Hi all, I bought my son Andrew who is 14 a 2004 Dodge SX2.0 (Chysler Neon to anyone south of the border) and turned it into a Hornet car at Saratoga Speedway in Cambell River BC. I need some tips on how to make this thing faster and handel better. I need tips that don't cost thousands but make a difference ;-) The car can not have a turbo or supercharger and no NOS. I tried one of those mass air flow chips but no good. I did however change the air intake and have ordered a set of lowering coils. It is a 4 cyl 5 speed.

Some help with tire sizes and what other wider rims I could go with would help. I am afraid to go to wide and have the tires rub on the struts. We went with 205 65 15's on the original alloys but that didn't work out so well. Any ideas would be appreciated. By the way his car number is 9 Hornet Class.

http://www.saratogaspeedway.bc.ca/

James

 

Well go with a 205/50/15 I had them on my old sxt and didnt have problem, plus the Nitto Neogens hook really good. As far as power, full exhaust, port and polish the head, a better intake manifold, bigger throttle body, a cam from either comp or crane and cam gears. Now for the air intake you have is it a tuned cold air intake or did you just put a K&N filter in, get a name brand cold air, injen works really good, 10 wheel horse power. Suspension the lower springs will help, also get some strut bars, they really help with turns, and upgrade the sway bar, and mount a rear one, the holes should be there due to the SRT haveing them. Upgrade the bushings, get a energy suspention master kit. plugs and wires always help out to, I liked the NGK's and had Magnacore wires, but you can get what ever you want. Course the really nice change would be take off the SOHC and bolt on a DOHC head from a 2.4L, then you can unlock even more power due to a better flowing head plus cams and valve train there are more options for a DOHC head. Can also get everything balances and blue printed but thats a bit of money. There is alot of options you can go to get more power out of these cars, they were very under estimated by all the import tuner manufactures.

 

MoparMatt pretty much covered all the basics...

All I can maybe add is Stiffer engine mounts to reduce the wheel hop.

Man, what a lucky kid you have there james, he'll owe you all his winnings lol

 

best bang for the buck are these, exhaust, head, and intake.. head is going to cost a little bit of money, and the motor mounts are also a good idea as well, agp makes them for the second gen srt, same mount as the reg neons, just the tranny mount is different.

 

Wow, now I have something to work with and yes I just went with a K&N style air intake. First tires then I will try and find a 2.4 head and work around that, followed by the sway bars and hopefully work my way down that list. I will get a couple of photos of the car and upload them next week. Thanks to all three of you guys and a special thanks to MoparMatt440. If any of you guys knows where there is a reasonably priced 2.4 head available please let me know. Or for that matter any used stuff Matt mentioned in his post.

James

 

By the way is there any interchange on the DOHC 2.4 lit heads? Will the head off a PT Cruiser or Cirrus with a 2.4 DOHC swap over?

 

well i did not read the specs of what the car has to have done, i know some of those types or races u have to keep stock engine, with stock head, but an easier way to do it is just build the 2.0 sohc. head, that is what i did and i do not regret it, cheaper and more reliable as well.

 

You are right dtjackten, the rules just say you have to use a motor thats right for the vehicle. So the DOHC was an available motor. But what did you do to the SOHC?

 

Same port work, cams with cam gear, and valve train upgrade if a company makes one, that Im not sure of. Suspension, check the SRTforum under the for sale section sometimes people upgrade their sway and sell off the stock ones, even the stock rear SRT one would help out a great deal, that with polyurithain bushings. So its a drop in k&n filter? Sell it and get a cold air unless the rules say you cant do this upgrade. The 2gen neons didnt come with a DOHC, only the 1gens did, so I dont think that would work with the class your in, unless its just neons in general, not dependant on the model year, if you can go DOHC just get one from the junk yard off a breeze or avenger, and have it checked out.

 

So they are interchangeable, the DOHC between all 2.4's?