Not every engine fits into every vehicle – but adapter kits can help. Like the new one from Mopar. If you want to slot a new Hemi engine into an old muscle car, this is the kit you’re going to need.
The crate engine kit is designed to serve as a matchmaker of sorts. Buy a Hemi 345 (that’s 5.7 liters) or 392 (6.4) made in 2014 or later and with Mopar’s new adapter kit, you can slot it into an older vehicle built before 1975 – say, like an old Dodge Charger, Challenger, or Plymouth Barracuda, for example.
The kit doesn’t include the engine itself, but it does include a power distribution center, a powertrain control module (PCM), engine and chassis wiring harnesses, accelerator pedal, O2 sensors, ground jumper, and charge air temperature sensor, as well as installation guide sheets.
You can order one online or at any FCA dealer for $1,795. You can even add a optional upgrades like power steering, an AC expansion kit, or a rear sump oil pan.
To show off the world of possibilities this opens up, Mopar brought a slew of engine-swapped vehicles to the SEMA show this year. One is a 1971 Dodge Challenger with a Hemi 6.4, the six-speed manual from a Viper, a dropped suspension, Brembo brakes, and a blacked-out paintjob.
Even more intriguing is the Jeep CJ66 that slots a 5.7 into a ’66 Wrangler, done up in copper finish with 17-inch wheels wearing 35-inch off-road tires on a suspension lifted by two inches.
Mark Worman from the Discovery Velocity channel’s Graveyard Carz also showed up with a ’71 ‘Cuda fitted with the big 392 Hemi, painted green and fitted with over 100 additional parts from the Mopar catalog.
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