THE DODGE

Here she is in all of her 185,000+ mile glory. True, she may not be as flashy or pretty as most cars, but that�s not why I got her.

Time has not been good to the paint or front grill, but the 16-valve Lotus-headed 2.2L still runs like a raped ape.

Here's a video of The Dodge punishing some cheap tires.

Light �em up

No, those weren't my new BFG's being vaporized. Those were dry-rotted Remington's that came with the car when I purchased it 1.5 years ago. May they rest in pieces.

Below are my current best time slips.

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The first run (4/9/2005) was a daily driver setup (full exhaust, 20psi boost), with the exception of 5 gallons of Sunoco 100 and some Torco as a precaution. The second run (5/6/2005) was with my new downpipe dump, 22 psi and no traction. Rubber is BFG g-Force Sport 205/60/15�s set to 35psi pressure. They perform well for the money.

Here's a vid of me racing a 6-speed C5 Corvette at Scribner. He ran a 13.86 @ 103.75.

Dodge Spirit vs. '99 Vette

Here's a vid of me clicking off a 13.61 vs an unsuspecting pickup truck, this time with the cut out open. It's about half way into the video.

13 second Dodge Spirit

I verified that an exhaust cut-out before my cat (not visible below), is worth 28 peak whp (20-25whp from 3300 rpm on up) on a Mustang chassis dyno.

I also found out on the dyno that I was running pig rich during my first trip (4/9/2005) to the track (probably about 270whp according to the baseline pull). Hopefully I�ll some high 12�s through the exhaust and mid to high 12�s with the McCord Power Plate cut-out opened up. I'll need to figure out how to get traction with the extra horses now on tap.

Here�s a shot of my best dyno pull to date.

I was a little disappointed with the results. For what I have done to the car, I should be much closer to 400whp at that level of boost (22.9psi). But in defense of the results, my stock bottom end has 185,000 miles on it, low compression and massive amounts of blow-by. Assuming it holds together, I'll go through the bottom half after the end of the season.

I did find out that the custom FWDPerfromance ECU I have runs pig rich in the middle (3,000 to 6,000 rpm). We leaned it out enough to still be safe at the bottom and top, but there is still room for improvement. After a fresh short block, I�ll gather some more dyno data and see if I can get the calibration reflashed with some better fuel tables.

On the brighter side, these results should be enough to get twelve�s on street tires at full pressure if I can get some traction.

The next page includes a list of my major modifications.