1999 Dodge Neon 1999 to 2000 cylinder head swap

BONESKID1

MEMBER
1999 DODGE NEON
4 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
11,000 MILES

Hi, I have a 1999 SOHC 2.0L Neon with antifreeze leaking out of the camshaft seal in the head (cracked basically), stripped spark plug hole (someone heli-coiled it previously), and the valves are tapping quite loud from what looks like piston interference marks from a broken timing belt. I obtained a 2000 cylinder head but now not sure if it will work on what I believe is a 1996-1999 engine (it is obviously a junkyard motor because the VIN says it should have a DOHC). Does anyone know if this will work? The heads looks identical and the head gasket and bolt kit separately are the same, but the valve cover gasket part numbers are different for some reason. I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could elaborate on this as I really like the car but don't have a lot of money to even purchase a "new" remanufactured cylinder head. Thanks for your help and expertise in advance.

3 Replies

ZACKMAN

MECHANIC
4,202 POSTS

It will work, but with a lot of headache. Your timing belt will have to be longer, and you will also need a new computer to run the dual cam (I believe), to say the least.

You need to get another single-cam head to work fairly simple and perfect fit.

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Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 AT 12:27 AM

BONESKID1

MEMBER
2 POSTS

Thanks for your reply Zackman. Guess I wasn't clear enough in my rambling descriptions there. The heads I have are both SOHC but I am not sure what year the motor is currently in the car. The VIN says the car came with a DOHC, but it is obviously a SOHC. So for me to keep it simple, will a 2000 SOHC head work on a 1996-1999 SOHC engine block which is what I believe is in the car now? The heads look identical, but questions arose when looking at valve cover gasket part numbers that weren't the same between the 2000 SOHC head and the 1996-1999 SOHC head. Hope this is more understandable. Thanks!

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Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 AT 6:57 AM

ZACKMAN

MECHANIC
4,202 POSTS

OK, that makes so much sense. I am not an expert with ECB motors, while they look identical they have different part numbers of some critical components. I believe that they can be swapped, but make sure that when you purchase parts for the head, you need to specify that the head is from 2000, not the year of the car.

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Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 AT 9:09 PM