Author Topic: Best 5.7 Hemi upgrades (Read 48124 times)

Matt70 · « **on:** November 14, 2011 - 09:06:51 PM »

Looking to do some performance upgrades on my 5.7 Hemi in a 2011 Challenger and not wanting to spend a ton of $

I have looked on here and am looking to do the following-
K&N cold air intake

180 Degree thermostat

Throttle body spacer

It's my understanding there is no tuner for the 2011's yet?

Any other suggestions and where do you think these upgrades would put me HP wise? Thanks all!

Devil · « **Reply #1 on:** November 14, 2011 - 10:25:36 PM »

Yeah, nothing for 2011 yet.

Any CAI will be alright. There is little to no real world benefit to them other then they sound good.

Throttle body spacer is not good for our cars. Complete waste of money.

180 Thermostat is ok, not needed in the least for any sort of normal driving. Only really needed if doing anything more serious.

If you want more power, a good CAT back exhaust or full exhaust with high flow cats, headers, etc...

Fastd · « **Reply #2 on:** November 15, 2011 - 10:05:11 AM »

You could go with 6.1 exhaust manifolds and mid pipes. check LX forum, Challenger and Charger forum's. Got mine off the LX forum. you should be able to get both manifolds and pipes for the cost of after market headers. Since the 6.1 manifolds are shorty headers from the factory, it maintains a factory look, I suspect a 10 - 12 % gain in HP, at least on my wifes 06 Charger. Have not been on a dyno yet. I also have flowmaster super 40's in place of the suitcase muffler and I left the rear resonators intact. NIce rummble at idle and steady speed and sound nice a throaty on wot. Pulls harder especially mid to high range. I was not able to install myself due to health issue; but if you can install yourself it is a very worthwhile upgrade. Drivers side install is easy the passenger side is a PITA.

500Stroker · « **Reply #3 on:** November 15, 2011 - 02:12:47 PM »

I bought the K&N 63-1114 CAI for my 2011 from Amazon.com Last month. It includes dyno sheets for various Mopars showing the HP power increase you get with it. 2011 5.7 was the lowest gain at 12HP. One of the SRT8 years was 24HP (I'll have to send a copy to the person above that said you will not gain any HP with CAI) The seat dyno also registered an improvement. WOT sounds much better now.

For 200 bucks and 30 minutes to install it was a worth while improvement. My first track night the car ran 14.1. After the install my best time was 13.7. Air was also better so not all 4/10ths was because of the CAI but it did contribute to the better times. Next up is the Mopar Cat Back exhaust. I'll go to the track again after that install and see how I do.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CO826S/ref=oh_o00_s00_i00_details

Devil · « **Reply #4 on:** November 15, 2011 - 05:35:03 PM »

CAI "dyno sheets" are all bupkis. They don't mean anything. A dyno has no effect on a CAI what so ever. Think about it, the CAI needs moving air to be comparable, and a fan in front of the engine does not show that. 24 hp difference can be the difference between a warm and cold engine, or what dyno they are on.

In real world driving conditions CAI only increases the horsepower by 3 to 5.

Matt70 · « **Reply #5 on:** November 15, 2011 - 08:19:26 PM »

Thanks for all the input guys,
About the CAI, I have seen claims from 30 hp to 5-7 hp gains, 30 seemed really high to me. 500stroker it looks like it did give you some, what other mods are you running?

Devil and fastd, thanks for the advice on the exhaust system I'll have to price some out, I've seen a few and they are

I saw in a thread that Chryco put in a 180 thermostat and it dyno'd better than with a tune, why wouldn't it be a good mod for street driving?

Thanks again everyone, Matt

msbaugh · « **Reply #6 on:** November 15, 2011 - 08:36:43 PM »

I've got a r/t charger, got a K&N, cat back with reso delete, 91 octane predator tune, and plan on adding a 85mm TB as well as headers this month. Just with that there is a pretty noticeable difference in throttle response, horsepower wise I would say not a whole lot, maybe 30-40 tops.

Another note, my girlfriends dad put Dynatech long tubes on his daughters 09 rt chally as well as Corsa extreme cutback (expensive but by far the best exhaust system out for the Lx cars), a predator tune and a K&N Intake, and the thing is like a whole different car. Not to mention it sounds as aggressive as some older Challengers. (ok maybe not that good) but definitely awesome. I drive it all the time and can personally say that those were awesome mods for the RT

msbaugh · « **Reply #7 on:** November 15, 2011 - 08:39:37 PM »

I forgot to mention, I also put a billet oil catch can on my car... not sure how much it really helps, but It certainly catches oil running back to the intake manifold, mine has filled up quite a bit in a short period of time. Might be worth the effort. (I won it at a car show so there was no reason I wouldn't have put it on)

RB2929 · « **Reply #8 on:** November 16, 2011 - 08:04:34 AM »

For the 5.7L Hemi in my Rumble Bee I added a few mods. The aFe CAI really didn�t make a noticeable difference other than making the Magnaflow exhaust sound better.

The largest horsepower gain from the Superchips FlashPaq. Immediately after install the Bee could lay down some rubber and throw you back in the seat.

Not necessarily a go-fast mod, but I added Taylor Shorty spark plug wires (in yellow). The factory plug wire configuration looked like to octopi hugging. Getting rid of eight wires really cleaned up the top of the engine.

JaxHemi · « **Reply #9 on:** December 16, 2011 - 06:57:39 PM »

Matt, a CAI, shorty headers/SRT8 clam shells and good cat-back will get you a good start, the only caveat to that is they won't have much effect until your car can be tuned to extract the benefits of more intake/exhaust flow. I don't think doing these mods will lean your present tune out so much that is would be detrimental to your engine, so if the mod bug has bitten you, go ahead and do them. The thermostat won't show much benefit until it's tuned either, however if you live in the South like me, it will help in the summer with the A/C going. My '09 has a short list of performance mods, and with good tires you will turn some impressive times with enough practice (see my profile).

Jack

p.s. I have a catch can, opinions vary on this one. I'm also running the stock cats, so the effect of catless mids and high flow cats may show minimal improvement for the $$$.

Matt70 · « **Reply #10 on:** December 17, 2011 - 12:34:41 AM »

Cool thanks, No I'm not in the south, out west at 6000ft.....ugh

Author Topic: Best 5.7 Hemi upgrades (Read 48124 times)

Matt70

Best 5.7 Hemi upgrades

Devil

Re: Best 5.7 Hemi upgrades

Fastd

Re: Best 5.7 Hemi upgrades

500Stroker

Re: Best 5.7 Hemi upgrades

Devil

Re: Best 5.7 Hemi upgrades

Matt70

Re: Best 5.7 Hemi upgrades

msbaugh

Re: Best 5.7 Hemi upgrades

msbaugh

Re: Best 5.7 Hemi upgrades

RB2929

Re: Best 5.7 Hemi upgrades

JaxHemi

Re: Best 5.7 Hemi upgrades

Matt70

Re: Best 5.7 Hemi upgrades