I haven't been around much lately, been hunting down a new project. After this last winter we've decided to get us a "beater".
After a lot of looking, we came across this little beauty down in FL.

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An '03 PT Cruiser GT HO w/Getrag 5 Speed, 215Hp 245 ft-lbs at 2800 RPM, and only 29K on the ODO.
She may be a "beater" but we DO have our standards

 

Sweet!

I've got a 2004 Limited Edition Platinum Series that originally came with the low pressure turbo motor, which is actually the exact same engine as yours but with different computer programming to reduce HP and torque to 180/190. So with just 2,000 miles on her I installed the Stage 1 ECU to bump her up to 245HP/265ft-lbs. Low 1/4 mile car, 24 mpg on the freeway.

56,000 miles and the only thing that has gone wrong is the display on the overhead console stopped working about a year and half ago. Oddly enough, it started working just fine again about 4 months ago. A self healing car - can't beat that!

 

Hello Mike,
Yea, I remember when the "Turbo Lite" option came out.
So, how does this "Stage 1 ECU" work. I've had two turbo PTs in the past, but they were the HOs. Can you add a Stage 1 to a HO 2.4 and get even more out these little engines?
Thanks, Smallfry

 

The Stage 1 ECU is incredibly easy to install - just a handful of bolts mounting it to the firewall and then 3 or 4 large electrical plugs on the face of the thing. It takes any of the turbo engines up to the same 245HP/265ft-lbs. Installation will take up a good 15 minutes of your day, even if you have zero mechanical ability. If you can turn a socket wrench you can do the install.

Back when I got mine these things were going for about $350 but today they're closer to $600. You can find them used for less, but you need to match model year and transmission type, then send the unit off to a company called Flight Systems to have it reflashed for your VIN.

Check out PTCrew.com - Learn it or Burn it. for all the info you could ever want/need to know about performance mods on these things.

 

Thanks Mike, I'll go check them out. Have a good day!

 

Also check with Rob @ NeedsWings. I believe he has a bunch of goodies for the PT Cruisers.

 

Thanks to you too,I'll be sure to check out the sites once she gets here.
Still waiting for the call from the driver, supposed to call before he gets to town.



I CAN'T STAND WAITING!!! I WANT IT NOW!!!

 

She's here!!! Came in on the truck yesterday, about 6:30PM. Here's a shot on the transport.


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And here, she's about to get 800+miles of rainy road crap washed off, so I can do a bucket wash later.

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And all clean...

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Just curious, Small Fry, but what did shipping cost you? Was it hard to arrange?

 

Not at all, the Dealership we bought from suggested them. Never having done this before, we went with the company, and we did everthing by phone. From Sarasota, FL to Yukon, OK was only $750.00. They arrived on the day promised, even through that big storm system that just went by us. The poor little car was covered in road crap, so it made it a little hard to do the off load inspection, but the driver was very nice, and let me take my time looking her over before signing the bill of lading.
All in all, I'm very pleased with the whole tranaction. I guess I was one of the lucky one's, I've heard others were'nt so lucky.