Stock GN vs SRT-4???

[Scott Long]

Just wondering who would win.

I'm looking to get an 87 GN or T-Type and I have a friend who has an '03 SRT-4 and also there's an 04 SRT-4 that some kid owns who works with my girl friend. I am leary about taking them on w/ one of my SC's but if I find a nice TR does it have a chance against these new turbo go-karts?

Anyone race one? Lets hear some stories.

By the way my 5-speed SC (3900 lbs) has cold air intake w/ 9" K&N under bumper/fender, gears, catless downtubes, flowmaster catback system, overdrive SC pulley, 160 t-stat, cooling fan hotwired w/ ign, larger fuel pump, short throw shifter, lowered, and 245/50/16 Yokohamas (bald so terrible launch). I can whip up on most stangs in my area but the weight of the Neon and my bald tires scare me and I don't want to lose money on the race. I could win if the Neon puts 'em up in smoke off the line and I baby it till I have traction.

I'm half tempted to just put a 100 hp dry N2O kit on my SC. I've got the fuel and exhaust flow to support it, just need to get a set of colder plugs.

What could be done (free mods) to an 87 TR to give it some extra boost?

 

[VIRGIN87T]

you seem to have a good set-up on ur SC. i dont know if id be too worried unless the SRT-4 is not stock itself.

I have ridden in a 03 SRT-4 but it wasnt stock (computer, 15+ lbs. of boost and a small shot of NOS, although he didnt use it when I was in the car) and i must admit, it was much faster than I had expected.

You must also consider the driver, my friend is a fairly good driver and I could tell the car might have some more in it if a more experienced driver was controlling it, as with most manual trans. cars.

I think it would probably be a good run between his car and mine, if he stayed off the bottle. But my car is mostly stock with 115k miles. A real good running STOCK TR might have a chance, but a TR with minor mods should have no problem.

I hope this helps.

 

[Scott Long]

Thanks. I haven't ever ran my SC at the track so I don't know what its capable of (not much on street tires LOL). I just did all the mods this summer and after not having it for 2 months while the trans rebuild, clutch, gears, plus all the mods I had sitting around were installed it felt like a whole new car. I think if I had some drag radials it'd be close. A friend of mine has a mostly stock SC (K&N filter, flowmaster exhaust, 70mm throttle body, stock 2.73 gears, short throw shifter) and he got walked by the 03 SRT-4 which has a cone filter on it. But there is no doubt I could spank his SC. So I think it'd be close. I bet it'd be good for mid to low 14's on DR's or slicks. The way it is now I'd pull like a 2.4 60' and that'd suck. And I think it'd come down to the launch as to who would win a street race.

I think I'll buy a set of Comp T/A DR's or some NT555R extreme's and race. Probably ditch my back seat and passenger seat and run on a low tank of high octane gas. I can hit about 14 psi, maybe 15 on the floor peak.

My other SC is an auto and I just did a head gasket job on it and had the heads ported and polished. It also has no cats, 190 lph fuel pump, K&N filter, transgo shift kit, but stock gears. Its not much off the line but it pulls ok once the weight is moving. I'm still going to mod both SC's but I REALLY WANT A GN in my collection.

 

[VIRGIN87T]

ya theres no question about it, TRs are really nice cars and would make a nice addition to any collection out there, i wish mine was a GN but im happy with it and wouldnt give it up for anything.

But back to the point; if your on some kind of limited budget i think youd prob. have a good chance against the srt4 if you got ur tires and maybe that NOS you mentioned, but if you got the money and the tuning time, nothin beats a TR, well at least IMO.

 

[Scott Long]

I'm going to probably be looking for a GN/T seriously next summer.

I test drove a black 87 T-Type w/ some mods about a year and a half ago and got rear ended on the test drive by an idiot w/ no insurance. Needless to say after the crash the rear bumper was bent up and the car stalled out 4 times on the way back, so I passed on it.

I'm going to try to get some spare wheels for DR's and a nitrous kit. I'm going to be pulling the heads off my 5-speed SC this winter and doing some port work and probably adding a new cam. I can't stand rice, even domestic turbo rice. I'm all about some big RWD DOMESTIC performance cars!

 

[RareT]

The STR-4's are running pretty consistant 14.0X down here in stock form....if that helps ya any.

Ed

 

[scojack_2001]

Neon SRT-4

Well, a new one with paper plates proceeded to utterly smoke a 03 Mustang GT, but not that a GT is much anyway. Those things are quick. DO NOT underestimate them. My buddy and I got smoked by 5 lengths going up against one. HTH.

Scott
Mr. UPS

 

[Scott Long]

Damn those little go karts are quick. Looks like I better put the drag radials on and the nitrous. Then I won't be too worried about a Neon if its mostly stock since I'll have a high 12 second car...

 

[Justin231]

I have raced one on the road and it was an even match. I went to the track last Thursday and the guY i raced was there too. Though we didnt get lined up I did have a better time by two hundreths of a second. Virgin87T said it right in his last post.

 

[denn454]

I saw one of the neons up at the track about a monthy ago. i think he ran a 15 flat. he said it was completely stock, and had only had the car for a few months, so i'm guessing it could have been faster if he knew the car better. a stock gn up here will run about a low 14, thats if theres nothign wrong with it (like mine...) so a gn should be faster.

take your sc up to the track and see what it will do, you can easly figure out what your faster than by looking at the numbers, theres not guessing. and its a lot more fun, less death too, thats always good.

 

[Scott Long]

I've been wanting to take both of my cars to the track but I always work friday and the closest track runs T&T on Friday from 4pm till 10pm. I work until 9:30 pm on Fridays and its 45 minutes from where I work. I work 30 minutes from my house. If I could get off early on Friday I could do it but not this week. I'm covering someones shift since their mother passed away Thursday.

I think I'll tell the guys w/ the Neons we'll race heads up at the track. First one to set off the light wins. Therefore if I cut a better light and hold them off even if I turn a slower ET I'll win. I'm pretty consistant w/ .590-.650 lights w/ an auto SC and have ran other guy's SC's at the track and gotten better times out of their cars than they have. I haven't ran a 5-speed SC at the track though so I need to get dr's or slicks and practice my launch. Too bad the track closes for the season in a week or two. This might have to wait till spring but by then I'll have the nitrous, tires, probably going to port the blower outlet and the heads and intake manifold, toss in a new cam, and hopefully throw a set of headers on my 5-speed SC. I've never had that engine apart since I've owned it. I did all the work to my auto SC this summer.

Damn I want a TR.... I'd just get a bigger turbo, injectors, slicks, exhaust, and adjustable wastegate and tell those Neons to bring their pink slips or as much money as they can afford to lose

 

[wistleofdeath]

IMO it would be a good race but I think the GN would edge out the neon. Man that sux about yout test drive I have a buddy that had someting similar happen to him and the dealership tried to get him to pay for it even thought the guy hit him . as far as little things that you can do with a TR My sig is what I have for mods and that is what I run consiantly. (except for last time at the track .) and I think I run it easy except for the boost level but I get no knock retard so I'm ok, but I don't launch under boost. mabye 1 PSI if im not paying attention. The turbo buick is very hard to beat for the speed to money raito.



Later

Andy

 

[denn454]

Originally posted by Scott Long
Damn I want a TR.... I'd just get a bigger turbo, injectors, slicks, exhaust, and adjustable wastegate and tell those Neons to bring their pink slips or as much money as they can afford to lose

gettin' a little ahead of yourself don't you think just look aroudn for a good tr, try ebay, i've seen a few pretty cheap on there. if your looking gor bang for the buck just find a low option t-type, it i'll be lighter and cost less. i saw a normal regal with a gn engine for something like 5,000 buy it now on ebay a while ago(it was pretty rough). its not worth as much as a gn or t-type, but it would be just as fast. from there all you really need to do is get a dial a boost, there cheap and work great, i love mine! (i took it off my dads car, he doesn't know yet) you can unbolt the exhaust right after the cat, if you can get the bolts off. then you just bolt it up with the exhaust part off to the side, or below the cat. i droped quite a bit of time from that, something like 3/10ths if i remember right. just that and some race gas and you'll be fine. but get a car before you make any big plans

 

[I eat Z06]

I have a 03 WRX (stock faster than SRT-4)w/ cold air intake, no cats, cat back exhaust, lightend flywheel and stronger clutch. I have whooped on SRT-4's like nothing. Beaten most camaros and stangs. Long story short: I got in my buick and my buddy was in the WRX. From a light he had a huge lead on me (AWD vs. RWD) and then the Buicks turbo kicked in and I rocketed by the WRX. There is no way on gods green earth that anyone with a Turbo Buick (unless a high mileage stock) will loose to a neon SRT-4, neons arnt AWD either. There is a thread on the Subaru's around here. If your not runnin low 12's watch our for the Subaru WRX STi or the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII. Both haul outta the box.


Nick

 

[Scott Long]

Well the T-Type I test drove was a private owner and he said he'd get it fixed and call me. I never heard back about it. I don't know why it started to stall, made me leary.

I want either a T-Type or a GN. I want a hard top w/o the broham top. Just the basics. Did they offer them w/o power windows and locks or were all regals standard w/ that stuff?

I've been looking on autotrader.com. Might go test drive one tomorrow cuz I have the day off but I got to get my SC up to the exhaust shop to get some new down tubes made where I removed the cats and put in flex pipe so it wouldn't be too loud to drive. Sounded bad ass running it w/ open downtubes!!!!

Anyways I was thinking a stock TR would whoop on the SRT-4 but these guys are claiming the SRT-4 is like gods gift to the car guys. I think more like gods gift to the ricer crowd and young high school crowd. I'm going to be 21 in 2 weeks and the only import I ever owned was a hooked up Audi quattro. I HATE jap imports.

Back when I was in high school everyone wanted muscle cars like camaro's, mustangs, monte ss, cutlass 442, GN, SC, a few kids had turbo talons and crap. Now a days kids want civics, integras, neons... LOL. I guess times are changing.

 

[denn454]

are you talking about the landrou roof, or vinal roof when you say broham top? i'd stay away from it to, it really kills the looks, but if you are even thinking about having a good sleeper don't not get a car because of it.

nearly all gn's have power windows and locks, it was an option, but most people got that option on a gn. if they had the extra money for a gn over a t-type, they usually had enough for all the options. gn's are usually nicer cars too, generally they are better taken care of, not that there aren't nice t-types, or bad gn's out there. from the factory the t-type was usually slightly faster, the aluminum wheels are a lot lighter than the steel gn wheels, and its more common to see a t-type without a lot of options, than it is to see a gn with no options. but that doesn't mean anything now, whatever you buy will likely have something done to it. but a bit of trivia for ya

I dont' know whats up with kids these days (i'm 17), and their hondas and mitsubishis. even nustangs and cameros for that matter. everyone at my school is ALWAYS wanting to race me, they hear from someone I have a fast car and they have to prove their 18 second honda is faster. not that my car is all that fast, 14's aren't that fast, and i'd be lucky to get a 16 the way i drive it on the street (10# of boost and 91 octane, still have a little bit of knock...). theres one guy with an older z28 305 camero, i think i saw him run a 16.5, he has the biggest exhausts i've seen on a street car, it compares to some disels, and something like a 4 inch cowl hood, i'm not exagerating that either, its seriously 4". then theres some other guy with a exlipse gts type-r style s model k version t- whatever thoes things are called... he fires up his car, and as soon as its running his foot is in it, you can hear the turbo spooling, with the car in neutral, so he can let off and hear the blow off valve, then shuts it off. i swear the turbo will only last another week, tops. i could go on and on, but i think you all know where i'm going, kids these days are stupid! ban fast and the furious and make them all watch american grifitti! if you really watch the 2, fast and the furious is loosly based off american grifitti, all the middle stuff, then a big race with a crash at the end...

 

[Scott Long]

I've never seen American Graffiti. I guess I better go rent it tomorrow. I do have 2 Lane Blacktop on DVD. Ever see that one about the guys going cross country in the 454 '55 Chevy racing the GTO? Good one.

I'm checking EBAY right now for GN's. There's a SWEET 87 for $9995.99 but I don't have that much to spend unfortunately.

 

[GNFURY]

I think stock (bone stock) for stock, the SRT-4 would take the GN. but let the mods pile up, and the GN is gonna pull it all day. I can't see how those neons could hook up at all.

 

[I eat Z06]

I think that stock for stock it would be a pretty even race. More like driver vs. driver.

Nick

 

[junkyard t]

The Dodge Neon SRT is the new Turbo buick of yesturday. Dodge under the horsepower rating on these car but on the neon forum some are pumping 250 horse at the wheel. 0 to `130 in 25 sec. Oh on the WRX and the EV0 it will run head to head with any of those. Dodge also have a stage 2 set up with 300 horse. stock car pumping out 230 at 14 psi quarter mile in 14.2 sec spinning all the way on 1st and 2nd gear. also 0 to 155 in 42 sec. with the viper seats and pt crome shifter ball 160 speedo and all the white face gages for 20,000 for the 2004 model. the 2003 can be had for 17,000 brand new.... that a amercan car comeback and it not a rice.. you guy get a chance look them up on the internet alot of info and forum. I'll take one anyday. G-force @ .01 17 inch wheel and big brakes. Dodge Engineers been coming up with all the aftermarket for this car.