My 97 Plymouth neon is a real dog off the line. Just seems gutless, once it gets up in rpm it pulls great and seems to have decent power for a 4 banger. It previously broke the timing belt which is why I bougt it for a fixer uper. Did all the valves, timing belt, idlers and tensioner, and all new gaskets/seals from the head out. Idle is smooth and throttle responce is fine. Friend thinks I may have the one of the cams retarded a little bit, but I sincerely doubt it, I tripple checked the cam timing. It's got the automatic so I'm guessing that's part of the reason it's a little gutless from zero. I'm new to 4 cylinder cars so I don't expect it to run that good, but my buddies 1.9L saturn (standard trans) will spank the **** out of my neon... So mainly the question is are all the auto neons a little lacking in the power department off the line in stock coniguration, or do I have something messed up?

Thanks in advance...

 

Do you have a dohc or sohc ? The Dohc has 150 stock( suppose to) I forget what the Sohc has but its not 150. getting spanked by that saturn had to suck. but back to your question, I think the neons are a little sluggish when it comes to line launching, I wondered that same thing my self and started looking into mods to fix it. for one there is a weight issue. all neons don't weigh the same, mine is heavy and pisses me off, thats why this summer when I get rims im going to get light weight ones, you could invest in pulley, autobody valve those would help out don't underestimate a 4 cylinder, especially a neon. If you set your car up right, you can really kick some tale, simply putting on a turbo can kick some tale, look at the SRT-4 that has hella power and its only a 4 cyl

 

the neons power band thingy is around 3000rpm so thats why shes a lil sluggish, i have an auto neon that spanks v6 grandams from a rolling start i never really race anyone (street) from dead stop because of the lack of power 500-3000rpm

 

Ok that makes me feel a little better. Mine's the DOHC, but then again so was the saturn... This thing doesn't seem that heavy, if I grab the rear wheel well I can pick a tire off the ground and scoot it around the shop where I work. It's 100% stock, and runs great once it hits a little higher rpm. Thanks for the replys, and if you got any more suggestions on how to get some more low end and/or milage out of it keep em comin. Thanks

 

I would like to see that. They are a light little car, but are still around 2800 Lbs. Anyways the ATX neons are pretty bad with low end power, depending on how much money and time you want to put into the car there are things you can do to improve low end. A cam or PCM would probally be the cheapest and best upgrades to start with.

 

the saturn is made out of alot of fiber glass, my best friend has one and recenly had a little fender bender. but his fender didnt bend it broke! surprise both of us, we took a magnet around the car and some information off the net found out that most of it was fiberglass, so i suggest a tranny swap i just did one( i hate the pedal bracket) and my neon really suprized me on how it performs

 

The ATX Neon is not worth the time or the effort. A manual is the only one worth having. MTX is such a better car over the auto.

 

ATX has ~30% power loss, compared to ~15% for the MTX. That's a huge amount, even for a little 2.0L 4-banger.

The ATX cars are only supposed to rev to 6500 rpm to protect the torque converter. The DOHC has a peakier torque/HP curve than the SOHC, and most of its useable power you'll never see (the 150 HP rating is at 6500 rpm, which you'll only see for a split second). That's why the DOHC ATX's are the slowest Neons ever made (0-60, 1/4 mile). Put in a 5-speed, put in a PCM that let's you rev to the intended 7200 RPM (7450ish with the Mopar version), and that Saturn isn't going to be a problem.

I can't figure out where everybody get's their info saying the Neon has very little low-end power. Compared to what? A 5.9L v8? Well, duh! Compare the torque figures and curves to other similar engines of the times - Acura Integra, VW Golf, Honda Civic, Saturns, etc. The specific outputs of the Neon are definitely better, and the Neon (particularly the SOHC) made a LOT more torque a LOT earlier. That's one of the reasons it was so dominant on the autocross course (that and the suspension) for the first 5 years of its life.