Random posting

[INVUJerry]

The 97 has a magnum top end on a dohc block with a 3.94/.81. The iris car is going to get the motor from my 01 which was a magnum block with a standard sohc head I had to swap on. 01 mag cam and I’ll probskly just use the magnum bolt ons since I have them. I’ll use a 3.55/.72 trans though.

Considering modifying the engine bay a bit though. AC doesn’t work already and I’ll probably just delete the PS while I’m at it.

[occasional demons]

I was getting the 40 hwy with an '02-'04 Magnum cam, Magnum header, '02 R/T PCM, Ghetto IM, and 60mm TB. Full accessories.

For strictly hwy use, I got the same mileage with 1/2 tank of E10 and 1/2 of E85. This was back when I was making regular trips to Flint, and had E85 access both ways. Made the drive a bit more economic.

[BlackRoseRacing]

The Magnum butterfly mod...lol
Talk about bringing back memories....
Make sure you slap on a 60mm to really wake up the manifold
No bottom end grunt, but once the revs start kicking in the motor really loves it..........
As for the Magnum getting less MPG, idk....I guess it depends on driving habits.....
I was getting 32mpg with crane 14's, short tube header, modded head, SC, E85 fuel.......

[occasional demons]

As for the Magnum getting less MPG, idk....I guess it depends on driving habits.....

The head was the only change, driving habits stayed the same (set Speed Control and steer), so not sure how else you would account for the loss in economy. Both heads were mildly ported. Just enough to clean up casting flash, and clear the area below the exhaust valves, etc.

The Magnum head needed work to get the intake ports to gasket match, compared to the standard head. The standard head was a perfect match, the Magnum head was off by an eighth of an inch or so, side to side. If it was off any more, the plastic IM o-ring gaskets would have had issues.

The only real difference between the heads, as cast, is the exhaust ports. The standard head retains better velocity for lower rpm use, where as the Magnum is not as efficient in that rpm range. And of course, on the other end of the spectrum, the Magnum has the upper hand.

[INVUJerry]

The 97 I’m currently driving is a dohc block, magnum top end and manifolds, fart can style muffler, and a Mopar dohc pcm. When I’m driving to work the flap valve is shut all the time. It’s been getting 33-34 MPG, but at 150 miles a day I want better now.

So the iris neon will be a 3.55, magnum block, milked standard sohc head, 01 RT cam, and probably a magnum intake with the butterflies removed. I could run either the stock exhaust manifold or the magnum header I have, but I’m not sure which yet.

And I might write a custom tune for it, try to slightly bump the timing up but still be able to run 87.

[theColonel]

The 97 I’m currently driving is a dohc block, magnum top end and manifolds, fart can style muffler, and a Mopar dohc pcm. When I’m driving to work the flap valve is shut all the time. It’s been getting 33-34 MPG, but at 150 miles a day I want better now.

So the iris neon will be a 3.55, magnum block, milked standard sohc head, 01 RT cam, and probably a magnum intake with the butterflies removed. I could run either the stock exhaust manifold or the magnum header I have, but I’m not sure which yet.

Mod Edit:
**Link removed**

[occasional demons]

What does posting a link for Prius's for sale have anything to do with Jerry's post? Basically your link was just as bad as the spam that the russian spammers are polluting our site with.



To Jerry: with the standard head, there won't be any difference between the cast manifold and the Magnum header in performance or fuel mileage. The Magnum header does have the edge in weight loss, and the manifold has the edge in already having an o2 bung, if the Magnum header doesn't have one welded in, or you are using the R/T catalytic converter.

[theColonel]

What does posting a link for Prius's for sale have anything to do with Jerry's post? Basically your link was just as bad as the spam that the russian spammers are polluting our site with.

To Jerry: with the standard head, there won't be any difference between the cast manifold and the Magnum header in performance or fuel mileage. The Magnum header does have the edge in weight loss, and the manifold has the edge in already having an o2 bung, if the Magnum header doesn't have one welded in, or you are using the R/T catalytic converter.

If mpg is the primary goal ... buy a Prius, not modify a Neon

[occasional demons]

What does posting a link for Prius's for sale have anything to do with Jerry's post? Basically your link was just as bad as the spam that the russian spammers are polluting our site with.

To Jerry: with the standard head, there won't be any difference between the cast manifold and the Magnum header in performance or fuel mileage. The Magnum header does have the edge in weight loss, and the manifold has the edge in already having an o2 bung, if the Magnum header doesn't have one welded in, or you are using the R/T catalytic converter.

If mpg is the primary goal ... buy a Prius, not modify a Neon

You're still adding a link promoting non neon/non Mopar items/nothing helpful to the neon hobby, so it is Spam.

And how many tens of thousands of miles would it take to break even on the cost difference, gaining MAYBE 7 to 10 MPG?


If you want to spend thousands to save $2.00 on each fill up, go for it.

[theColonel]

How many Mopar/Neon small cars are being manufactured today ?
How long can anybody continue with 14-23 year old cars as "daily drivers" ?

I own a 66 year old car that gets 7 mpg, but it's not anything but a
hobby car rated in "smiles per gallon" !

https://imgur.com/qUwcx99

[Midnight_Rider]

https://youtu.be/Y-fkapQ-BWs

https://youtu.be/G2SDuo9M-oI

[theColonel]

https://youtu.be/Y-fkapQ-BWs

https://youtu.be/G2SDuo9M-oI

https://jalopnik.com/275036/al-gores-ki ... in-a-prius

[Midnight_Rider]

Kind of proved my point.

[theColonel]

Kind of proved my point.

That was my intention

[INVUJerry]

What does posting a link for Prius's for sale have anything to do with Jerry's post? Basically your link was just as bad as the spam that the russian spammers are polluting our site with.

To Jerry: with the standard head, there won't be any difference between the cast manifold and the Magnum header in performance or fuel mileage. The Magnum header does have the edge in weight loss, and the manifold has the edge in already having an o2 bung, if the Magnum header doesn't have one welded in, or you are using the R/T catalytic converter.

If mpg is the primary goal ... buy a Prius, not modify a Neon

So, spend a few thousand dollars more on a car that will get barely noticeable better gas mileage since my commute is mostly 55 MPH roads, vs put together parts I have sitting around? That's completely illogical.

How many Mopar/Neon small cars are being manufactured today ?
How long can anybody continue with 14-23 year old cars as "daily drivers" ?

I own a 66 year old car that gets 7 mpg, but it's not anything but a
hobby car rated in "smiles per gallon" !

https://imgur.com/qUwcx99

I drove my 31 year old wagon to work today, just to enjoy it. 150 miles without one issue, 30MPG to boot. If something is maintained, reliability isn't an issue. They only become problems when they're neglected.

It's rather terrible that your stock 360 only gets 7MPG, it probably needs a tune or maintenance really bad. It should be able to do upper teens without an issue.

https://jalopnik.com/275036/al-gores-ki ... in-a-prius

I will say, I drove a prius for a long while when I was working in San Antonio and didn't hate it, but after 200K miles they do start to burn oil. They get a solid 27MPG at 95, which they are speed limited to.

[INVUJerry]

I just crunched some numbers. My current commute is about 750 miles a week.

Per week I'm spending about $75 on the green 97 neon a week, since it runs 93.

The 95 will be right about $50 a week, since it'll run 87 and get 40MPG or so.

An 08 Prius would get 45 MPG, cost per week would be $45 or so.

Given that, it would take 29 years for me to make up the $8000 that it would cost me to buy a 10 year old prius. And that doesn't include the cost of insurance difference.

The iris car currently has a stock sohc that either broke a spring or dropped a valve in it, and an automatic transmission. I just want to 5 speed swap it, and drop in a motor I have from my parts car into it. Probably 2 weekends at most. I'll delete the power steering and AC while I'm at it.

[Midnight_Rider]

I like it when you crunch the numbers to make a point.

[occasional demons]

I didn't need to crunch the numbers to make a point, seems my scientific wild ass guess was spot on.

Cars are poor investments to begin with. Paying tens of thousands to save a nickel just makes no sense, if you have the ability to keep an already efficient car on the road.

Now if you took the crash safety statistics into the equation, IF that was a concern, it might be different, but that wasn't used as a selling point.

Having brought that up, awareness of your surroundings is probably the biggest safety tool available.




Insurance costs are a wash. Rates around me are cheaper for newer cars than older ones. neons are also expensive to insure compared to other vehicles. My '99 XJ was hundreds less a year than my '99 and '01 neons. The cost being solely on liability coverage, which makes zero sense, since I could do far more damage with my Jeep. So just going with the required liability doesn't help. Exactly why the bulk of the price is on the liability coverage, because by law, you cannot opt out. How clever... /rant

[theColonel]

I just crunched some numbers. My current commute is about 750 miles a week.

Per week I'm spending about $75 on the green 97 neon a week, since it runs 93.

The 95 will be right about $50 a week, since it'll run 87 and get 40MPG or so.

An 08 Prius would get 45 MPG, cost per week would be $45 or so.

Given that, it would take 29 years for me to make up the $8000 that it would cost me to buy a 10 year old prius. And that doesn't include the cost of insurance difference.

The iris car currently has a stock sohc that either broke a spring or dropped a valve in it, and an automatic transmission. I just want to 5 speed swap it, and drop in a motor I have from my parts car into it. Probably 2 weekends at most. I'll delete the power steering and AC while I'm at it.

Assuming two weeks vacation/year, that's 37,500 miles a year !

How many years do you expect to keep that 1995 Neon running ?

[INVUJerry]

I get 4 weeks of PTO and 9 federal holidays. I assume I’ll be able to get 3-4 more years out of the car as a daily, so 100k pretty easily. I will be splitting miles occasionally with my other cars. Wagon when it’s nice or feel like it, 97 when I feel like it. SRT4 when I want to. 4x4 s10 when the snow is bad (but at 22mpg, yuck). In a few years I’ll probably start looking for a late 00’s Yaris hatchback to commute in.

[occasional demons]

How many years do you expect to keep that 1995 Neon running ?

Neons will outlast us all. AI robots will continue to flog them long after we're gone.

[Midnight_Rider]

I'm expecting mine to be around after I'm gone, probably in a museum.

[INVUJerry]

Wow. The Russians really got in.

[Midnight_Rider]

Yeah, I spent about an hour this morning trying to clean up their mess.

[occasional demons]

Sorry, I was beat last night, was going to get to it this morning..

There really needs to be a way to do check boxes on user's posts to clean them up with much less work.

[Midnight_Rider]

I'm with you. I spent another hour this afternoon cleaning up up after these #$%^& spammers.

[INVUJerry]

So I got tagged in a post on Facebook for a guy looking for an 80’s station wagon for a TV show. A week later, I’m sitting on a set built in a gas station and they’re gonna be using my wagon for a scene. $250 to hang around here for a few hours isn’t a totally bad deal.

[Midnight_Rider]

Very interesting. Please keep us posted so we'll know when the show is broadcast.

[BlackRoseRacing]

Jerry, thats pretty cool!

[INVUJerry]

Well I was there until 3AM and they never got to the scene with the wagon in it. They still paid me for coming out though, so not all bad. The guy said he wants to use it or any of my other cars in the future.

This is a strange new venture.