What's the easiest way to make more power with a late-model car? When it comes to bang for the buck and ease of installation, there are two answers: nitrous oxide and supercharging. The merits of one versus the other have been debated forever, and like abortion and evolution, there will never be a consensus. However, the most hassle-free (though initially more expensive) of the two is a supercharger.
When we first drove the new SRT8 Challenger a little less than a year ago, initial impressions were that it is a very nice, damn quick muscle car. It ran 8.30s in the eighth-mile (13 flat) with just a few minor bolt-ons and was a hoot to blast around town in. But no matter how fast a car is, it can always be faster, and our initial thought was: This thing needs a blower.
Well, now it has one. Working with Speedfactory Cars, a division of Landmark Dodge in Georgia, Vortech Superchargers has developed a bolt-on supercharger kit that puts the 6.1L SRT8 Challenger solidly in the 11-second zone at the track and makes it a complete animal on the street. The supercharger itself is Vortech's new V-3 Si-trim unit that has a self-contained oiling system, meaning you don't have to punch a hole in the oil pan anymore. In this application, the boost is limited to 6.5 psi (5.5 psi for the 5.7L cars), and it blows through Vortech's powercooler air-to-water aftercooler. The kit comes with higher-capacity injectors, a two-bar MAP sensor, a DiabloSport Predator handheld tuner (to change the fuel and spark tables to compensate for boost), and a fuel pump voltage booster. Expect about 10 hours to install it yourself-more if you hate wiring.
After we watched Vortech install the supercharger on Speedfactory's Challenger, we strapped it to the dyno, loaded in the DiabloSport tune-up, and turned the rollers to 404 lb-ft and 445 hp. On this dyno, that roughly translates into 560 hp and 510 lb-ft at the crankshaft.
With dyno numbers in hand, we took the car to the quarter-mile dragstrip at California Speedway in Fontana, California, for testing. With no track prep whatsoever, and on 20-inch Nitto NT555 Drag Radials mounted to Boze wheels, the Dodge ran 12.12 at 115.5 mph. With the greasy track and so much bottom-end torque, the tires just wouldn't hook well enough to get the best numbers out of the car, but it pulled very hard on the top end and the mph back up Vortech's claim of 11.90s.
Here's the deal with that. When we ran the car, the track hadn't been used in about three weeks and was unprepped and really dusty. Vortech had rented the track a few weeks prior, right after a Pacific Street Car Association (PSCA) event, and it had lots of rubber down and no dust when they ran on it. Their data showed an 11.91 at 118.8 mph, with a 0-to-60 time of 3.68 seconds, and we believe it.
The big SRT8 rear brakes prevent a real wrinkle-wall slick or tall-sidewall drag radial from fitting, which is too bad, since this Stage 1 Supercharged Speedfactory car is also set up with BMR Fabrication 1,000hp axles and Richmond 3.54:1 gears on a limited-slip differential-if you could throw enough power at it on the launch, it should run quicker than 11.90s.
Buy The CarSpeedfactory is the hot rod arm of Landmark Dodge in Morrow, Georgia, and it builds and sells hot-rodded Chrysler cars. The black SRT8 Challenger in this story has the Stage 1 Supercharged package that comes with a JBA after-cat exhaust, KW Automotive Variant 2 coilovers on all four corners, a Richmond Gear 3.55:1 ring-and-pinion on a limited-slip differential, BMR Fabrications 1,000hp rear halfshafts, and a few subtle interior and exterior badges. You can buy it directly from Speedfactory/Landmark Dodge, and the company will ship it anywhere you want. It also has different packages, including a few naturally aspirated versions, depending on how fast you want to go and how much you want to spend. The sticker on the car in this story is $65,000, and it comes with the aforementioned three-year/36,000-mile factory warranty.
SOURCES
BMR Fabrications
Thonotosassa, FL
813/986-9302
www.bmrfabrication.com
Boze Alloys
866/634-4626
www.bozeforged.com
JBA Exhaust
San Diego, CA
800/830-3377
www.jbaheaders.com
KW Automotive
Sanger, CA
888/713-5566
www.kw-suspension.com
Landmark Dodge/Speedfactory
Morrow, GA
800/726-4044
www.speedfactorycars.com
Nitto Tire
Cypress, CA
www.nittotire.com
Richmond Gear
Liberty, SC
864/843-9231
www.richmondgear.com
Vortech Engineering Oxnard, CA 805/247-0226 www.vortechsuperchargers.com
