Front subassembly install: today's the big day

Darkness · Post by **Darkness** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 11:57 am

I'm getting ready to swap out the entire front subassembly from the 2005 SRT4 to the 2001 ES. Does anyone have any tips on the easy way to get the sub out of the car without disassembling the whole car? I know I have to take the bolt/nuts out of the tops of the struts, split the brake lines off the brake pigtails, and unhook the PS lines from the steering box. The axles have to be removed.

I'm figuring I need to jack up the car and get the front on stands and then use the jack to support the motor so I can get the K assembly out of there. I only have one floor jack available, so I figure I can use the emergency jack out of the Neon to hold the motor, while my floor jack can support the K member.

If anyone has done this swap, I'd appreciate your advice.

hansken_yo · Post by **hansken_yo** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 4:44 pm

you shouldn't have to jack the motor at all. the k frame doesn't attach to the motor. The one connecting spot to the engine mounts doesn't hold the full weight of the engine and will be fine disconnected for a couple of hours. So put the car up on stilts and use your floor jack for the k frame. Its that Simple.

Darkness · Post by **Darkness** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 5:43 pm

Yes it actually turned out to be an easy swap. It took about 7 hours to do the front and another 4 on the rear. Thats with plenty of breaks and working in the dark for a few hours each time. Now that I know my way around the car I bet I could do the whole thing in less than 6 hours, even less if I had air tools.

One thing that surprises me is the ride height is exceedingly high. Is this thing going to settle down? I don't recall new SRT4's riding like that. There's at least a handspan over each tire, more like 6 fingers. I would hope that it would drop at least an inch.

Flying_NEB · Post by **Flying_NEB** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 9:25 pm

are you running srt struts/springs? or just stock?

Darkness · Post by **Darkness** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 11:20 pm

I swapped every single part from underneath a 2005 SRT4. The struts and springs and hats went in as a single assembly, along with the subframe, the brakes, and the sway bar. The car was aligned and handles very nice now.

The one thing I can't understand is why it rides so high. I've got like 4 fingers of space over each tire.

kc2005ptgt · Post by **kc2005ptgt** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 1:03 pm

well, I know strut perches on an srt are high than base models to make room for 17 in tires, so maybe it is running higher. Also, springs that were previously not compressed or had weight on them need time to settle... when I swapped my 98 rt springs with 05 srt4 springs the end result was drastic in the rear, until about 2 weeks later it settled comp;letely and looks great.