[SleepyCaliber]

I dont have any questions, just thought it was a good place to blog my experience in hopes it could help someone else. There seems to be little to no knowledge on the internet about the subject except for "dont do it, save and get a srt." but before anyone bashes, just know, sometimes people have a special connection to a certain car: first car, dads car, gift, ect. and want to make it something special and unique, regardless of price or if it makes sense to someone else.

Hey guys, i currently own a Caliber sxt. Its the 1.8 manual. Ive had it for about 11 or 12 years. it was basically my first "adult" purchase. I got it from the dealership and ive done my best to keep it clean and in good shape. its my daily driver, and like any car guy, i always wanted to mod it. In the entirety of the internet ive only seen two people successfully turbo any type of base model caliber, so the reading is limited. It seems everyone knows of TurboRt, who claims to have thousands of dollars in his efforts. And then theres another guy who turbo'd his 1.8 that lifted a head due to tune issues at only10 psi, and i think he said he only got around 200whp. To turbo my 1.8 was my original plan also. But realizing that the 1.8 will struggle over 200hp, ive decided it really wasnt worth the time. The only option is try to swap a complete engine and transmission from a srt4 into my sxt. ive gathered enough info and feel i have enough knowlage of the platform to start it, and ill try to keep this thread active with detailed pictures along the way. Please feel free to ask any questions.

Heres my ride and base for the swap! Has a couple little things already;
Godspeed Coilovers
18x9.5 staggered wheels on Federal 245/40/18
Mopar thick boy sway bar with Moog bushings
Upgraded Moog "solid" control arm bushings
DC Sports upper strut support
K & N CAI
Magnaflow Exhaust
Powerstop Evolution Brake kit
SRT4 Full interior
MOMO Ultra steering wheel
CSRT4 Wing

 

[SleepyCaliber]

Heres the lucky doner!!!

In my original search for parts to turbo my 1.8, i knew i was gonna need a manifold. Seeing as the dimensions of the blocks are the same, i knew i would have to find a csrt4 manifold. I started looking for guys parting out csrt's to pick parts from. i looked for a while and patience paid off. I found a complete csrt with wiring issues just a couple hours away. long story short, because i know it might get asked: The car had a front driver side blowout on the highway. The entire body harness runs through the driver fender along with all the relays. The shredded tire beat through the entire fenderwell and severed most of the harness and relay panel completely. Insurance totaled out the car and it was bought in a bulk auction sale to a salvage yard. Turns out the guy who owned the salvage yard was a Mopar guy and knew what the car was and saved it. He took it home in hopes of fixing it. Sadly he didnt have the knowledge or time to fix the harness correctly even tho he tried. I bought the entire car for $600 under the pretenses it was a PARTS ONLY car. In my state you cannot register and drive a salvaged title car, and i couldnt get an original title to rebuild. The car was missing 2 of the original wheels, the back brakes were locked up. the cats were cut out(salvege yard problems), windshield got broke, sunroof leaked, cv axles shot from the blowout and a few other things...so this reins truly a parts car. When i purchased it, i did have enough knowledge of the basic wiring to get the main circuits to make the car to operate and get it to start to make sure it ran. Even though i got it to start and run, the dash was completely christmas tree'd and the car was in limp mode. but it sounded great and the compression and leak down test checked out fine. The car had a little over 120k on it and was surprisingly clean. Heres what my 600 bucks got.....

wiring mess where previous owner tried to splice harnesses with a base model one. Surprise. It didnt work.*

 

[SleepyCaliber]

Day 1 of swap!

I will be installing the engine and transmission at my buddies shop, but to prep the engine for paint/dress up, i decided to just pull it in the back yard. Seems the easiest thing on these cars was to drop the entire front subframe with engine and trans as one unit. It was actually surprisingly easy. four bolts on the sub frame, and two mounts on the very top of the engine. I left the wiring harness and plugs all connected on the engine side, and just unplugged it from the ecu. I'm a small guy, so i set the subframe on two 1000lb furniture dollies and a piece of plywood so i could just lift the car off the assembly and slide it out as a whole. I took all the accessories off to prep the engine for cleaning and painting. I will be using all the accessories from my sxt because of their overall condition and appearance is basically new.

Heres the drop out

 

[MaxB]

Thank you. For the detailed photos. I'll try to figure out

 

[kenuel]

Can a srt bumper (front and back) fit on a sxt? If yes, where can i purchase it?