The Dodge Spirit R/T: 224 Horsepower Four-Cylinder Sedan

Click here to visit the "ordinary" Spirit/Acclaim/LeBaron/Saratoga page.

In 1989, the Dodge Spirit was introduced to provide reliable transportation in a traditionally styled four-door sedan - an expanded version of the Reliant.  Suddenly, in 1991, Chrysler added a 224 horsepower (218 lb-ft) screamer of an engine, based on the old reliable 2.2 that usually produced 93 hp.  This vehicle looked just like the standard grocery-getter family Spirit, except for the "R/T" after "Spirit" on the trunk lid, a little spoiler, and a decal on the fender trim. But most grocery-getters don't move from 0 to 60 faster than any other four-door sedan sold in the US in their model year.

Available only in 1991 and 1992, the Spirit R/T's 224 horsepower engine gave it a quarter-mile time of 14.5 seconds at 97 mph, and a top speed of 141 mph, making it the quickest four-door sedan in the world. The R/T had 1.67 net horsepower per cubic inch.

Unlike some of the Shelby sports cars, the Spirit R/T maintained its comfortable ride. The Spirit ES suspension was modified with increased spring rates and front valving, performance-oriented rear shocks, 70mm progressive-rate front jounce bumpers, and a 28.6 mm rear sway bar. Tires were 205/60R15 Michelin XGTV4, wheels 15" x 6". Handling was decent, and torque steer was minimized by the modifications, but it is probably foolish to try to outhandle a Neon with an stock R/T. The front roll center was raised for faster response, caster increased for better tracking, and steering flex reduced. The R/T feels solid and stable even over 100 miles per hour, though the wind makes itself known. Roadholding was measured by Car & Driver at .80 g. All this came at a surprisingly low base price of $17,820, including air conditioning and power windows and mirrors.

The engine was the 2.2 Turbo III, the third turbocharger setup CC had developed. Mopar engineers worked with Lotus to create the engine, which included Lotus-designed heads; it was the first four-valve-per-cylinder engine Chrysler had ever built, and featured balance shafts, a double overhead cam, and an intercooled Garret turbocharger. With the R/T's only transmission - the A-568 five-speed manual, created for that engine - it could reach 60 miles per hour in between 5.8 and 6.8 seconds.

Dector Vega German (dvg000@cancun.fi-a.unam.mx) wrote: "It also came out (in Mexico) as a LeBaron R/T.... It has a special manual gear box because conventional gear boxes could not stand the torque. Every 40,000 km or so the distribution chain (timing belt) breaks... this car is just incredible. I have reached a speed of 240 (km/h) but top speed is 270 (km/h)."

There are some important issues with the Turbo III cars. As Dector noted, unless you get a good Italian timing belt (Gates, Dayco) and retension it after about 45 minutes of running (Ed at Delco), it may break ahead of schedule. Since the Turbo III is a "non-interference" type engine, this does not mean buying a new engine! Common reasons for belt breaking are improper tensioning, problems with the tensioner itself, and non retensioning it.

A common replacement item seems to be the gears that the timing belt runs on. There are a couple of ways these go bad. The symptoms seem to be broken timing belts and a loud clicking noise which is especially pronounced over 2,000 rpm. The tensioner has been fingered as a common culprit but the exhaust and intake cam gears also go bad.

The most important issue when you own a Turbo III is to maintain the engine. Have the TSBs done; change the oil regularly; and keep the antifreeze topped off and purged of air bubbles.

The oil pump may also be a problem. After mine broke (at the bracket which holds it on), an R/T owner told me that the oil pumps break relatively frequently. He suspected that they sometimes suddenly "bind," resulting in (if you're lucky) the bracket breaking, and if you're not lucky, the gears on the shaft which drives the pump getting stripped. In my case I only needed a new oil pump ($120!). He suggested getting an aftermarket pump, and said there was a commonly available one for about $30.

All Spirit R/Ts were made in Mexico, came with four-wheel disc brakes, trip computers, air conditioning, tachometers, a message center, speed control, tilt steering wheel, and remote release trunks. There were two colors in 1991 (white and red), three in 1992 (silver was added). Very few were made in 1992. Ironically, they were not sold in Mexico until 1992, and continued there until model year 1993.

The distributorless ignition system uses a coil pack (about $120) that fires spark plugs 1 and 4 together, than 2 and 3 together. The air intake is better designed than the TBI cars, as one might expect.

Paul Bicknell got the following production figures from Chrysler PR:

Total 1991 Spirit production: 93773
79,707 ordinary Spirits
6,245 LE
6,613 ES
1,208 R/T

The Turbo I models are more practical and get better (about 30 mpg) mileage. The main advantages of the Turbo I are cheap and plentiful parts. If you get an R/T, be prepared to spend three times as much as you normally would on many parts, and to wait up to two weeks to get them. Also be prepared to know more than your mechanic about your particular engine, since it's very rare and has a lot of unusual technology - mainly designed to keep it a high-performance engine in a conventional car usable.

The Turbo III seems to max out at 30 mpg and city driving drags it down quickly. Still, not bad for a family sedan... driving more slowly yields better mileage, as you'd expect.

The police were apparently invited to test the Spirit R/T, then seen as a potential squad car along with the Taurus SHO and Lumina Z34, both of which were V6 models. However, for various reasons, this was never seriously pursued. The R/T did have issues with potholes during brisk cornering, and the Turbo III powerplant was not ideally suited to police work.

Dodge Spirit R/T performance upgrades

Ed Kelly wrote about his well-researched R/T upgrade plans:

First, I am running a 16 valve T3 Spirit. My starting point is a 14.6 quarter mile. The only current mods are a K&N airfilter and the removal of the muffler.

On street tires I have very little traction for launches and thus my 60' time is ~2.4. If I rev the engine above 2500 RPM, I have no traction on the launch. The passenger tire will just spin and smoke...

With an airshock on the driver's side rear to force more weight onto the front passenger side tire, I should be able to bring that down to 2.2. Using Gus's rules of thumb (for every .1 shaved in the 60', .2 are shaved in the 1/4) my 1/4 time will be 14.2. With slicks I should be able to bring the 60' time down to ~2.0 or 1/4 of 13.8... From here I will use a more conservative number of 14.0

I have consistently heard that an ND Performance computer will net you 1-1.5 sec. Conservatively, that is ~13.0...

The exhaust piping is somewhat open, but could be a little better. 2.5" piping has been done and should be sufficient if manderal bent. With a T3 a little larger may be helpful, especially if it the head is ported.

Exact hp gains are going for porting and extrude honing are going to be guesstimates at best, but an extra 20 ponies would put me very solidly into the 12s, albeit the high 12s... The down side to all this is porting can be expensive and extrude honing is definitely expensive.

Note that once the port work is done, the computer would have to be recalibrated. This is part of the reason I am holding off on getting a computer. When I do get one, it will almost definitely be a multi-program one, I want to make sure the engine can run on bad gas and survive, run on everyday 92 or 93 octane fuel, and be able to go to the track and dump octane booster in and run all out...

Erich Zaugg wrote:

I have another hint for getting more power out of a turbo III. I was surfing the net one night and came across a Shelby Club [Shelby Dodge Auto Club (SDAC), which is at www.sdac.org]. They had information on indexing the cams using offset cam keys that are avaliable through Mopar Performance. According to their research, they have seen a 20-something horsepower spread between stock turbo III cars due to sloppy cam index tolerances set at the factory. They reported seeing errors of one to two degrees off centerline. To me this seemed minimal, but they said that the turbo III engine is very picky and runs much stronger if the cams are set on centerline.

I forgot what I did with their link but if you want it, I'll try to find it. I own a 91 Spirit R/T and love it. I work as a technician at a Chrysler/Plymouth dealer and have access to the tools required to perform the cam indexing procedure. I am going to try it and I'll let you know if it makes a difference.

Car reviews - living with a Dodge Spirit R/T

The clutch action is heavy, and not too smooth, though there is reportedly a replacement clutch that is much better. The engine idles smoothly.

The car is moderately comfortable to ride in, somewhere between a Civic (on the low end) and a Corolla (on the highe end). There's very little power at the low end, but at about 2500 rpm the turbo spools up with a friendly whistle and off we go. The Neon has stopped seeming like a powerhouse since I've been driving this car, but I will admit that, if I have not gotten the turbo spooled, the Neon will get the first licks in at any traffic light. On the highway, power is available in a second.

Gas mileage could be better, but it is exceptional for the power and speed you get - compared even with, say, a brand new Audi TT, which is much smaller inside, not to mention ten years newer and considerably pricier and kitschier. Highway mileage is not too bad at about 28-29 mpg, but city is about 22, I'd say. EPA estimates of 22-29 seem to be accurate. Using regular gas hurts power, and you feel it at the lower rpms. After speaking with Neil Emiro, I discovered that the computer only has one program, for premium, and that using a lower grade causes knocking, which the computer quickly detects and stops by changing the spark advance.

The Spirit R/T accelerates faster than the Contour V-6 (including the SVT) or Nissan Maxima, but gets the same or better gas mileage!

One thrilling burst of acceleration can kill quite a bit of gas mileage! but it's probably worth it.

The problems of living with a Spirit R/T are what one might expect. Insurance costs more. Parts are often more expensive. Some things break more often. In three months, I lost an oil pump, two timing belts, the MAP sensor, and the battery (most expensive stocked...of course...), but of course I have a 103,000 mile car. The timing belts seem to be a common item, but the oil pump took over a week to get, and cost four times what a standard oil pump costs (to be fair, I've heard from other owners that a standard $40 NAPA pump will work just fine). So think of a Spirit R/T as a Saab, and you'll get the idea.

Is it worth it? Well, if you absolutely need to rely on your car...get something with lower performance. If you have a spare car or a short commute, or a surfeit of mechanical skill, it's probably worth it.

Mexican Phantom R/T and LeBaron R/T

Mexican Spirit R/T

"Regular" RTs were offered from 1991 to 1995. All came with 3-speed automatic transmissions, I don't know if it is a 413, on the side has a decal that reads: "845 turbo", all came with transmission oil coolers.

All regular RTs came with the 2.5 turbo II engine (from what I know only available here in Mexico). Power was underated at 160 hp 4800rpms, the turbo is a Mitsubishi TEO4H, boost was set at about 11 psi (I've seen many RTs that go all the way to 15 psi, mine goes to 13 psi), it also has a bypass valve. There is a mini oil cooler mounted between the block and the oil filter.

All came with 4-wheel disc brakes, some had ABS as an option, all came with 15" wheels and 195/60 tires (some 205/60s).

The exterior is exactly the same as the 16v DOHC model, except wheels (DOHCs used 16" here in Mexico) and for the side decals, they only read: "intercooled turbo".

The RT sold very well here, and it's seen as a very fast car, how fast? My "regular" RT has done the quarter mile in a best of 15.827s at 7500ft (a very high altitude). Compare it with the ETs of some cars that I have run with in the quarter mile at this high altitude.

The only mod that I've done to my R/T is to open the exhaust, this helped a lot, before I opened it the car ran 16.15s...now 15.90s. When I run it at the drag strip I always remove the air filter, empty the trunk, lower the front tires to 24 psi and rise the rears to about 45 psi.

[about the performance figures: I had a Nissan 2000GSR (Sentra SE-R), it ran a best of 17.12s with some mods. A friend's GTI VR6 best time has been 16.89. Both this cars run 15s at sea level. My very own 90 Shadow GTS the other day ran a 15.11, this time corrected for altitude should be in the 14s. One day a guy in Mustang GT with Ohio plates ran here, he could not believe his times were so slow (16.4-16.6).]

As for the Spirit RT 2.2 DOHC 16v see a retro-test that was done to a 1992 RT in the November 1998 issue of the Mexican "Automovil Panamericano" magazine (table follows) - note the R/T is a four door family-size sedan...

Test	Spirit R/T	Grand Prix GTP	Camaro Z28	Firebird Trans Am
0-100 km/h (0-62 mph)	8.00	10.84	7.89	8.28
0-400 meters (1/4 mile)	15.72	17.54	15.69	15.98
Max horsepower	225@5410 rpm	241@5230 rpm	352@4280 rpm	345@5520 rpm
Notes	Five speed, four cylinder	V6	Four speed automatic, V8	Four speed automatic, V8
Reminder: these figures are only comparable to each other due to high altitude conditions. All are presumably unmodified - Spirit R/T would have restrictive exhaust.

Dodge Spirit R/T performance

Tracey Hudson wrote:

I currently own a 91 and have been very happy the performance. I currently have 103,000 on the odometer but you would never know it by driving it.

The few performance mods are a Borla exhaust (you can see straight through the thing), 2.5 stainless cat back exhaust, Neil Emiro computer [he's out of business so they're hard to get], and a Bell Engineering variable rate of rise fuel pressure regulator. I have not run it at the track yet but did Varicom the car prior to the modifications which netted a 14.8 @ 96 mph. Not bad for street tires!

It's incredible how much you can pick up with one of Neil's computers (the fuel pressure regulator is an option but it doesn't have to be as elaborate as mine). The only problem is if you hit over boost (code 45) which I have twice. The solution is a map by-pass with a pressure switch. If you need one or know of any one who does let me know.

If you haven't already experienced it yet the heads have a design flaw - the driver side rear corner, where they like to leak anti-freeze. The proper fix is to pull the head, remove the plug ( not enough gasket material between the coolant passage the plug and the side of the head) replace it with an aluminium plug, weld it in place and machine the head.

• Click here for directions on centerlining the Turbo III cam (you'll need them!).
• More details: see the Spirit/Acclaim page
• Do you own a Spirit R/T? It's almost mandatory to join the Spirit R/T registry! This will hook you up with other owners who can provide you with essential info to keep your R/T on the road! (We’ve lost track of them.)
• Chrysler front-drive performance 1983-1993
• Visit (or return to) Allpar Home

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