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What upgrades are essential to increase boost?

4K views 28 replies 14 participants last post by  CalBlacksmith 
#1 ·
Hey, all, I had a Whipple installed on my 5.7 last summer. I'm running 8 PSI now with stock internals. If I want to increase the boost, what are the essential things I have to replace? I know I have to get forged pistons and rods, new heads, and possibly a forged crank.

What else am I missing?

Thanks.
 
#3 ·
I can tell you 1st hand and I don't mean to deter anyone but with more power comes more headaches. I had a 6.1 on 8 lbs. I am not over 12 pushing almost 700 at the wheels. And If i had to do it all over i would leave it alone. Is it cool. Sure. But remember. Once u enter the realm of power shi... happens whether u want it to or not

I do not track my car and my whole car 09. Has 10,000 miles on it. So keep that in mind when u want 800hp to boil the tires.



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#6 ·
I can tell you 1st hand and I don't mean to deter anyone but with more power comes more headaches. I had a 6.1 on 8 lbs. I am not over 12 pushing almost 700 at the wheels. And If i had to do it all over i would leave it alone.



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Do you mean you'd rather left it bonestock or at 8 lbs stock bottom? I've spent a ton doing heads/cam/ported fast102,stall, aftermarket stereo, wheels etc on my vette. Trying to talk myself out of doing a whipple on my 16scat pack challenger.[emoji3]




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#7 ·
I mean leave it at 8 lbs
If unwant reliable drivability and a warranty then get a hell cat
Know what I mean


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#8 ·
Oh okay. It's helpful to get perspective from someone who has gone lower boost on stock bottom and then went higher boost on forged internals. If I did a SC I would just want a car that could run lower 11's. I would think 6-8# would probably get it done on mt's or Hoosiers. I'd like it to be comparable to my c6.
There are many times I miss my vette when it wasn't so loud. I live in a quiet subdivision with mostly cops and firemen so I try not to drive it after 11pm out of courtesy.


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#9 · (Edited)
U will not get a 11 second 4500 lb car on 6 lbs. I doubt 8. Maybe
But consider this. U need axles and drive shaft
The first time you go to the drag strip with sticky tires u will Grenade a axle or shaft.
This is just me but I do not understand people wanting to take a car and build it for a drag strip. I have always been a believer in purpose built. So if u want to race build a drag car. Not a street car. Again that is just me

Either way what ever u do. Plan in 10 - 15 grand to get it done I got 17 in mine and motor has to come out again. Fun times


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#14 · (Edited)
U will not get a 11 second 4500 lb car on 6 lbs. I doubt 8. Maybe
But consider this. U need axles and drive shaft
The first time you go to the drag strip with sticky tires u will Grenade a axle or shaft.
This is just me but I do not understand people wanting to take a car and build it for a drag strip. I have always been a believer in purpose built. So if u want to race build a drag car. Not a street car. Again that is just me

Either way what ever u do. Plan in 10 - 15 grand to get it done I got 17 in mine and motor has to come out again. Fun times


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I agree 1000% with everything that us1champ said!

It sounds like you've already got a pretty quick C6, so why not just leave the Challenger stock (or bolt ons) and just cruise in her?

When you feel like going to the track, take the Vette.

Coming from a GM history, I'm just curious, but why did you go with a heads/cam/bolt on setup with your C6?

They are one of the most boost happy/friendly motors out there. It would've probably been cheaper to do and made more power with a blower or turbos

Sorry for the hi-jack. :cheers:
 
#10 · (Edited)
Damn, sorry to hear you have to yank the motor again. That would be a nightmare since my scat is a year round daily driver. I'm probably overly optimistic thinking a lower 12 sec car stock(decent driver, good da) would drop a sec with another 100-150 rwhp and drag radials in an A8 392. I don't have muc experience with LX platform other than a Bolton 06 srt8 300. I've been modding mostly LS platform the past 15 yrs.
Your SC experience is really making me lean towards just maybe doing exhaust/tune/3.90
Diff(I like how snappy my brother's scat shaker is with his A8/3.90 combo and it's a cheap mod, good for in town play). Getting drivetrain breakage on a very low mile daily driver would really suck. My challenger has to be reasonably reliable since renting cars is a bit tougher since I'm a paraplegic and there aren't tons of car rentals to choose from with hand controls.
I'll probably just use the vette to beat on for track days. It should be a high 10 sec car with a proper drag radial and good da. It's run 11.5 in bad air with shitty tires and poor 60fts of 1.8's. Since my c6 is an A6 with a stall converter driveline parts breakage is really rare unless you are really putting some serious power down. Thanks for your feedback and experience.


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#11 ·
I have to agree with us1champ. Had a 5.7L running 8 lbs boost with no problems on stock engine making around 535rwhp. Got the idea that more boost was going to be fun and did the 392 stroker and increased the boost to 10.5 lbs. Upgraded the fuel, heads and trans. Now I have over 635 rwhp and 649 rwtq that is no fun around town on street tires. It is a blast on interstate when I want to pass someone but that is not often. Thinking back, if I had to do it over I would have just left it stock with the 8 lbs boost or what I should have done was get the 426 stroker and left the blower off. I do not track the car more than 1 or 2 times a year so spirited driving around town is the most fun for me.
 
#17 ·
Thinking back, if I had to do it over I would have just left it stock with the 8 lbs boost or what I should have done was get the 426 stroker and left the blower off.
I gotta tell ya, the more research I do I'm realizing that for my car not being driven but maybe Two Thousand miles in the summer, and parked in the winter, the Arrington 426 is looking pretty damn appealing. I still need factory dependability and have been hearing nothing but good things about it.

By the time I Forged everything in my 6.1, bought the SC and payed for tuning the NA 426 comes into play as a possibility. If in the future I want to go a bit further, throw a blower on that thing and you still have a pretty dependable high hp ride.
 
#12 · (Edited)
no problem

I do not mean to scare you off on anything.. i just want you to understand what you are getting into.. everyone comes on forums and I WANT A BLOWER.... and this.... and that.... what they don't understand is the by product from all that..

I have a 09... it was stock.. then i went cai.. then tune.. then custom tune.. then supercharger at 8lb. then 12 lbs.. cam. longtubes. catless mids. pistons. rods valvesprings, new clutch, new flywheel ect.. motor has issues. not sure yet.. is it common.. probably not.. BUT.. when you dump this much money in things and you have issues after the fact. and alot of what i did was to try to PROTECT IT WITH FORGE PARTS.. well you get where i am at.

my mom has a 16 scat pack.. shaker.. blast to drive.. the throttle is SO MUCH MORE RESPONSIVE than mine it is crazy..

for a dd.. leave it along.. maybe a tune and call it good.. don't go tearing into a motor. trust me.. if you have the vette more as a PLAY TOY.. keep it that way.

just my 2 cents worth of nothing.
 
#13 ·
^^^ exactly.. 1st.. thru 3rd is pointless in town..
and a n/a car is much much more user friendly to tune and drive.. specially when when we have blower cars that are vaccum fed for the boost vs electronic something or other like on a hellcat. or a zl1 camero.
 
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#15 ·
Lots of helpful advice guys, I appreciate it. Freddyg I went heads/cam because I wanted a dead reliable build since it was my daily at the time and I love the sound of a cam. Also read a few stories of issues throwing belts, or other nagging SC issues. I prefer whipple over procharger but everyone seems to procharge LS's. Definitely would have made a lot more power with a sc but the heads/cam/stall cars run surprisingly quick vs the sc vette guys despite the big hp difference(based of the 1/4 fast list on corvette forum).

Sorry to the original thread starter for steering this thread towards a reliability durability detour. But it's always interesting to see folk's personal experiences who went the boosted route, especially in stages of stock bottom to forged.


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#18 ·
I'm the thread starter. No worries, man. Reading through this has been helpful to me, too. My Challenger isn't a daily driver and, since I've got the Whipple already, I was thinking about forging the bottom end. I haven't decided whether I'll do it, but the exchange in this thread has given me some good info to think about.

Carry on. ;)
 
#19 ·
Well I couldn't be happier with the manners and driveability of my daily driven 675hp Scat Pack, for every person that has issues with their build there are countless others who are trouble free and loving their car. Hopefully you are lucky enough to have a good, reputable Hemi performance shop near by to help you on whatever direction you choose to go. Start with your end goal in mind.
 
#20 ·
Thanks for the input. You're right; people who post tend to be the ones who've had problems, which makes sense, but it can also skew someone's perception because you don't hear from folks like you who don't have problems.

If I decide to forge the bottom end, I'll have Arrington do it. They're not close, but they installed my Whipple and I trust them.

My end goal is to get around 600 rwhp. I'm about a hundred shy of that now and if I forge the bottom end and increase the boost, I should be right there.
 
#22 ·
I post quite a bit.. i realize there are tons of GOOD BUILDS OUT THERE. but what most people dont want to discuss is issues.. i just want people to get a understanding that just putting parts on don't always go as planned.
 
#24 · (Edited)
Definitely good information here, it all comes down to who is doing the installation and tuning I guess. I have a personal friend, who had a kenne bell srt Challenger, automatic and possibly everything you can think of done (kenne bell, e85, driveshaft, paramount transmission, axles, etc) dynod at 804rwhp buid by Adam from team spanking time, never had issues with the car, recently sold it for a hellcat because "needed a change" lol. I know for me persinally my car felt stock till I punched it. Other than WOT car was great and yes it was my DD
 
#26 ·
Having messed about with turbos on japanese cars (mainly Skylines and RX7s) everything that has been brought up is correct. My main piece of advice from experience is whenever you turn up the boost remember to improve the cooling since more boost means more heat and I have seen a lot of builds end up cooking themselves as more fuel, spark and air were thrown in but there was no where for the heat to go.
 
#27 · (Edited)
Adam at ST did my car about a year ago, no problems at all, just lovely power on a stock long block and KB 2.8LC. 13 months and 10K miles, loving it.

Adam pushed his personal car, a stock long block 5.7 automatic to just short of 800 rwhp on the dyno before it let go. He just wanted to see how far it could go and was going to rebuild it anyway.
As the old saying goes, speed costs money .. how fast do you want to go?

My 5.7 automatic car,
SRT8 short headers and cats
3 inch exhaust through Porter mufflers and res delete.
Blue top solenoids in the transmission.
Autometer Cobalt Boost/vacuum and WB AFR gauges in a A Pillar mount
KB 2.8 LC Supercharger
KB Cold air intake.. from inside the fender well, not the engine bay
Fuel rails
Injectors
Most important part.... DYNO tune. Data logging just is not the same.

Total cost so far, right at about $15K give or take. I stopped counting accurately a while ago!
 
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