Hellcrate Swap!

[GrandpaKevin]

Very sorry to see that.

Reminds me of the poor quality from Mopar when the were selling the Mopar crate Hemi's.
Lots of nightmare quality control stories back then and most people took their crate Hemis straight to their engine builders for inspection/rebuild.

Good luck and keep us informed.

[anlauto]

 Just the colour of that oil is scary....for comparison, here's the 392 pan I pulled off a couple of weeks ago, with a little oil left in it

[Dmod1974]

Just the colour of that oil is scary....for comparison, here's the 392 pan I pulled off a couple of weeks ago, with a little oil left in it

The oil I drained looked like brand new factory fill oil.  That black film in the bottom of the pan wasn't apparent until it was removed.  Not sure if it's charred oil from that rod journal, break in lube, or something else but it ain't good.

[Dmod1974]

Very sorry to see that.

Reminds me of the poor quality from Mopar when the were selling the Mopar crate Hemi's.
Lots of nightmare quality control stories back then and most people took their crate Hemis straight to their engine builders for inspection/rebuild.

Good luck and keep us informed.

Yeah, I remember those were iffy at best.  I thought that work was sublet under the Mopar name out since they hadn't built a vehicle with them in decades.

I believed I'd be fine since this is literally the same current production line engine that goes into all of the factory Hellcat vehicles.  Guess not!

[GrandpaKevin]

Very sorry to see that.

Reminds me of the poor quality from Mopar when the were selling the Mopar crate Hemi's.
Lots of nightmare quality control stories back then and most people took their crate Hemis straight to their engine builders for inspection/rebuild.

Good luck and keep us informed.

Yeah, I remember those were iffy at best.  I thought that work was sublet under the Mopar name out since they hadn't built a vehicle with them in decades.

I believed I'd be fine since this is literally the same current production line engine that goes into all of the factory Hellcat vehicles.  Guess not!

Yes I believe the old crate hemis were built by the lowest subcontracted bidder, multiple ones over the years.

Seems like the Hellcrate had some early issues too
https://www.thedrive.com/news/30704/1000-hp-hellephant-crate-engine-heads-to-production-after-fixing-reliability-problems-report

How are these Hellcrate engines purchased? Through a dealer or straight from Mopar?

Who would be you contact for issues like this?

Is a written warranty included?

I wish you all the best.
I have a 73 Challenger I would love to install a late model Hemi drive train in someday and try to follow as many posts on this as possible.

[Dmod1974]

The hellephant was a completely different animal, no pun intented. They only made a couple dozen of them and they were not production engines at all. The Hellcrate is literally a line engine.

I got mine from a vendor, but you can go through a dealer too.

No idea yet on the warranty issue resolution process yet, but I'll be finding out shortly.

Mopar Performance has a pdf that you can download with warranty terms.

Very sorry to see that.

Reminds me of the poor quality from Mopar when the were selling the Mopar crate Hemi's.
Lots of nightmare quality control stories back then and most people took their crate Hemis straight to their engine builders for inspection/rebuild.

Good luck and keep us informed.

Yeah, I remember those were iffy at best.  I thought that work was sublet under the Mopar name out since they hadn't built a vehicle with them in decades.

I believed I'd be fine since this is literally the same current production line engine that goes into all of the factory Hellcat vehicles.  Guess not!

Yes I believe the old crate hemis were built by the lowest subcontracted bidder, multiple ones over the years.

Seems like the Hellcrate had some early issues too
https://www.thedrive.com/news/30704/1000-hp-hellephant-crate-engine-heads-to-production-after-fixing-reliability-problems-report

How are these Hellcrate engines purchased? Through a dealer or straight from Mopar?

Who would be you contact for issues like this?

Is a written warranty included?

I wish you all the best.
I have a 73 Challenger I would love to install a late model Hemi drive train in someday and try to follow as many posts on this as possible.

[71340RT]

So sorry about the engine problem. I wonder if all the crate engines are run before they are shipped? I just picked up a 392 for my swap and hope I have no problems.

[Dmod1974]

So sorry about the engine problem. I wonder if all the crate engines are run before they are shipped? I just picked up a 392 for my swap and hope I have no problems.

Look in the exhaust.  It'll be obvious if it's been run in or not...

Mine was, and I still ended up with one that probably had a few minutes left on it before tossing a rod or locking up.   

Honestly, I find it hard to believe this wasn't knocking on the dyno.  That rod got HOT.

[7212Mopar]

That actually looks pretty bad. Mopar better take it back and ship you a new one without further charges.

[Dmod1974]

It's been a minute, but I received the new engine and everything looked mint when I dropped the pan (first thing I did this time!).   

The dealer and Mopar shipped a new engine within a day of notifying them and didn't question it at all.  I received it a week or two ago and just got back from New Orleans to finally update my progress and upload my videos.





I have part numbers for the CORRECT parts to install an A/C compressor on any of the Mopar Performance Gen 3 hemi engines in the comments of the video.  The Mopar Performance one will NOT work with any aftermarket systems and clearly was thrown together using the factory late model stuff.

[Dmod1974]

Other little tidbits - I confirmed that the factory EOP and KS sensors for a 2015-2107 Challenger fit the engine and my harness just fine (part numbers in the video link.)

I also found one other gotcha with my late model build engine - the makeup air hose fitting on the driver's side valve cover has been relocated to the rear.  Luckily, the fix is super easy.

Below are my tentative plans for the dipstick with part numbers as well.  Also noteworthy, the main and head bolts are NOT torque to yield and one time use fasteners despite a lot of the information I see posted in various forums. My next update will be the Stef's oil pan swap and starter fitting.

[anlauto]

I like the dip stick tube, can you please follow up with the correct matching dip stick part number ...

[7212Mopar]

  Great news.

[Dmod1974]

I like the dip stick tube, can you please follow up with the correct matching dip stick part number ...

I put all of the part numbers needed in the video comments.

[anlauto]

Not sure what that means, but I'll go over to YouTube and see if I can find them, thank you