Ed Peters, the retired Chrysler engineer and avid Neon racer, hosted several meets at Modern Performance in Houston TX from 2010-2017. He would give 30-90 minute tech sessions with in depth detailed information about the engines and transmissions in the 1995-2005 Dodge/Plymouth Neon and the 2003-2005 Dodge SRT-4. We have several videos on youtube of his tech talks. Here are links to several of his videos:
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We wanted to share details on the differences between the Neon SRT-4 2.4 Turbo and GT Cruiser rotors and non turbo 2001-2010 Chrysler PT Cruiser rotors.
This is useful information for those of you that have 1995-1999 Neons or 2000-2005 Neons and are wondering about the difference in rotors.
Both turbo and non turbo use the same diameter rotors, however that is where the similarities end.
The turbo rotors have much thicker rotor material, and the cooling vanes inside the rotors are much thicker. Also, the turbo rotors are about 4 lbs heavier per side.
4 lbs doesnt sound like much, but that makes a big difference for a car with lower torque like a non turbo 2.0 or 2.4. A total of 8 lbs for both sides of rotating mass makes a noticeable difference in acceleration!
This is why we recommend non turbo 95-99 Neon owners that want to do a brake upgrade look into doing PT Cruiser NA rotors and calipers to swap onto their first gen.
We miss the days of having small, nimble four cylinder cars with no frills. Nowadays every car has 6-8 airbags, huge wheels, huge bumpers, and over the years have gained weight and size.
]]>This PT Cruiser is slammed, has some crazy aero added on to increase downforce, and they chopped the rear off, essentially turning it into a truck. So wild. We are not sure on the specs of how much power it has, but it looks serious suspension and aero wise.
With such drastic louvering on the hood, this PT must have a turbo engine, as a non turbo engine would not likely need such cooling efforts.
Doug Demuro, a famous youtube reviewer of cars has reviewed the GT Cruiser. He loved to hate it, which we expected, however near the end of the video he stomps on the gas, and he had a big smile on his face.
Doug spent a lot of time in this video critiquing the plastic panels, poor fitment, cheap build quality, which should come to a surprise to no one, considering how the PT cruiser was always a cheap car.
We love the contrast of this video, in which 3/4 of the video is highlighting how crappy the car is, then at the end, Doug gives high praise for the acceleration of the GT Cruiser. Horsepower can make a boring car fun, and this is a prime example of how a cheap, utilitarian car can be a lot of fun with a 2.4 liter 230 horsepower turbo motor!
If you dont want to watch the whole video, skip to 20:00 to see Doug’s acceleration impression.
Dodge SRT-4 in Czech republic!
We are big fans of the Dodge SRT-4, and we get really excited to see SRT-4 Neons in places outside of the markets they were sold in (USA, Mexico, Canada).
This Neon SRT-4 in orange blast color is located in the Czech republic, or what was previously known as Czechloslovakia. We had an opportunity to ship some parts to this customer and were quite proud to help. 
With the owner Tomas being so far away from the USA, its more difficult to get parts, and so its interesting to see in the engine bay what looks to be a locally made air intake, and on the passenger side, a locally made catch can.
The turbocharger on the back of the engine also doesnt look factory, although we do not have the specs on that turbo.
“One thing I often end up telling friends to their surprise, is that a lighter wheel is not always better. A lighter wheel has advantages, but also disadvantages. Advantage: reduced rotational mass and lower unsprung weight.
Disadvantage: sometimes it comes at the cost of lower stiffness and strength. You can increase strength by forging, but you won’t increase stiffness. A forged wheel has superior yield and tensile strength, more resistance to bending and breaking, but it is not stiffer. Young’s modulus for both forged and cast aluminum is the same, about 70 GPa.
Wheels flex under stress. Cast or forged doesn’t matter. Under heavy G’s there will be some deformation. The larger the diameter, the more susceptible. How much flex? I’ve read around 1 degree of flex per 1g of load. So imagine you run 3 degrees of negative camber, and due to the flex in your wheel that gets cut in half to 1.5 degrees while cornering. That’s a significant amount. It makes the car feel less stable in a corner due to this sudden change in alignment. It becomes the same as deflection in a suspension bushing or chassis flex.
What reduces flex is increased stiffness, and that’s based not on forged/cast, but mainly on the cross sectional area of the spokes. The thicker the spoke, the less “flex”. Of course thickness then adds weight, but for that you gain less flex. I’m making some general statements here, but you definitely can give up things shaving too much weight off. Low weight sells wheels. There’s incentive for a manufacturer…. especially for lesser known brands that don’t have the technology to properly design and produce a strong wheel. They aren’t going to tell you about the increased tendency to fail nor about deflection, since you won’t ask. Just something to keep in mind.”
]]>Allpar.com shows that the 3.8 V6 produced a wide array of horsepower and torque depending on what year it was from. We believe this 3.8 engine is from roughly the 95-00 era. So, thats good for 166-180 hp and 227-240 torque. Wow, if a Neon like this had 180 hp and 240 torque from a NA engine it would be a lot of fun!
| 1991-93 | 150 | 203 | First year (9.0:1 c/r) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994-95 | 162 | 213 | New intake plenum, SMPI |
| 1996-97 | 166 | 227 | Revised intake and exhaust |
| 1998-2000 | 180 | 240 | |
| 2001-04 | 215 | 245 | Variable intake, other changes |
| 2005 | 207 | 238 | |
| 2006 | 205 | 240 | |
| 2007 | 200 | 235 | Minivan/Pacifica |
| 2007-08 | 202 | 237 | Jeep version |
| 2009-10 | 205 | 240 | Jeep version |
| 2008-10 | 197 | 230 | Minivan/Pacifica version |
We do not have any more details on this V6 swap, however there are a few people that have done this swap in the Neons.org project log section.
This beautiful Dodge Neon SRT-4 stopped by our shop the other day. This beauty has a rare Kaminari front lip, Carbon By Design air induction hood, 15 inch Rota Slipstream wheels, a fresh repaint and more! This car reminds us of Clarence’s old Neon SRT-4 that was painted a very similar color.
Enjoy the pics!
Oh, Vince’s car also has export rear lights, and export front turn signal lights too!
Be sure to check out blog article showing how Vince got this Neon from the original owner:
