When Dodge introduced the Hellephant C170 crate engine, offering similar engine technology to the powerplant in the 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT® Demon 170, we knew that it would only be a matter of time before we saw a modern Dodge Charger with the SRT Demon-like engine. Not surprisingly, the first C170-powered Charger has been built by the man who helped to pioneer modern Mopar® tuning – AJ Berge from HEMITuner Performance – and his new shop HemiFast.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with AJ Berge, he was one of the first people to unlock the modern HEMI engine tuning decades ago and since then, he has been one of the top names in the Mopar tuning world. In addition to building and tuning all sorts of insanely powerful street cars, he has also worked with NHRA Factory Stock Showdown teams to tune their Dodge Challenger Drag Paks. Oh, he also has his own Challenger Drag Pak and he owns the very first modern Dodge Charger to run in the 7-second quarter-mile range.
That 2006 Dodge Charger, which is powered by a modified SRT Hellcat HEMI engine, is silver, so when Berge bought a new Charger SRT Hellcat in 2022, he got it in silver as well.
“I ordered and purchased the car brand new. It has 5,200 miles on the odometer. For me, my silver ‘06 Charger brought me so much luck, and was my gateway to really honing my skills on the road and track tuning wise. This is the modern version of that car!”
As Berge puts it, he was blessed to get one of the first Direct Connection C170 crate engines and he didn’t want to turn it into an all-out race build, so he decided to use his 2022 Charger to create the world’s first Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat C170. The engine is “stock”, meaning that he hasn’t changed anything from the supercharger to the oil pan, and he used the stock exhaust system from the 2022 SRT Hellcat. This car also has the stock 8-speed automatic transmission from the SRT Hellcat, but to improve longevity, Berge did install his own custom billet differential housings with with a Per4Mance Development DIRS brace, along with a stock Redeye driveshaft and axles.
A key piece of the puzzle with the 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 is the flex fuel system, which can seamlessly transition between gasoline and ethanol blends, making power adjustments based on the exact level of ethanol in the blend. Berge installed the full Demon 170 flex fuel system in his 2022 Charger, allowing him to run any blend of premium gasoline and ethanol – the greater the ethanol content, the greater the power output. In addition to being the first modern Charger with the C170 engine, this is also the first Charger to use the Demon 170 flex fuel system.
Providing enough fuel flow for the Demon 170 flex fuel system requires a higher volume system than what comes in the 2022 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, so Berge replaced the stock pump system with his company’s own drop-in dual pump module. This plug-and-play assembly adds a secondary fuel pump controller as well, providing enough fuel for roughly 1,100 wheel horsepower when running on ethanol. Berge developed the system in his Charger in a way that allowed him to create a package that HemiFast will offer going forward for Charger, Durango and Jeep® Grand Cherokee owners, making it easier to install one of the Direct Connection C170 engines in any of those vehicles.
Prior to swapping engines, AJ Berge put his 2022 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat on the dyno and it made 657 horsepower and 639 lb-ft of torque at the rear wheels. When he installed the C170 engine and hit the dyno with a 35% ethanol blend, the car made 859 horsepower and 823 lb-ft of torque at the rear wheels. When the ethanol content was increased to 65%, the output jumped to 926.1 horsepower and 887.23 lb-ft of torque at the wheels. Mind you, Berge is not making tuning adjustments to the system between the different tanks of fuel – the gains between E35 and E65 were purely based on the adjustments made by the Demon 170 flex fuel system in conjunction with the C170 engine.
When AJ Berge hits the track with his 2022 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat C170, the car will be wearing a set of Bogart wheels wrapped in Mickey Thompson rubber, and he plans to run in the 9.30-9.50 range. He points out that he will be driving the car to and from the track and that it drives just how it did with the stock engine and 300 less wheel horsepower.
We are likely to see more builds utilizing the incredible Direct Connection C170 crate engine as they become more readily available, but the car shown here will forever be the first Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat C170.
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