I have been doing some looking, and can only find cams for 2000-2004. Is the cam different between the years? Even the older ones? If I can't get Chrylser to warranty my car, I will be putting a performance cam in it, just need to know which one will work in my 05. BTW is the Mopar Performance cam any good? If at all possible I may try and get them to give me a discount on one of theirs if they are worth the effort.
Thanks,
Joe

 

a r/t cam from any 2001-2004 r/t neon would work. i have one from a 04, but u would have to swap the valve springs to r/t springs which is also wat i did. a 95 neon cam is also a upgrade

 

So the r/t cam in o5 needs different valve springs, or 05 neons used different valve springs? If I buy a Crane cam their website says they are for 2000-2004. Just making sure the 05 didn't change, and I would be buying a cam I couldn't use.
DS79

 

the R/T cams are bigger than regular 2.0... I did hear from somewhere that the cam from a 95 is bigger also, can somone elaborate on that about the 95 cams?

Also if you swap the R/T cam, you would have to have the springs because the R/T cam would bust your springs...... but im not sure if their is a difference between the 2000-2004 and 2005 i thought the only thing they changed was from cable clutch to hydro clutch

 

pretty much on quote, if u swap cam i would want to swap da valve springs so u dnt get valve float. when mine were swapped i compared da stock spring and r/t spring and its like half an inch difference. the 95 cam is good for 3-4 whp and u wont have to swap valve springs.

 

very nice... to me, it wouldnt be worth just 3-4 whp, so i if you had the money to go ahead with the R/T cam and springs, i would do that because if your going to want to go for horsepwer, may as well do it now whille youll have the head off.. sounds like to me R/T is way to go... if its just your daily driver, then just replace with a stock one. thanks contagious

 

yea da R/T head is the way to go but a cam and valve springs is a good start, thats what i did and felt difference in acceleration

 

Having driven both a late model R/T and regular neons extensively (including a 95 highline, and now an 03 sxt), its my impression that the R/T cam is a 'significantly' sportier cam. The R/T is rated as having a sum total of 18 more peak horsepower, and I'd venture that a significant part of that comes from the cam. Other niceties are the larger exhaust & the secondaries which open up the intake bottleneck at high rpm. Actually the intake may be fairly significant to that 18hp as well, since you can noticeably feel its effect when it kicks in. Honestly the total power difference seemed like more than 18hp to me, but some of that impression may come from the different transmission gearing.

Anyway, a sportier cam will benefit best if you widen the intake & exhaust as well, letting it breath easy at high rpm. Incidentally, you would notice a moderate drop in throttle response & power at low rpm. My R/T would feel genuinely sluggish up to about 3000rpm, then from 3-4000 it would rapidly become more powerful, and it would just scream from 4500 to the redline at 6500. The R/T transmission very encouragingly keeps the engine in this rpm range through all 5 gears (with a significant highway fuel efficiency penalty).

With a normal cam you get more power up front, but they feel 'tired' as you get close to the redline, whereas the R/T cam just taunts you to go past the redline. An R/T cam with sxt/se intake & exhaust will probably feel similar to an rt at lower rpm, but that high rpm eagerness will be tempered somewhat by a lack of breath.

You'll probably lose several miles per gallon in fuel efficiency with an R/T cam (or any racing cam). I'd honestly go with the stock cam or 95 cam, unless you want to get a bigger intake & exhaust as well, in which case an rt (cam or crane cam) will make much better use of the added airflow than a stock cam could. If you want to turbocharge, definitely get an rt or racing cam. Or just get the 95 cam, for a pretty small bonus at the top end with everything else stock.

I'm not aware of any difference between 05 and 2000-2004 cams. but if crane is only listed through 2004, it does make ya wonder why doesn't it.

 

Well I swapped the cams tonight, and just so you all know you CAN do it without pulling the head!!! It saved me at least $250 and about 2-3 hours of my time. I didn't take any photos while I was in the process but I can explain it for anyone interested. Car runs a lot better, but the cam sensor I got off the used head must be bad, since it still throws the same code and won't run over 2500RPM. I will have to swap in the new one tomarrow night and see if that fixes it for good.
DS79

 

yea i swapped my cam without taking off the head, will the car turn on? if it dnt turn on check ur timing that happened to me. i thought it was the cam sensor also but i ended up checking the timing and it was off so the car wouldnt turn on