Well, as I hinted to earlier in the week, the Heat Performance 5.7L Stroker Package (392ci/6.4L) Has been installed in my Charger R/T.

My setup is as follows:
Forged Crank: 4" Stroke
Froged Rods.
Forged Pistons.
Custom Grind Camshaft, MDS enabled. (high duration, better than stock lift)
Heat Performance SRT8 CNC Ported Heads.
SRT8 valvesprings.
SRT8 valves.
SRT8 intake manifold.
SRT8 injectors.
SRT8 pushrods.
SRT8 Exhaust Manifolds.
SRT8 Magnaflow Hi-Flow Cats.
SRT8 Billy Boat Tri-flow Stainless Exhaust (shiney).
High-Stall torque converter.
Custom EGR Routing
Stock Road & Track Intake (new intake on order).
Stock 5.7L High-Speed Engine controller (Experimenting on best computer programming, after the trip back to Wisconsin)
Stock 5.7L Tranny controller (Heat Performance TCM in the mail)
Engine Block Heater (too keep warm in those winter months )


After a relatively lengthy install (will get into that further in other threads), we turned the key with open headers, no Oxygen sensors hooked up, and still on jackstands. Started right up! Stock computer with no O2 feedback and ZERO backpressure could drive the motor nicely.

This morning, we finished the exhaust install, buttoned up the engine, and set it on the ground. With the exhaust, and O2 sensors hooked up, we found that the engine (cam specifically) was pretty far out of range of the factory ECM settings. Took about 10 miles of driving "around the block" to get the computer to adapt to the Big cam/displacement/injectors.
Once the computer had learned the fuel tables well enough to not stall when approaching a stop sign, we were able get a good feel as to how the package would turn out.

Its crazy powerful.

My 5.7L engine would NOT break the SRT Goodyear F1 tires loose on the asphault roads that are around Round Rock Texas (The HEMI Shop was the installer). The 6.4L engine will roast the tires off the line (no chance for traction, at all), and also get squirlly in First AND Second gear when the RPM's hit 4000. Scared the crap outta me to get the rear end loose @ WOT @50mph. While the stock computers are at a loss getting the power to the ground, they are also unable to keep the RPM's managed well. WOT with ESP off (single click) gets the RPM's to smack the R/T's rev limiter of (around) 5800 rpm finding the fuel cutoff; this is probably what the SRT's feel with the 1-2 shift hesitation.

We ran into an issue with the B&B Exhaust system hitting the cross-brace thing under the car. It was hitting that hard enough that the knock sensors were cutting timing/throttle. Temporary fix: Remove cross -brace. I will go to an exhaust shop where they can fiddle with all the connections like pros... Just didn't have the time for it yet.

MDS: Works like a champ! Actually, it works better than stock. I can no-longer feel the "bump" of MDS kicking in/out when on the freeway. The MDS sound is NOT a drone through the B&B. It is definately a noticeable sound change, but it goes from a hiway cruizing V8, lopey, "Whine", to a straight up, even, bassy "tone", with no lope, harsh tones, or feeling in movement. I will let ya'll know if its a problem.. (1100 miles back home from here). I will not entertain arguments about my desire to keep MDS active on this setup. It was kept active, and it DOES WORK. The power IS THERE. If I DON'T get a measureable amount of fuel milage from MDS being active, I will report on that, so future builds can stay away from it if it doesn't help at all. The custom grind applied to the Camshaft was skillfully applied, and power is there within the limits of the MDS lifters.

Torque converter: it REALLY REALLY REALLY needs the matching Heat TCM to really provide ANY benifit to the car. Actually, the hi-stall HURTS the car in *many* ways, with a STOCK TCM. Here is how: The Stock TCM expects the torque converter to "stall" at a specific RPM, give or take a few hundred RPM. When you accelerate, (either part throttle or full throttle), the Tranny computer engages and/or disengages the Lockup feature in the Torque converter, to get the most efficient power delivery to the ground. Here is where the problem is: Since the stall is so much higher (due to increased engine torque, and a specifically designed higher stall converter), the stock TCM tries to engage the lockup feature WELL BEFORE the torque converter has reached its stall speed. Beacause of this, the engine is bogged down (and Ignition timing is pulled WAY, WAY back). There are a whole bunch of other driveability issues that occur with my current setup, and I WILL be installing the Heat TCM as soon as I get back home to Milwaukee. If you have questions on those, feel free to ask... I will suggest to get the Converter and TCM at the same time.

Gas MPG: I have NO IDEA what it is. We put the car back on its own tires in the afternoon on Saturday Oct 28, got the ECM to idle, and drive well, and then went and put some hard miles on it (to set the rings of course). haven't been through a tank for calculations. I have an 1100 mile trip to report on milage (both MDS and non-MDS...)

Exhaust: Sounds exactly how I want it. At hiway cruise, you can hear something... but it doesn't interfere with music or talking. At WOT. it has the B&B Sound, with a really deep and powerful tone that only a big displacement motor can make There IS a "drone" when the engine has some load, and is between 1200 and 1700 rpm. Read: 35 mph in drive. The current solution is to autostick around that, and keep the rpm above 1700, where there is no drone. The computer flash that I end up with may fix that, by giving it different preferred shift patterns.

Daily Driveability: Haven't done much of this, but, everything seems to run seemlessly. It idles at 625 rpm, it responds well to the pedal, it shifts pretty well. I was afraid that the torque converter stall would be too much for daily driving, but, if it isn't maxed out against the TCM's programming, it is very... even... or natural feeling. its hard to describe other than "better than before". The car is not painfully loud, but it is very noticeable, and has a crazy lope... Stopped at a stop light I already got a complement on the sound that car makes. I will probably really try to get the computer flash that I end up with to bump the idle to 700 rpm. 625 is really too low for a cam that lopes as much as what is installed. It shakes the mirrors, and rattles ice cubes in soda cups. This may be cool for a weekend warrior, but I do need to be able to drive to work in the morning without a heated back-massage... (put me back to sleep!)


Well, thats about it for my impressions so far.

Worth every penny, even without the computers all perfectly setup.


I will update this post when I experiance more of the setup.
Pics will follow (sometime), as I have a LOT, and they are all at 10-megapixel right now... (too big for internet). I also have some video of the initial startup, and some idle shots.

PS- After 50+ miles of driving, there is NOT ONE ENGINE CODE thrown in the computer. The O2 sensors work perfectly. The custom EGR setup works perfectly. The Cam, while lopey and high-duration, still pulls enough vac to keep the computer happy... (no random misfire codes yet!). According to a Scan Tool, the entire car is running within OBD II specs. It might shake the scan tool off the OBD II Plug when going for State inspections.. but it won't throw a code. Gotta give HEAT & The HEMI Shop MAJOR PROPS for being able to setup, assemble, and install such an extreme combo, and still keep big brother happy!

Many people really doubted an extreme setup like this would run on a stock computer setup... but, it runs, and runs well!