Hey there, I'm new to this forum. I've had my '99 Neon sohc for about a year now and I've done a few things to it. The question I have is that I just ordered a mopar performance PCM and I was wondering if there were any other changes that I might need to do after installing it, such as wider gaps on my plugs or anything of that nature? Any help would be appreciated

 

Intake (air) and exhaust modifications are the most cost effective way to go...your gap will depend somewhat on your plug choice...see your owners manual and/or the sticker on the inside of your hood....amd welcome to DF!!!!!!![sm=smiley20.gif]

 

Welcome to DF! =-P

 

I've already got a CAI and Exhaust, I was just wondering if I would need wider gaps than with stock after putting in the PCM. Thanks for the answer and the welcome

 

Your PCM should adjust to your engine, not vice versa....so you'll be OK if you've checked the gap recently...

 

Cool, thanks again Like I said, I've had the neon for about a year now and it's kind of a learning experience for me as far as performance upgrades go. I just now put on a 52mm throttle body from an automatic and I must say I felt a huge difference in power and response which is nice since I only got the part for $30 So far I have no complaints about the car, but I must say I wish I could afford the SRT-4...

 

It's a no-win situation, you'd be doing the same thing to your SRT-4 as you're doing to your present car....just have fun and enjoy!!![sm=smiley4.gif]

 

lol that's true, but sooner or later, whenever I come into a good chunk of money, I'd like to put a turbo kit on this car, would've been nice to start out with one not to mention the almost 100hp more from the get go

 

Welcome to DF! The best mod you can do to the SOHC is a Crane cam for it. After that the Indy intake manifold would liven it up a great deal.

 

Ditto from Roadrunner. don't bother with the first step #010 cam--it's practically a stock replacement for what you'd get out of it. But the #2 . . . oh boy. Now THAT you will feel on the top end.

Just so you understand: the PCM advances the ignition timing and some can potentially flow more fuel (by holding the injector pulse for a longer duration). The PCM isn't going to up the voltage going out of your coil and down that spark wire.

There's a few things you can do it you want to actually get MORE spark. First of course is get wires with less resistance. There are several 7, 8 and even 8.8 MM wires for the SOHC. I ran 8.8 for a while but was getting interferance and so switched to Accel 7 MM and spent only about 27$ for those. Second, you can change the ignition itself. If you're not dealing with California smog then you can get the Digital ignition kits (for some fair amount of $$) or use the MSD 6A style ignitions (multispark at lower revs). The 6A I used on my Jimmy required an extra adapter for tachs on Neons, but on my GM it did not. It was about $125 or so and it made a difference. I'm not so sure I could "feel" it but I noticed it climbing hills, starting (old engine with a lot of miles) and actually obtained another 1 to 1.5 MPG on average for the first 30,000 miles of use.

Good luck with all your mods.