Camming an SRT 392 Hemi: Is it Really Worth it?
Modified SRT 392 Charger faces off with a Hellcat in a rolling start drag race to evaluate its enhanced performance.
In the Charger world the Hellcat has been top dog for the last several years thanks to its supercharged 6.2L Hemi engine. However, just one rung down the ladder is the still formidable SRT 392 Hemi V8. While the Hellcat makes a massive amount of power, there is something to be said for a powerful car that makes its numbers without the help of forced induction. So, can an all motor SRT 392 run with the Hellcat?
The YouTuber who is known as RacerX tests out his friends SRT 392 Charger that has recently had a cam installed. He pits it up against his own Hellcat Charger, albeit in black key mode, to see how it compares on the street, and in a race. Is the cam worth the effort?
Before we get to the cam, this beautiful SRT 392 Charger has had some other work done as well. The car is rolling on a set of VC Forged wheels in black. They are 9.5 inches wide up front and 11 inches wide, wrapped in Nitto NT555R tires in the back. The car also has long tube headers and a Stainless Works exhaust with 4.5-inch black tips. Moving under the hood the car has some nice appearance upgrades, but in addition, has a Hellcat drop in air filter, a ported throttle body and ported intake. The engine is also tuned to run on E85 fuel, so it has the commensurate larger fuel injectors as well.
The car is owned by a gentleman named Rob. What Rob was looking for was not the most aggressive cam he could find but something that would provide a bit more kick yet remain easy to drive. As Rob explains: “It’s very important to me that I got a cam, if I went that route, that would maintain the cars drivability, that would maintain what the 392 is all about, which is that mid-range, that punchiness, that responsiveness. I didn’t want to give that up.” The result of the cam was a 30-horsepower gain at the wheels. That matches the power gain achieved by all the bolt-on modifications combined.
Dyno results are interesting, but the real proof is how a car performs on the road. “It’s the way the power comes on in the car. It doesn’t always translate to the dyno in terms of numbers, but in terms of how the car feels, the seat of the pants feel, this car feels much, much stronger in the way that it pulls.” Says RacerX. Can it pull hard enough to take on the Hellcat from a roll? With the Hellcat put in black key mode, a series of second, third and fourth gear pulls results in the SRT 392 opening at least a one car length gap before shutting it down. Prior to the cam install, these two cars were basically a dead heat, so the cam is certainly making a difference here.
Back to the original question of if a cam is worth it on these cars. Installing a cam in these cars, is a bit labor intensive. You are pulling the head, and installing new valve springs and lifters, etc. However, the 392 is a great engine and if you pick the right cam and tune it properly, it will be an easy to drive car that performs a lot better than the 30 horsepower gain would lead you to believe. You may even be able to walk that rare Hellcat owner who perhaps misplaced the red key.
