I own a 2000 Intrepid. It had a 3.2L motor and sadly it blew a piston and god knows what.




Since I put so much work into the trep before the motor died I thought I would convert it to a 3.5L. Since the 3.2L and the 3.5L are compatible on 90% of the parts it is a easy thing to do. Just change out the left Cam sprocket from the old motor and also reuse the flexplate. Everything else is bolt and play.

Instead of a simple motor swap I went all out.

2001-2004 3.5L High Output
Port and polished the upper intake manifold
JBA shorty headers from the charger/magnum
ASP 25% crank pulley
NGK Laser Sparkplugs
160*F T-stat
3.89 Transfer Gears (tranny upgrade)
42LE / A606 Transmission Shift kit






Before

After







The engine is built and ready for the install. At the moment i'm waiting for a Torque Converter since I forgot a bolt and bent the shaft on the old one when I was pull out the old motor.

A few things I had to overcome on the build.

Headers: The headers are made for the LX class V6 line. Their a direct bolt on for the block but you have to extend the wire harness for the O2 sensors. Also the rest of the exhaust system has to be changed out because the cats don't have the bolt flanges and in a different spot.

Cam Sprocket: You need a special tool to remove the sprocket. With out this tool you will not be able to remove the bolt and also might damage some valves in the head.

Torque Converter: I used the haynes manual and it states to remove the transmission when you pull the engine. Like hell I was going to dismantle the axle and drop the tranny with the motor. I unbolted the felxplate from the torque converter and the haynes manual said there was THREE bolts. Well when it was time to pull the motor the torque converter came out with it almost trashing the tranny. Theres FOUR bolts not three.

 

I got the motor dropped in and had a heck of a time to find out why it wouldn't start. Comes to find out it was a timing issue. I pulled the cam sensor and it fired up for a second. The sensor for the Flexplate/Flywheel caught it and forced the motor to turn off.

 

I fixed the timing and it runs.


I tried to do a test drive but the car doesn't like being on open headers. I was doing a walk around and just as I got to the driver side door the motor shut off from choking on the exhaust. I had to quickly jump in and hit the e-brake.

I just have to fix a tranny pan leak and everything should be alright.

 

You can use the PCM from a 2.7L, 3.2L and the multiple 3.5L versions. You can't use a 2002 - 2004 PCM in a older 98 - 2001 because the whole wiring of the system was changed. Also the PCM from 2002 - 2004 has the TCM built into it. You can change it out but you would have to pretty much rewire the whole car.

I used the old 3.2 PCM.

Dodge did away with the EGR after 2002 because the motor can pass emissions with out it. Also it helped when they cut back on stuff over the years on the LH class.

The 3.2L is a High Output motor and theres two versions of the 3.5L, theres the magnum and the High Outout. The magnum doesn't have the MTV valve and has less connections on the intake plenum. The high output plenum from a 3.2 is the best thing to use and using a 3.2L plenum will make a 3.5L magnum run as a high output. You can convert a magnum plenum just by drilling a few holes for vacuum lines.

If you have a 98 - 2001 car and you want to drop in a motor from a 2002 - 2004 then you have to change out a part or two. The right cam sprocket from the old motor will have to be used. Reason for that is the timing systems are different and this will set things right for the old PCM. The timing belt is the same size so you don't have to worry about that.

Just so you know most of the 3.2L parts will work on a 3.5L. The only difference from the 3.2L and the 3.5L is the bore. The 2.7L is a whole different motor, only thing compatible is the transmission, flexplate and torque converter.

 

Dunno why the Challenger is getting so much fame. The car wasn't that much a hit back in the 70s. Probably because it was the bastard child of the charger and cuda.

 

Depends on the year of the Concorde you dropped the motor/trans into.

98-2000 compatible plug and play
2001-2004 has major changes compared to the 98-2000.

If you have say a 2000 Concorde and you used that 03 setup you have two options. Swap out the cam sprocket and Flexplate (flywheel) or use the wire harness from the 03 and swap out the PCM and TCM. 2001-2004 has a PCM/TCM combo so it's one box instead of two. Don't have to change out the BCM I don't think. Also if you go with the swapping computer part you need to go take the PCM into the dealer and have them program the VIN number in. The BCM won't like the PCM if it has a different VIN number.

 

I'm stuck chancing a major electrical problem with the car. I'm at the point that I'm going to re-wire the whole damn thing. Dodge has used some shottie electricals in cars these days.

 

that is one bad a$$ motor you swapped in. what do you have to rewire?

 

sweet looking motor , hope all works out for you ,,, how much ponies you think it is poping out now

 

nice job on that engine!

 

Nice work man.

 

I forgot about this lol.

Anyway here has what went on since my last post. The wiring is so messed up in the 2000 intrepid I went and bought a 2002 SE intrepid that has a blown 2.7L for 800. I'm going to swap motors again, sigh. In all this is a cheaper way to do things. One: dodge wanted a grand for the replacement wire harnesses. two: I can use a better PCM from say a 2002 300m special. The only downside is im now stuck hunting down a new engine wire harness and I have a few people keeping a eye out for me. After I get the engine wire harness everything will be plug and play and I will have a running dodge again

Here is the new car. You can still see the old car in the garage.


All I can say is I wish painless made a kit for the LH series lol.

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Now for the eagle TSI you're kinda out of luck. Many changes have been made to the 3.5L. For one they changed the iron block to aluminum with iron cylinder sleeves. Two, the heads are different and also the oil pan and pickup have been changed also. Sounds do able but the oil pan won't clear the frame in the TSI and also the pan uses a different bolt pattern so you can't reuse the old oil pan.

How ever if you have the money you can get some CNC work done on some second gen heads so it can work on the first gen block. After that you will be able to use some aftermarket cams that the LX guys got and even be able to upgrade to a second gen style intake system. With the iron block you can easily have the block bored out for bigger pistons and could turn it into a 4.0 or even a 4.5L stroker

You can do a lot when you put your mind to it.

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Thanks for the kind words

 

UPDATE:

I got the engine wire harness and a new throttle body. This Monday if it's not raining I will start removing the engine from the new car. Before I drop in the 3.5L I need to look at the 42LE transmission that is in the new car. The transmission in my parts car has a bad pan and slips in 3rd gear some times.

Also since i'll have a extra transmission I can set it aside and rebuild it down the road. I found a company that makes some nifty after market parts like a full manual shift valve body and parts that are forged to make the tranny stronger.

 

Rain has put a halt on my project.

 

too bad
keep us updated

 

I have some vacation time comming up so I'll be able to finish the car then.

 

we all live for vacation time