Here are the comments made by the SRT Engineering Team, during last night's SRT Caliber Chat Sesion, in response to some Challenger questions:

Are rotors directional on the Challenger SRT?

1)Rotors are not directional....

Are the 20” wheels on the Challenger SRT clear-coated?

2) The wheels are machined, polished, and clear-coated

When should plugs be changed on the 6.1?

3) Should be 75,000 severe miles and 100,000 normal miles ... replace them with NGK's PLZTR5A-13.

What would cause a drop in engine idle?

Loads on the engine at idle, such as A/C compressor, alternator load, P/S, cooling fan speed will cause the idle to vary.

Why do many automotive magazines get slower drag and track times?

Indeed an alarming number are hacks, but a few are decent. They probably represent a good cross section of the general population. We have Championship winning racers from autocross, road course, circle track, and drag racing tuning the stock SRTs. NO compromises are made without a solid reason. We build the cars for you, not magazine editors, yet it is impossible to make everyone 100% happy, which is why we also offer Mopar Perf parts to tune the cars for your needs if you choose.

When is this year’s SRT Experience?

We are working out the schedule details. Looking to start it in April. More to come very soon.

How much high RPM testing did you do on the 6.1, and what made you choose 6100 as the redline?

How dangerous is it to operate the 6.1 above 6100 rpms?

What parts of the motor/drivetrain are most likely to fail from RPMS occasionally jumping in the 6500 range...or 7000 RPMS?

What is a "for sure going to fail" PRM for this motor?


1. The automatic transmission 6.1L vehicles redline is dictated by the transmission. The automatic needs a little buffer room to complete wot shifts with a safety factor.

2. Without some valvetrain upgrades, you shouldn't go too much above 6200rpm.

3. Valvetrain parts - rocker shafts and valve springs

4. >6400rpm


How do I reset the pcm / ecu to the original factory setting when delivered? How do i backup the ECU 1 step at a time? Chrysler SRT8. poor performance

You can't really backup the ECU 1 step at a time. However, you can clear the adaptives by pulling the battery positive connector for a few minutes. This will take your module back to the way it was even before you took delivery on your car - since I'm assuming your car had at least a few miles on it when you bought it. What is the poor performance issue your having?


My brake rotors on my 08 CSRT were pitting and rusting started to pulsate when hot I had them replaced just before 15,000 after just a few thousand miles I have 18,000 now they are the same way again dealer won't replace again what should I do... Other people do not seem to have the same problem any ideas.... I am not hard on brakes if anything very easy on them could that be the problem...?

Not too sure about the pitting, do you get the car wet (wash it) and let it sit? The pulsating could definitely be from being too easy on the brakes. Trying doing a couple hard stops, sub ABS, (approx .5 g's) and see if that cleans it up.


First off, thanks for the new 5.7L mods, they are GREAT, Hope you have something for the 6.1L in the near future!!
1.I have had problems with oil pooling in the throttle body, near #7&8 runners, it's causing smoking and misfire codes, I have only 8K on the clock, and don't track it. Do you have a suggestion on what to do, the Dealer is mistified!
It's an 06 SRT Charger
2.What changes were done to the Diff. in the 09 Challenger as compared to the 08 and prior Diff's, are the halfshafts better(hope) and if so, by how much.

The 2009 rear axle goes to a larger ring gear (226mm vs 215mm) and gives you a real limited slip in addition to the brake based stuff. The halfshafts get bigger too.

As for the oil in the intake... It's hard to diagnos from here, but you could try putting a catch bottle on the PCV tube to see if its coming from there.


Will a CAI give any improved performance over the stock system?

Depends. Under most conditions we can show you get a bump from CAI. However, if you're sitting in city traffic and everything under the hood is good and hot the answer would be a resounding no.

Is there any truth to the rumor that Chrysler had to dumb down the SRT8 performance level due emissions controls?

Absolutely not.


1. What is the behavior of the PCM / TCM if the dynamics sensor is hypothetically disconnected? How does this compare to when the ABS fuse is hypothetically removed?

2. How far inboard could I hypothetically relocate the UCA pivot in the front suspension without causing the driveshaft to bind in suspension travel?

BTW, hope you guys are fairing okay... you've done a great job for us, and made it worthwhile to buy american cars again. Some of us are looking forward eagerly to the SRT version of the upcoming "WL" : )

1)The PCM/TCM uses information from the wheel speed sensors, but the ESP would send out a fault that both modules would see..... the ABS fuse should not be pulled.

2) Propably about about 1/4 inch.... the halfshaft should never have an issue with binding...

Will Dodge ever provide a way for us to order a "spare" tire/mini jack for the CSRT? If I have a blow out I am kind of dead in the water with a little "air pump". The R/T has a full spare... I think a spare should of been included, or at least a premium AAA membership!

The air pump is good for up to 7mm holes in the tread of the tire. For extra protection you can carry the mini-spare from the base Caliber. This will clear the rear brake package and a rear tire can always be moved to the front to clear the SRT brake package.

With the way economy is going. GM has already disbanded the high performance team. Any chance this will happen to SRT?

We sure hope not!!! Funny, we get that a lot from the base platform guys here at work. We are here because OUR CUSTOMERS are still buying SRTs! Thank you so much for keeping us employed!! Please keep it up if you can.


1. What changes were made on the challengerR/T and SRT8 to the Diff's and halfshafts and if so, what was it...And the most important, are the specs. better than previous years??

We've posted a pretty complete list of specs and but basically the ring gear is 10mm bigger, it has a real limited slip, it as an extra set of diff gears. The halfshafts go from 28 spline to 32 spline.


What oil is recommended?

Mobil-1 products are hard to beat. There's a reason it's spec'd for SRT's and other high perf cars. We know the 0W40 Mobil-1 works. Best bet is stick with the Mobil-1 brand. If you can't find 0W40, try 5W40. If you're lucky enough to live where it never gets cold, you could try 15W50 (but you may notice worse fuel economy). We're told (but haven't confirmed) that Shell Pennzoil Platinum 5W40 is good stuff, too.

Per the WK SRT8 - I just changed my T-case oil for the first time. Trying to get the oil to the right level seemed to be somewhat of a pain, having to add a little, check level, add more, etc. The suggested "bent rod" dipstick method didn't seem to work too well, I was not comfortable with trusting the reading.

1. My question is this - it seems like it would be a lot easier to fill the t-case until it flows out the fill hole, and then just drain out "x" ounces to bring it down the spec'd level of ~1" below the fill hole. Can you tell me how many ounces from "full" to drain out to bring to spec?

2. The NV146 fill spec calls for "3.8 pts. (60.8 oz.)". For my own t-case, and that of many others, the amount used ended up being far less than the spec. For example, after a thorough drain mine took only around 50 oz. Some owners have reported only using ~40 oz. Any concerns here, or why such a discrepency?

We can't give you an exact number how much to drain since we've always used the service manual procedure for our durability vehicles.

More than likely the variation is due to the amount of fluid still in the clutch pack and the angle of the vehicle......


A few sessions ago you opened the door to discussions about the SRT10 Challenger, asking what we'd be willing to pay for one. Are you willing to entertain more questions on this???

Why, has the price you are willing to pay gone up?

While that’s good practice...please remember there are speed limits. So next time I get nabbed for speeding, I'll claim it’s not my fault and send you my ticket.

What, you let the cops catch you?!

 

Excellent info. Thanks for that 'Cuda.