[White Elemant]

I have this ridiculous plan of buying a high mileage SRT, and pretty much straight away redo the engine.

So, any experiences with options availlable on the market, like Arrington, MMX etc?

For more info (tl;dr):

Options are to have a stroker built locally, or to buy a long or a short block and just slap that on. Taxes and shipping might/will be a problem if I get a "ready engine", since I live in Finland, and I'm pretty sure nobody makes these in the EU.

This is my rebellion and midlife chrisis. Everything is now soooo freking green that it makes my stomach turn. I've never had a proper V8

@R_H1N0 started this thread mentioning Arrington, but I don't want to hijack that thread:

2019+ WK2 SRT8 Question

Hey Everyone! Looking to get back into the WK2 platform but had a question about the 2019+ WK2s I had a 2014 that caused nothing but issues, two engine rebuilds due to MDS and cam rollers. I finally swapped to a 426 Longblock from Arrington before eventually trading for a Tesla. Do the 2019+...

www.cherokeesrt8.com

 

[Ghotujec]

Guess it all depends if you have a shop that “knows what they are doing” when it comes to a Hemi. Not familiar at all with what might be around your side of the pond.
I do not think you can go wrong with Arrington. Look at their 426 crate motor. It is plug and play. Shipping my be a bit much but if you do not have an experienced guy dealing with a Hemi it might be better to spend a little more for a complete unit.
remember “good ain’t cheap and cheap ain’t good”. I think you could spend more going with a long block in the end by the time you buy everything else you will need and the labor to get it done right. Here in the States you could spend upwards of $9000US just to get a new forged crank and pistons installed once you figure labor.
Any shop can swap out a complete motor in a day or two.
Arrington has a complete crate 426 that is boost ready for a hair under $20,000US. I believe MMX has a similar crate but is vastly more expensive. You would spend almost as much building the same long block. Not so much in parts but the labor here is pricey for experience.
now before I get a bunch of haters telling me I am stupid. Everybody knows a guy who can do this work cheaper and Arrington has been in the racing of strictly Hemis for over 30 years. Like I said good anti cheap and cheap ain’t good. Bubba down the street or is a friend of your cousin doesn’t usually warranty his work.
if it is worth doing then do it right the first time. You are money ahead in the end.
consider a Trackhawk instead because you will always want more power and the SRT 8 is limited well below what you can get from a Hawk. SRT8’s and Trackhawks only look the same. underneath they are vastly different

 

[White Elemant]

Despite Finland being very car hostile these days, we still have solid culture and healthy amount of enthusiasts spending their time and money on all thing that go vroom. I'm not worried about finding a bunch of good shops to build an engine if it comes to that. I'm quite handy myself, but I do realize a pro is worth his/her bay when assembling critical components, and it's not worth for me to spend my days putting together an engine meticulously and slowly, while someone who knows right from the get go what they are doing. I'm better off working for money and paying for the build. The swap itself I can manage no problem.

I'm not planning on going full crate. I know they are stupid expensive. My thoughts are more on the line of stroker rotating assembly and short block (or check and use the old block) and put the rest together and then over time upgrade component by component.

Buying a ~150k mile SRT would prolly mean a valvetrain job anyway, so why not. High mileage SRTs go for about 40k here, reasonable ones (under 60k miles) are 60 to 70 k. That difference will buy some upgrades for sure. Trackhawks are 100k plus here and rare as hell, they are stupid expensive for tax reasons. They are well beyond my reach.

 

[Ghotujec]

Thank you for some info on the car scene in Finland. If you had not shared that info I never would have thought that there could be such a culture there. Since I have never visited I was completely ignorant to it. It is good to know that there is a strong culture and folks that like and desire American muscle. If I were forced to guess the big three there would be VW/Audi, BMW and MB. All of which are desirable here in the states.
just curious, what do you think it will cost to complete your engine build the way you outlined above?
Holley is making Gen lll Hemi heads now. Have you thought about new heads or porting the factory heads when you get it? The Holley heads have larger valves so they increase airflow quite a bit over the stock Apache heads even if they are ported. Camshaft selection could be challenging depending if you want to boost and when you plan to boost. I have decided to keep mine NA because of drive train durability. The HP70 trans can only support a published rating at around 700nm or 520 foot pounds of torque. And swapping in an HP85 or HP95 out of a Trackhawk is not an option because the physical size is different not to mention the rear end of an SRT 8 is not as robust as a Trackhawk And would not last long before shredding to pieces and bending the rear suspension.

 

[White Elemant]

Guessing a short block with forged internals would be about 15k when mated with stock parts from original engine and running. MDS delete included. Then anything from 5k to one million to do all the rest A high mileage tranny would need to be fixed also to some extent. 5k maybe?

I'm not shooting for stupid high horsepower, the grand idea is to get a solid base to build upon, or just keep it low mod after the base motor is "renewed".

 

[Ghotujec]

Nice. Keep us up to date as your project moves along.

 

[White Elemant]

I will for sure, if it ever progresses, only one thing is certain these day, and it is uncertainty.

Thanks for your input good consiserations on the powertrain! I had to check the market here, and: one Trackhawk for sale in Sweden, about 75k in dollars. Import to finland with taxes will add about 50k to that... So a definite nope for me 🥲

 

[Ghotujec]

Holy crap. I thought taxes here were bad. Good luck my friend. Hope you can find that gem out there.

 

[WUNFSTSRT]

You or me need this car and just call it a day haha!

Better Built Performance 420 Stroker Motor,4.5L Whipple Supercharger,Complete Fore Fuel System,Tuned by Dusterhoff Tuning 1100-1200 Wheel HP without Nitrous 😀 They said the car is ready to tune on the NOS! I wish my pockets were just a little bigger haha

2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk For Sale in Concord, CA - 1C4RJFN90JC293767 - TrueCar

 

[Ghotujec]

Me to Brother. It just needs a set of these with carbon barrels and red centers to match the interior

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