Being a devout Dodge fan, he spotted a 92 Dodge Daytona IROC R/T on a dealer
lot. Went in to test drive that bad boy (1 of 461 over two years) and fell in love with the 225 h/p 4 valve lotus headed turbo 2.2. He was thinking to himself "I don't know a lot about these cars so I had better get the aftermarket warranty the dealer was offering".....Smartest move he ever made. The warranty company will now NEVER cover one of these cars again. He paid $5500 for it and the warranty company coughed up MORE than that keeping it running!!! You might as well have called this car an old jag. It was quite literally in the shop more than out. After the warranty ran out, he just couldn't afford to keep it running. This is how I came to own this little hotrod. I did some research and found out that the majority of the oddities and faults on this car can be corrected. With some time and money. First thing I had to do was figure out the security system which was wigging out and keeping the car from starting. After that and I got it running it was not so
obvious that it had a rod knock. Out came the engine. So not only did I rebuild it, but fixed a bunch of "problems" these little monsters have. 1) the crank walks to very hi clutch pressure and it eats up the thrust surface.

Had that redone and studded the bottom end with ARP bolts. 2) the rod bolts stretch to the extreme rpm these cars are capable of 7500. So now it has ARP rod bolts. 3) they blow head gaskets left and right to the stupid stretch to fit head bolts. Now the head is studded with ARP head stud kit. 4) the heads crack at the freeze plug hole cause there threaded and the
stupid factory saved .02 on using steel and over torqueing it instead of aluminum. So they’re replaced with aluminum ones matching the head material and cracks fixed so no more anti freeze leaks. 5) valve spring seat pressure is designed for 9000rpm!!! busting up cam belts every 10k miles. So I installed the custom titanium retainers that raise the spring height by 100
thousands and makes the belts last waaaay longer. Just don't rev above 7500 and you'll be ok. 6) cam timing is notoriously off. Had a custom set of adjustable cam gears made and degreed the cams. Intake was 3 and exhaust was 6 degrees off! 7) oil sometimes starves to the turbo so I tossed the stock rubber line....yes a rubber oil line??? and made a hard line to feed the
turbo. All this was fixed while I had the engine out. In the mean time I also put on a full 3 inch exhaust and hi flow cat and muffler. Ported the intake manifold, put on new shogun 17 wheels and tires. New pads for the 4 wheel disk brakes with full ABS. I was going to put in a new clutch but the warranty company had to rebuild the trans and put in a new clutch. It only had 500 miles on it and looked like it. Also I removed the balance shafts saving weight and quicker rev's. I haven't installed it yet but I have a brand new computer for the car, it will allow 20 pounds of boost instead of the stock 11, along with that I got +40% injectors and a 3 bar map sensor. But because of all the heat 20 psi will make I needed a much larger intercooler. So I installed a front mounted Sperico that has 3 times the internal volume of the stocker. All said and done I should be putting down about 325 h/p to the ground. And add that up with a 3000 pound package it’s
gonna rip!

So far the car really runs hard and I’m very happy with all of its factory appointments. It came with Power Steering—Power 4 wheel Disk Brakes with ABS--air--cruise--tilt—factory sunroof--8way drivers seat—elec. windows—elec. locks--heated mirrors—heated rear defog--rear wiper--security system--intermittent wipers—driving lights--top of the line infinity am/fm cassette CD with amp and 6 speakers--comes with a full complement of real gauges but I'm pushing this car so I added an EGT gauge and an air/fuel ratio gauge. From the factory, they ran this car to 151 or 153 mph depending on which test you believe. Right now I could run even higher than that with
the mods I’ve done. It’s a very good looking car (in my mind) and very quick for what it is. I mean it wont keep up with my Hemi but hey, the Hemi doesn't get 26 mpg either!

PS: I was asked why I’m playing with these little fwd cars. Well INCLUDING the purchase price, the wheels and tires the engine rebuild and all the\ updates. I have less in this car than my Hemi engine alone! I think you get the picture. It’s cheap fun!