Depends on what you really want to end up doing with the car. 8psi max stick with a 5 speed but if your gonna build it like crazy spend the money on getting a drag auto because you'll be shifting gears longer than your in them. Stick is all fun and games but auto is where it's at for consistency.

 

8 is safe stock but i wouldn't turbo an auto.just my opinion

 

Also depends what tranny you have in your car. Allpar has a chart that shows what all the different Neon trannies are rated for (torque wise). I believe the hydraulic one (from 99-02) is only rated for 135 some ftlbs of torque. And if you plan on using an auto go for the 03+ trannies which shift gears using solenoids(and also have a much higher torque rating). I've seen some sick setup's (not on neons though) where you manually shift the auto with a toggle switch for each gear (which runs the solenoid obviously). I'm not sure exactly how it works but I hear it's alot quicker then waiting for the car to do it itself.

 

+1 so you need a built trani to handle the built engine.