We've road-tested Dodge's Viper-ized Ram truck several times, in every bed/cab configuration offered. We came to the conclusion that those who opted for the standard cab/six-speed manual version of this truck scored huge in the power department, and the guys who ordered a crew cab/automatic tranny truck got hosed by Mopar. The truck with the manual transmission gets with the program with insane acceleration and top-end performance, while the automatic...well, it's not setting the world on fire by any means. The automatic-equipped truck is a nice cruiser that makes a good high-performance commuter truck, if you don't care about fuel economy. But, what do you do if you want to feel like you really did get a 500hp engine in your truck? Call the guys at Roe Racing for a new supercharger for your Viper engine.
Roe Racing is a high-performance shop out of Green Cove Springs, Florida, with years of racing experience, research and development, and installation experience behind it. The company specializes in performance enhancement of Dodge Vipers and, more recently, Dodge Ram SRT10 sport trucks. Roe offers everything from pistons to high-flow induction systems and exhaust systems for the Ram. Its positive displacement supercharger system for the SRT10 is a well-engineered and finely tuned package that integrates cleanly into the confines of the Ram's engine bay.
Roe Racing confirmed our suspicions that the automatic trucks are putting fewer ponies to the wheels by strapping Demon Carburetors owner Barry Grant's yellow Quad Cab SRT10 to its chassis dyno. The dyno revealed that the Dodge was only putting 384 hp to the ground. That's a far cry from the 500-plus ponies the 10-cylinder V-10 engine cranks out. Roe Racing also noted that the Quad Cab automatic trans-equipped trucks routinely put out less power than their six-speed manual brethren on the chassis dyno. Why the drop in power? Parasitic losses brought on by transferring the power through the automatic transmission is one reason, but eating up this much power is abnormal. No one is sure why the power is down this far, but the new blower kit is an easy, if not inexpensive, fix. Here's a quick look at the kit, the installation on Barry's truck, and some pretty impressive dyno numbers.
What's under the hood?
If you have the need for speed and $6,499 in the bank, then your engine could look and perform like this one.The kit contains everything needed to make the upgrade, except for the tools to do the job. Larger injectors and an aluminum manifold with high-flow runners aid the cause. Sweet!