13s in the quarter for $1300 - and 30 MPG, too

[jamz]

Filed under: Aftermarket, Motorsports, Tech

Chrysler's "A Platform" hasn't ever received a whole lot of respect from gearheads, but aside from serving as a useful bridge between the K-car and the cab-forward LH, it also spawned the Dodge Spirit R/T. Acceleration came courtesy of the ubiquitous 2.2 L inline four, but topped with a DOHC 16-valve head, and turbocharged and intercooled for good measure. 224 hp was the result, which matched most domestic V8s of the day.
Positioned in the marketplace against other early-90s four-door rocketships such as the Ford Taurus SHO, Chevrolet Lumina Z34, and Nissan Maxima, it was capable of blasting to 60 MPH from a standing start in less than six seconds. Chrysler called it the "fastest sedan built in America", and even today it'd hold its own against any number of other performance sedans in straight line acceleration.
Less than 1,500 of the R/T models were built in '91 and '92, and so the odds of coming across one are slim. The son of Mopar Action's Rich Ehrenberg managed to score one for $1000, though, and threw another $300 at it to run flat 13s at 103 MPH. Oh, yea, and the head gasket wasn't fixed, either. The details here are sketchy - it appears as if we'll have to wait for an upcoming issue of Mopar Action to learn more - but being that the Spirit R/T is a turbocharged car, we're guessing that turning up the wick was a simple matter of wastegate manipulation to increase the boost, and then it became an issue of finding some tires to hook up that power.
[Source: Mopar Action]


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