This coming summer I am planning on swaping out my 2.0L engine for and SRT-4 2.4L engine. Now I know it is very hard to get the SRT-4 motor seeing as the car is very new and very desired. I've been looking all over the web for extra ideas and I wanted to get some opinions. Would the turbo pt cruiser 2.4L engine work? Would a base 2.4L engine from a stratuse work. If the turbo pt cruiser engine would work would it be just better to get the base engine and buy an aftermarket turbo and intercooler(looking to take the car up to at least 500 whp boosting at atleast 20psi hopefully), or would the current turbo on it be enough to get me to 500 with no problem. With the transmission, could i simple just swap the automatic for the 5-speed or would I have to swap the entire transaxle. Would it be easier and more cost effective to buy and SRT-4 cpu or to buy and aftermarket engine management system(AEM) and tune that and keep the current cpu. Next, what would I have to do with the wireing harness of the car to get all the conections made so when I'm finished the engine actually runs with no stupid little problems.

Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you

 

if you aren't able to find an SRT-4 engine in your area you could expand your search area to cities near you. Barring that you can always order a brand new motor straight from Howell automotive. 2.4L motor with core exchange

All you've gotta do is send them your old motor. The motor includes a bunch of other stuff, you may have to call them to clarify what all is included. They're really a cool bunch of guys over there and should be able to help you with anything you need.

I have never seen a PT cruiser engine swapped into a Neon, or a Stratus motor for that matter. I know that the Cruiser motor is possible to turbo, of you can find a wrecked Turbo PT.

The SRT-4 Turbo will not be able to take you all the way to 500 HP. You'll have to end up buying a Stage 3 Turbo upgrade kit from Modern Performance. Even then, I'm not sure how many HP you'll be able to get beyond that. You'll have to talk to the SRT-4 guys about that one.

 

thanks for the help man.... with respect to the turbo... i don't plan on using the SRT-4 turbo anyway. I am probably going to go for a garret(sp?) turbo capable of up to 700hp and boost it to 20-25psi at the strip and 10-15psi on the street for daily driving. the only thing i would leave stock on an SRT-4 motor is the actual block itself. thanx for the help though.. much appreciated

 

for the money your gonna end up spending why didn't you just buy an SRT-4 to start with?

 

well here's my logic behind.. see if it makes sense....

right now my car if i were to trade it in i would only get bout 4k for it because i've had a few mishaps with the body and it's been broken into and i still can't get all the finger print dust off the interior fabric. I will be doing all the work myself with the help from a few mechanic buddies.

Engine swap - $2000 for core (from howell)
Transaxle - $2-3000 (guessing in that if anyone knows for sure let me know plz)
Turbo kit with big turbo - $4000 (probably a little high)
Intercooler and supporting hardware - $1500 (probably a little high)
Any other misc. hardware needed - $2000 (probably high)

Even with some of these estimates being high ther total cost to do the upgrades will be at most $12,500 in total with more hp than a stock srt-4.
2003 SRT-4 Used around $14,000 so i would lose bout $2,500 in building up my current car but have more hp and a brand new engine
2006 SRT-4 brand new $21,295 for the very basic so i'd save bout $9,000 and still have more hp.

So i see my situation as win win for me.

 

well, what i'm saying is, you take the the 12,500 you are estimating for the build up and then add in say 10k you spent to buy your SE new, and you are at 22,500 when you could have bought an SRT in 03 and put the stage 2 or 3 upgrade kit on it for less than what you have came up with so far. But I understand, you work with what you got and look back and say, well I shoulda bought this instead.

 

it is more fun building up a regular neon then buying a srt-4 because alot of people expect a srt-4 to be fast. but if you do alot of work to a regular neon then you get a bad *** sleeper. i would rather take my 1998 neon and put 20,000 into the car then to go out and buy an srt-4. after 20,000 into a regular neon, a srt-4 wouldnt even put up a fight. when i put a turbo and all kinds of other stuff on my car im also gonna put on different colored body parts and primer all over it. then i wanna take a hammer to the body and beat it up a little, with 4 regular black steel rims. i would love if the car looked like ****, can you imagine what the people racing you would think. especially how embarrased they would be when they lose. HA

 

plus the insurence is ALOT LESS on an regular neon than a SRT becuase of a srt is not conidered a sedan it is conciderd a sports car in the auto insurence eyes, and it would be sweet to kill a srt 4 with your ES neon i say GO FOR IT!!!!