[Xylander]

If your donor vehicle is running/driving, and not throwing a thousand codes, you should be good to gut the SXT and swap EVERYTHING with a wire going to it from the HC to the SXT. And if you are careful, you will have transplanted the entire HC electrical system into the SXT and the computer will never know it is not a HC. If you ever have to take your car in for service, and the computer VIN doesn't match the car VIN, you could end up in a lot of trouble... (Or if your state has emissions inspections...) Why not sell the SXT and buy the car you want? Or, buy a lightly damaged one that you can fix?

The correct answer to every person who's ever asked about a Hellcat swap is this: It is almost always cheaper, regardless if you do the work or not, to SELL the current car and buy a used Hellcat. For example, you can buy a well-used 15-16 Hellcat for $38-$40k or so right now. Selling an SXT is going to net you around $15,000 give or take. This would leave you around $25k to buy a used Hellcat that, if you do your due diligence, will land you with a car that is at least put together right and isn't a frankensteined patchwork car of dubious origin.

Doing the engine swap is just a small part of the overall job. You'd need all the Hellcat's suspension, driveshaft, transmission, etc. As the OP said, he has a donor car. However, cheap donor cars don't usually come with perfectly working parts, as they're usually theft or collision victims. As a bare minimum, you need the donor car's fuel system, electrical wiring, brakes, dash cluster, center screen, PCM, BCM, transmission with TCM, suspension, driveshaft, half shafts, and rear diff. If you're missing any of those, start adding 4-5 figures to the build cost. Again, if that donor car's trans is kaput, that's going to be 6-8 grand right there. 4 grand or so for 2 half shafts, 2,500-3 grand for a driveshaft. You see where I'm going with this.

If you could sell the SXT for 15 grand and the donor needs a trans and a the rear suspension (all of it, like the rear cradle and hub, shocks and springs) you're looking at at least 10k in parts. It's going to cost around 2k to tune it once you're done. So, if you do everything yourself, you're in it the cost of your SXT plus 12k if you don't pay anyone to do anything else. If you have only 1 or 2 more issues, then the SXT now costs more than the used Hellcat you could have bought and been driving around this whole time.

Given that most of these swaps end up being a non-perfect car that costs a LOT to get going, you can usually bet that it's going to be cheaper to buy a used Hellcat. In some cases, it was cheaper to friggin buy a new one.

 

[Kingrah6]

https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/documents/engswitch_0.pdf

In short, a swap has to be an appropriate engine for the design of vehicle AND it cannot be swapped for something that is more polluting than the engine that was in it originally. Fine: $25,000 if caught.

Then there's the insurance fraud side of it nobody talks about. Insurance companies WILL NEVER insure an SXT with a Hellcat swapped engine. You need specialty insurance for that and those policies can be close to $1,000 a month for a limited use policy. So, what most people do, they don't report the swap to their insurance. If they're ever involved in a wreck and the adjuster discovers the engine swap, they'll invalidate your policy for having an illegal configuration (law of unclean hands - you can't receive equitable relief from inequitable behavior). Most if not all insurance policies have reporting rules that state you have to report mechanical changes to the vehicle configuration. Failure to do so is technically defrauding the insurance company.

So, when people do these swaps, they're almost always not reporting it to their insurance company because we all know that doing so = a letter coming in the mail about having your coverage dropped. So, they roll the bones and hope they're not discovered.

States also have specific rules. In Florida, I believe you're allowed under state law to do this swap, but you would never be allowed to sell it or trade it. That's because to do the swap, you have to "tamper" with the SXT's emissions system, and selling a car with a tampered emissions system is a 3rd grade felony now. You'd have to drive it forever until you send it to a salvage yard.

So, you have an illegal engine swap with a fraudulent insurance policy, best case scenario. If you get into a wreck, there's a high likelihood that your coverage will be dropped and you'll be treated like a drunk driver in terms of being liable for damages. Meaning... even if you were stopped at a redlight and someone hit you, your car was illegally on the road and you get to pay out of pocket for everyone's property and medical bills without insurance assistance.

That's what could happen.

I mean doing the swap. I have no intention on selling and getting any profit from it what so ever if I was to sell it. And if I got in an accident I pretty much know it’ll be a lost. But what makes you think I want to put it on the road period and don’t want to just track it/ race it in Mexico?

 

[Kingrah6]

The correct answer to every person who's ever asked about a Hellcat swap is this: It is almost always cheaper, regardless if you do the work or not, to SELL the current car and buy a used Hellcat. For example, you can buy a well-used 15-16 Hellcat for $38-$40k or so right now. Selling an SXT is going to net you around $15,000 give or take. This would leave you around $25k to buy a used Hellcat that, if you do your due diligence, will land you with a car that is at least put together right and isn't a frankensteined patchwork car of dubious origin.

Doing the engine swap is just a small part of the overall job. You'd need all the Hellcat's suspension, driveshaft, transmission, etc. As the OP said, he has a donor car. However, cheap donor cars don't usually come with perfectly working parts, as they're usually theft or collision victims. As a bare minimum, you need the donor car's fuel system, electrical wiring, brakes, dash cluster, center screen, PCM, BCM, transmission with TCM, suspension, driveshaft, half shafts, and rear diff. If you're missing any of those, start adding 4-5 figures to the build cost. Again, if that donor car's trans is kaput, that's going to be 6-8 grand right there. 4 grand or so for 2 half shafts, 2,500-3 grand for a driveshaft. You see where I'm going with this.

If you could sell the SXT for 15 grand and the donor needs a trans and a the rear suspension (all of it, like the rear cradle and hub, shocks and springs) you're looking at at least 10k in parts. It's going to cost around 2k to tune it once you're done. So, if you do everything yourself, you're in it the cost of your SXT plus 12k if you don't pay anyone to do anything else. If you have only 1 or 2 more issues, then the SXT now costs more than the used Hellcat you could have bought and been driving around this whole time.

Given that most of these swaps end up being a non-perfect car that costs a LOT to get going, you can usually bet that it's going to be cheaper to buy a used Hellcat. In some cases, it was cheaper to friggin buy a new one.

I will be using everything from the donor car. Suspension. Cameras. Sensors and everything. So what I’m planning to do is completely gut the SXT. Then putting everything from the hellcat in it. Minus the damaged door. But will take the wiring out of the damaged door to be ran in the SXT.

 

[Kingrah6]

Alright guys. I’m going to pull the trigger. F It. I’ll document every step with pictures. And post here when I’m done. Wish me luck. I know it’s not going to easy or a walk in the park. What serious mechanical job is? lol.

 

[Xylander]

Alright guys. I’m going to pull the trigger. F It. I’ll document every step with pictures. And post here when I’m done. Wish me luck. I know it’s not going to easy or a walk in the park. What serious mechanical job is? lol.

Best of luck. In the years I've been here, I've never seen someone finish one
This isn't a serious mechanical job, btw. It's a nightmare.

 

[Xylander]

I mean doing the swap. I have no intention on selling and getting any profit from it what so ever if I was to sell it. And if I got in an accident I pretty much know it’ll be a lost. But what makes you think I want to put it on the road period and don’t want to just track it/ race it in Mexico?

...well, assuming you were only going to use it for off-road purposes, I'd again say buy a salvage titled HC for $20 grand and call it a day. Or, buy something pre 1974 and take the engine/trans out of the donor car and use the $3k SRT crate harness for classic cars and boom, done if you just want to go fast. But tearing down 2 cars and rebuilding 1 from scratch is a whole other level of pain just to build a track car.

People that try and do this are usually younger and think they can get a HC into their V6 because they know how to turn a wrench and they don't want to spend HC money. You're gonna spend HC money, regardless.

And, what I meant earlier about what happens when you get in a wreck, if you do, the car will be a loss, yes... but in the unfortunate case where 2-3 cars are invovled and someone gets injured, your insurance isn't going to cover any of that. So, you could potentially be sued for all the property damage and medical bills. If you've got a quarter mil laying around with nothing to spend it on, great... but in the off chance you don't, this is one of those cases where young folks ruin their financial lives for something they did when they were young that you may never recover from.

I'm assuming you're young because us older folks have jobs/careers and I'd wager by the time most people are 35+, they start to value time a lot more than money. Young people value money more than time. That's how you can tell someone's age on the internet.

 

[MJS73]

I mean doing the swap. I have no intention on selling and getting any profit from it what so ever if I was to sell it. And if I got in an accident I pretty much know it’ll be a lost. But what makes you think I want to put it on the road period and don’t want to just track it/ race it in Mexico?

Maybe start with that? Kinda pointless to withhold vital and obscure information then get excited when people don’t guess your secrets.

 

[Under-Pressure]

Alright guys. I’m going to pull the trigger. F It. I’ll document every step with pictures. And post here when I’m done. Wish me luck. I know it’s not going to easy or a walk in the park. What serious mechanical job is? lol.

Glad to see you are doing this & look forward to updates. Learn on the SXT as you are gutting it & swap items over as large sub assemblies. Think of how it went down the assembly line. Drivetrain with wiring, rear end, dash with wiring etc….

 

[392]

I mean doing the swap. I have no intention on selling and getting any profit from it what so ever if I was to sell it. And if I got in an accident I pretty much know it’ll be a lost. But what makes you think I want to put it on the road period and don’t want to just track it/ race it in Mexico?

Alright guys. I’m going to pull the trigger. F It. I’ll document every step with pictures. And post here when I’m done. Wish me luck. I know it’s not going to easy or a walk in the park. What serious mechanical job is? lol.

check out this video

 

[Slowpoke387]

How can this kid work with a hoodie on and up? ⏫ That would drive me nuts.

 

[furious70]

First in line for the engine, trans, and coolers for my 69 Coronet when this goes south.
Sorry, had to.

 

[392]

check this build.....