Dodge Neon SRT-4?

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Originally Posted by Jim Wahl

Yup, I had a 2004 SRT4 and finally sold it last year. My best was 12.82 @ 108 in AF/S. The car weighed 3048 with me in it. Not much done to it. Opened up the exhaust (biggest improvement) slick (short M/T) . The 2004 was the best choice as it had the best differential of the 3 years of production and the biggest injectors. Stock cam, never had the valve covers off. Had the stock OEM Turbo clutch, Sachs made them for MoPar. Had a short shifter and poly bushings. Changed factory tranny/diff oil to Mobil one "high mileage" 40wt. motor oil. Rated at 230hp but dynoed way more than that! That's about it. It was a little rocket and got 33 mpg on the highway! Jim


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Okay, I did a little research...

Intact cars look fairly affordable and readily available.

I understand that Bogart will make (and has made) 15" drag race wheels for the SRT-4.

Mickey Thompson part number 3109 is a 22.0/8.0-15 ET Drag slick in their L8 compound, that weighs about 14 pounds.

I looked up the T-850 transaxle gearing, and with a 22" tire, a 3.53 final drive, and a .97 4th gear, it looks like it would go through at about 5,700 rpm in 4th gear at the 108 mph that you were running.

Energy Suspension makes solid urethane lower control arm bushings. Booger Racing makes solid urethane shifter bushings. BWoody Performance makes solid urethane engine/transaxle mounts.

Hurst makes a short shifter for it.

There are aftermarket tuners available to increase the boost and so on.

There are numerous 3" downpipes available.

How much stuff did you have to take out of it, to get it to that weight? How much more stuff would have to come out of one, to get it to the AA/FS weight if I wanted?

Did you run a wideband O2 sensor?

Were you launching it off a 2-step?

Would I need a line lock for the rear brakes, or could I just use the OEM parking brake? (I've drag raced a lot of things over the years, but I've never drag raced a front wheel drive car.)

What kind of suspension set-up (in terms of springs, damping, ride height, and alignment) would be best for something like this? Low and stiff, to minimize weight transfer?