The $2006 Challenge was a major disappointment for the Turbo Neon. It pretty much went like this:
– Blew exhaust off car before the autocross
– Wrenched my back
– Blew off an intercooler hose, prevent the car from hitting boost
– Lost an injector’s electrical connection, preventing the car from running on four cylinders.
– Blew a coolant line, fouling the drag strip.
– Fuel map too lean.
– Spark map too retarded.
– Blew an oil line, fouling the drag strip yet again.
When the dust cleared, we managed a mighty 15.8-something ET, being beat handily by a stock Neon that someone else brought down. After discussions on the way back from Gainesville, we decided that the primary cause of our miserable failure was that we brough an untested and unproven car. The reason for that was simply that we didn’t spend the time that needed to be spent on the car. Based on what other folks are seeing with a similar setup, we should have been in the top 15 at the autocross and running at least a 14 second quarter mile. Our goal is to return with the car in $2007 with all those problems sorted.
The car is a 1997 Dodge Neon Sport Coupe, which was purchased from a friend of a friend of my wife in mid 2005 for $100, plus $260 in transportation. Through the magic of sell-downs, the car is now worth $0 in the budget. I bought a used SRT-4 turbofold, injectors, intercooler, and plumbing, moved the battery to the rear, stripped out the power steering, A/C, interior, hood bracing, bumper supports, cruise control, and anything else that I could get my hands on. The car came with collision damage, so we bent the core support back out, replaced the radiator and the fender, and put window nets in to replace the busted glass. To meet the fuel demands of a turbocharged engine, a MegaSquirt v2,2 kit was bought, converted to MSnS-E, and installed. When it was all done, the total cost in the budget came to $843.98.