I recently purchased a silver 05 sxt from carmax (only 9,000 miles) as a daily driver to school for the next 5 years or so. After searching google videos and youtube, I have yet to find a non-srt-4 neon with side exit exhaust, so I'm going to do one. The only thing holding me up is I'm not sure with what diameter piping to go with, either 2.25 or 2.5 in. I observed some of the catbacks you can buy for base neons are all 2.25 in, but some of the NA neons (usually cammed) on youtube are running 2.5 in. If I went with 2.25 in piping I would probably weld on a high flow cat to the downpipe to get a little better sound/throttle resonse. I plan on putting a magnaflow resonator in the first straight after the header, before the first 90 degree bend.

My major issue is I want to put the exhaust on without having to tune it/ avoid check engine light. If I have to make a slight mod like a cam gear or something thats fine, I just want to avoid any excessive spending.

The only other mod I have in mind is some lowering springs/ 1.6 in the front and 1.8 in the back to level it out, So clearence for the tip houldn't be an issue.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks for your time.

 

It can be done I think I have only seen a side exit on a few sxts and more on srt4s though. Like crystals pink panther srt4 she has a side exit. You should try over in the srt4 section on here they would know a but more than any of us seeing most of us have dual exhausts or single exhaust. I wanted to do a dual side exit to my sxt for something different but went with a borla instead.

 

Thanks, I'll look around the srt-4 section a bit. But I don't think I was really clear on what i was asking. I've done my research on how to build the side exit, so as far as tuning for the exhaust I don't think the srt-4 guys could really help there. I know that 03-05 neons have something that trys keeps the air/fuel ratio around stock when you mod one. I guess my question really is what the largest diameter exhaust can I run without moding the PCM or getting a standalone right away. I plan on a turbo, etc in the far future, but for now I just want to run it NA and get gas mileage out of it to save money for parts, so if I can run a 2.5 in exhaust now, I wont have to change it out when I put on a turbo. I've seen a few sxt's on youtube with "stock" srt-4 exhausts bolted on to them, but they aren't really clear on if they had to tune for the reduced backpressure (I think stock srt-4 exhaust is 2.5 in and alot of aftermarket ones are 3in+. So anyone running an NA 03-05 neon with 2.5, or even 3in exhuast with or without a muffler (which I doubt without since the cops would ticket you, neighbors would bitch, etc) I could really use your input, even if you are running a rear exit single/dual setup I would appreciate your help. Thanks again.

 

Well I have heard some neons do have back pressure with a stock srt exhaust and most either run them with or without the resanators. I did for awhile but than I had to get a glasspack to tame my srt exhaust down and now I have a borla with a glasspack. I loved the loudness of both the srt without anything and the borla was even louder. I dont have any back pressure and never did with the srt either maybe because I have a glasspack or I have an auto. Im planning on putting a hahn stage2 turbo kit in so the borla will help that out some.

 

I was originally considering a srt-4 exhaust, but I just like the way the side exit looks. If I can get my hands on a stock srt-4 though exhaust I might just go wth that.

You said you have a borla, is that the srt-4 borla with no muffler and the resonator, or is that the sxt version with the muffler and dual tips? By the way your neon looks badass. Did you paint the front grill black or is it stock?, I can't tell... I thought about painting mine silver, but not sure how it will look.

 

Simply putting on a side exit exhaust will not create problems. It's when you begin messing with emissions equipment on the exhaust system that you will have problems (think O2 sensors).

 

My borla is the srt one I got it from a guy selling his srt4 and he put his back to stock and sold it for 150bucks shipped so had to grab it . Also bought his acr seats for 300bucks shipped. Yeah my grill inserts were satin black now they are a red with specks but probably going to paint the inserts black with the red specks in the black. Also just painted some stock tails all red. I love doing painting in and out of my sxt. I think silver would be pretty cool for the grill inserts. Thanks for the nice comment about my sxt 05 neon.

 

Ok thanks. I think I'll try running a 2.5in side exit from the catback with a magnaflow 'magnapack' as a resonator and leave everything else alone. It should sound good enough but if not I'll weld in a cat or look at an ebay header or something. When I finish the setup I'll post some pictures. I'm trying to decide what tip to go with, which really makes the look, so I'll see what happens.

I think I'll get a spare grill from a junkyard and paint it silver to see how it looks, so if it dosen't look too great i can always change it back.

 

You can always paint the grill inserts you have on now silver and if you dont like it you can always paint it black .black looks awesome on any color . Sideexit will be pretty cool and look very different on a sxt.

 

I think the reason all the side exits are on SRT-4's is because they don't need to mock up all the noise reducing stuff... the turbo takes care of alot of the noise reducing... that's why the SRT rear section has no muffler.

I guess if you want to pack resonators and mufflers and all the stuff to reduce the noise in the section between the side exit and the motor, it will probably require alot of custom work.
..plus you said daily driver?... most side exits are pretty annoying for daily driving... if it doesn't get to you in a short period of time, it will definetly be annoying for other drivers... unless that's what you want to do... annoy others