2000 Dodge Neon aero mods

[MetroMPG]

Record tank - way to end the project.

Looking forward to reading about the new VX.

[2000neon]

Thanks! I will update this thread with the final details of the car, and maybe get some pictures/ highlight a few more of the little mods as I strip it down. I am going to keep the coroplast from the kamm, belly pan and wheel skirts etc and use that for a grill block (behind the grill) and maybe a belly pan for the VX. That car I would like to keep stock appearing. It is going to be weird seeing this car all stripped down in stock form.

[MetroMPG]

Sounds like a plan.

But I wonder ... once the "new car" honeymoon wears off, you may start looking for ways to expand the high MPG lean burn window a little bit more.

[2000neon]

Ha ha yeah most likely, I may end up doing a small kammback, but I would really like to just keep this one factory appearing. I don't need pictures of another car ending up all over the internet! Ha ha.

Depending how my timing works out, I may do the mother of all coastdown tests, but likely only A-B-C, with no A repeat. It wont be used for hard data, just curiosity so to me it's okay. I am wanting to try A, as the car sits now, fully modified, and then strip it and do a stock aero coastdown, and C, with tire pressures back at 32 psi like I used to have them. That way, comparing A to C will give a rough idea of total improvement I was able to squeeze out of this thing from start to finish.

[MetroMPG]

Still famous!

2GN.ORG :: View topic - Top ways to get more mileage out of my 2002 neon

Do we know that poster? He's done a lot of mods to his Neon.

[2000neon]

Nice, I'm amazed that the car has gotten around so much, and not even specifically my car but the idea of hypermiling and ecomodder.

I won't have the time to do the huge coastdown, so I started stripping it down. Kind of sad in a way. The car had way more personality before. I think that it is really cool that this car kind of carved it's own little corner in the ecomodding world and got a lot of people talking and thinking about gas mileage.

[2000neon]

This is the official end of the build of this car. I just dropped it off at the wreckers.

Just in case anyone is wondering, I have my new 94 VX, but I will stay as 2000neon.

Here are 2 pictures of some of the rust that I mentioned,



The driver's side quarter panel, the rust went way up into the fender and was creeping inside of the door as well.

One of the big concerns was the rockers, you can see the whole right through it, and the rest of it was severely degraded, it provided next to no support, and would disintegrate in an accident, this was a major safety concern.

Also, I didn't get a picture of it, but the front subframe was very rotten as well, the passenger side that mounted it to the car could be poked through with a screwdriver. Again, not safe at all.


I almost forgot, I beat my previous record on the way down to Ohio, 49.7 MPG

[TOOSTUBBORN2FAIL]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Still famous!

2GN.ORG :: View topic - Top ways to get more mileage out of my 2002 neon

Do we know that poster? He's done a lot of mods to his Neon.

That poster is Chris, aka Fusion210 on both that forum and neons.org. As far as I know we have been the only ones to break 50mpg in neons on a trip, although neither of us has done it in a while. He has a sohc, which is a little better on gas than my dohc.

[2000neon]

I'd be willing go bet that on single trips I broke 50, all my averages were tank full averages, and always included stop and go city traffic mixed in with my good trips. In the cold and rain it did 49.7 for the full tank, so I am almost positive if I could monitor individual trips I would have some 50+ ones,with an automatic Although I probably have much more extensive aero mods than you.

[TOOSTUBBORN2FAIL]

Yep, and I had more mods than Chris. He did have some weight reductions though. I just noticed your last trip too, congrats. I go on vacation next week, watch for a build of fiberglass rear wheel skirts. I'm going to start there, then move to the undertray, then the kammback. If everything works right, I'll redo it in carbon next year, as the cars going up on a rotisserie next year.

I believe Chris's 52mpg trip was with light rain, but no ac running. I consistently got 50-52mpg when I was commuting 110 miles a day, but that was 105 miles of freeway. That was during 100 degree days, with ac on, and all duct tape mods. You definitely have more aeromods than both of us.