What's up everyone. I'm looking at mildly beefing up my 2001 Neon. Not really planning on going for the most super fast neon in the world or i'd start with a SRT-4 and go from their.... Anyhow, what I have to work with is a 2001 Dodge Neon ES. 2.0 SOHC. I'm wondering about turboing it mainly, the rest I pretty much know what I need/want to do with it. As far as turboing it goes, what do I NEED to get it to work, and then what should I get eventually with it. Obviously the #1 thing i need is the actual turbo charger. Assuming I have a completely stock 2001 Dodge Neon, and purchase a T3/T4 turbo for it, what other components do I HAVE to have to get it on and working. I'm not "sure" if I need the BOV/intercooler/turbo manifold/downpipe/external wastegate/fuel management etc etc.... If anyone can give me somewhere to start i'd greatly appreciate it. On top of that, would anyone reccomend purchasing a used turbo from eBay? There are a few that state they have a bit of "shaft play". What exactly does this mean, and should I steer clear of these completely or are they repairable? Thanks in advance.


Mike

 

First off, I dont know if the 2.0 SOCH will be able to handle the added pressure, dont quote me on that cause im not sure. Second Off BOV is only if you do not want your turbo to lose speed between gear shift, therfor reducing turbo lagg to just take off. A BOV is not a neccisty for a turbo engine, even though it may really help. You may need a down pipe because of the increased air flow, but once again, it just helps increase power. A intercooler may be need because the increased heat generated by the friction genrated bt the turbo, but it is mainly used so that you can get more air into your engine by cooling it down, and we all know that the cooler the air the less voulume that air takes. You probly need a new fuel pump because of the increase of voulme of air entering the engine, you still need a healty Fuel to air ratio so you do not start to mess up your engine. And I don't thing that a neons current fuel pump can keep up with the higer demand. Other than all of this I do not know, It allways best to refer to the dealer and the dealers recommendations for putting on mods like this.

 

The stock engine can handle it just fine (at least to to some point). I'm not a turbo expert by any means, but you might want to consider just buying a complete kit which has all the components you need. It would probably be the easiest way to go for you since piecing your own kit together would be difficult to do if you don't know a lot about it. You might want to take a look at hahn or chillfactory for more information on turbo kits.

 

I am going to second that, go with a kit. Unless you know what you are doing building a kit is gonna be hard. But if you do you are gonna need a turbo, turbo exhuast manifold, down pipe, waste gate, down pipe, BOV, injectors, fuel pump, oil lines, cam, valve springs, the intercooler would be nice. Now the stock internals will handle about 300hp, depending on how much boost you want to run, new internals might be needed. Both hahns and chillfactory have good kits w/ intercooler for around $3500.

 

A SOHC engine will handle roughly 275hp without issues. You can get away with 300hp but plan on doing some internal mods soon. A stock ATX (Automatic Transmission) can handle about 300hp.

As far as "Shaft Play" you are going to want to stay away from anything with those two words in it. You are also going to want to stay away from about 90% of turbos sold on Ebay, I found that a lot of turbos sold on Ebay are not what they are advertised or listed to be.

Shaft play is self explainatory, it refers to the shafts that runs between both the turbine and compressor wheels. If the shaft moves a lot you may have problems. You can rebuild a turbo but 9 out of 10 times it is not worth it. Especially if it is a small turbo.

The parts you WILL need are as follows:

Turbo
Manifold
Down-pipe - connects turbo to the exhaust
Wastegate - allows the use of a smaller turbocharger to reduce lag while preventing it from spinning too quickly at high engine speeds. It is also used as another means to regulate boost by allowing the exhaust to bypass the turbine blades if they are spinning too fast. Which is a sign of the pressure being too high, the wastegate allows some of the exhaust gases to exit the turbo so that the blades can slow down. Boost Spikes usually result in B00M!! Which is a bad thing.
Fuel Management which includes: Fuel Pump, Fuel Injectors (You will want 24# injectors), Rising Rate Fuel Pressure Regulator (Cartech or Chill Factory), Fuel return line, and a high flow fuel rail (this however, is optional).

You will also WANT and NEED the BOV. Deadeye, what a BOV does is relieves pressure when you are not under boost. When you slow down there is still residual pressure in the intake charge and generally, if there is no where for that pressure to escape to it will backup into the turbo itself and will occasionally result in the destruction of your turbo. On a low boost vehicle a BOV isn't necessary, but it is a great thing to have as preventative maintenance.

Other things you will need are:

Oil Lines (Return and supply)
Cam Shaft, a SOHC will benefit from a Crane #12, 2001 Magnum Cam or a Crane #14 for boost. Those are the most common cams used in turbo applications but I am sure there are other cams as well. I personally have the 2001 Magnum Cam.
Valve Springs, again, either Magnum springs or Crane springs. (I happen to have the Crane Springs).

YOU WILL NOT NEED VALVE RETAINERS UNLESS YOUR STOCK RETAINERS ARE WORN, BROKEN OR NO GOOD.

Other things you are going to want are an EGT (Exhaust Gas Temperature Gauge)
Boost guage
Fuel Pressure Gauge
Oil Pressure Gauge

You will also want a Boost Controller.

The Intercooler is also optional but again, a good thing to have. When air is compressed, it heats up which results in it expanding which in turn increases the pressure. The gol however of a turbo is to increase air molecules and not necessarily the pressure. And intercooler looks like a radiator and functions like one. WITH ONE EXCEPTION: instead of liquid flowing through it and air on the outside of it you have air inside of it and outside of it. The intercooler works by cooling the air that comes out of the compressor on the turbo as it enters the engine. In a perfect world this is how the intercooler works:

A turbo producing or running a pressure of 8psi runs through an intercooler which runs 8psi of cold air over the fins of the IC which in turn lowers the temperature of the pressurized air inside the IC before it goes to the throttle body.

If you plan on building your own turbo kit there are a few things you are going to need to consider.

A smaller turbo may be cheaper but keep in mind, it will generate a lot more heat than a larger turbo therefore forcing you to make internal modifications to your engine. Heat has a tendany to destroy things at an accelerated pace. Whereas a larger turbo generates much less heat due to it's size, it can better dissapate the heat better than a small turbo. With a larger turbo you can run higher boost (8-10psi) and make less internal changes to the engine (generally, a cam and springs that are needed.) A larger turbo doesn't mean that you'll never have to change the internals of the engine to forged components but it just means that you can run on stock internals until you feel the need for more boost. Eventually, you will want to upgrade the internals in either case.

But, as it was said earlier, building your own kit requires a lot of time, research and some knowledge of how a turbo works. For that I suggest http://howstuffworks.com for basic information and then to really educate yourself I highly recommend "Maximum Boost" by Corky Bell. It will show you how to design, build and test your own turbo as well as explain the basics and teach you in depth how a turbo functions, works, and produces power.

Even i fyou decide on buying a premade kit such as a Chill factory or a Hahn I also suggest the book Maximum Boost.



Both Chill factory and Hahn do make awesome kits, CF imo is much better than HRC but it's generally personal preference.

*EDIT*

If you plan on building your kit I do not recommend a performance PCM (Computer) such as an AF/X or a Mopar. You will want a stock computer or a standalone.

 

Thanks alot for that info. I think i'll likely keep the car stock through the winter and just save up the $3500-$3700 and get the chill factory kit. And then in the spring i'll go ahead and get to business on work on my car. I saved that whole post as a .txt doc on my desktop for reference. Thanks again for all of the info [8D] Anyone on these boards currently have a 3 speed auto turbo setup? I know apparently (from what i've read) the 3 speed handles the turbo nicely but i've heard mixed arguements from people. I know that a stock 2.0 sohc with the 3 speed auto is quite a bit less spunky than the same car with a 5 speed manual transmission...

 

Damn Nick..

Go write a book or something.

lol

 

For a turbo a built ATX is the best choiche for the reason that the gears are longer and there is less tubo lag, it stays in gear longer. An ATX has 3 gears a MTX has 5, hence more shifts and more time to spool back up, but its a personal preference. There are more upgrade available to make an ATX stonger than a MTX.

 

Just wondering which you would reccomend....

K&N Dodge Neon 00-04 SOHC Fenderwell Cold Air Intake WC

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...928781171&rd=1

or

AEMs Cold Air Intake

http://www.modernperformance.com/dcx/2k_aem1.jpg.

there is about a $100 difference and both seem good. Has anyone used the fenderwell ones on their neon? Thanks for some info.

 

K&N hands down. The AEM imo is garbage.

What arguments are you hearing about the 3 speed ATX? I'm curious.

And the 3spd ATX on the SOHC is a very good combination. It's actually got a bit more tourque than the ATX DOHC.

As far as manuals go, if you compare the final drives and the ratios the ratios are ALMOST the same, the MTX is a little better but, like it was stated already there are a lot more shifts with an MTX which in turn actually loses power since the turbo will never reach full boost. The gears are short, hence the 2 extra gears so when you take your foot off the gas to push the clutch in the turbo starts to slow down, then once you put your foot back on the gas it begins to build boost. YOu lose about 20-50% of boost with an MTX where you barely lose any with an ATX since the ATX is constantly in boost fromt he time you turn the ignition on to the time you turn it off.