Front-Wheel Folly, Part 2

Once again, the dyno wheel was spun to 5,000 rpm. This time, our numbers were 91.7 hp at 4,614 rpm, and 125.1 lb-ft of torque at 3,673 rpm, which means our stock exhaust was almost adequate for our tired engine. But when the rebuild happens, the added exhaust size will be a benefit.

We started to notice a reoccurring miss in our engine, so we decided a tune-up was in order. MSD had the coil and plug wires for our application, and we bought a set of spark plugs from our local NAPA store. We didn't see an increase in horsepower, but we did notice a better throttle response and lack of the aforementioned miss.

No hop-up is complete without the addition of a header. We chose to use Holley Performance Products FlowTech header. The FlowTech header is a shorty design and retains the catalytic converter for emissions. We simply removed the factory manifold and bolted the new header in place... almost.

Some cutting and welding of the pipe in front of the cat and after the header had to be done. With the header in place, we beat our Neon into submission again on the dyno. This time, we ended up with 97.2 hp at 4,426 rpm, and 122.2 lb-ft of torque at 3,158 rpm.

With one more trick up our sleeve, we planned to hit the 100hp mark. We added a salvage-yard-found throttle body removed from an automatic-equipped car. The automatic throttle body is 52mm as opposed to the standard 49mm opening. Just be sure to put the sensors from your stock throttle body onto your replacement.

Finally, the last upgrade. With the throttle body change, we tipped the horsepower scale at 101.3 at 4,546 rpm, and 124.3 lb-ft of torque at 3,028 rpm.

One of the things we noticed during the beginning of our testing was the severe engine movement when the throttle was smashed to the floor.

To alleviate this problem, Prothane makes these engine mount inserts that keep the mounts from flexing and tearing.

So for a little less than $2,300, we bought a car, slightly modified it, and made one cool high school cruiser--how cool is that?