Clemson Sports Car Club

I just joined the club at the past meeting... I got a 2001 Dodge Neon ACR.. nothing special just lowered it and put a system in it and some Momo rims on it... looking to make it faster and better ..any suggestions?

Welcome to the site!

"The nut behind the wheel" is always the first thing that should be "upgraded". You can have a tricked out car capable of whatever you'd like it to do, but if you can't drive it you're still gonna be slow

Do you have any motorsports experience?

Welcome! Best thing you can do to make your car faster is to work on the driver! that's where the best improvements can be made.

after that, work on suspension, tires, etc. that connect the car with the road.

after that, work on making the car faster in a straight line.

This is all for autox, road racing, etc. If you just wanna drag race it, turbo the sucker.

ha no not at all... all i know is from what my brothers have taught me. just small things about drifting and car handling. all of my brothers were in the club when they went to Clemson

oh ok i hear ya.. ill admit i have no idea how to autoX...

the only thing i've done to the suspension is lower it.. but when i did that the head on the driver side strut stripped and since the ACR has inverted struts it was hard to find them to replace the stripped one so currently i have 3 inverted struts and one standard one. but any ideas where i can buy just one inverted strut?

Dave is a big Neon guy, I'm sure he'll let you know when he sees this. That is, if we didn't chase him off last night

JRickeyACR Wrote:oh ok i hear ya.. ill admit i have no idea how to autoX...

the only thing i've done to the suspension is lower it.. but when i did that the head on the driver side strut stripped and since the ACR has inverted struts it was hard to find them to replace the stripped one so currently i have 3 inverted struts and one standard one. but any ideas where i can buy just one inverted strut?

2gn.org

welcome!

Neons are cool.

-Keegan

Welcome to the site If you want to upgrade your car after you do the driver thing, you'll want to decide what direction you want to mod it in. Whats good for drag, autox, or track is different from one another in certain ways as far as what setup works.

Kbag Wrote:

JRickeyACR Wrote:oh ok i hear ya.. ill admit i have no idea how to autoX...

the only thing i've done to the suspension is lower it.. but when i did that the head on the driver side strut stripped and since the ACR has inverted struts it was hard to find them to replace the stripped one so currently i have 3 inverted struts and one standard one. but any ideas where i can buy just one inverted strut?

2gn.org

welcome!

Neons are cool.

-Keegan

+1 Jordon and I knew a guy in Myrtle Beach that had a $400 ugly-azz neon, a $3k engine and ran 10's all day. It was pretty funny actually.

he needs to replace the inverted dynamic strut, upgrade the rear swaybar (and maybe endlinks), get an autocross alignment, and drive the car.

if he really wants more power, put on a cold air intake, underdrive pulley, swap in a crane 14 cam (the stock magnum valve springs are fine), and a longtube header.
if you wanted to, you can yank the head and deck it 0.020 to 0.040"
i'd switch to a lighter muffler, the oem muffler is heavy.

unless he adds nitrous or a turbo, or does a motors swap, the car will never be fast.
i'd just leave the car mostly as-is minus bolt-ons, autocross/track it, and maintain its reliability.

Welcome ! ! ! !

It's all pointless... You can't race a Neon!