TristateNeons

If I deceide to turbo out my car, will I have to change my internals if i run low boost? ex. Pistons, Rods, Piston rings? or will it be a better Idea to try to get more horses out of a N/A motor for less money? ex. Headers, Performance computer, hi-flo cat, larger tb and larger piping?

You're going to spend a lot more building an all motor setup that produces the same power as a turbo. I don't know a whole lot about turbo setups, but I'm pretty sure you can keep your stock internals as long as you don't add too much boost.

I would definitely go turbo if you have the funds, ask Vinny and Jason about it, both of them will have more info about turbo setups than I will.

What are your goals (HP or 1/4 mile times) and how much do you plan to spend? N/A is MUCH simpler, but won't be capable of making as much power as a turbo setup with both using the stock bottom end. N/A also has the potential to cost a lot more for equivilent power levels.

You can definitely keep stock internals with turbo, dunny from Middletown ran 9psi on a stock 80k mile motor with no issues. He did not have any sort of HG spacer or anything to lower the compression.

bottom line: You can get low-13s to high-12s on a turbo DOHC with stock bottom end for under $2k. I have not heard of anyone getting those kind of times N/A with the stock bottom end. If you don't want the added hassle and would be happy with running in the low-14 to high-13 second range stay all motor. Also, I would highly recommend against having a turbo Neon as a daily driver.

I am speaking strictly in 1st gen DOHC terms here, I can't remember what type of Neon you have off hand.

2001 Sohc (thats my car on the sig at the bottom.) So it'd be easier to go turbo, Bc I have the turbo and turbo manifold from an srt in my garage, I just need the adapter and an intercooler with hosing... :'( I just started a new job makin about 400 a week so....

Yeah I'm not sure on the 2nd gen stuff, most of it should carry over. I'd say with the SOHC you'd most certainly be better off going turbo. I'd look into running an SRT IC, not sure if you will be able to use any of the SRT piping though. You will probably also need a Walbro pump with the "spoolboy mod", a rrfpr, larger injectors ('03 SRT) and a return fuel line, unless you wanted to go with a Megasquirt system. I'd also highly recommend some sort of oil catch can setup, and with wideband 02 gauges as cheap as they are ($250ish) it would almsot be silly not to get one.

I'd avoid the headgasket spacers some people run, yes they do offer a broader tuning window but off-boost performance will suffer.

Let me know if you need any more help, also read up as much as you can on the neons.org Forced Induction forum, and possibly on 2gn as well. It's a pain to learn all the stuff and it can be a bit overwhelming at times as I have found first-hand, but overall it should definitely be worth it in the end.

That thread makes me think that 2nd gens have a weaker oil pump than the 1st gens. They say to upgrade th oil pump, but I have never heard of a turbo 1st gen having any sort of oil pump issues.

Its a hard decision right now bc I want to turbo my car but for now I do want to build it up all motor, just to have some fun with some of the MANY Honduhs..... lol out here, If I could at least pull 170 to 190hp would make me PRETTY happy out of an all motor neon, but I was also thinkin of doin like what jason did and drop a 2.4l turbo into mine when I get the proper funding.... so this new job that I got will help me with that.

Have you thought about doing a N/A 2.4 swap? You don't see that much in 2nd gens, but it can be done and is good with the bang-for-buck.

youre right, thats a good idea, you dont see too many 2nd gen 2.4L

I dont' think I've ever seen a 2.4L N/A 2gn. It'd be nice but I dunno how easy that would be. I've seen many 1st gens but 2nd gets are a little different since there is more in the way of electronic mumbo jumbo haha.

I say either buy a turbo kit like the Hahn setup or SRT swap... the SRT swap will give you better numbers since the stock bottom end on the 2.0L can only take about 250whp max before it starts to want to fly apart. SRT swap will also give you access to a lot of the srt aftermarket.

2.0L is nice, sounds great with the crane 14 or higher but you'll need to bump up the compression so either some new bottom end which then you may as well have the crank balanced.... shave the head some. Then port out the head, intake, pickup a long tube header, UDP, few other things and you'd be getting up there. But the key is still to bump up compression, if you get it too high the PCM will start hinder performance, thats when you'll need the AFX pcm but I wouldnt' buy that piece of shit from howell to save me.

N/A is nice, you'll get more respect since it takes a lot more work to do it right and will cost more.

Turbo is just about the easy way out anymore but it's cheaper while still putting down some good numbers.

Diablo0 wrote:I dont' think I've ever seen a 2.4L N/A 2gn. It'd be nice but I dunno how easy that would be. I've seen many 1st gens but 2nd gets are a little different since there is more in the way of electronic mumbo jumbo haha.

The Howell 2.7L car is one, that may have had a standalone though, which wouldn't really be a bad or expensive way to go. I can't recall a specific car off the top of my head, but I know it has been done.

ever heard a really big NA 4 banger at wot? mmmmmm. i had a 79 plymouth arrow jet when i was 16, i bought it from a guy who raced them or something, it was a collection of parts cars thrown together to make a few bucks... anyway, his "race car" (i was 16, so i didnt know what kind of racing he did) was pretty cool, it had the NA mitsu 2.6l (i guess it was the same as the turbo motor in the Starion) that was worked over SBC style, bored a little with oversized rings, balanced, hand worked head and a bunch of other stuff i cant remember. it ran 3in straight pipe that dumped under the car with a turndown. when i picked up the 'Jet (it was orange with a black hood and hatch) he showed it to me and started it up. it loped like a V8 with a fat cam, you could feel it in your chest. a couple weeks later i stopped by to give him his license plate back and he was getting ready to take it somewhere and had it ready to go on a trailer. i said "do a burnout"... and he proceeded to rip up and down the street a few times at full throttle. ill never forget to sound, it was different from anything ive ever heard, kind of high and metallic, but bass-y at the same time. it made your head hurt.

someday maybe ill buy another turbo dodge with a 2.5 and bore it to an inch of its life and see if i cant replicate it somehow...


oh, the race 'jet was carbed also, running a 4 barrel Carter i believe.

OMG I would LOVE to have an old Plymouth Arrow, so impossible to find a clean one anymore. And in orange? drooooool.

But yeah, if you don't have the loot for an SRT swap I would consider doing someing different and put a NA 2.4 in that thing.