1st Gen Neon RT questions...

[Aptiva]

Hello guys new to the forums here. I've run across these boards a few times researching for my buddy's Dakota 5.9 R/T so I figured I'd join up and see what I might learn.


I'm about to start building a 1998 Neon R/T and I have a few questions. Mostly looking for recommendations to be completely honest. I am looking to build on the standard a20 motor that came in the car, but I'm a little lost in certain areas.

I know that I want it boosted, preferrably with a Hahn 16g turbo. I know that I need to upgrade my pistons, rods, crank, and cams. I plan on doing 3 angled valves. So this leads me to my question...

Which brands would probably be best to build this car to 10 seconds, street legal in Florida, with a tight budget?

[Sgt Craig]

Je pistons,Crower or Eagle rods,Crower or Crane cams.Crank isnt neccesary.A Hahn 16g wont support enough power to run 10's.Need a Super 20GH or N or larger Garret.

Welcome to the Forums.

[Aries_Turbo]

i wouldnt focus on brands if you want a 10 sec ride on a budget. :) at least as far as turbo setups go.

heres my recommendations....

header... get one of the cheap tubular ones from ebay. JT (badassperformance) has one on his ShelbyZ im pretty sure and he is running 10s. id do some bracing on it before installing it to make it more reliable... like some 3/8" rod welded from the turbo flange to the head flange to better support the weight.

turbo. Holset HE351VE VGT..... guys are having great results from this turbo on 2.0L DSM/EVO's. full boost before 4000 rpms, cheap, reliable and make awesome power.

bottom end.... eagle rods and JE pistons are a good combo and somewhat reasonably priced.

head studs.... youll need to run ARP head studs and the stock or cometic gasket to keep the engine sealed. some say that you cant use standard ARP studs for the motor as the washers and nuts are too small, compress into the aluminum of the head and then the head lifts. darrell cox racing sells upgraded studs but his prices are outrageous. amoparacer on here is looking for some cheaper options for studs for me. ill let you know what he finds out. racerstev and len ayala have had great luck with 1/2" studs (larger than stock) keeping the head down at the 650-700 hp level.

block.... the neon block isnt as strong as the 2.4L block. you might want to fill the water jacket partially with hard block and you will want to strap the bedplate between the main studs. machine the bedplate flat between the main studs and machine blocks of steel with holes in them to slide over longer main studs and thicken the area under the main bearing area. take a look on darrell cox racings website for pics of the modification.

cams.... i wouldnt bother on the initial build. maybe later but you should be able to get into the 10's without them.

ECU.... megasquirt all the way. :) id do a nice MS2 setup, maybe even the MS2 sequencer to get the sequential injection setup. does florida still have no inspection? if so, leave the neon ecu in there to run the gauges and other stuff but have the MS completely control the engine. you are going to need some large injectors.... like 95lb-120lb units. probably 120+ if you want to run E85.

fuel pump. bosch 044 or walbro 255lph with the bypass valve defeated and possibly 2 of them in the tank. youll need a regulator or 2 with a large return line back to the tank.

trans.... youll need a beefy clutch and a OBX/Quaife differential. might want to have the gears and shafts cryo treated or something to strengthen them.

axles.... the stocker are not going to hold up. sorry. might want to look into driveshaftshop units or find a local machine shop/gear/shaft shop to take a set of 300M CV's and make a set of shafts that will fit your neon.

oil pan. id get the moroso or OBX baffled pan as it has provision for oil return from the turbo fairly easily. plus it will control the oil well when cornering and stuff better than the stock open pan.

youll also need to fill your motor mounts with something hard (poly, windshield urethane etc) and buy or make a solid bobble strut.

intercooler. largest and flowiest thing you can fit up front. ive seen some where they cut the front bumper support to get the cooler to fit well and then ran the piping inside the bumper support. looked to work quite well and kept the majority of the bumper support intact for safety.

you will need to add a rollbar to the car too to be legal at the track.

welcome, good luck and have fun. :)

Brian

[shackwrrr]

have a friend that just traded for a 1998 R/T with a haghn super16g. along with the eagle rods and JE pistons. All I can say is "when it runs" it runs good. make sure you do the right thing and use something like megasquirt or bigstuff. If you cant make room in your budget for a good ems then I wouldn't do it. Don't try to get by with a RRfpr and a map clamp it doesn't work.

[jl93sundance]

Might be cheaper to do a full srt 2.4 swap (engine/trans,wiring,etc) and then upgrade parts as needed from there to get to your goal.

[cordes]

Might be cheaper to do a full srt 2.4 swap (engine/trans,wiring,etc) and then upgrade parts as needed from there to get to your goal.

I was thinking the same thing. Either way if you are doing it on a budget, I hope you like looking at it sitting in your garage if you plan on doing everything once. Otherwise, just put something together and do upgrades as you go.

10 second capable out of the gate is a lofty goal, especially on a budget.