Neo My SRT4

I saw this Viper at the Pike, or the Berlin Turnpike, which is a cruising spot around here that we frequent during the summer near Hartford Connecticut. I asked the owner if I could line up next to him, and take a picture. He obliged and I ended up with a nice picture of the two of them, don't they look good together?

The SRT4 is the baby ancestor to the Dodge Viper SRT8. If you look at the front grill, you can see the similarities, and the Viper is sort of built like a stretched out Neon, with the same hood scoop etc. Perhaps I should say that the Neon is built a bit like the Viper.

Back when my sister had an Acura Integra and her boyfriend had an s2000. We cruised around all the time on our cars. All three were turbo, and all three ran 12's. I still have mine and her now ex boyfriend still has the s2k. We are all still on good terms and he and I talk. He has by now fully built it with a big turbo and hopes to run 9's.

This was a close up picture my sister took of my fmic not long after the install. I thought this was a huge deal at the time to install. It took me forever.

Now I can swap an intercooler in an hour or two. This was not the type of thing that I learned overnight. What I learned was from the forums, and people I met through the forums. There is an amazing synergistic exchange of information on forums, where issues are shared nationally, and solved very quickly, as hundreds or thousands of members share their experiences and knowledge.

I started out with this car barely knowing how to change the air filter, and not even knowing how to change the oil.

Now it's a different story. I can do just about anything, as I have had the car for almost 7 years and have put over 200,000 miles on it, close to 250,000 as a matter of fact, and in the meantime I have fixed just about everything.

I have uninstalled everything that goes into the engine bay, and then installed it twice, just during the motor swap, never mind all the axles, clutches and the like that go along with wear and tear, and a vehicle that is raced.

I remember as I was learning about the car, that I wished I knew how to do everything, so I wouldn't be afraid of anything breaking. Now I can say I feel that way, as I have just about done it all, aside physically build the motor or head.

I've pressed in and out my own bushings and ball joints, done the brakes many times, seen a transmission rebuilt more than once, and done all the components that are common, such as the suspension and engine components etc.

The electrical stuff I have had help with. I could figure that out too, but I have been lucky to enough to have a few friends who help me with that, which is one of the perks of being a member of a car forum community for some time.

This is a picture taken at my first dyno session shortly after installing the turbo kit. We only ran 14 psi, and made a nice safe tune.

I must say, after having just over 200 hp to the wheels, and incrementally up to 270 with the WGA and stage 1 ecu, just a shade over 300 hp felt a lot different. One thing about the bigger turbo is that the power curve just keeps rising all the way to redline, which = fun :)

I needed some more fuel so I could run more boost and try for my low 11 second run. It eventually worked, as I was able to run 11.1 and a couple 11.2s.

This entailed dropping the tank, and putting a bunch of -4AN and -6 AN fittings on stainless fuel hose, for an extra fuel line coming from my tank, along with a fuel pressure regulator, that ultimately allows me to use more fuel.

You can see how it usually looks in the kitchen when I am in the middle of these projects.

It's always worth it at the end, once it all works out and the car is running good.

One year after purchasing Neo, it was big turbo time. I had started researching big turbos as running as fast as possible down the quarter mile was the main reason I got the SRT4, as I had seen two of them running 12's with minimal mods. I had been theoretically pricing out what it would cost to run 12's, and I couldn't find anything even close to the SRT. The rest is history.

I got a kick out of how much bigger the GT30R was over my oem turbo, so I snapped this picture on the garage floor before installing it.

They look much better. I hadn't painted wheels before so it took awhile. I washed them off a couple times, first with a degreaser, then windex, then lots of water.

The first one had some orange peel, as I sprayed on too much wheel paint, but starting with the second, I figured out a method so I didn't go over the same spots too many times, and I am pretty happy with how they came out :)

It took just a couple hours one afternoon. I must say, it's comparable to a fresh coat of wax, once it's all done, you just kick back and admire your work for a bit, and then of course, go take it for a cruise. I let her sit overnight before driving her, just so they would dry properly.

I have this sitting on the couch, as I didn't expect my current motor to last as long as it did. I have a bunch of spare parts ready to go in the car when needed, including the full guts of an SRT4 transmission, and a set of back up pistons and rods.

My girlfriend bought me this block for my birthday and I received it around Valentine's day, as an early birthday/Valentine's day gift :)

Now I am not sure what the plan is, since the motor and head have over 145,000 miles on them, and the turbo is coming up on 200,000 miles with hundreds of passes at the dragway.
'
I am thinking I will just wait it out and see. Once I detect something on it's way, I will replace it. I was going to swap it out before, but a few friends asked why if it runs fine, and I realized, they have some pretty good points, and decided to wait until it's necessary.

I also have a spare set of pistons and rods just laying around just in case I need them. Yes I do like to look ahead, along with the spare motor on my couch and the new pistons and everything else.

I just love the SRT4 pistons and rods, as mine have been able to handle 440-520 wheel horsepower for over 145,000 miles, so I have faith in them, and most people just give these away.

These have only a couple thousand miles from a car nearby that I discovered on Craigslist, where he had them left over after crashing his car.

This is me under the car. I can't remember what I was doing, as I have done this so many times.

I think I was doing either a clutch install, and taking a breather and my girlfriend snapped this lovely awe inspiring picture.

I am under the front of the car in this picture, with the intercooler pipe above me, which is the oval shaped black coupler with the silver ring inside.

I need to remember to wear goggles when I do this, since getting stuff in the eyes is no fun.

I picked up a spare gear set of a local parts car that I found, just as a back up, for when they fail.

I'm not too worried since my first transmission lasted for 175,000 miles until the input shaft snapped as I was cruising. That was with 500 track passes and after seeing 500 wheel horsepower a few times, and 400 for almost 100,000 miles.

This includes 1-5 gears and reverse, which you can see if you know what you're looking for. These just slide into the transmission case.

Also there is the gear selector under the small cover that is laying next to all the gears on the input shaft and output shaft.

This was with a Clutch Masters Stage 4 6 puck, after being in my car for a week. It is built to handle 400 hp, so I knew it may not last, as my car has a good deal over 400 hp, and a good amount more than that when I turn up the boost and add racegas.

My clutch failed and I needed a clutch for the time being, so I threw it in, but it also failed within a week, a little quicker than I had hoped, but it got me through.

-ATP GT3076 Dual Ball Bearing turbo kit with HPC coated 02 pipe and exhaust manifold.
-RC 750cc injectors
-MSD Tach Driver
-SAFCII
-Innovate LM2 Wideband
-Dynotune Digital boost and wideband guages
-ACT Extreme 6 puck with lightweight flywheel
-AGP Race intercooler
-AGP Dogbones motor mounts
-AGP transmission mount
-CTI stainless intercooler pipes
-CTI anodized 3" turboback exhaust
-CTI external dump
-CTI 6-point welded roll cage
-ACR seat harness slots
-MPX 62ml throttle body
-N2MB 2-step / Wotbox
-N2MB Boost Box
-G-Force 6 point harness
-Fire extinguisher
-Rage Tek ported and polished head with stainless valves
-DCR oil pump with coated gears
-MSD spark plug wires
-NGK 4306 spark plugs
-Tial 38 mil wastegate
-CTI 3" short ram intake
-Fuel return line with Aeromotive FPR
M&H 24.5x8.5x15" slicks
Motegi Traklite 2.0 wheels