Hey everyone,
In the next couple of months I am gonna do some upgrading to my 2000 neon. I have 188k on it now and have owned it since brand new. I have taken really good care of it and never had any problems with the engine or tranny. I have the 3-speed auto and I put a modded valve body, cold air intake, and magnaflow exhaust last summer. I want to know if what I have on my mind will be a good idea or not. I was thinking about putting a better cam and new valve springs in, then do the bottom side of the engine with new rods and bearings, kind of a mild rebuild, along with a high volume oil pump. Then maby a better than stock head and matching head gasket. Then in the tranny put in new heavy duty cluth packs and bands that I saw on howell automotive made for the 3-speed tranny. Then lastly I will put on a header to complete my exhaust. Does anyone think that will be a good idea to extend the life and get a little more performance out of my diamond in the rough neon?

 

I do not see a problem with it...i would do it if u like the car and if the body is in good shape it would be worth the money to keep it around... it is kinda up to u though

 

I was just looking on Howell automotive site again and they sell a Master 2.0 performance rebuild kit for 2400 dollars. It pretty much comes with everything to rebuild and modify in one deal. I was also surprised at the 3-speed auto mod upgrades they sell too. They also have a High performance rebuild kit for the tranny. In addition you can get a flexplate and a phantom lsd to put into the 3-speed auto as well. So looks like the old 3-speed slush box can be made into a smokin box.

 

be careful with Howell. I have heard stories that it takes forever to get your parts from them.

 

you sound like me, love neons thru and thru... ive kept neons since i was 16, and im 22 now lol. i just bought a stage 1 clutch that hasnt arrived yet, after a few days of running it ill let you know how it works out.. sounds good that your rebuilding it too...

about the 2gn neons, i havnt had one very long, but the one thing that ive done for an upgrade that you ahvent already is a throttle body... you can buy the 60mm throttlebodies for them...

my 1gn neon, i put a throttle body on from an auto... the 5speed had .49mm and the automatic had .53mm.... im not sure if those are the exact numbers, but i do know that they are close, and the auto were bigger... i dont know for sure if those apply the the 2gn... but thats somethign i would check in on, and if it does and you got a spare one lying around or can get one for free/really cheap, id look into it.. hope this helps bro... if i hear of anything else ill let you know

 

howell is terible about getting parts to u fast.... go with modern performance and see what they have!! i have ordered from modern and howell, modern is way way better

 

i just got my 03 sxt. i'm looking to get some ideas on how to modify it.. thisis my first neon. thinking of converting it to rt or srt4 body wise. any body have any good ideas?

 

just look at a local junk yard or body shop to get the panels and just bolt them on, all that is differnt for the srts is thefront bumper. if u have fogs, make sure to get teh washer jug, (they r differnet) and the rest is just a bolt on....

 

im not completely positive about this but i think i read somewhere on here the SRT hoods are maybe 3/4 inch shorter, but cant really tell unless you are looking closely at it. but other than that everything else.. besides the washer jug and all that bolt up exact.

 

yup. if u have any second gen it is a bolt on, just with the 00-02 u have to change tail lights and headlights... to get the bumpers to it properly.....