake, beyond the part, let me know what it does, how it helps and where i can find it, since like i said... i'm very uneducated in the dept. of cars, but i plan on changing that. Thanks to anyone who helps


Brent

 

Try searching and reading some of the old posts, that will give you all the information and answer most of your questions. If you have any questions feel free to post them.

 

are you stus brother??

 

In my opinon:
brands are up to your preference and money

1st mods-
Cold air intake
Cat-back exhuast
Good plugs, MSD 8.5mm wires

2nd mods-
Suspension drop
Cam
Performance PCM
Throttle body
header
Motor mounts

3rd mods-
Turbo
NOS
port and polish
engine internals


If you have any questions PM me or post some questions. That is just an idea for you. There are alot of things you can do with these cars, and they can be real fast with some time and money.

 

yeah, i'm stuarts brother.... and he said the most important ratio i need to look at is dollars per horsepower... which i know he is right, and like i said... i don't need a super fast car, just decent pickup and good gas mileage

 

caspers way is a good one. follow that and you should be ok.

 

well, as you wil quickly learn..that $/HP sooner becomes VERY small..its hard to go by...when i started racing the mriada...i could spend 40 bucks on an air filter, or buy better cheap tires and go 2 tenths faster..now, if i drop 500 on a torque convertor and pickup 2 tenths...im amazed...

 

I agree also with casper especially suspension before hp. If your car can't handle the hp what good is the power? But one thing I would change is doing the porting and polishing in the second stage. Also what I did differently was get the MSD blaster coil with the wires.

 

The stock coil is just as good or better than the MSD. The only real reason to do it is so that you know its new and good.

 

I also put in the PCM in first. The more you put into your car the better the PCM gets because it starts to react with the parts. It did seem like it made my car run funny at first, but I never had a problem. I've had it in for almost 10,000 miles. In my opinion the very first thing you should get is a short shifter. That was the most incredible difference: from the stock one to a B&M, also I had gotten the booger racing bushings with it.