i have a 97 neon sohc base model for a dirt track race car. the clutch burnt out and trans is stuck in 3rd. Ive been thinking about putting an automatic in it. Nothing needs to be fancy. If anyone can give some advice it would be greatly apreciated.

 

don't do it, you'll be way slower. just get a parts car for another trans/clutch. there are some different transmission ratios so you can dial in your rpm for power. I found a ratio chart surfing the net to help out a guy. I can't remember where I found it a couple years back. Hunt around on Craigslist, post an add you're looking for dead neon's for parts car for your race car. you should be able to get a complete car for under $300, take the parts you need, sell the cat for $75-$100, junk the rest and be into a trans for free.

 

Welcome to the site. You can use a shift kit if you put an automatic in it. THe guys in the Neon section may be able to help you further,
FF

 

in oval track racing, you don't shift, you stay in the same gear all the way around the track. a shift kit will not work in this form of racing.

also an automatic has a HEAVY torque converter, this is also bad for circle track racing performance. in addition, the gear ratios of the automatic are not usually not acceptable plus you loose 10% of your engine power to torque converter slippage. anyway a manual trans is the way to go in a a ministock like the man is running.

 

sapporo- thanks a lot. so how can you tweak the ratios for rpm power?

 

there are many factors to dialing in performance.

need to know how much hp and at what rpm it peaks hp.

i set my gear ratio to I peak hp 50' before I lift. this can be accomplished by picking the right gear ratios and tire size.

neon's are limited to a couple gear ratios, if you can't achieve the perfect ratio, then you need to play with tire sizes. (your track rules often dictate that but if there's no rules then you have a lot more choices)

I'm not a neon racer but I've got a handle on the older FWD mopar stuff.

at one track I run a final drive of 5.19 with 13" tires (½ mile) and I'm turning 6700 rpm. when I run a 3/8 track I change transmissions to have a 6.34:1 final drive and I use 14" tires. this package puts me at 6800. My engine peaks 180hp at 6700. I'd like just a touch more gear on the ½ mile but I can't get quite the right gear.