Saw 2 somewhat different cars last night on the website of my favorite used car wholesaler. One was a 2000 Stratus sedan with lowish miles and the Chrysler 2.4 with automatic, while the other was a 2001 Eclipse with the Mitsu 2.4 and auto.
Horsepower figures are very close 147 vs 150, but I wondered which would respond (better) to "performance tuning"?
Aren't they basically the same motor? I know Chrysler did a TON of block sharing with Mitsu back in the day. That being said, I'm fairly certain that the aforementioned 2.4 is the basis of the SRT engine... which I know Neon/Caliber/whatever guys have been pulling out of Mexico and stuffing them into whatever for YEARS... Mexico had the boosted block long before us.
All I know is that you can make a cheap SRT-4 motor out of those Chrysler 2.4L motors by stuffing them with factory SRT4 rods and pistons and slapping some 2.0L DOHC cams in the head. I plan on doing this in my CSX down the road.
http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/vbarticles.php?do=article&articleid=47
None of this info probably helps you though. 
I wasn't sure whether these two engines were actually the same, just in different states of tune, or if they were 2 different engines.
I am interested, a little bit, in the Stratus, because I've always like the styling of the first-gen cars, and this particular car has a decent color combo. That said, I'm not crazy about the auto, but if there was a bit of "tuneability" to this engine, maybe I could be persuaded to take a closer look.
Stratus coupe, aka the 2dr = Eclipse.
So it's the same basic car outside of the differing body panels.
I'm also pretty sure that they are the same motor. I have late night bench racing thoughts of grabbing the whole motor from a SRT4 and putting it in my Caravan that also has a 2.4. Should be a easy swap with enough power to hoon.
Wiki says that the Stratus has the same 2.4 variant as the Neon SRT4. On the Mitshu page it says that the Eclipse motor is also shared with the Stratus but appears Chrysler and Mitshu each used a different engine code.
The Mopar/Mitsu 2.0 and 2.4 are a Chrysler design for the short block. Mitsus wear the head backwards - Chryslers have the exhaust to the back and the intake to the front; Mitsus exhaust at the front and intake at the back.
In reply to Ranger50:That would explain the mysterious double a arm suspension I noticed on Stratae ... hmm.
Duke has it right, I think. As far as the 2.0 goes, hes right for sure. Hard to imagine how the auto manufacturers are in trouble when they decided to basically double their investment to create roughly the same engine.
Well, the short-form answer to that is, they're in trouble because they took those engines and put them in cars they couldn't make any profit on. (And some they couldn't sell if they gave away free beer for a year with every unit sold.)
I'm being unfair, but not VERY unfair.
On a related note, What could one get from a built but streetable NA 2.4?
The 2000 Stratus sedan has the Chryco 2.4L, which as said is easily converted to turbo/srt4 spec. srt-4 turbofold bolts on iirc. Stock srt components (i.e. rods and pistons) have held 600whp on dyno before. Even the stock parts would be fairly tough.
The eclipse is going to have a MITSU (NOT chryco) 2.4 sohc, i believe. 4g64 iirc. I guess you could say that motor is not as easy to make HUGE power with because of the head, but it is probably EASIER to get mild power out of because the exhaust manifold is out in the front , easily accessible, and you can bolt the turbo manifold and turbo from a turbo DSM dohc 4g63 onto that sohc head, iirc. If you want to get crazy with it you can also swap on the dohc 4g63 head.
If you dont like the auto in the stratus, swap it. They came 5spd (2.0 only, but same bellhousing and parts) or you can use most of the stuff from a neon as well.
The Mopar/Mitsu 2.0 and 2.4 are a Chrysler design for the short block. Mitsus wear the head backwards - Chryslers have the exhaust to the back and the intake to the front; Mitsus exhaust at the front and intake at the back.
mopar/mitsu is automatically wrong. The 2 2.4s in question are completely different motors. Mitsus wearing the head backwards.. also misleading. The mitsu 2.4 (4g64) wears its head only one way, ever. The 2.0 NON-turbo which is found in 2g dsms (95-99 eclipse, talon, also avenger and sebring) is a Chryco 2.0 DOHC with the intake and exhaust reversed from how they are in the other chryco 2.0 dohc apps (mostly neon). That motor is called the 420a. It's not actually the same head turned around, it is a different casting although the ports are mirror images i believe. The mitsu 2.0 in 2g dsms is an all-mitsu 4g63 motor.
For some body wanting to make good streetable N/A power, I think a 2G 4G63 head mated to a 4G64 block with 10.5:1cr pistons and '272' cams is a good start as any...maybe 200BHP? If your serious, some subtle (yet expensive) headwork will free up a few extra HP.
P.S.: The 2G 4g63 head is better than the 1G for applications below 450HP.
