[ATaylorRacing]

My 98 Neon (SOHC) was rated at 41 mpg and got it while just doing 60 mph! That is the same as todays dumb smart car.

It is a common hot rod trick to cut off half of the water pump fins to free up HP. A less drastic trick on the alternator is to splice a switch into the alternater wiring to disable its function and allow it to free wheel. Many years ago I fabricated an electric water pump on a 2.2 Dodge Omni. I( had removed the water pump entirely and noticed that two of the three bolts had the same spacing as the thermostat housing...so I put one in its place and hooked up radiator hose with an electric water pump called a water guppy that was used to circulate water in a fish holding tank of a boat. That pump came in very handy at the race track to help cool the motor in between rounds on hot days. I broke an alternator belt on the Neon one trip and was amazed by the extra freed up power. You can get under drive pulley kits from a place called Forward Motion. My 305 hp SRT4 Neon gets 40.1 at 55 mph! A different set of 5th gear set ups is being produced for the T-850 SRT4 manual so that 80 mph = only 2300 rpm! Too bad that set wont fit the regular Neons.