Another spin on the definition of SRT-ness.

[castrol]

This was a fairly enjoyable article. I don't know if there is anything new in this
article that anyone would glean any information from, but it was a good read
nonetheless. Need better pictures of this car though. Anyone in Houston want
to get together for some nice, high res, digital pictures of YOUR SRT-8? :D

http://www.thecarconnection.com/images/gallery/tmb/10408_MWMTKFRANICLF.jpg
http://www.thecarconnection.com/images/gallery/tmb/9373_image.jpg

If you're the type of person who looks at the day's news and forecasts nothing but doom, gloom and societal collapse for the future, the Dodge Charger SRT8 simply isn't the car for you. Not because you won't appreciate its surplus of power or the composure of its chassis but because this car is hopelessly optimistic. This car spits in the eye of "peak oil" theorists, global warming doomsayers, and every member of the Sierra Club and slurps down fuel in giddy gulps with the sort of confidence that only comes from certain knowledge that tomorrow will be better than today.

http://www.thecarconnection.com/images/scrapbook/tmb/1618.jpg
http://www.thecarconnection.com/images/scrapbook/tmb/1623.jpg

It's the sheetmetal manifestation of everything the rest of the world hates about Americans. And precisely why so much of the rest of world wants to come here.


Rest of Story Here... (http://www.thecarconnection.com/Vehicle_Reviews/Sports_Convertibles/.S184.A9615.html)

[joescat]

Here's another way to put this engine's output in perspective: After a four-year absence, Dodge brought back the Charger name in 1982 on a version of the Omni 024 front-drive coupe. With a "big" 2.2-liter four under its nose it was the most powerful Charger (or Omni) then offered to the public. That engine made 84 horsepower. So you could buy a 2006 Charger R/T (a powerful car in its own right) and a 1982 Charger (no slouch back then) and add their horsepower ratings together and you'd still be a horsepower behind the SRT8. So the SRT8 literally has the power of two Chargers under its hood. Or, to take this to the absurd extreme, since the 1983 Charger's standard 1.7-liter four pooped along with only 62 horsepower, the SRT8 has the power of 6.85 old Chargers on tap.

Or, it's got 425 horsepower. A lot more than the 1983 Charger.

[Lunger]

MUSCLE CARS - HEMI CARS
When one thinks of American muscle cars of the late 1960s and early 1970s, or indeed of any time, the one engine that stands head and shoulders above the rest is the Chrysler Hemi. It was quite simply the most powerful production engine of its time, so powerful, in fact that Chrysler understated its ral power by a substantial amount. In print, the Chrysler produced a claimed 425hp at 5,000rpm. In practice it was more like 500hp at 6,000rpm.

But despite offering more power than anyone else, even at that official figure, during an age in which horepower was king, the Chrysler Hemi only sold in tiny numbers. It was an option on several Chrysler muscle cars, but there were few takers. In the Vive years that it was available as a road-going option, only 11,000 Chrysler Hemis were sold, a miniscule number by U.S. mass-production standards. Maybe history is playing tricks on us, and the legend that has grown up around the Chrysler Hemi during the 30-odd years since, its domination of drag racing and NASCAR, has given it more prominence than it deserves.Maybe at the time a stock 383-cubic-inch engine was quick enough, and a 426-cubic-inch Chrysler Hemi simply did not seem worth its higher insurance rating. What was uppermost in the minds of most buyers was probably the option price, anything between $500 and $1,100 or more, which was quite a chunk on a $2,700 car. Whatever the reasons for its limited sales, the Chrysler Hemi has left us with quite a legacy.

so 500+hp for 3,800.00 top end $7.60 cents per HP

or today
425 hp for 40,000 $ 94.12 per HP

[GLHS837]

Ah, dont forget to correct for inflation:) How many 1972 dollars would each 2005 dollar buy? Any economists out there?

[chargershed]

MUSCLE CARS - HEMI CARS
When one thinks of American muscle cars of the late 1960s and early 1970s, or indeed of any time, the one engine that stands head and shoulders above the rest is the Chrysler Hemi. It was quite simply the most powerful production engine of its time, so powerful, in fact that Chrysler understated its ral power by a substantial amount. In print, the Chrysler produced a claimed 425hp at 5,000rpm. In practice it was more like 500hp at 6,000rpm.

But despite offering more power than anyone else, even at that official figure, during an age in which horepower was king, the Chrysler Hemi only sold in tiny numbers. It was an option on several Chrysler muscle cars, but there were few takers. In the Vive years that it was available as a road-going option, only 11,000 Chrysler Hemis were sold, a miniscule number by U.S. mass-production standards. Maybe history is playing tricks on us, and the legend that has grown up around the Chrysler Hemi during the 30-odd years since, its domination of drag racing and NASCAR, has given it more prominence than it deserves.Maybe at the time a stock 383-cubic-inch engine was quick enough, and a 426-cubic-inch Chrysler Hemi simply did not seem worth its higher insurance rating. What was uppermost in the minds of most buyers was probably the option price, anything between $500 and $1,100 or more, which was quite a chunk on a $2,700 car. Whatever the reasons for its limited sales, the Chrysler Hemi has left us with quite a legacy.

so 500+hp for 3,800.00 top end $7.60 cents per HP

or today
425 hp for 40,000 $ 94.12 per HP
recently, I think it was popular hot rodding, tested the original "street HEMI" and the new 6.1L SRT-8 motor using the same SAE standard, both cranked out identical 465h.p. numbers...The HEMI of yore was too exotic for the average muscle car buyer...it was expensive and even more expensive to hot rod...compared to BB Chevys and Fords...it just cost too much. Over time the rarity of these motors led to a mythical status among collectors and enthusiasts...based on inflation the SRT of today is about the same cost and the rarity of these engines have already given this new version legendary status, even as GM produces what could be the greatest small block engine ever, the name HEMI still gets respect...

[Frosted]

Ah, dont forget to correct for inflation:) How many 1972 dollars would each 2005 dollar buy? Any economists out there?
Google + Math skillz = Economist

$3800 (1972) is about $20,000.00 (within $5 difference).

So, the old Hemi was still a bargain, apparently, HP wise.

Now, the other $20,000 can be seen in things like brakes, suspension, airbags, and all the other stuff you have to put in a modern car and that DCX wanted to go into this generation.

My favorite comparison is the one from the front-page article: "the 1983 Charger's standard 1.7-liter four pooped along with only 62 horsepower, the SRT8 has the power of 6.85 old Chargers on tap."

[MCaesar]

1. You need to compare 1966, not 1972. That was the first year of the street hemi.

2. Today's motor puts out similar real HP but I believe less torque

3. the old hemi was only a monster on the street in the hands of someone who knew how to tune it! Getting those dual 4bbls synched up was not easy at all. Most hemis on the street were not in tip top tune and this would frequently lose to strong running 440s, 427/454s, and the all time sleeper Buick GS455 Stage series.

4. I feel like Mad Max driving this car home from work. Each day i cut my time

5. Our mind is NOT playing tricks on us - the street hemi DESERVES every cubic inch of its reputation. Never before or since had one motor dominated so many race venues from the street, NASCAR, NHRA, etc. The basic design was used by top fuel dragsters for DECADES after its inception. Think about that. It probably would have ruled NASCAR for decades but for rule changes banning it.

6. A 383 was never quick enough for an ultimate car person! Now the 440 6 pack was pretty dam fast!

You can have my hemi when your pry it out of my.......................

[Lunger]

[QUOTE=MCaesar]

3. the old hemi was only a monster on the street in the hands of someone who knew how to tune it! Getting those dual 4bbls synched up was not easy at all. Most hemis on the street were not in tip top tune and this would frequently lose to strong running 440s, 427/454s, and the all time sleeper Buick GS455 Stage series.

QUOTE]

You are 100 percent correct, solid lifters need constant adjustment, and trying to tune on those carbs a nighmare. Think of todays fuel injection systems on one of those elephant motors, bet it would be close to 550+ hp.

[MCaesar]

A lot of the people who tout the new cars miss out on some points. Like you said, could you imagine if the 426 hemi had continued in development all these years?

You would take that monster motor and add

1. modern engine management
2. 5 and 6 speed transmissions to really keep the engine in the sweet spot
3. 335/35-20 size tires to actually handle the power (can you imagine trying to launch 490 lb-ft of torque on G70-15 tires??!!!)

You would have had Hemi Cudas running in the 11s for sure straight from the factory.

[Lunger]

If anyone can remember, the dart that could be ordered from the factory ready to race. Think it came with a primer paint job lexon windows that you pulled up and down with a strap, i belive they said if you bolted slicks on it, took it to the strip as delivered it would run low 10's.

[Lunger]

ahhh here was the article


Factory-built racecars are a lost art. While exhibition cars like the new 2.2 Ecotec Cavalier and Sunfire drag cars could be grouped under this category, they will never be sold to the public, and are insane one-off track-only cars. But back in the 1960s, factory racecars were not only common, but were involved in the most popular types of racing of the time: NASCAR Grand National and NHRA Drag Racing. From the Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt with its solid-lifter 427 to the '62-63 Pontiac Swiss Cheese Catalinas, to the Ford Torino Talladega and the winged Dodge Charger Daytona, these cars dominated their respective classes, and marketed the brands wonderfully to the young generation of racers growing up in the 1960s.
But no factory racecar was more dominant in its class, no racecar was more wild, more henious, more downright scary than the 1968 Dodge Super Stock Hemi Dart.

As any muscle car enthusiast would tell you, "only Mopar could have built something like this." Mopar intended to build an absolute, no-holds-barred factory racecar in the Hemi Dart (and it's A-body sister, the Plymouth Barracuda), and 1968 was the perfect year to do it. Ford tapered off its serious factory drag racing effort to focus on NASCAR, and thanks to Ralph Nader's attack on the Corvair, GM was too busy dealing with safety, insurance and emmissions issues. As Tom Shaw of Musclecar Review noted, Chevy would have created the Hemi Dart's only major competition, likely an L88 427-powered Chevy II. But only Mopar had the balls to truly make it work.



A February 20th, 1968 letter to the network of Chrysler dealers read "The Chrysler-Plymouth Division offers for 1968 a 426-Hemi-Powered Barracuda Fastback for use in the supervised acceleration time trials." Understatement of a lifetime. Click here to read this letter in its entirety.



Hurst Performance, famous for their buildups of the Hurst/Olds 4-4-2s, was contracted by Chrysler to build the monster. A plane jane 1968 Dart (ordering code L023) or Barracuda (ordering code B029) was shipped to Detroit for Hurst's conversion to begin.

And of course, knowing that light weight as well as ridiculous power won races, this Dart was as stripper as strippers come. Both front fenders and the Super Stock-style hood were fibreglass pieces, and the rear quarter panels were radiused significantly to reduce weight as well as provide clearance for the massive tires. The doors and bumpers were created with a far lighter gauge steel than normal A-bodies; they were stripped of all window mechanisms including the crank itself, and instead the windows were fastened with a seat-belt style strap that snapped to the bottom of the doorframe. In addition, the side windows were made of single plane Corning Glass, weighing far less than DOT-approved safety glass.



The interior is as perfect as any true racer could hope it to be. Rear seat: gone. Radio: gone. Heater and heater core: gone. Factory front seats were also swapped in favour of lightweight buckets from a Dodge van, with custom fabricated aluminum brackets. Even the right side seatbelt was cut, and no undercoating, sealer, or sound deadening material was used.

Under the hood, many special provisions had to be made to support the massive V8. The master cylinder was relocated outboard to clear the driver side valve cover, and because it had to be removed in order to take the valvecover off, the lines to and from it were rubber instead of steel. The K-member was modified by Hurst to fit the undeniable girth of the bigblock, and the inner fenders had to be "massaged" for similar reasons.

The jewel of this uncontrollable beast was, of course, the famed 426 Hemi. A masterpiece of racing technology combined with sheer brute cubic inches, the "Elephant" 426 Hemi was named so for its hemispherical-shaped combustion chambers, which differed from the common wedge-type combustion chambers. This allowed for locating the spark plug in the center of the combustion chamber to improve combustion, and also to make room for the massive valves. This engine was perhaps Mopar's most popular powerplant from the 60s, powering a variety of its street and racing cars.



The heart of the Super Stock Dart came with iron heads rather than the more exotic aluminum heads, and also a conventional oil pan, as Mopar wanted these beasts to be affordable. Compression was measured at 12.5:1, no problem for the dirt cheap leaded fuels of the day, and a solid lifter mechanical camshaft operated the valvetrain, with a double-roller timing chain and high-volume oil pump. Atop the massive cylinder heads sat a magnesium cross-ram intake with a pair of Holley 4-barrel carburetors (mechanical linkage with no chokes), fed by high-capacity fuel lines.



Mopar also decided to forego the usual log-type manifolds since they were killing any hope of passing DOT regulations anyway, so Competition Hooker headers were bolted to the 426 leading to a true dual exhaust system with factory mufflers. Fire was provided by a duel-breaker transistorized distributor and metal core-type ignition wires. The battery, naturally, was relocated to the trunk over the right-rear tire to improve weight distribution. Cooling the Elephant was a heavy-duty cooling package with a 3-core radiator swiped from 383-powered air conditioned cars and a 7-blade fluid-drive fan.

As with every Hemi intended as a production car, tentitive output figures were set at 425 hp @ 5000 rpm and 490 ft lbs of torque @ 4000 rpm. But as anyone knows, this was grossly underrated, moreso with the competition-style Hemi in the Super Stock Dart. Actual output was closer to 600 hp, especially when most racers uncorked the headers when they got to the track.



Drivetrain choices were one of two, either the 4-speed manual with a custom heavy-duty, 10.5" clutch and flywheel, with a Hurst remote-mounted floor shifter with NHRA-required reverse lockout. Or, if the buyer opted for the TorqueFlite automatic, it received a high stall torque converter with heavy duty mounting bolts, as well as a Hurst-prepared manual shift valvebody and shifter.
The TorqueFlite-equipped Darts got a special Chrysler-prepped 8 3/4" rear with a large stem pinion gear and heavy duty axles, with only a 4.86 ratio available. 4-speed cars received the even beefier Dana 9 3/4 axle with 4.88 gears.




Chassis was bare bones but set up to handle this beast admirably. Up front the Dart got heavy duty disc brakes with the 4.5" bolt pattern, while the rear remained stock drum, but with an improved "High-Control" suspension package. The Hemi Dart was delivered with stock 15" factory steel wheels (custom offset) with puny blackwall bias ply tires--quickly replaced by massive slicks and skinnies by the owners.

More than likely, Chrysler had just created the quickest car in the world, and more to the point, they had done so on an incredible budget; Hemi Darts stickered in the area of $4,500!! But to satisfy the government, Mopar had to make absolutely sure these cars would see the drag strip only, so they were sold with titles and each buyer had to sign a lengthly disclaimer:

All customer orders must be accompanied by a signed disclaimer indicating that the purchaser understands that this vehicle is sold without warranty and does not conform to Federal Vehicle Safety Standards.


A high idle speed is required to ensure adequate lubrication, minimize roughness, and to keep the engine from stalling.
The modified intake manifold causes a rich surging condition, misfiring, and unstable engine operation in cold weather, which makes ordinary street driving extremely difficult, and it is not recommended for this use.
Higher than normal oil consumption will be encountered beacuse of the increased lubrication to the valvetrain and cylinder walls.
The carburetors are calibrated for maximum power, and a high numerical axle ratio is used for good acceleration. As a result, the gas mileage is considerably less than for a conventional car.
Engine noise will be objectionable due to increased piston clearance and mechanical valve tappet clearance.
The ignition system is designed for optimum engine output and must be kept in top condition. This makes it necessary to inspect, adjust, and replace the spark plugs and ignition points more frequently than would be necessary on a standard engine.
On cars equipped with automatic transmissions, band adjustment must be made frequently.
Due to performance characteristics, maintenence and operating expenses will be high since premium fuel is required and frequent oil changes are a must.
Does not conform to Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
Mopar further accented these points by a red sticker on the door jam that read "This vehicle was not manufacturered for use on Public Streets, Roads or Highways, and does not conform to Motor Vehicle Safety Standards."

Despite the strict disclaimer concerning the '68 Hemi Dart, it was too much of a deal for true racers to pass up. With 600 hp (about 480 at the wheels) in a car weighing in at 2150 pounds without the driver, this incredible monster tore up the quarter mile in the mid-low 10s @ 130-135 mph, with minor tuning. The sound of the majestic elephant breathing through open headers was a deafening song unlike any other--you cannot truly comprehend the sound of an uncorked Competition Hemi until you hear it.