Just wanted to say I'm surprised I've never seen this site before. Perusing through posts the majority of your members seem a lot nicer than other chrysler forums.

I was sent here today because a post my father noticed about Spirit R/T's. That's the only Dodge I own right now, but do have a Plymouth Neon--close enough. Recently the wife has decided to dump two cars and trade in for a Suburban (5 kids but still need to tow) and she has given me permission to buy my own commuter in 1 to 2 years to replace the neon. My intention is to start cutting up the neon and see what can be done with V-6's. It's not worth anything anyway, so no reason to try and sell it, and everyone has done the swap to 2.4 to death so I'll be working out something unique that can also meet smog rules in California.

Just wanted to say howdy. My Dodge is still the most fun to drive because of the 3000 RPM kick in the butt. Been around Dodge's for a long time since my father is pentastar loyal. (He has a '61 Lancer wagon with a 318 in it right now with plans for a blown 360, his '68 Superbee he's restoring and a '70 Challenger SE he's holding on to for my little brother. The 426 Hemi he's finally gotten around to rebuilding needs a place to go and was going to go into his original 383 'Bee, but the restoration is coming off so nice he doesn't want to mess the car up with a requirement for a rollcage when drag racing.)

Thanks for listening. Will post soon if there's interest: A home built sway bar bracket for Neon that CAN'T be Broken, an idler setup for changing neon power steer to a true 22 ratio manual rack, etc.

 

Welcome to DodgeForum, I hope you enjoy the site.

 

Welcome to the site! Glad you joined up and I hope to see you often around here. Got any pics to share with us?

~Amanda

 

Welcome to DF! If you wanna do something special with the Neon, then convert it to RWD and put a new Hemi in it, then it can still pass emissions as well as kick the crap out of most anything that gets next to you.[sm=smiley20.gif] Or even better, borrow your dad's 426 Hemi for it.[sm=smiley3.gif][sm=smiley17.gif][sm=smiley2.gif]

 

It's tempting '71. I have both a TPI GM 305 and an LT1 available (Although the TPI is not '95 or newer so wouldn't be smog legal--pop's probably going to put that in a early model S truck).

Your joking aside, I think you know Pop wouldn't let me touch his 426. He's had that since 1971 that he bought from a guy building a Charger for T/A class (I think) and just ran out of time/money/spousal patience. Hasn't done anything with it until he finally retired and got time on his hand. He's told the stories of the 426's since I was born. It has to go into something special.

Besides, by the time I built up a frame that was strong enough I'd be 3500 lbs and $5000 in debt.

Nope. I think the V-6 Idea is it. I can keep it FWD, keep it CA smog legal, probably get away with using my half shafts (and replace them cheap occassionally if I do break 'em). The goal is not a 10second neon. I'm thinking more like high 13's on regular pump and getting 28 to 32 MPG. Something that would definitely suprise the H@## out of a Camaro, but not give him any clues as to why. . . . Unless he listens very carefully.

 

I saw that you're all big on pictures. But what would you want to see? You know what a Dodge Spirit R/T looks like, right? Do you really want to see mine with bad paint right now? (Mine's all original except for some super dark tint owner #2 put on it that I haven't bothered to remove.)

There's not much interesting there, but you could visit: http://www.paul.auman.com/spiritRT.html (The whole site is about 2 years outdated--five kids--four under four years old--takes a lot of time out of your hobbies.)

 

If money were no object, you could throw the SRT-10 V10 in it mid-mounted and RWD, then it would also be a wheel stander.[sm=smiley36.gif]Plus, the V10 is all aluminum so it isn't as heavy.[sm=smiley2.gif]

Seriously, the V6 idea sounds good, but there's no room for one under there. You would have to do alot of modifying to get that to work.

 

Well, that's not entirely true. For instance, Junkyard dogg's Mitsubishi 3.0 liter fit under the hood before the superchargers.
http://v6neon.homestead.com/V6SRT.html

His transaxle is an automatic Neon pretty much cut and rewelded to a housing face for a 3.0 liter. That's not that tough as many racers do it now matching up various BB/RB and SB chryslers to various transmissions. Sometimes a kit is already available. For instance my father just picked up a NHRA approved piece that will bolt the truck 4 speed OD's to his RB 426 hemi. Wasn't even that badly priced. I'll ask him the price and manufacture if anyone's interested.

Meanwhile, I've taken measurements. Yes, I know I'd have a tough time if I kept the transaxle from an intrepid because there'd be a LOT of cutting and re-framing, custom halfshafts, etc., etc., as the 3.2, 3.3, 3.5 were all only sold in a North-South configuration. HOWEVER, the 2.7 was sold for two years as a cross chassis drivetrain and available with a 5speed in the Stratus R/Ts. If I really can't figure out how to deal with the wiring and PCM for the electronically controlled transmission in a 4 speed auto Stratus then I know that I CAN pay a dealer price for the wiring/PCM from the dealer from those certain years that match what I want.

Gauges aren't that big of an issue if I can't make the originals work. I have a couple plans to replace with digital gauges if needed in the stock housing, but some of the re-wirers for GM V-8 swaps (such as LT1-350.com) can/will do some work on other make/models too. I really just need a way to hookup the speedometer but a converter in line for 6 cylinder to 4 cylinder tachometer would be nice too, and those are available.

As you can see. . . I've had this planned out for a long time, and now that my LT1 swap into the Jimmy has been nixed by the wife I am looking for something crazy to do. Unfortunately at Neons.org and Allpar.com no-one's been willing to take it on. I think the main reason for that is the 2.4 swap is established so people with out a lot of tools or backup cars feel comfortable taking it on. But my car will just sit around unused waiting for my first born to paint it yellow and then beat it to heck with his friends if I don't do something with it. Hence, I'm pretty commited to making it work.

I'll keep you updated as I progress. It will be at least a year before I start trying to actually fit the drivetrain into the car because I will wait until the Cobalt is available at the earliest, and will probably want to wait until the Solstice is available so that I have something with a little more longevity and lot less personal value to commute in than the Spirit R/T--so late '05 before I'm all the way done and driving it I think.

Who knows, maybe someone will beat me too it and some of the mental work will be completed already for me by then.

 

I dont know how you guys do it, but you manage to type more than a paragraph. lol. Anyways, welcome to the site and I hope you stick around to enjoy dodgeforum.





-Matt-

 

wut's uh paragraph?