I've seen a few stock ones run in my neck of the woods. They have a huge problem with wheel hop off the line. They do some hopping shifting to 2nd too, then they take off. Most of the runs I saw were low 15's but with mph for mid 14's. Once the hopping is cured the sky's the limit.

Les

 

Wow that's terrible- most many on the Caliber forums have gotten 14-flat and even a few 13.9/13/8's stock. It's all down to how well you can deal with launching FWD- which is tough.

Eibach Pro Kit, Solid Motor Mounts, and Traction Bars for me! The problem is if I want slicks I have to do a small brake kit in the front. The 13.5" discs don't jive well with small diameter drag rims.

 

Wow, that's hilarious. Never thought I would see someone trying to reduce the size of the rotors. Did not know about that on FWD cars, and the Caliber.

 

I have been looking at these for months. Think I made a deal this morning on a Silver one, 8000 miles and has nav, blue tooth and everything else.

I am trading in my Hemi Charger, going to end up cutting my car payment almost in half!! This will leave me with the SRT6 & a SRT4

How has the first week of ownership been?

 

Awesome man! I got your PM on the other forum (My LED flashlight was stolen from the showroom btw)!

Haven't driving it too much yet- however I will say one thing, I missed having a manual! Compared to the SRT6 it feels like a dog until it gets up to 65 and over. That's when it feels like it can pull pretty hard. It's odd because I'm used to the opposite most of my life- strong up to higher speeds then it tapers off. This thing feels like it wants to keep pulling.

List of mods I'm doing first:
- Intake (not sure which one yet- looking at Rob's SRI)
- Mopar BOP
- "Ninja Black" strut brace
- Eibach Pro Kit
- Mopar Sways
- Adjustable End Links
- Shorty antenna
- AGP catch can
- Mopar Stage 1 ecu (+26whp/+48wtq)!
- Downpipe (not sure which one to get just yet)

Future:
- AGP wastegate
- Map clamp
- AEM FIC
- AGP Big turbo kit
- Larger injectors
- Pillar Pod w/ Wide-band and Aeroforce Scangauge
- Upgraded Clutch
- WOT box (maybe)

 

What you say fits with what I've seen. Once they get going they go like heck. The problem is getting them to hook up in first and second gears. Your stuck as far as tuning goes. Few options. No predator. Just like the SRT-6. Most of the bad I've heard about the Caliber is about the SXT and not the SRT. Keep us up to date with the new ride.

Les

 

Mopar's own Stage 1 ecu offers impressive gains- over 40wtq! There's also Real Tune's AEM FIC tune, and a new one from a German Company that PTP Performance is now selling. I'll be going the Mopar Stage 1 route.

From what I've seen these Calibers are pretty easy to get into the SRT6 power range- and while they can't hold a candle to it's 1/4 mile performance (w/o slicks) I don't think it'll be any slower at highway speeds. Maybe even faster- my SRT6 would lay down starting a the top of 3rd due to fueling issues.

 

There's a silver one about 2hrs away with 10k on the clock for 17K$ may go test drive it.

 

Nice! Let me know if you pull the trigger. I've been doing a lot of research and have found the bread-n-butter mods for the Caliber SRT4 to be Mopar Stage1, and a Downpipe....very much like Pulley, Intake, and Tune are for the SRT6.

The things I have installed so far are:
-MPx catted downpipe
- Needswings Intake
- Mopar Swaybars
- MPx strut bar
- AGP catch can
- AGP billet engine mount
- Mopar Blow off plate
- Lightweight Crank Pulley

...and I haven't even hit 750 miles on her yet.

I'm REALLY impressed with the sway bars- they COMPLETELY transformed the way the car handles. The DP isn't quite noticeable- at least at slower speeds. I've heard it makes a big difference with more boost (ie Mopar Stage 1 ECU).

The engine mount elimintated my torque steer and wheel seemingly completely however at idle and slow take-off the vibrations are unbearable. I keep going back and forth with it but think I'm going to have it reverted to stock and just deal with the torque steer. Sitting at lights or in stop n' go traffic is grueling when your cabin feels like a vibrating bed. Very unnerving.

 

Then engine mounts for my Mazdaspeed6 had different bushing choices depending how much vibration to torque control you wanted. I didn't mind the vibration, for it was usually just me in the car. Having others in the car complaining may have changed my mind. It did help guid the torque through the driveline, instead of just rolling the engine over in the compartment.

 

The mount I used on my Mazdaspeed3 (Street Unit) was no where near as extreme as the one I tried in my Caliber (AGP solid front mount). It was, in fact, like 5x as bad.

 

UPDATE: I got my Mopar Stage1 ECU in today- WOW what a difference!

WOW- what a difference. I was worried my expectations would be too high as I keep hearing great things about it from the members on the Caliber forums. It still impressed me none-the-less! The car feels like it's trying to tear it's front tires off! I can light the tires up in 2nd any time I mash the gas. The Mopar Blow Off Plate is much louder shifting at WOT too!

So far my throttle has been consistent at 87 (finally the ECU is no longer pulling throttle!) and I'm seeing boost spiking as high as 15 for a split second and holding 14 taping slightly at redline.

I want to do a 40mph highway pull along side of Chris (Distantpulse) to see if I can hang now.

 

Impressive list of mods man, what a way to hit the ground running!

Do you think your in the 12s now? should be interesting at the track! goodluck with it!

 

told ya so

 

Good job Cross Hair getting that CaliRT4(made that up lol) modded so quickly. I bet it is fun....im still eyeing that silver 4 . It is still up for grabs. I didnt get to go down to test drive last week but I may this weekend.

 

Without slicks- not a chance. lol I did some runs tonight on a back road- I wasn't brave enough to run the full 1/4 but I logged:
0-60: 5.3 (spinning all the way through 1st)
1/8 mile: 8.9 @ 83mph

Obviously not on pace with my Crossfire but not bad considering I blew the tires away on every run I tried. If I got a nice set of slicks I may be able to hit high 12's. However with street tires I'd venture to guess around 13.3-13.5 @ 106-110. I'll know soon enough once I hit the track.

Truth be told because of the FWD platform I'll be more interested in my traps than my ETs. My ETs are going to suffer from lack of traction.

On the highway it pulls like a freight train and doesn't let up. The faster it goes the richer it gets! No fueling issues with my current setup. Once I get an aftermarket waste-gate and a map clamp to PUMP the boost I'll probably need to upgrade the injectors. Right now I'm only running 14psi consistently (peak around 15 and taper to 13 near redline).

 

Yeah Rob- wow. Huge difference! More noticeable than the tune on the Crossfire! Thanks again for the always wonderful customer service and blazing fast turn-around!

 

Yeah man if you do get it do NOT hesitate to order the Mopar Stage 1 ECU- it completely transforms the car!

 

I am afraid to start with the modding of mine! I look at robs website all the time and think about pulling the trigger on the intake, downpipe, blow off valve and MS1. I am doing good to refrain!!

 

Randomly reading through the forum I sumbled upon this thread.

I too sold my SRT-6 last summer and sure miss it. As a previous Neon SRT-4 owner I am picking up a Caliber SRT-4 in the next 2 weeks!

I closed the deal on an out of state 2009 with 800 miles. Loaded with heated leater buckets, sunroof, kicker etc. I can't wait!

300whp Caliber SRT-4s are pretty easy from what I am reading.