I have a 1997 dodge neon SOHC the head gasket blew and instead of giving up on it we decided to take it out and put in a 1997 DOHC engine in it instead. I am wonderig if anyone can suggest any good service manuals. I know of Chilton and Haynes is one better than the other? Or does anyone know of any other service guides that would surpass those? Also I am wondering if anyone knows what kind of work we are looking at to swith the engines out. I know the computer and other thigns will ahve to be swapped, etc. But the guy at the dealrship said DO NOT DO it and that we will run into a lot of problems and it won't be worth it, I'm not so sure. Can someone tell me whats really going on? I think it can be done ( I know nothing about cars).

 

Yes it can be done with out too much hassle,I prefer haynes I like it soo much that I keep it in my car at all times. For specs about swapping your engine try searching through old posts there are a lot on engine swaps, or pm someone who knows what theyre talking about like casper,devilsreject,or das they should be able to help you out!!!

 

just get a donor car. You can swap everything over from it to your car. Its really easy to do. Just have patience and mark all your lines and wiring connectors.

when you do it, take the whole thing out with the transmission, then swap the tranny over to the new motor and drop it in like that. Will make life alot easier.

Also, supply lots of beer.

I did the swap (except I went sohc to sohc) with a haybes. If we would have worked straight we would have had it done in a day.

 

I bought a 1995 neon for 200 bucks. The engine runs, and i want to use as much of the car as possible, engine, interior, etc. Since I know sooo little about cars, I have really been trying to look into things and get several opinions. The guy at the dealership is the only person so far that has said no way, and that I will run into A LOT of problems. I myself am not doing the work, I am just responsible for buying the parts that I will need etc. I have been reading about changing pistons, does this apply to me (will I have to change pistons) or is that just for conversion jobs? I can think of a million things that could go wrong, but can you think of any common major problems the guy at the dealership is talking about, or does he just want me to buy a new car!?

 

I wouldn't let the dealership do the work...I can't imagine how much they would charge for labor on something like that. You don't have to swap pistons, the biggest difference is in the sensors(only a couple of them) and you will have to use the PCM from the 95.

 

The dealership can't touch my ride! this is straight up haul the car into the backyard, call up my buddy and his dad, bribe with beer, and wear something cute while I watch them do the work. Though not to cute as I may have to help out! Anyway, down home stuff. I just call the dealerships for advice and info, but I haven't gotten what I want out of themas far as answers go. They just said dont do it.

 

they just want you to get a new car.

Like Das said, you are gonna have to swap over some sensors and stuff.

Biggest problems you may run into are rusty bolts. Mainly exhaust bolts. I put a 95 motor and trans into my 97 car and just used the 97 pcm and swapped over the sensors from the 97 motor. Im not sure if there is a diffrent computer for a DOHC and a SOHC, so you may or may not have to do some intresting swapping there.

 

Excellent point to ponder about the computers! Does anyone out there know if they are differnt or not? DOHC computer vs SOHC computer? Also is a Plymouth neon the same as a dodge neon. The lady that sold me the car said that I have a good idea but they are not the same car and it won't work to swap things out. Someone else said I may need to modify or purchase a few parts but I will be fine, who's right?

 

they are the same <- plymouth and dodge i mean



As far as the PCM goes, I just did a quick search. They are diffrent. The SOHC pcm will run the DOHC motor lean, and drop the rev limiter (not a big deal if you arent racing anything).

The big question is, what type of transmission does the car have now, and what is it getting?

 

I have a 5 speed manual and The car I got was a 5 speed manual.After having this car, I will never go back to an automatic again! Praise whoever it is that you praise! I don't do a lot of racing for the most part. (sometimes I drop it into 4th and take off on the freeway when someone won't let me pass etc) If I would like to make my car faster and be able to race when I get an itch. I live in Portland Oregon and we have a track. On the weekends you can take your car to race legally and I have been thinking about spiffin up my ride and takin it out there, but I am real inexpereinced, so my gettning home in one piece that doesnt involve a body bag is important too. So gettng back to the subject, I don;t use it for racing but I would kind of like to every once in a while. But mainly I like to be a brat and wave when I pass someone on the freeway. Theres been quite a b it of work done which is another reason I don't want to scrap the car. WIll I be able to use my intake system on the 1997 and use it in the 1995?