When Forced Induction Goes Wrong: 2005 Dodge Ram SRT-10 Engine Build

07 Oct When Forced Induction Goes Wrong: 2005 Dodge Ram SRT-10 Engine Build

When adding a forced induction system to a car there are a lot of things to take into the consideration. One of the more important things to consider would be the ability of the engine to hold the amount of power being placed on it- as our customer learned the hard way.

The Dodge Ram SRT-10 is one mean truck. With 500 bhp and 525 lb-ft of torque stock, there’s hardly any other truck that can even get close its madness. Some owners, however, like to take their already insanely powerful vehicles to the next level. For instance, our customer decided that a supercharger was the way to go on his viper truck. Giving the honors to a Roe Supercharger, the car was pushing over 620 horsepower! Unfortunately, the pistons on a stock SRT-10 Ram are the weak link within the engine and typically can only hold up to about 600 horsepower. Naturally, when something is put under more stress then it is designed to handle, bad things are bound to happen. On a drive through town, a catastrophic noise heard after light acceleration. The customer gave us a call to assess the damage and we got it towed over immediately. Once we got a good look at the truck it was obvious one of the connecting rods snapped and pierced through the engine block. As bits and pieces began to turn into flying shrapnel within the engine, more components were quickly laid to waste . It was clear when tallying up the labor need to fix the engine and parts, a new engine was going to be the more cost effective option.

Our customer’s wasn’t looking to upgrade his engine but rather he wanted to make sure this issue didn’t happen again. So, for the new engine, we used a mopar performance Viper V10 Performance Short Block Assembly. What does that include you ask? Well, it includes the all aluminum block, stock crankshaft, main and rod bearings, Mahle forged pistons, piston wrist pins, and rings. Along with that, it also includes Lunati connecting rods, and main seal assembly, and a keyed crankshaft sprocket to be installed as well. We’d also be doing full balancing and blueprinting of the new engine.

Even though he wasn’t originally interested in upgrading, in order to keep with the theme of having the very best components, we decide to add a couple new upgrades to his newly built engine. He purchased a new drag pak crankshaft to be sure that the new engine would be able to reliably handle the serious power this truck makes. To top it all off, the owner also opted to have a Billet 708 Cam complete with timing chain, polished timing cover, lifters, and tie bar fasteners.

Reliability was the name of the game with this build, and as you can see, we exceeded all expectations with this one. If you have any questions about this engine rebuild or questions about your own engines, please call us at 815-230-2900, email us at blog@fluidmotorunion.com, or stop by the shop and have us take a look at it!