Hello everyone!

[Vash90909]

New to the forum and also the second gen scene but not new to neons. just picked up last week a 2004 sxt in red with 74,500 miles & of course it’s a manual transmission. This marks my third neon, had a 96 & 97 stick shift coupe sohc 15 years ago. Primaryly this car is just the daily beat around for work since my main vehicle is a 14 ram 1500 but I may be modifying some after I fix the rust starting near and at the dog legs. Looking forward to the forum!

[occasional demons]

Welcome!

[Midnight_Rider]

Howdy!

[Vash90909]

The irony that I posted this morning and my oil light comes on at idle today. Looks like I’ll throw on a new pressure sensor Wednesday lol

[Vash90909]

Problem solved, new oil pressure switch fixed it. Two long test drives since installing and still no light.

[occasional demons]

[Vash90909]

I’d really love to find r/t bumpers or just the lip kit. With the low mileage It would be pretty cool to do a magnum head swap with intake manifold with a comp 400 cam and a skyed tune. Man can dream right?

[occasional demons]

Certainly can.

I have a spare Magnum head, but it is a bare head. The valves from a standard head will swap right in. I would lap them at minimum if using used valves.

I also have a Magnum IM, but I'm not sure if I want to let it go just yet.

Coming across R/T stuff is going to be pure luck anymore. Being as the forums are largely dead, and most folks have moved on from neons.

Finding Magnum valve springs will be pretty tough, as Mopar dico'ed those a while back. They were a decent bang for the buck, at $85 for all 16 springs, and they even came with new retainers.

Crane might sell springs for the SOHC that are not overkill. Not sure, as I have not shopped for anything SOHC for a long while.

You should be okay with normal SOHC springs and the 400 cam. It was designed around the Magnum spring design, but I'm sure the 400 has been put in a few standard SOHC heads...

[Vash90909]

You have a spare head you say. Care to part ways with it along with the manifold? Can’t hurt to ask. can’t the crane springs/retainers be installed into the magnum head? I would imagine the rockers are interchangeable. I have a spare regular sohc from a 03, bottom end needs a rebuild for sure, the top end should be fine for spare parts.

[occasional demons]

I don't recall if Crane makes SOHC valve springs. A lot of the aftermarket performance is geared towards the DOHC heads. There are far more DOHC heads than Magnum heads floating around.

[Vash90909]

I can't seem to either A, figure out how to send a PM back or B, I can't yet.

[occasional demons]

To the left under the post number/joined date, it should say "Contact" I don't think there is any kind of post limit for sending PM's.

Or hit the "Send Reply" tab on a received PM.

[Dammit Man!]

Only 16 posts here, and I can see the "Contact" feature...

[Vash90909]

Well I’m at 9(this is 10) and I don’t see either options. Hmm, maybe because I’m on mobile and not desktop. Either way, I’ll let you know Wednesday or Thursday.

[occasional demons]

Okay, on the mobile/phone app, click on the person's screen name at the top of their post(s), and you will get a dropdown box for different options...

I don't post a lot from my phone, so....

[Vash90909]

Still can’t private message so I’ll just use this. I’m picking up a parts car nearby my house. 2001 R/T. In rough shape but all the parts I want are there. Engine runs, has front and rear bumpers with side skirts, rear disc brake setup is useable, along with sway bars. Appears to be rust free on the bottom of the quarters(doglegs) which is what I need so another win. Guy got it for the trans only for his other r/t due to it kicking out of 3rd and 5th but I get his old trans with it, looks like I need to do a gear swap! Best news is the price, $300 for the car. Seems at least something is going my way in 2021, lol. I’ll have to start a project post once the weather warms up a little on the progress. Still want to freshen the head up and put in a comp 400 and get a syked tune. Only thing I wish this car had was the factory dual exhaust but it is cut off at the cat.

[occasional demons]

As far as the engine you will only be able to use the head in your 2004, if you are planning on that approach. The 2001 bottom end is not compatible with 2003 up neons.

Which sucks, because the Magnum bottom end has slightly better rods, and coated piston skirts.

But overall, the regular bottom end will work just fine with any bolt-on's you can toss at it, since you will be hard pressed to get over 170 hp in N/A form without spending more than what it cost to boost it.

The PCM is also not compatible. So you can't take advantage of the factory tune. Granted, it might not be as good as the Syked PCM's that Modern sells, but it would be basically free, if you had a 2001/2002.

The Syked I have in my '99 2.4 swap does pretty well compared to the 2002 R/T pcm I had in my '01 base neon. But the '01 was also a 2.0, so not really a fair comparison...

If the rest of the 2001 is in good shape, I would just toss a 2002 - 2006 N/A PT Cruiser MTX in it and enjoy it.

[Vash90909]

As long as the mileage is correct, is at 201k so I wouldn’t want the block at this point. Just freshen up the head. Have to do some research on how to make the intake manifold work. Overall I’m pretty excited, got it home tonight. Drivers side skirt has a hole at the front, not noticeable on the a side view but if you look from the front it is obvious. Wish the driver’s seat wasn’t torn, a much better feel in em. Maybe I can stitch it shut and throw on seat covers so it matches

[occasional demons]

viewtopic.php?f=67&t=3048

viewtopic.php?f=67&t=41

If you can get the R/T side skirts and fascias off without any damage, you could probably sell them and make back some of the cost for the car.

The R/T PCM might be of interest to someone, but you will also need to package it with the SKIM module, keys and locks, or at least the key(s).

AFAIK, all R/T's had the anti theft SKIM as part of the R/T package.

The 2002 R/T pcm I have was SKIM enabled.

[Vash90909]

I plan on using the r/t pieces to make a clone. Other than the srt and gen 1 coupe and think the 01-02 r/t are nicest. I would set swap for looks but unless I found a killer deal on a broken srt I don’t want to be that guy with the looks and no go. Wish it would warm up so I can start working. I have new mounts, belts and tensioners, and soon shifter bushings and complete poly budging kit to freshen it up. Just need to order new quick struts. The have a used timing belt kit we used on my nephew’s 04 that he cracked the oil pan on so I’m taking that off the spare motor. On had 400 miles.