hello all, i am interested in making a transmission swap in my 2002 neon es. instead of the 3.55 fd i want to have the 3.94 of the more sporty models. is this something that has been done? will a 1st gen r/t tranny work i my car if i change the bell housing over? how about splines matching up on the clutch and on the cv axles? what is my best option for doing this upgrade? do i have to spend mucho dollars on a salvage tranny out of a 01-02 neon r/t (400 or so is the cheapest ive found) or can i use a tranny from a more easily accessable 1st gen car?

http://www.neons.org/forumdodge/trans.htm

 

has anybody done this?

 

You wont be able to use the R/T transmission out of 1st Gen because the 1st Gens and the 2000 year 2nd Gens use cable clutches, while the 01+ use hydraulic clutches. Not to mention 1st Gens use a non-modular clutch and the 2nd Gens use modular clurtches. You could make it work but you would have to drill through the firewall for the cables and replace some other things. The easiest and best way to go would be to find a 3.94 tranny from an 01-04 R/T or ACR.

 

what else, besides changing the bell housing, would you have to rig to use the 1st gen? arent the bellhousings removable on these cars? i havnt even looked at my own transmission that closely to see if the bellhousing comes off but i belive i read it somewhere. would the speedometer be messed up with the 3.94 gear in either case? the reason i keep going with the 1st gen tranny idea is because i could get one of those for next to nothing where the cheapest i could get the 2nd gen would be like 400 bucks unless i get lucky and one of my local junkyards attains a gen 2 neon r/t or acr.