Modification

Well I was just wondering, what can you modify on a Neon like mine (2005 SXT) without spending any money that will actually give you some sort of gain (be it performace or engine life or better fuel economy). Just something that I can tinker with for a little while and keep the boredom at bay. Thanks.

-Andrew

You need $ to go faster. I can't think of anything you can do that will give you more power for $0. OK one thing, next time you change the oil use Mobile 1, you will pick up about 2hp and there are other benefits. Oh, but wait, that costs money too. Save your big spending for a turbo setup ($5000). The '05 2.0l engine has 9.3 compression and is an excellent candidate for a 7psi turbo. If you add a lot of small parts like CAI, Headers, etc most of those parts will be replaced by the turbo kit and you will have wasted money.

Yep, it's true w/o spending money you aren't going to get much. About the only thing you can do is weight reduction, only mod I know that doesn't cost money.

There's a bunch of things you can spend money on to go slower (17" wheels come to mind). I know, start removing pieces from your Neon and sell them on E-Bay (that will make you go faster). Then use the money to buy things that give you more power (faster yet).

lol, I didn't mean no money at all, I just meant cheap. Trust me, I understand it's an expensive habit, but I also know that some basic cheap tuning can go a long way, power or engine life in mind.

Here are a few things that cost $0 that CAN make your car go faster, and alter it in the following ways:

Air intake: There is a water-bypass-box-resonator-thing at the very beginning of your air intake. It is mounted inside of the driver's-side fender. It is very bulky... it takes up almost a cubic foot and weighs a few pounds. It is also restrictive. It forces the air to U-turn over 120 degrees after entering a narrow hole inside of the fender. Bottom line, remove it and throw it away... this will make your intake/motor sound slightly louder (especially at lower RPM's) but it should add a couple hp max, and let the air enter through the fender with much less restriction.

If you want more speed and don't care about conveniences, you can always remove the spare tire and padding in the trunk, floormats, etc. The extra weight reduction will result in a lighter vehicle... i.e., slightly better acceleration and handling.

Go through the terminals on the battery, and all of the connections running from the ECU and ECM's and make sure they are clean and tight, with no dirt, debris, or anything between them in the connection. Sanding them and soldering the grounds to the car also provide better current flow... the more efficient current load to your ECU and ignition system can be good for an extra 1 hp or so...

If you do a lot of expressway driving, keep your tires around 36 psi or so... the less rolling resistance you have, the better gas mileage you will get. The ride may get a bit rougher, but overall handling isn't changed much on the stock tires... tightens up the steering response a bit too.

If you do a lot of highway driving too, run 89 octane instead of 87. When gas was $1 a gallon, the $0.10 difference meant paying 10% more for 89... now that gas is $2.90 a gallon for 87, paying $3 for 89 is only about a 3% cost difference... I have noticed that a full tank of 89 burned on 89 at highway steady speeds gives me about 41 mpg... compared to 37 mpg with 87... that's about a 11% difference in gas mileage. About 2/3 of the miles on my 04' SXT were done with 89 instead of 87 because of this.

$50 - After removing the big plastic resonator from the fender, compliment it by replacing your factory air filter with a K&N. The result is slightly better torque at lower RPM's, and smoother idle. Combining these two things usually adds 2-5 hp or so.

$100 - Remove the factory muffler and replace it with a better-flow aftermarket one... the stock piping on the Neon is actually very good, but the muffler is the most restrictive point. Replacing it with a high-flow straight-through design or Flowmaster or something will give you more tone, but add up to 2-3hp extra.

$35 - Mobil1 synthetic oil change with a high-flow oil filter. This will reduce friction, and add 2 hp or so and and extra 1 mpg on average (supposedly)... not to mention less oil changes, extra mpg, and better protection pays for itself in the longrun.

Hope that helps...

Yeah aside from the muffler I've done all those all ready. I appreciate it though. Thank you very much.

try a 3 foot spoiler and 300 lbs in fiberglass....oh wait....please don't !lol

lol I dislike my current spoiler... my car has the SRT Design package on it so it looks exactly like an SRT-4... I don't really like the spoiler too much though...

^^^Take it off and put the plugs on there.