Im new in the forums so please help me out here i just bought a 99 expresso four door neon with the engine knocking and i was told that not any dodge neon engine would work with the automatic transmission that is in there can i swap motors? and whats the diffrence between a SOHC and DOHC and wich one do i have in the car and if they interchange ?woul i be able to use the same head? help me here i never had a neon before but i like this little car and i want to make it go fast any help would be greatly appreciated thanks

 

Welcome to the boards, glad you like your neon. They are fun little cars to drive. I don't know lots about the first gen neons, but I think yours is a SOHC. Does your hood have a bulge in it? If it does, you got the DOHC. Anyways, depending on what you have in there you could do a number of things: you could put a 2.0L DOHC from the neon (if you don't have one already), the 2.4L from a stratus, and I think I've heard of some swapping in the SRT4 motor in there although I believe its a lot of work to do. Those are the ones I've heard of. I'm sure someone else here can englighten more on your options. I'm fairly certain the SOHC and the DOHC don't have the same head, same block I believe but different head. Get some mods goin on that bad boy. Get a cold air intake, exhaust, pulley, larger throttle body, new cam, the list goes on. Depends on how much you want to spend and how fast you want to go.

 

You can swap any engine from any other neon in there. Plus you can swap the 2.4 as well. I'm guessing you have a SOHC with the ATX. Many Neons that came with the power bulge hood also came with the SOHC. The easiest way to determine what engine you have is open the hood and look at the side of the engine on the passenger side of the car. You should see a black box on the side of the head. If it's got two round parts it's a DOHC and if it's only got one it's a SOHC.

You can also use the same heads on either block.

 

I wish all neons that has the bulge had a DOHC. Then project neon would have one.

 

<snicker> Well. . .with a SOHC you just have that much more excuse to swap to 2.4, right Altima?

as an FYI if you use the DOHC pistons with a SOHC head you'll pick up a little compression. If you go DOHC head with SOHC you'll loose a little.

As for the "are the same head comment" . . . um. . . think about it---Single Over Head Cam vs. Dual Over Head Cam. Where's the Cam(s)? In the Head. Are the Heads different? (I'm hoping you can answer that yourself). BUT! The good news is on any 2.0 or 2.4 block you can bolt any of the 2.0 SOHC's and DOHC's and the 2.4 DOHC head. After that it's a question of getting the Cam and Crank position sensors correct for your wiring/pcm you're using etc. Yes you can do a SOHC head on a 2.4 short block. You don't get anything on the top end though so it's not recommended. (If you're doing the work you might as well use a Cammer head.)

On the other hand. . . .I think I can pretty easily disguise a $300 2.4 short block under my SOHC trappings and potentially pass CA smog. . . . so I have some incentive.

 

Yeah, But I just can't convince anyone else that the 2.4 swap alone is all that car needs. Oh well, just gotta stick to the plan of turboing the SOHC.

 

Welcome to the boards! I hope you have time to enjoy your neon before started knoking. About the engine swap...you came to the right place...there is a lot of folks around here with a vast experience in the subject. So you just have to post the vehicle info and what are your plans. Remember...any swap will cost money and time. Ensure that it is worth the effort and money. There are SOHC outhere that outrun any 2.4 with minor modifications and vice versa. Some SOHC engine came stock from factory with the same high performance cam that some high performance stores sell. About the swap,..have a spare car...you gonna need it. Take your time and do it right. You might create a nasty little car