I got a chance to line up with a red 04/05 TL 6-speed this morning. We went once from about a 50mph roll, and again from a dig. It was closer from a dig, but once I hit 3rd gear I started putting some distance on him. By about 100mph I had about a bus-length. Nice car, no doubt. And I got a good month's worth of stupid driving out of my system.

 

Well there are your bolt ons for ya!

Stock vs. Stock the traps are comparible, however once you start modding forget the TL.

I have a question for you in all seriousness:
We know that the srt-4 has sick potential for a FWD car, how do you deal with the comments (if you get any) that say it's just a NEON, regardless of speed?

 

i think i can take on an srt-4 at certain speeds/gear (i.e. 2nd gear, i love my 2nd gear). and also at high speeds... but only when stock vs stock or similarly modded. but it's a well known fact that srt-4s are quick lil mothers - i'd rather not race them.

i don't think anyone would buy an srt-4 if they couldn't deal with people calling 'em neons. i think they just shrug it off.

 

Steel- best thing to do is not get excited. The car is what it is. I think DC got a lot more right than wrong. My few complaints have been addressed with the SRT-4 ACR.

The fit and finish does leave something to be desired, but it sure goes like stink. The biggest downfall of the car is that it's FWD. Asking the front wheels to lay down 250 lb-ft of tq and steer is just rediculous at lower speeds.

 

i still have to say that you would be tough pressed to find performance similiar to the SRT-4 in any other sub $22k car.

i still have to question the longevity of the engines though. i don't follow the other forums too closely but does anyone know if they've been having problems with collapsing rods or blowing gaskets or anything? i just never considered dodge/chrysler to have the most well built engines. i personally know a handful of people that bought new ones and had to have the engines replaced.

just curious.

SSTS

 

Satin- All out engine failures are rare, but they do happen. I work at a Honda store, and I've seen some pretty weird things there. The A853 engine is safe to about 400 whp, but the Sachs OEM clutch doesn't like any more that 350. The engine itself is pretty impressive; oil squirters for the pistons, forged internals, Inconel exhaust valves, (if anyone here even knows what that is, I'm impressed) etc...

It's the little problems that plague these cars. Random wiring/driveability issues more than anything else. Not to mention lots of myopic kids who own them, and think they're God's Chariot.

 

ah, i do indeed know what inconel is. i work in a nuclear power plant. most of our pipes are inconel. i'm surprised that chrysler went to that kind of expense. that stuff is not cheap (or at least i know we pay top dollar here for it). the neon always had some issues since it came out with wiring and driveability. i remember the first models had the headlights wired through the valve covers and crazy shit like that. they were trying to squeeze every last bit of space they could.

personally i think the SRT4s are cool, i just wouldn't want one for myself.

i am extremely impressed that the A853 can hold that much power. although i did see a video of a 500hp SRT4 blowing it's piston rings and blowing by the entire oil sump on a quarter mile track (extreme case). in general i suppose they're just building them better than they used to. i had an 88 chrysler lebaron turbo coupe back in the day and i thought about increasing the boost but i seriously didn't think that i would get much past stock before it self destructed. oh well.

SSTS

 

[QUOTE=zerorwhp]Satin- All out engine failures are rare, but they do happen. I work at a Honda store, and I've seen some pretty weird things there. The A853 engine is safe to about 400 whp, but the Sachs OEM clutch doesn't like any more that 350. The engine itself is pretty impressive; oil squirters for the pistons, forged internals, Inconel exhaust valves, (if anyone here even knows what that is, I'm impressed) etc...

Well zerorwhp, Inconel is not just a single metal, but rather a whole family of alloys. They usually have names like Inconel 600 and Inconel 625. Without knowing which one it's impossible to give you the exact recipe, but most Inconel formulations are usually half nickel, one-quarter chromium, 10-15% of either cobalt, iron or molybdenum, and assorted other ingredients in very small amounts.

Are you impressed?

Seriously, I'm quite familar with it because Inconel is used frequently in very high temperature furnaces for fittings and whatnot. It's extremely temperature resistent (our applications routinely hold 1500 degrees C for months on end).

 

impressed x 2... First, that you know so much about it. Second that DCX stepped up and actually used it in my engine.

 

I have a friend who has a black SRT-4 with a blow off valve. The only thing you need to do when ppl say its only a neon and let them hear your bov when you drive off. hahahaha=)