Horsepower per cubic inch used to be a worthwhile indicator of an engine build. For a street car in the 1970s, anything north of one horse per cube was very respectable. In years since, technology and the rise of reliable forced induction have blown that out of the water.
When Bradley Dillon’s Dodge Neon SRT-4 hooked up to the FuelTech hub dyno, it was out to prove that half the cylinders could make for twice the fun and did so with a staggering 1,434 ponies. The finer details of this little powerplant that could are slim, but it’s purported to still pack its original 2.4L block, head from a Mitsubishi Eclipse, and a Honda K-series stick shift transmission.
The giant hairdryer out front obviously helps fill the four cylinders to roughly 9.8 horsepower per inch, an incredible feat that requires incredible tuning and controls. At the helm is an FT600 ECU with assistance from a WB-O2 Nano, Switch Panel-8 Mini, and EGT-8 CAN.
The tale is in the timeslip as Dillon’s Neon has shot down the track at a skin-stretching 7.96 seconds at 186.98 mph. Dipping into the sevens with four cylinders, four doors, and a manual transmission is quite a feat and FuelTech helped make it happen.
“The people, the facility, and just everything about it in general was a phenomenal experience,” Dillon said of the Neon’s trip to FuelTech. No doubt, running this beast down the quarter mile is a phenomenal experience of another kind.
