Vipercar93

lol at least the dog is trained =)

Oops, sorry - is neon a bad word? Quite like most of the SRT versions but never even heard of this one. Ever since having a hemi 300C rental car a while back in the US I've had a soft spot for the 300C SRT-8 but even though they're so cheap it's a car that really doesn't make any sense over here. You could say that No those big V8's drink fuel like water. Still can't beat the sound though. I am not best happy, spent over 2 hours this week calling stateside, after one of their techs said I needed to call in... Anyways I ended up with the manager on the phone when someone finally answered. The call lasted about 30 seconds... an email later with the uncorrupted tune all is well. Considering I had emailed a tech every day this week though this could have easily been done on Monday...

I'm impressed =)

NEON!? NEVER say that word Thanks =) Yes the unibody is the Neon. The suspension, interior, some body panels, engine, and transmission are specific to the SRT though. Makes for a cheap all around fun car. It came stock with no silencers in the exhaust and the way they did the tune it sounded like a rally car with all the snarls pops and bangs coming out the exhaust. In 2005 I could have bought 3 SRTs to an Evo and nearly 3 SRT's to an STI. Cheap fun at it's finest for a new car. Insurance companies like the car too since a lot of the body panels are shared across the Neon range, it's FWD and Dodge underrated the power output =) They claimed 230BHP, but in reality the car ended up with 230WHP or nearer to 260-270BHP. It shares the same turbo as some of the WRX models (TD04) but I think they reverse the turbine so they could cram it into the Neon engine bay. The engine is the same basic 2.4 found in the PT-GT, but with added oil squirters in the block to inject oil onto the conrods. The engine was designed as used as a crate engine for American Touring cars so it's pretty stout in terms of cooling. The turbo is oil and coolant cooled and there is an air/oil cooler mounted just before the oil filter. The radiator system is capable of handling the heat production of a car making 400+ HP. Put it this way the times I have been on the track with it my temps never crept above 205. The weak link is the transmission. They used friction modifier in the 04-05 model years to help keep the LSD quiet and supposedly the modifier eats away on the friction cone on the blocker rings which causes people to then take out syncro assemblies if they drive 'spiritedly'. The input shaft was turned down for some reason just past the splines so that tends to snap sometimes too. I think it was to help keep torsional vibrations down a tiny bit and help against shock loading, but I am not an engineer. I just know they break =( Upside is the T850 in the Voyager uses a stronger shaft. It's only FWD though, but for DD and practicality it's the way to go I average over 30MPG and if I am really nice on it can get 33+. Not too expensive Tony, just a lot of time! Will be a good weekend job, the transmission internals are accessible from the drivers side wheel well, the problem is just lining everything back up when you put it back together... The blocker rings/gear/springs will be less than £300 all in. The predator is a tuner tool that allows me adjust ECU parameters. In my case it allows me to adjust boost/fuel/spark and a smattering of other things like when the cooling fans come on. It also allows me to datalog knock and 200 other things that the ECU monitors/controls. It seems to help with mpg too. I have been really careful this week and I barely hit 30mpg, for the way I drove this week it should have been 32 or so.

I had my MOT this week... I passed! There was advisories on the headlights so I went and bought them along with the fogs. At the moment there is no plans to fix the front bumper. I just don't have the pennies and to be honest it's only cosmetic. I am much more bothered about getting the transmission 100% again. The blocker rings I am still waiting for the group buy to go through then it will be a cause of buying new syncro springs and a new 3rd gear. I am changing out my oil this weekend again. I normally use Motul 300v but had 2 gallons of Redline oil sitting around so I thought I would use it and shorten the drain interval a little until I switch back to the Motul. They are both ester synthetics so I shouldn't have to worry about too much. Thinking of cutting the balance chain assembly, but not sure. There will be more vibration and long term engine life might be affected. The predator still isn't fixed. Been trying to contact them all week but they are open the exact hours I work so usually end up trying to call them about 30minutes before they shut.. Going to try tonight and see if I get in... becoming less happy with this product. I have had it for 5 years though.

Yep =)

http://www.mopar.com/service/interactive-maintenance-guide/ A good basic guide for what you should be looking at during basic maintenance/inspection routines.

That's an understatement! The weather here is like playing Russian Roulette... with a fully loaded gun!

Yep they like to go in the winter =) More drain (not a huge issue) and it takes more juice to crank over.

Glad it's sorted =)

Ouch, that wasn't clever!

That must have been a large change in spring rate over the supplied rate . I could see that being an issue. Would even moving 1 or 2k down the springrate scale warrant this level of work though? Could their potentially be dampening issues if the springrates are changed significantly? Sorry to highjack your thread Fernando. Next time I will make a new thread =)

Hehe somebody was bored =)

BC offers a wide variety of springrates which can be changed on your order. I don't know how Tony works with BC, but when I ordered mine Stateside I could chose pretty much any basic springrate between 2k-10k, for a price.

I think I will just let it load for a bit, maybe that's the problem Sure you mouse over it and click

But it doesn't work!?

?? but they are reknown for their near on 50/50 weight distribution ?? the m3 maintains 50/50 by using a lighter engine which is set back slightly further Agreed but from my side of the fence there are transitional inertia issues when thrust is applied, the car washes out if it's not correctly weighted. Could that also be read that it drives like a tank? =) I hear of a lot of people using M3's as trackday cars. I think you might find that tire/fuel/brake consumption to be a bit higher than a lighter car, but it will be big enough to fit you in properly =) You can still have tons of fun in FWD, it's all in the driving technique. You won't be out there to set lap records, anything that turns, brakes and makes a lot noise you will probably be happy with. Pistonheads would get you a decent car. Autotrader is another option. Fleabay is hit an miss. Check the local flyers in the newstands, they sometimes have something nice in them. You are going to have to put out a little money on a decent car, if you get a £500 banger you might end up having to put £500+ in parts to get it track worthy. Like Liner did the MG's are a good option, they are hot potatoes and the parts are cheap. The MGs.. they use the K series engine?

Why did they make so many different sizes?! Haha. Ok thanks Tony.

I have an aftermarket immobolizer, they tend to be a bit power hungry. Cars with OEM immobolizers should last a lot longer. The alternator can read a bit low on idle, depends on how well the alternator is made and what rpm range it's meant to operate in efficiently.

I like my BC's =) Once Tony gets his hands on the car with BC's on it I doubt you would notice the difference between a Billstein setup and a BC setup Tony you referring to the BC's being able to adjust ride height without sacrificing suspension travel that you see with simple lowering coils?

Update: I was looking at getting a professional tune done for my car. Part of the process was to update my predator flash memory. Well during the flashing process it become corrupted (AGAIN!) so now I am stuck with my OEM tune... down a good 20-30 HP, 75 HP in the lower RPM ranges and lost a good 50 ft-lbs and 5psi of boost... not a happy bunny. Going to give them a ring to see if they can fix it over the phone. Otherwise it's off for an RMA repair... I got a quote for a full respray, £2200 drive-in drive-out, or £1900 for a pull the panels off yourself job. I asked them for a quote for just the front/rear bumper with a sill pull. They said around £600 but would have to come in to finalize the price. I did a price-up for new fogs/headlights. I can get them both shipped for around £170 so no complaints here!

If you have a bad battery it will alter your alternator charge voltage. Is this what you are referring to Gamith? 13.86 is right at the minimum acceptable charge from an alternator really. If the battery is charged it could be the alternator maybe? I know if you have an immobilizer fitted they tend to drain batteries really quick. If I have mine sit for more than a week or two I cannot start my car. I use a solar charger to trickle enough in to keep the batter topped up enough so I can still turn it over.

You could look at topping up the fluid in the battery, I had a battery that wouldn't hold a charge, topped the fluid up and it's perfect now. It's not for everyone though. You need de-ionized water and it may not work.

Nice =) Lookin good there, I like that green. It stands out but isn't gaudy. That run a supercharger and a turbo charger? Not bad for the price

Hmm, well I was thinking of a full spray job. I did get a quote for £2200 for a drive-in drive-out. This included pulling my sills down and rust treating them. Or they quoted £1900 if I pull the panels/lights/ect. off for them to spray. That's too much for me. I will see how much it will cost for them to spray the front/rear and then look into getting it detailed. The headlights and foglights are junk. The brackets on them have gone between hitting a rabbit and sliding into the house last year in the snow... I could get them repaired but TBH by the time I replace the dead LED's in them, get the bracket fixed and buff out the lens it's cheaper for me to buy new ones. These were $200 for the pair new...