I have a (probably simple) question for everyone here. I have a 2004 sxt (ATX) and was thinking about doing some modding to it, starting with a CAI, as it seems pretty easy to install. I was looking around at various ones, which brought up a couple questions. As far as buying a CAI, is brand a huge deal? Obviously it plays some role, but if I were to buy a cheapy no-name CAI on ebay, is it going to be an issue for my car? Should I stick with an AEM or similar? I was noticing that a lot of people are making a "home depot" CAI, so I figured if that is ok, they a cheap as dirt ebay one can't be any worse haha. Anyone's opinion would be helpful here. Thanks in advance. Oh yeah, and one more unrelated question. I don't 'race' my car in the sense of a drag strip or anything, but I have ran it down the street floored sometimes. Is that enough trauma to mess up my tranny? I recently had to have the f'ing thing rebuilt because it would randomly fall out of gear and feel like it was in neutral, and then randomly go back into gear for a moment. Solenoids had to be replaced, as they were partly MELTED. Torque converter was also needing repair....And now I'm driving my car like a granny. I'v never heard of that breaking it so badly, considering it's not turbo's, and no preformance mods are on it...yet. And I don't know a whole lot about the transmission, more of an engine guy :P

 

Performance wise, brand doesnt matter for the actual CAI piping, however, build quality is an issue. The Ebay CAI's have several extra welds and are made of poor quality materials as opposed to the name brands like K&N and AEM. They also come with "universal" mounting hardware not necessarily designed for the Neon application, whereas the K&N and AEM come with every sinlge piece designed specifically for our cars. The K&N even comes with step by step isntructions with pictures for the beginners...The AEM is waaay overpriced at $200+ and the K&N is just right IMO at $150.00...

The biggest concern is the Ebay intakes come with unbelievably bad quality filters...if you do buy one of these Ebay intakes, the first thing you need to do is buy a K&N filter to go with it.


That shouldnt put any kind of stress on the transmission that would cause that kind of damage...my guess is you got a transmission with crappy internals, it happens from time to time with all car companies. Theres another user on here who has had his auto tranny replaced once or twice if i remember correctly...and then theres some people who go 100k-200k with no problems at all.

 

Right on. So I think I might just go for a brand name intake, or at least a crappy ebay one with a K&N filter until i want to invest the money in a brand name(i'm a broke biatch atm). I should have a K&N anyhow haha.Thanks for all the info

 

i made my "home depot" CAI. I have never had a problem..... I had a friend that had the k&n and i just made it from 3' pvc and modeled it the same as the k&n. Then just made some mounts. Cost me like $15 plus the k&n filter. The ebay ones are not real "cold" air intakes, they are just ram air intakes. Will make zero diffrence besides sound. I would say, save the money and buy a k&n, or if inclined make yor own!

and i am on my third tranny..... but i beat the hell out of mine!! When my wife was driving the car for about 6 months, it never had a problem! But they way i drive them it does not seem to hold up that well. When it goes the next time i am gunna put a MTX in and be done with the POS auto!!

Good luck modding and have fun!!!

 

My original trans. started slipping so I bought a used tranny. The used tranny was slipping like my original tranny so I rebuilt the used tranny. I'm familiar with the transmission problems. I was told that these Neons are bound to have transmission problems. You can't put regular transmission fluid in your transmission. There is a special transmission fluid for Neons so make sure you get the right one. On my original transmission I had it flushed at Jiffy lube "Crappy Lube" and I believe they put the wrong fluid in my car. That could have contributed to the failure of my trans.
Make sure you don't rev the car in neutral or shift the car like it's a manual.

 

good to know. sometimes to warm it in the morning i rev it up to 2 or 3k to get it warm before i abuse...i mean drive it. And I did not know they needed special tranny fluid. Hope the shop around the corner knew that when they rebuilt it, or i'm gonna be using that warranty of theirs. Is it hard on it to coast down hills in N and then go back to drive? I always assumed it would be hard on it, but my buddy told me otherwise. I assumed it would be bad going from the low RPM's of N to the normal of D. But I could be wrong.

 

Make sure you use ATF+4 as your transmission fluid...any shop wth a tech thats anywhere near ASE certified should know that much.