Srt-4 swap in first gen

Working on a DOHC or 2.4L swap, or maybe you have some other idea and have some questions? Feel free to ask them here...
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excon
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Srt-4 swap in first gen

Post by excon » Tue May 05, 2009 4:57 pm

I drive a 2003 sxt as my daily driver so I'm a regular on 2gn.org. My sister has a '97 neon that has been through a lot--it's her beater. She's not very car savvy, nor does she care about them at all. Recently she's had problems with her car cutting off when she puts it in reverse. The mechanic says she needs a new engine. She wants to give it to me.

I've read everything on what you need to swap a turbo SRT-4 motor into a second gen, and I want to do this swap. I just have a few questions:

I think i need the entire body harness along with the dash and engine bay harness. Is this correct? Is the fuse box on the side of the dash part of the dash harness? If not, i'm wondering about the wiring for the backup (reverse) lights.

Skim. How? The only thing I can figure is to get a new PCM from the dealer and have a key made that is the same as my sister's only with a chip in it (so i don't need two sets of keys). I hear I could get a used PCM and have it flashed at a dealership too.

Her cluster doesn't work. Hasn't for a while. This is a common problem on first gens though. I'd like to use the SRT-4 cluster so that's why I need the dash wiring harness.

Am I better off finding a wrecked SRT for around $5k and swapping over what I can? or should I just get the parts I need from a dealership knowing that they're new? I've been screwed over when I did my rear drum to disc conversion because someone sold me wrecked srt parts and I don't want to go through that again.

If anyone has any experience on doing an srt swap into a first gen your feedback on getting it to run would be appreciated!
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INVUJerry
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Post by INVUJerry » Tue May 05, 2009 9:02 pm

I would buy a wrecked SRT and swap everything over. Getting harnesses new from a dealer is straight expensive. One of the harnesses (don't remember which) can cost up to $1,000.
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Post by srt4eh » Tue May 05, 2009 10:45 pm

you can buy a wrecked srt4 for less than that...but yeah....swap over all wiring, cluster, pcm, etc and as long as you have the key for the srt4 you should be good to go
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excon
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Post by excon » Wed May 06, 2009 8:01 pm

srt4eh wrote:you can buy a wrecked srt4 for less than that...but yeah....swap over all wiring, cluster, pcm, etc and as long as you have the key for the srt4 you should be good to go
I'd rather not use two different keys. I keep wondering how this can be done. Can I use the first gen lock/key cylinder for the ignition, or do i need to use the srt one? If I use the first gen for the ignition, I imagine the wiring would be rough. Could I get a blank key off ebay with SKIM and have it cut to the first gen key and have it flashed at the dealer?

If I did find a donor srt i could swap over the lock on the driver side door... they will fit right? (sorry for THAT n00b question)

I'm sure it would be easy to swap if I had a wrecked srt, I'm just wondering how to get it running with SKIM if i don't have a donor car and I buy all the parts individually...
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metal_gear_jon
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Post by metal_gear_jon » Thu May 07, 2009 8:45 am

Just tape the srt key under the dash near the transponder. Use the 1gn stuff for the ignition and the locks to keep it simple. I recommend you get wiring diagrams for both the 1gn and 2gn cars to see what wires you can keep and which ones to splice/ add the the harnesses. Don't even bother to try to get all the parts by themselves. You'll spend way too much money that way and you may never get it runnning without multiple trips to the dealer.(some dealers won't screw with anything like this anyway, the one I used to work at didn't)
Last edited by metal_gear_jon on Thu May 07, 2009 7:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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excon
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Post by excon » Thu May 07, 2009 5:15 pm

thanks, that's a good idea.

as far as skim goes, i thought the key had to be in the ignition for the "car" to "read" the key. This isn't the case? :? interesting
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metal_gear_jon
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Post by metal_gear_jon » Thu May 07, 2009 7:25 pm

No just near it, there's a module and a "antenna" ring that fits around the lock cylinder. It picks up the Rf signal from the top of the key (Gray part) and checks it with the 4 digit code programmed in the pcm. Used to program keys all the time. Cost the customer a hour labor but only took me 10 minutes with the DRBIII.
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Post by fuzzyneon » Fri Oct 02, 2009 6:46 pm

swap motor run MS probably be cheaper now easier with tuning no
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Post by fattirebicycles » Sat Jan 16, 2010 6:58 pm

I had to zip tie the skim key's head directly on top of the ignition cylinder to get it close enough to read. it wouldn't even work if it was on the same key ring.
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