I've just finished my first outing at the track with my stock '05 Neon SXT and I left wanting to do some mods. So I figured this would be an excellent place to ask.

I've heard I should prolly go with a CAI and Cat Back Exhaust first, but what manufacturers should I look into, where should I be looking, etc.?

What should I look for after that?

How hard is it to put a turbo on the 2.0L engine vs buying the 2.4L SRT-4 Engine? (is that even worth it?)

Anyhow, any help would be great!

 

Oh btw, here's a my track debut (I SUCK!!!!) this is my first manual car, my shifting is iffy and my starts were absolute crap sometimes.

Date Run # R/T 60' 330 1/8 MPH 1000 1/4 MPH
6/3/2005 1 0.692 2.517 7.112 10.941 64.25 14.244 17.010 81.73
6/3/2005 2 0.463 2.690 7.464 11.338 63.63 14.673 17.463 81.00
6/3/2005 3 0.211 2.654 7.498 11.405 63.22 14.755 17.555 80.80
6/3/2005 4 0.065 2.539 7.527 11.568 61.90 14.976 17.818 79.72
6/3/2005 5 0.241 2.694 7.541 11.474 63.21 14.837 17.656 80.15
6/3/2005 6 -0.249 3.137 8.040 11.984 62.74 15.367 18.198 79.90
6/3/2005 7 0.434 2.516 7.294 11.196 63.26 14.548 17.356 80.49

If anyone can glean any information from that to give me pointers on, feel free... I'll happily admit that I'm a newbie =)

 

Welcome to the forum.
U could start by getting an AEM or an Iceman Cold Air Intake.
Then an upgraded header and cat-back exhaust (borla is the best).

You could do way more upgrades to the car but, that's a start. If u want more steps beyond that I could tell u.
Check these sites out if you're not familiar with them.

www.howellautomotive.com

www.modernperformance.com

Of course u could fine more products on EBAY.

 

It would be easier to just turbo charge the 2.0L sohc instead of dropping an srt-4 engine cause u have to find the engine, buy it and then remove ur still good engine and replace it with the srt-4. Seems like too much work unless ur up to spending the time and money for it. Better buying a chill factory and beefing up ur engine with that. If you do that, you'll be able to keep up with stock srt-4's and then be able to tweak with it after too and keep up with suped up srt-4's.

 

Here is the ModernPerformance.com 2nd Gen Neon page, including an intercooled turbo and non-intercooled turbo, both made by Chill Factory.

Neon (00-05) parts

 

I started with a K&N typhoon intake that I purchased from ajusa.com. It is easy to install and comes with very detailed instructions. You also have a choice of four colors blue, red, silver and polished.

 

yea i have an 04 sxt with just intake and i ran 17.0 while spinning throu first gear

 

Oh, I'm sure some of you noticed (and I just wanted to make a quick comment) my fastest time was a 17.01 in the quarter... with my driver's side window down for 1/2 of the run and my A/C on the whole time (I shouldn't have staged before I was completely ready) which bothers me a lot. I suppose in the later runs I was overthinking it, but I should really take the car to a dyno and figure out the optimum shift points, etc... Anyone else with a semi-stock SXT give me some pointers about the shift points?

and as another side note, I do have a system in it, for those who like that kinda stuff =)

4x 6.5" RF 2-Ways
8x 1.5" RF Tweeters
2x 2" Diamler Chrystler Tweeters (Didn't notice em in the dash when I was installing my stuff, doesn't detract from the sound at all though)
2x 10" RF P2 Subs

1200wx4 Amp pushing the 6.5s and tweeters, and a 600wx1 amp pushing the subs (I need to change it out for a Memphis Audio/Kicker/RF 1000+w amp so I can get some more bass out of the subs, but right now, i really have plenty for my personal taste, so thats on the back burner)

Also have the doors sound proofed and going to do the trunk whenever i get some spare time and actually feel like putting it in

Alpine Head unit to top it all off (mp3/XM) so, I'm quite happy with the sound.

I'm kinda curious how much weight all that stuff added to the car though, and if that affected my times at all (or at least by any recognizable amount).

 

Wait wait wait wait wait, your tellin us that when u took ur car to the track, u had the windows down and ac on. Are you really serious about tuning ur neon or what? Windows down cause drag which causes worser times. AC will make ur engine run crappier and thus hold ur car back. I know because when i use ac, my car feels a little weaker and my exhaust backfire is reduced. Gotta think before dragging.

 

nonono... the FIRST run i had the window down and the AC on (because i overlooked turning it off, it's hot down here in LA) and the window was down so i could hear the guy at the track talking (rolled it up about 1/2 of the way through the run) the rest of the runs were done in normal conditions (windows all up, radio off (less pull off the altenator?), and A/C off) just wanted to mention that my first run was my best AND that stuff was wrong, and was very curious how that happened.