Project Lebaron ressurection

[moparstuart]

This used to be my daily driver before it died on the highway about a year and a half ago. Overheated and would not restart. So it sat at the salvage yard for about a year and a half until I finally got off my butt decided it was time for the car to run again. As we all know sitting does not do any good for a car but man this car just got beat up...
Here are all the pics of the motor and tranny swap on the car. The transmission in the car had 185,000 miles and the governor when cold was sticking.

[66chargerkid]

Excuse me. This is what happens when your dad uses your laptop and leaves himself logged in....
Anyways this is Q NOT STUART!
here are more pictures. As you can see the car sat for a year and a half and had some issues. A crack in the windshield, rear brake locked up, interior infested with ants, hole in the top let moisture in making the interior nasty, the mirror got knocked off and somehow my battery was missing. Here are more pictures

[66chargerkid]

MORE!





The motor and trans that is going into the car

[66chargerkid]

Unfortunately I didn't have time to get the car all cleaned up. I will be detailing and cleaning everything a little at a time but not right now.
Here are the pictures of the installation. I had to strip the other motor and take it from a longblock to almost fully assembled.
The old motor and trans split and stripped. The new motor was set up for a 5 speed so I  had to split the motor and trans to get to the flexplate and and bolts

Motor all assembled



To put the motor in with out a load leveler is a little of a chore. You have to drop it almost vertically so the trans will clear pass side (there is a battery tray, cruise, computer, and trans mount is designed where the trans come up and aligns with a large bolt on the passenger side so its gotta go under and come up.


The motor sitting in the engine bay on its own mounts

[66chargerkid]

I didn't take any pics of getting it all running. The yard is an hour drive from the house and the car BARELY made it home. The fuel pump was going out so it would drive for 20 miles, get hot, die and then we would wait for 20-30 minutes and the car would start right back up and we would be on our way
So getting the car wasn't a big deal just very time consuming. So I put a fuel pump in on the driveway.


ofcourse taking the tank out wasn't fun. I hit the studs with pb blaster and let it sit for a couple hours and it still broke the studds... so both of them had to be replaced with bolts.



fuel pump in the tank and ready to install

[66chargerkid]

Well now came time to clean up the car. I spot cleaned the carpets (they do need steam cleaned but I didn't have time). I removed the seats and cleaned up everything the best I could for now. The outside also needs cleaned up and I did a little. I need to hit the car with some touch up paint and really wipe down everything.

[FlatbackFanatic]

its looking good!

[71ChallengeHer]

Looking good. I'd drive it.    And stop using ArmorAll.

[66chargerkid]

I didnt use the armor all it was just in the bucket with all the cleaning supplies I laid out.
Best part of the car its turbo charged and pretty peppy.

[SRT-440]

Looks good! That would have been a fun project to put a SRT-4 engine/tranny into..prolly would fit like a glove. 

[Nacho-RT74]

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII LOVE IT!

[66chargerkid]

I have driven a couple srt swapped cars and they are a blast. If I had a set up laying around I would love to do it. They aren't hard to mock up at all. Just swap the turbo tranny guts into a neon case, fab a trans mount and modify my front engine mount then either run srt wiring or run a standalone like megasquirt(LOVE MEGASQUIRT).
Srt swapped lebaron convertible would be a killer sleeper.

[Brock Samson]

         

[SRT-440]

If a auto is needed you could also use the automatic from the PT Cruiser that had the same SRT4 motor but came with an auto instead of a 5 speed.

My daily driver is an '04 SRT4 Stage 1 with a big intercooler and Diablo tune..runs low 13's and gets 25+ mpg (if driven right  )

I'd like to get a older neon that is beat up with faded paint and do the srt swap...it would be the ultimate sleeper. 

[66chargerkid]

I have been hardcore looking for a neon srt4 for a while. I really want one. Got a couple job interviews coming up and if I get a decent job I may save and put a downpayment on an 05 srt4 neon ACR

[nh_mopar_fan]

I had a couple of those. An 89 turbo and a 94. Man, the amount of body flex on those ragtops was unbelievable.

Fun cars still....

[bakerhillpins]

Excuse me. This is what happens when your dad uses your laptop and leaves himself logged in....
Anyways this is Q NOT STUART!

LOL. I read through this whole thread and then at the bottom I'm like - WTH??? Who is this guy that hijacked the thread... 

Then I realized I missed this text...   

Nice job!

[66chargerkid]

Thats what happens when your dad uses your laptop and doesnt log off LMAO and by that time the thread is made and you just continue on =-P 

[71ChallengeHer]

I have been hardcore looking for a neon srt4 for a while. I really want one. Got a couple job interviews coming up and if I get a decent job I may save and put a downpayment on an 05 srt4 neon ACR

My son has an SRT4 with a blown motor ?

[66chargerkid]

really.... Do explain. More details =)

[71ChallengeHer]

really.... Do explain. More details =)

I'll talk to him and see if he wants to sell it. The car is in SC. If he does I'll get you his info. 

[Charger RT]

My son and I just did a similar swap. My 20 yr old totally banged up my 94 lebaron. It was sound but had 12 dents in every panel. So we found a 95 for 300 that leaked oil bad. On a saturday we pulled the 94 apart then sunday swapped it all into the 95. monday took it to work. Too bad the newer ones had 3.0's.

I like yours nice job. I miss driving my turbo. I need a TIII radiator. I'm in the process of putting a honda radiator with a toyota intercooler together for it.
Tim

[66chargerkid]

t3 radiator? that sucks man. How about using a t2 radiator with the metal endtanks. The t3 has those plastic ones that split and break.
Also if you are possibly looking for a fmic I have a same side inlet/outlet that I am going to be getting rid of soon. I am upgrading.

[SRT-440]

I'm on the fence about selling my SRT4...I think I'm prolly going to cuz I need a truck for hauling. 

To blow up a srt motor you'd have to run it without oil or run WAYYY (25+ psi) too much boost..there are guys on srtforums.com that are pushing 700hp on the stock bottom end.

[66chargerkid]

Ya you can reliably run about 500 hp on the stock bottom end. first thing to go is the pistons because they are not forged. If guys are running more hp then that then they must have a tune that is dead nuts on.
Q

[SRT-440]

Yea the couple I know of running 700hp have swapped out the pistons and are running a race gas tune...but your right 500hp is pretty easy to get with a big turbo.
I have a Diablo Predator tune on mine along with just a BFMIC and it runs great...beat my dads 440 Dart by a fender. 

[66chargerkid]

LOL I want one just for the sake of having a newer car thats really pretty reliable with great gas mileage.

[Charger RT]

t3 radiator? that sucks man. How about using a t2 radiator with the metal endtanks. The t3 has those plastic ones that split and break.
Also if you are possibly looking for a fmic I have a same side inlet/outlet that I am going to be getting rid of soon. I am upgrading.

I need A/C here in Florida and I'm not willing to cut an R/T. So a front mount is out. Right now I have the radiator out of my green R/T so I have been fitting my new set up in it. When its ready I will put it in my red one.
Tim

[Charger RT]

I got a couple of better pictures of the radiator/IC/condenser were putting together for the TIII. Seeing you turbo getting back on the road makes me miss mine more. Its been a year since I parked mine. I will still need to take my head off before putting this in. I bought the car right after the head was cracked and repaired. This was during the time they were making the 4 layer gaskets that had no coating between the middle 2 layers. So I hope its just drill the rivit clean the layers copper spray it and reuse it. I will also get rid of the small cap that leaks coolant at the trans end of the head.
Tim

[66chargerkid]

That looks pretty good.
Ya the Lebaron is leaking a bit of oil somewhere and so I need to figure that out before I can drive the car. Got my Shelby Daytona going so I have been playing around with that car. I start work at NTB on Monday so I wont have AS MUCH time to play with my cars as I do now but still
Q