Hi everybody new to this site and I am searching for info on my newly bought pt cruiser 2002 model.
I bought this car cheap and there was a reason! overheated engine!So now I am left with the question, what do I do? is there a bigger engine or replacment engine available thats not going to cost my left naccer? I have always liked these cars but have been a holden man all my life and thought I would take a punt and play with one of these. I have heard of v8s going into these but to much headache I am sure, just after another engine or turbo engine for one if anybody can help I will look forward to any helpfull info cheers Naccers:woohoo:

These days engines for PT's are a bit easier to come by
Try your local wreckers(where abouts are you)
There are 2 PT's That I know of that are being wrecked in South Western Sydney
althought there pricing varies from day to day
of course theres Sam of Mopar Motors in melb. who is somewhat of "THE" PT specialist
with new and used parts of all description for sale
There have been several used motors on US ebay complete with computer and all wiring
Last one I looked at was a turbo SRT 2lt from a Neon had done 100000K's(60000Mls)
for $800 US and frieght was $800 aswell
But theres no real gaurantee with this option unless you know what your looking for
Injection Perfection in Sydney is the place for turbo instalations with several on here going that way. Althought it has increased somewhat in price over the years but there quality is highly spoken of.
I'm sure there are many on here aswell who can also give you some hints from there experiances

Just to show you that V8's are not impossible here are 2 well known conversions

www.ptcruisers.com.au/forum/discussions/...mbos-kiwi-v8-pt.html

www.ptcruisers.com.au/forum/on-show/othe...hemi-powered-pt.html

And just in case you need inspiration

you can try Loxy in QLD,bleam chrysler chrome. there is also mob up there called jeep parts . as a example our local mechanic who has serviced all our pts for years picked up a second hand 2.0 l motor for Jackie down in Macksville last year with 40,000 klms fitted it cost her 4 thousand dollars and that was cheap.if your in qld Loxy rebuilds motors also.

I tired to reply yesterday and pooter jammed ... poly 4x4 03 95627779 recycles parts ... Imlachs ... & we have used the JEEP place in QLD also ... suppose it depends on where U are .. 2.4lt is at least a small upgrade to what U had ... the other options would be WAY cool ... just don't let Phantom the V8 HsvAValanche driver in on the project I have a fealing U may get on VERY well .. TOO well !!

i2s2bme wrote:
And just in case you need inspiration



I KNEW it had big rear wheel arches for a reason!!! lol

Great to get feed back on this thanks guys looks like I am going to have a lot of fun with my new toy.

good luck ,you did not mention where you are located.

i2s2bme wrote:
of course theres Sam of Mopar Motors in melb. who is somewhat of "THE" PT specialist
with new and used parts of all description for sale
There have been several used motors on US ebay complete with computer and all wiring
Last one I looked at was a turbo SRT 2lt from a Neon had done 100000K's(60000Mls)
for $800 US and frieght was $800 aswell

Sam imported a turbo motor (and still has it in his workshop I believe). It cost him some what more than the figure above.

hey there
my dad just got a new engine put in his 01 pt.
took the mechanic a month to find an engine nd then it was from the wrong year and was missing parts... we also looked at different engines such as an evo 6 but found they wouldnt fit nd would cost too much to get the cpu working with it. so in the end the mechanic found a pt engine from a wreckers somewere in brisbane.
good luck

thats the biggest problem,finding a good one at the right price and then having some one who knows what their doing.

Just because engine overheated does NOT mean you need a new engine!
Why did it overheat?
Engine fan?
Thermostat?
Clogged radiator?
Head gasket?

Seems to me, engine basics should be fine. You might need new head gasket - if so, have timing belt and water pump done as well, since a lot of the labor is the same.

I've done a bit or research on the V8 PT's and they all have the engine mounted front/back with RWD and a conventional diff. This would probably involve building a full separate chassis to fit under the floor, and I doubt very much if you could ever get it legally street registered. (Unless of course you can convince the inspectors it's REALLY a 1939 Dodge sedan!)

If you want to go 'fast' you don't actually need an engine swap...



Oh yeah, and I found out turbo PT's weren't offered here because the right hand drive steering column gets in the way of the turbo.

Cheers, Glen.

yes but how cool would this be

A V8 engined PT would be a blast, there's no denying that, that's why I was researching the idea!

Probably the only way you'd get one on the road legally in Australia would be to re-body an existing V8 powered, full chassis vehicle with a PT body shell. The one that comes to mind is the old Holden 'Tonner' or one ton ute. They came standard with a full chassis and were available with a 253 or 308 Holden V8 engine. I've seen a couple of these chassis shortened to the right wheelbase and fitted with pre-48 car bodies, and they are probably the only hot rods in Australia able to get full street rego. Most rods are on limited or club regos.

You'd have to have an automotive engineer on side right from the start, and a fair bit of good luck with the rego blokes, but it could possibly be done this way, and be able to be legally used on the street.

Cheers, Glen.

If your serious about a turbo
You might want to do a search on US Ebay
they have some good cheap kits on there at the moment
Includes everything you need and very low in costs
But they are mostly kits for left handies
but I'm sure with some minor modifications it would fit