Neon/Avenger engine interchange?

[growe58]

I asked this on the Dodge Avenger board, but no one seemed to know. I was wondering if anyone here knew.

I had a good week with cars...not! On Tuesday, my son blew the engine in his Dodge Avenger. And yesterday, my daughter was t-boned in her Neon, totalling it. (And I won't mention my Toyota toasting it's alternator on the way home from work Thursday night.)

Avengers are rare, so used motors are rare and therefore pricey. I know that it's the same basic engine as the neon, although the exhaust is in front and the intake in the back. But are the blocks interchangeable? I'm hoping that I can at least solve one problem by yanking the motor out of the Neon, putting the Avenger head on it and dropping it in the Avenger. (BTW, the Avenger is a 1996 2.0 4cyl with ATX and the Neon is a 1997 DOHC with ATX).

Thanks in advance...

[das2123]

I think the 2.0 Avenger engine is similiar if not identical to the N/A eclipse engine. So that would give it the same block but with the reversed head. I would think, just think, that you can do what you want by using the neon block and putting the Avenger head on there. You may run into some slight fitment problems though.