Arrington Performance Pushes A Modern HEMI With A Vortech Supercharger

Modern muscle cars have raised the performance bar to exciting levels and Dodge has led the charge with its HEMI-powered Challenger lineup. If you don’t have the funds to buy a high-end Challenger off the lot, there are plenty of aftermarket companies that can assist you with making an astounding amount of horsepower with a standard HEMI-powered Challenger.

Mike Copeland and the team at Arrington Performance have perfected the art of coaxing crazy horsepower out of Dodge’s HEMI engine. Arrington has done this by spending time on the dyno and at the track seeing what works so it can develop the right products for the modern HEMI engine.

Copeland’s current test car is a 2019 Challenger Scat Pack that’s being raced in the NMCA HEMI Shootout. The Challenger won the 11.00 HEMI Shootout class at the NMCA/NMRA All-Star Nationals with an 11.10 average and the car has run a 10.80 at 130 MPH.

“The 6.4 HEMI engine in the Scat Pack car was updated with Arrington drop-in pistons, rods, an Arrington ST3 camshaft and springs, and a ported 6.1 HEMI intake. We added a set of Kooks headers and a Corsa exhaust system to help the engine breathe better. The car still has a stock eight-speed transmission and torque converter. We did tune the calibration of the transmission for shift control. The car also has RideTech adjustable coil-overs at each corner, BMR rear links, and G Force Engineering axle shafts. I have a QA1 carbon-fiber driveshaft on order for the car, too,” Copeland says.

Copeland added an off-the-shelf Vortech supercharger kit to the Challenger to go with the car’s other modifications. The Challenger makes 728.4 HP and 640.3 ft-lb to the tires with just 7.3-pounds of boost. Copeland went this route to show his customers just how much one of these HEMI engines can make with a basic package from Arrington.

You don’t push the boundaries of an engine platform by just being satisfied with the amount of power you’re currently making. Copeland is ready to stretch the legs of his HEMI-powered Challenger even further thanks to an upgraded supercharger from Vortech.

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“We are going to switch to a prototype version of the V-7 94 supercharger that is currently in the R&D stages from Vortech before the next race. My plan is to rent a track to dial the package in. I expect it will make around 1,000 horsepower to the tires with the larger supercharger. I think the car will easily run in the 9-second range with this new blower. Since I don’t want to install a roll cage in this car, I will try to guess and slow down to run 10.0s. I will get kicked out of the track if I don’t,” Copeland explains.

We live in exciting times where companies like Vortech Superchargers and Arrington Performance are actively working on new ways to increase the power of street cars to unprecedented levels.

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Brian Wagner

Spending his childhood at different race tracks around Ohio with his family’s 1967 Nova, Brian developed a true love for drag racing. Brian enjoys anything loud, fast, and fun.
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