Viper

Make
Dodge
Segment
Coupe

The Dodge Viper is an all-time American classic, and though you might find a brand new one tucked away in some lonely Dodge dealership, most are getting on in years and packing on the miles. So what do you do when your beloved Viper's mighty V10 engine packs up and you're left high and dry in the pit lane of Laguna Seca? You swap in a Hellcat V8, of course! We've seen some crazy hellcat swaps before, from trucks to minivans and everything in between, but we couldn't imagine a cooler combination than the heart of a Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye in the body of a Viper. The guys from YouTube channel Throtl have gotten their hands on a 2001 Dodge Viper, and are planning on making this dream swap a reality.

Lift the clamshell hood of a second-gen Dodge Viper and you'll find an 8.0-liter V10 engine producing 450 horsepower and around 490 lb-ft of torque. This motor allows the Viper to rush to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds and cross the quarter-mile mark in around 12.6 seconds. Those figures might have been impressive a few decades ago, but these days those are rookie numbers, and with a weight of 712 pounds, that V10 isn't really carrying its own weight. To start off the swap, the Throtl team removes the clamshell hood, revealing the vastness of that V10 engine. Compared to the Hellcat V8, this thing is gigantic, and should leave a ton of space for the swap once it's gone.

The Dodge SRT Hellcat V8 crate engine going into this Viper is already a legendary power plant. This 6.2-liter supercharged V8 engine features a 2.4-liter twin-screw IHI supercharger with charge coolers capable of boosting 11.6 psi, and a total power output of 717 hp and 656 lb-ft of torque. In Redeye form, it makes an even crazier 797 hp and 707 lb-ft - that's nearly double the power of the original engine. For this swap, the Throtl team will be using a T56 Magnum transmission, which will hopefully hook up to the original transmission mounts and bolt up to the driveshaft without any major modifications.

The guys note in the video how thick the Viper's stock side shafts are which is perfect for handling all the extra power. After removing the engine and transmission, the Throtl boys are left with a ton of room for activities. In the second installment, the guys will start mocking up the engine and transmission, and possibly start fabricating bits and pieces such as engine mounts for the swap. It's going to be fun to see how it all turns out.