{"id":27117,"date":"2016-05-12T10:04:18","date_gmt":"2016-05-12T17:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=27117"},"modified":"2016-05-27T14:00:52","modified_gmt":"2016-05-27T21:00:52","slug":"powering-up-a-2014-dodge-challenger-srt8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/powering-up-a-2014-dodge-challenger-srt8\/","title":{"rendered":"Powering up a 2014 Dodge Challenger SRT\/8"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"2014<\/a>
Chuck’s 2014 Dodge Challenger SRT\/8 Hemi is a work of art. All images courtesy Chuck Mandic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A couple of years ago, my friend Chuck Mandic decided to treat himself with an American Muscle Car. Being a Mopar guy (There\u2019s no power like Mo\u2019 Power!), he knew it had to be a Challenger. The older, classic Challengers he looked at were nice, but they weren\u2019t built for the twisty type of driving that Chuck likes to do. Almost without exception, those beautiful beasts were built for straight line driving and Chuck wanted something that wouldn\u2019t handle like an overloaded dump truck when hitting the turns. So, Chuck decided to pick up a 2014 Dodge Challenger SRT\/8 392 Hemi.<\/p>\n

Factory Specs for Chuck\u2019s 2014 Dodge Challenger SRT\/8<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got to admit that the factory specs for Chuck\u2019s Charger are pretty impressive. The big 6.4 liter Hemi V8 engine puts out an impressive 470 horses at 6000 revs and turns the wheels with an earth shaking 470 pounds-feet of torque at 4,200 revs.<\/p>\n

These numbers are more than plenty to give it enough acceleration to push you back in your seat without even stalling up the torque converter in the six-speed manual transmission. How does zero to 60 in about four seconds grab you for a car this size? But these numbers weren\u2019t impressive enough for Chuck to accept. He needed more.<\/p>\n

Chuck\u2019s Quest for Power Started with a Full Cat Back Exhaust Swap<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"2014<\/a><\/p>\n

Shortly after getting it home from the dealership, he took it to Bumbera\u2019s Performance Associates of Katy,<\/a> Texas. Bumbera\u2019s is something of the official \u201cpower adder shop\u201d of the car club he belongs to-West Houston Muscle Car Club (WHM in the photos). In fact, they\u2019re an official sponsor of the car club. Bumbera\u2019s very good care of the Challenger, indeed. In fact, they made it Bad Fast.<\/p>\n

\"2014<\/a>
Bumbera’s Performance Associates is the official-unofficial tuning shop for the West Houston Muscle Car Club that Chuck belongs to.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first thing they did was yank out the overly restrictive stock exhaust system. Remember, I\u2019ve mentioned a few times in the past that one of the easiest and quickest way to bolt on power, no matter what car or engine you\u2019ve got is to allow the engine to exhale better.<\/p>\n

So, the Challenger got a full cat back exhaust system. This included three inch pipes and equal length tubular headers that were designed by the guys at the shop. Chuck doesn\u2019t have numbers, but I\u2019d lay better than even odds that this mod alone gained him at least 50 ponies under the hood.<\/p>\n

That Was in No Way Enough for Him. He Had to Get Stuffed<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"2014<\/a>
The ProCharger supercharger looks like the Dodge factory installed it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just over 500 ponies galloping under the hood is pretty nice, but it still wasn\u2019t enough for Chuck. \u201cThere\u2019s no power like Mo\u2019 Power\u201d is the mantra of the Mopar guy, so he had Bumbera\u2019s keep going. Their head tuner, Kenny Bumbera, decided to keep going with the \u201clet it breathe better\u201d theme as easy bolt on power.<\/p>\n

\"Challenger<\/a><\/p>\n

That meant the air and fuel induction side of the engine. The first thing that went in was a cold air intake system. Bu the measly gain of 25 horses or so wasn\u2019t enough to excite him. Then Kenny gave ProCharger a call.<\/p>\n

\"Challenger<\/a><\/p>\n

The guys got busy installing ProCharger\u2019s P-1SC-1 Hemi V8 supercharger<\/a>. This is a kit that ProCharger has that looks like the engineers at Dodge designed the engine and engine bay for it, and the people at the factory built it that way. Just looking at it screams \u201cMo\u2019 Power!\u201d<\/p>\n

While you can install a forced induction system in your car and call it a day, it\u2019s not really recommended. You see, when you compress air like that, it heats up and becomes less dense. Less dense air contains less oxygen to burn with the fuel. Just like this, Chuck\u2019s Hemi was probably pumping out something like 550 plus horses. However, it could be better.<\/p>\n

\"2014<\/a>
ProCharger designed the intercooler to hide behind the grille quite well.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thus, a real engine tuner installs an intercooler when they install forced induction systems like a supercharger. The guys at Bumbera\u2019s are just that, real engine tuners. Additionally, the ProCharger kit for the Hemi Challenger SRT\/8 comes with a massive air to air intercooler that\u2019s custom built for the Challenger. Again, once installed it looks like it was always meant to be there.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve Got to Tune the PCM to Get Everything the Engine Can Produce<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"2014<\/a><\/p>\n

Once the air stuffer and cooler were installed, Kenny and the guys threw the car on their dyno. Straight, without any tuning of the PCM, it still produced an extremely respectable 600 plus horses. However, the PCM still had the factory tune. I\u2019ve also mentioned a few times that factory PCM tunes are designed to deliver a cross between economy and horsepower, but not gobs of both.<\/p>\n

Chuck wanted gobs of power. That\u2019s why he was spending the time and money doing the exhaust and induction systems after all. So, Kenny got to work tweaking the PCM\u2019s factory tune for the new engine goodies.<\/p>\n

Bump the timing around a bit. Play with the fuel pump settings some. Change the pressure regulator settings. Amp up the injector dwell some. Viola! The engine is now producing a stunning 695 horses at the crank and 605 to the wheels. Torque has jumped to an incredible 545 pounds-feet That\u2019s gotten his zero to 60 down to the supercar realm of around three to three and a quarter seconds.<\/p>\n

So far, Chuck\u2019s the car up to 153 miles per hour at the track. His goal for now is 200 plus. He says with all the new engine toys and the six-speed, \u201cIt\u2019s sooooo fun to drive now!\u201d<\/p>\n

You Can\u2019t Have All the Go with No Show!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"2014<\/a><\/p>\n

Although the cat back exhaust system and supercharger are sweet looking additions to the Challenger SRT\/8, you\u2019ve got to lift the hood or look under the car to see them. The sound they combine to make is going to turn heads, but there\u2019s got to be something to hold the attention of the viewer.<\/p>\n

So, the guys at the shop gave Oracle Lighting<\/a> a call and got some stuff shipped out. First up was a set of fog lights to light the road better. Next was a cool set of turn signals that give the car a cool glow. The finishing touch up front was a set of halo lights for the headlights.<\/p>\n

\"2014<\/a><\/p>\n

The undercarriage received a set of Oracle undercar lights also. In fact Oracle also supplied under hood lighting and trunk lighting. All these are LED lights for low power consumption with high lumen output. Even better, the lights are all able to be programmed for different colors. As you can see, Chuck happens to like Inferno Orange. Oracle also supplied an interface that hooks the light controller into his stereo system, so Chuck\u2019s got a disco ball setup on wheels.<\/p>\n

The Future Holds More Mods for Chuck<\/strong><\/p>\n

While he loves the way his car looks and sounds, he\u2019s got more things planned for it. He\u2019s got a set of black powder coated rims with the SRT logo engraved in the center caps on back order. The SRT logo will be painted a brilliant red. Next, there\u2019s a mural. Chuck\u2019s still working on the design for that, so he doesn\u2019t know exactly what it\u2019s going to be. He already upgraded the stock brakes to a set of fatter Brembo brakes, so he doesn\u2019t have to worry about slowing that Bad Fast Challenger SRT\/8 down safely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Chuck decided to get an American Muscle Car, it needed to be full of Mo’Power.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":27128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3447,17,11,3698,9],"tags":[4462,4461,4460,427,2307,64,810],"class_list":["post-27117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-classic","category-guest-column","category-how-tos","category-tech","category-tech-tips","tag-american-muscle-cars","tag-challenger-srt8","tag-dodge-challenger","tag-hemi","tag-horsepower","tag-mopar","tag-supercharger"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/feature8.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-73n","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27117"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27129,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27117\/revisions\/27129"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}