Video: Arrington & Holley Tune Up 2015 Hellcat Engine To 773 HP

Until this video, we were unaware of a single Hellcat engine anywhere in the world that has been controlled by any engine management system other than the OE system. In fact, our understanding is that there are only a few Hellcat engines “in the wild”. This particular engine is scheduled for installation into a 1968 Dodge Charger, backed by a Tremec TR6060–far from its original home.

dyno1

773.5 horsepower and 738.6 pound-feet of torque. What else really needs to be said?

Tasked with the challenge of making the Hellcat’s 700-plus horsepower 6.2-liter Hemi work without the sophisticated factory electronics package, noted Mopar tuner Arrington Performance hooked up with the fine fellows at Holley EFI to work together on a package to allow the parts and pieces to communicate.

“This is a collaboration with Holley using their Dominator EFI system. The hot rod world has used the Dominator to support many builds that don’t come with the OE PCM. But there was no support for the Hellcat engine and its extra features. We collaborated with Holley, provided the engine dyno and setup, then figured out all of the pieces and cross-connects to make everything work [without the factory PCM components]. They then provided the software support to handle the extra capabilities of the Hellcat engine,” says Arrington CEO Tim Krauskopf.

The engine shown in these dyno pulls on the Arrington dyno is in fact completely stock, 100-percent-stock, right on down to the supercharger pulley. Which makes the power figures of 773.5 horsepower and 738.6 pound-feet of torque even more impressive, especially considering that the development work is continuing and Krauskopf feels this is just the tip of the iceberg with the amazing Hellcat powerplant. Although we realize Mopar rates the engine at 707 horsepower, seeing the number on the dyno from a production engine that can be purchased in a car for use on American roadways is just mind-boggling.

The newer Chrysler PCM units have proven challenging for the aftermarket to crack and control properly, but the Arrington and Holley teams have been hard at work on integration of this system. From the looks of it, they’ve been successful. The execution process of communication between the Holley electronics and the Hellcat engine has been the biggest hurdle, but once that handshake was established, Krauskopf says it’s been relatively smooth sailing since as they work to find the system’s happy spot.

The efficient IHI twin-screw supercharger on top of the Hellcat’s engine displaces 2,380cc (2.38-liters) and is factory regulated at 11.6 psi of boost currently. Also keep in mind that the dyno pulls seen here were limited to 6,300 rpm.

The engine in the dyno cell.

The engine in the dyno cell. Packaging is no different from factory, and the wiring requirements are actually reduced to the bare minimum required to run the engine.

Development work is continuing on the engine platform with the Holley Dominator EFI system installed, as Arrington’s customer base demands that the company be on the cutting edge of Mopar engine development. And the customer for this particular engine expects it to be turnkey upon installation.

Krauskopf says, “There’s no fuel injection or electronic controller to preserve for the Charger, so the Holley is an incredibly effective system for this car.

“Pure speculation based on our experience with other Hemi engines tells me that an additional 80-110 horsepower is possible with a simple heads and camshaft package. Dodge advertises the engine as 707 crank horsepower–simply using the Holley system as we have here, it’s safe to say that Dodge is conservative with the tune.”

In the testing shown here, Arrington hasn’t increased the boost pressure from the factory parameters, but given the performance potential of this type of supercharger, a bump in boost through a pulley change will drive the power production of the engine well over 800 horsepower without changing any other components. This is from a factory engine, folks, and the howl of of this Hellcat must be listened to–twice–and provided a healthy dose of appreciation.

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About the author

Jason Reiss

Jason draws on over 15 years of experience in the automotive publishing industry, and collaborates with many of the industry's movers and shakers to create compelling technical articles and high-quality race coverage.
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