Hey everyone, long time Challenger Lover here and finally have a decent amount saved up to get into the market. Long time car junkie with many previous cars, but never had a Challenger so I have some learning to do. In order to try and make an educated choice when I buy, I have alot of reading to do. If you have a favorite thread for newbies that you feel like taking the time to share with me, I will certainly read it. I was thinking about the 6.4 as the engine choice, but historically I do modify my cars and I already came across a thread/video that was saying that it is a great engine if left stock, but failure risks add up quickly when adding mods. I am sure there are a bunch of opinions on that, but certainly made me stop and think about and try to learn something first. While I am older and think that I wouldn't do anything more than air in and air out, but I thought that previously also with my prior cars and the one I got rid of last fall wound up 610/640 to the rear. Anyway, thanks in advance, I look forward to it. Scott
Welcome to the club! I think it's like anything. The risks of engine damage go down with the amount of wisely-spent money. Some have very, very carefully boosted their 6.4 engines without problems. The key issues are: A) the compression ring is closer to the piston crown than on the Hellcat, for better efficiency, but the top ring land is thus a bit weaker so you can get severely punished for detonation caused by a lean condition. But, that can be carefully avoided with proper and diligent engine-building techniques. B) The sheer heat of more boost can expand your piston rings more than the amount for which the stock build gapped the rings, so there are a couple simple solutions: ZGS-style overlapping rings, and filing a bit more gap in your rings to ensure they don't get over-compressed from expanding from the extra heat from boost. BTW, the overall stress on a connecting rod in a naturally-aspirated (non-nitromethane) engine will be at the top of the exhaust stroke, but at the bottom of a very-boosted engine's power stroke. Same level of stress, just a different place in the four cycles. What kind of performance do you like? How much money do you have? (this is rhetorical, I'm not asking for your money info.) It's like Baskin Robbins with the Hemi. So many flavors you can choose. If you're on a low budget, then I would suggest (for aural as well as some g-force thrills) a hotter cam, stiffer valve springs, and an ECU tuned (often available with an emailed canned tune for a particular setup) for those super-classic modifications. The fast, easy way to make more power is to just get a blower on the engine. If you are patient in waiting for the power, you can re-cam the engine for super-low-RPM emphasis and let a centrifugal blower carry the upper area of the RPM range. If you like the immediate gratification of a positive-displacement blower, then Magnuson and Whipple make kits for your exact car that add a blower right on top of the engine. There are aftermarket headers, higher-flow catalysts, cold air intakes, hotter spark coils, etc. Just how fast do you wanna go and how dirty are you willing to get?
Right now I am looking at cars between 20 and 30K and finding lots of options. Biggest hurdle right now is trying to understand all the different name plates and and special versions that were made. Historically on my cars I simply do air in and air out for the most part. CAI, heads, cam, long tubes, exhaust etc. I did put a Maggie 2300 on my last car, but I doubt I will do that again.
Well, I looked at and sat in a 2016 RT SP tonight, manual, 50K miles, darker grey/charcoal, with some mat black stripes. Loved it, the space is amazing! Seems like a good deal but need to research more. What are the mechanical/suspension differences between SP and SRT?
I don't know the differences. I leapt past everything and went straight to Hellcat. Here's some guy with a video on Youtube I am sure there are people here who know the details. I quickly looked some up: Trim........Engine.................................Trans....................................................Other SXT...........V6....................................8Spd.................................................... R/T............5.7V8................................8Spd/6Man........................................... R/T SP........6.4V8................................8Spd/6Man.........................................Upgraded brakes/Suspension over R/T SRT............6.4V8................................8Spd/6Man.........................................Upgraded Suspension over R/T SP Hellcat........6.2V8 Supercharged.............8Spd/6Man................all the powers of the ancient gods and demons unleashed at your command Main things I would look for are 9.5" wheels and the six-piston Brembos up front. I think those were standard on SRT models, but others here would know better than I. That gray is called "Destroyer Gray" if it is the non-metallic color. That color with black accents and some red on the car (Like the brake calipers and seat belts) looks quite sexy. Dodge, in fact, brought back the color gray and made it fast and sexy again. Not the yawn-inducing metallic BMW Anonymity Special Gray. You know what looks dead sexy on that gray? The big, white stick-on rubber tire lettering.
I, personally, would not go below SRT due to the better suspension and brakes. ADDENDUM: BELAY THAT, THE GUY IN THE ONE VIDEO WENT WITH 17'S AND HE WAS ABLE TO PUT NICE, TALL SIDEWALL TIRES ON HIS CAR, WHICH EVEN F1 TEAMS AND NASCAR KNOW PROVIDE BETTER TRACTION.
Why not a Maggie? Heck, they even have a 2650 and a 3100 now, though the 3100 is still being proven. You know what's fun with a supercharger? You can just pick an upper pulley size you like to get whatever level of boost you want. You can also flip the rear pulleys on the jackshaft of the 2650 around to invert the drive ratio of them. But, if you are a cam-and-headers man, Why not go with cam, headers, carbon intake ducted to both front light holes, full exhaust with high-flow cats, a PCM and titanium retainers with stiffer valve springs, and a 7500 RPM redline? (I know, budget, etc.) About the same torque, which is driveline-friendly, and awesome idle from the mid-1960's, and No worries about overboosting for your application. Here's 564hp from a 6.4: Most people just go the easy way and put on a supercharger. But, if you intelligently build your engine from the foundations up, then as you climb the performance ladder, you will have a good foundation upon which to build. MMX has some stuff ready to rock if you are not inclined to do your own research, but you can call them to get some specifics. http://www.modernmusclextreme.com/c-110-scat-pack-performance-camshafts.aspx I prefer stuff where they give you power graphs from dyno-proven research, but that is pretty rare in the Hemi space. You can also get pre-ported heads from Airflow Research and Edelbrock. Some more:
For those with patience, the new Magnuson 3100 in a test cell that does not have the blower actually blowing into any motor: . I find the blower howl to be nice in that it is a lower pitch than the stock IHI is. With only 3 lobes per rotor, and said lobes obviously turning the same speed as each other, it really cuts the frequency down, and sounds more blower-ish (in the WWII aircraft sense) than the shrieky-dekey IHI does.
thanks everyone, great info. I have come across a few 6.1's also, any specific reason as to why they weren't made that long? Just natural progression to a larger motor?
I think so, but I wasn't in the new Challenger scene back then. I consider the Challenger to have really come into its best "generation" from the Hellcat era onward. The level of transmission and suspension capabilities available, especially in the SRT models, whether blown or not really appeal to me
