It’s honestly not like the Dodge Hellcats need any more power…707hp from the factory should be more than enough to cause sweating, speed blindness and, depending on driver skill and experience, involuntary evacuations. But the chances are very good that if you’re reading this, that you’re one of the sick and twisted ones that just can’t leave a car alone, and want to know if there’s more potential lurking underneath the hood. It’s nice to say that at least one owner has caved in and has started tweaking his Challenger to see how much more the engine could produce.
The owner is John Hansen, and the Hellcat is in good company with the other cars in his garage: a supercharged Ram SRT-10, a wicked-up Evo X, a stout Supra, a GT-R that’s been boosted up, and for a daily driver, a Jeep SRT-8. Fair enough to say that Mr. Hansen is a power freak, isn’t it? Mr. Hansen wanted to know how a simple computer tune would affect the performance of his bright green Dodge, so he made a baseline run and got 646RWHP and 585 RWTQ. Unless his driveline loss is somewhere near 9%, chances are good that the rumors of the Hellcat being underrated are true. Then the fun began, as Torrie McPhail of Unleashed Tuning went to work on the ECU. Just a basic tune netted 680RWHP and 616 RWTQ.
“Just a basic tune” kicking the power level up over thirty horsepower…wait until the real modifications begin.
(Courtesy: Allpar)
That blower whine is awesome! I was curious how much power Dodge had left on the table with these things. I was afraid that at 707hp, that motor would be pretty maxed-out without making serious modifications. Glad to see I was wrong
The question is what fuel was used? Many modern ECUs use a very sensitive detonation sensor and with good gas can go pretty gonzo. That would explain the high baseline.
Also driveline loss is most accurately expressed as a number, not a percentage. It will take the same power to spin things no matter how much is available. So of course with 700+ on tap the percentage will be low.
I’m surprised that ColoradoKid didn’t do his usual anti-Hellcat bullshit rant on Bangshift, as the numbers don’t lie with this dyno.
I wish I had the money to buy a Hellcat and the balls to modify it. Mr. Hansen, you have my respect and admiration Sir.
I wonder if they could’ve picked up a little more HP if the headlights were switched off…
600lb feet of torque over 2000 rpm ,just a basic street car.wow.
wonder what a pulley and H/C/I will bring! 900?