Chaos

Specifications:

2.4 liter stock bore and stroke

-fresh piston rings, bearings, rod bolts and valve seals

-arp head studs 

-new gaskets

-balance shaft delete

-oil cooler delete

-p/s and a/c deleted

-Shaved engine brackets to further reduce weight

Turbo Kit:

- AGP twin scroll T3 flange manifold

-2005 EVO 8 .5 Turbo

- No name stainless steel O2 housing

- large front mount intercooler And custom built intercooler sprayer.

Fuel system:

Bosch 0.44 fuel pump

8 an Stainless steel braided feed line

6 an stainless steel braided return line

Osiris brand anodized blue fuel pump clamp

Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator

Aeromotive fuel pressure gauge

Suspension:

Energy suspension poly bushings

Prothane rear LCA bushings

Tien Lowering Springs

Exterior:

Custom front bumper

Custom side steps

Rear window louvers (all 3?)

Rear spoiler?

Front lower valance?

Rear bumper guard?

Roof or trunk rack?

I have grown up loving cars, and engines since I was a child, I am not sure when the love began but my parents will tell you as close to birth as possible. From tonka trucks, to hot wheels, to racing bikes, and eventually gocarts that we raced against other cars or even cars. Making things go fast has fascinated me forever, so naturally when I got to the age of driving I was bound to modify anything I touched, and modify I did. But my latest build is my second neon srt 4 chassis. 

This is my chance to take a car I literally bought as a rolling shell and make it live again in a form no one could have expected. I am going to add all my touches that makes this car my style, subtle and clean, but rough and powerful when needed. I have gone to a level I myself have never gone before literally touching every inch of this chassis. 

When the shell was first purchased it had been used as a parts car by a friend after the previous two owners had done the same but it was perfect for what I needed. I had all the parts I could need, but after an accident and a hail storm I was looking at literally hundreds of hours in body work alone just to get it back to stock. It was a hard decision but I bought this shell a black 03 model, stripped to the bone. The engine and trans long gone, turbo, and intercooler sold as well, the seats were gone, the only things remaining were ironically the things I didn't really need. There was a single rear exit 3 inch exhaust that I removed to be modified into a side exit exhaust, stock struts and springs at every corner, the shift linkage, an ecu/wiring harness with questionable repairs, the dash with a badly cracked dash pad, a cluster that was cracked as well, and the remnants of the a/c and p/s systems. I subsequently sold off everything I had two of, and began purchasing parts, and taking inventory of what I had, and what I intended to upgrade...which turned out to be a lot. 

First order of business was to determine what I was reusing from the original srt I called The Yellow Sub. Prior to the accident I had replaced the majority of my bushings with Energy Suspension poly bushings while also repainting front and rear sway bars, and front lower control arms. All of this was taken for the new car, at this point I decided to swap over my whole k member with the control arms. I obviously needed my engine but decided now was the time to move on to a limited slip transmission. I also brought over my dash pad, front and rear seats, the solid engine mounts I made, and my aftermarket radio. I decided the stock intercooler, turbo, and what remained stock on the suspension had to go. I also robbed my engine harness to use as well. 

When I purchased the shell I made a deal to get some Tien lowering springs on used but good condition struts, and a large front mount intercooler. Shortly after I found a solid transmission mount, and solid frame engine mount purchasing both. Along the way I collected an aem analog wideband, an oil pressure gauge, dug up an exhaust temp guage I had gotten years before, and purchased another boost gauge. I am not a fan of pillar guage mounts so I found a custom mount plate that deletes the vents in the center of the car and mounts 3 gauges there. 

Looks pretty awesome if I speak for myself. As you can tell in the picture the fuse box has been relocated to the passenger airbag cavity. The airbag was deleted, as was the air conditioning evaporator. With the airbag gone I can now build mounts to hold the fuse box, and begin running wires. The wires will likely enter the engine bay in the stock location but get hidden and tucked from there. All wiring headed to the front of the car will go under the front fenders. The engine wiring will be run under the frame rails and snaked to where it goes as hidden as possible. 

Updated picture after building my switch panel. This will house the activation switches for my fuel pump, intercooler spray, and the third is going to be an auxiliary switch. 

One of the many wants out of this build was a smoother and shorter shift. Energy Shifter Bushings, and a Mopar short throw shifter were sourced to help in both of these categories. 

My interior has been a source of angst for me. I am not the type of person who typically modifies my interior at all but in the spirit of pushing my own skills, I decided a custom headliner was in order. I went back and forth on what type of design to do then stumbled on a wall tapestry for a house featuring an awesome picture of space. That just fit the theme I had in mind. Rough on the outside updated and custom underneath the hood, in the interior and in the trunk. 

This was the result. In the interior you can see my custom headliner, this image is kind of the perfect transition from modern stock interior to futuristic space age feel. Which is where the gauges, and switch panel also help tie into that theme. 

In the second picture you will see where I laid sound deadening/insulation under the dash to prevent some noise and heat. Another feature some in the racing world might question me on but I made up for the minimal weight gain in other areas. 

In the last picture you will see a very updated fuel system which now includes a 10 gallon fuel cell now mounted in the trunk, this tank gravity feeds an inline Bosch .044 fuel pump. This pump will send a form of ethanol blended fuel, whether it be e85 or e98, through two fuel filters of varying micron levels with reusable stainless steel elements which should help the longevity of the fuel system as a whole. 

Not satisfied with a solid black on black car I decided the engine bay would be going gun metal grey but only after I patched the hole in the firewall for the evaporator. 

I had also already created custom end caps for my frame rails to mount my new front fumper/crash bar, that was necessary due to my massive intercooler. The intercooler I am running requires custom built mounts as well. The intercooler is slanted slightly down to catch more air flow. Upon doing research on many track oriented cars and after seeing many with a similar take to the radiators and intercooler it only made sense to use everything I could find to aid in the performance of this car. After getting the engine bay painted and intercooler 100% mounted I built another intercooler cooler spray bar out of copper 5/16's tubing that will be mounted in front of the intercooler. It will have it's own reservoir allowing me to further cool the spray. 

As I mentioned before do dramatically upsizing in the intercooler department some modifications were in order. Aside from the custom mounts, I had to cut out the center support beam on the core support. Due to this I intend to reintroduce rigidity up there in a different way but that will come with time. After cutting the support beam, and fitting the intercooler. I set to work on a custom tube bumper that would replace not only the crash bar, but the bumper cover too. 

Still toying with ideas to make it fit the postapocalyptic theme I'm going for. I formed a piece of steel mesh:

I am also working on designing a ducting system that can be opened during track use to cool brakes, or closed during drag races or 1/2 mile events. 

To further update the front end some new black housing headlights were purchased, as well as 3 inch LED foglights that I am not entirely sure where to mount yet. At some point to tie up the outside I want to get a roof rack, that will have the regular survival type gear affixed to it full time. A shovel, ax, jerry cans, as well as light bars front and rear of the basket, as well as smaller ones on the side. Custom side steps will be frame mounted under the side skirt but easily removable during race days. I have also debated on some sort of bars or mesh mounted over the windows. I haven't come up with a solid way of mounting them yet though.