PONY UP – Mopar Action Article Extra

One-stop performance shopping. Not your father’s Dodge dealer.

By Bill Woods
Photos by TheBruntBros

Horsepower: the more you have, the more you want. Nothing new about that. And with up to 465 factory HP being pumped out of Gen 3 Hemis, power boosters, from simple bolt-ons to blowers and “built” motors, are going gangbusters. No one knows this more than the crew at Fairfield Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram .Tucked away in Muncy, PA, Fairfield does a booming business in shipping out high performance parts (they rank one of the top in Mopar Performance parts sales in the mid-Atlantic area) as well as handling in-house dealer-installs on late-model Mopes. One thing that sets Fairfield apart from most other dealerships is their focus on high performance – they are the Grand-Spaulding Dodge of 2013. Steve Kaiser, Jr. is the high performance specialist and speaks the horse-hungry Mofan’s language. They also do a big volume in Cummins Diesel performance, handling the Gale Banks line of hop-up goodies along with other lines.

The dealership’s performance legacy goes back to “Uncle” Bob Kaiser’s ‘Cuda racing days. Steve’s current ‘Cuda Super Stock is painted up in the same livery as Uncle Bob’s. Steve Kaiser, Sr., also has had his share of track time in Mopars back in the day.

The dealership was the first to sign on to the Mr. Norm’s program of modified late-models. They also were the first to take on the Norm’s and Hurst performance package lines. Want a blower? Choose from their selection of Kenne-Bell and Procharger sales and installations as well as the Predator tuning program now all available on Mopes through 2012 model years. Steve says that a Predator dyno tune on their chassis dyno can add 100 horsepower to an existing late-model set up.

While some customers want that magical 1000 horsepower under their right foot (it don’t come cheap), what about the guys and gals that would be happy to make do with simple Gen 3 Hemi bolt-ons? What kind of power increase can they expect?

For that answer, Steve and his crew strapped a 2012 392 SRT8 Challenger to their DynoJet chassis dyno and ran a baseline: 431.81 RWHP; 434.62 TQ at the wheels. Swapping a Mopar Performance cold air intake (a simple 15-20 minute job) ups the figures to 444.61 RWHP and 437.56 TQ.

For max efficiency, you want to free up the exhaust to match the increased airflow to the engine. For that, Steve bolted on the MP cat-back exhaust. The stock exhaust unbolts and drops down as a unit so it’s heavy. If the car is on a lift you’ll want one or two buddies to help support the exhaust as it drops. The MP cat-back installs in sections. Figure an hour or so for this job. Back on the dyno, the monitor showed 453.24 RWHP and 454.31 TQ.

Check out Fairfield at (www.fairfieldautogroup.com; 570-546-5113) and talk with Steve Kaiser Jr. Horsepower is only a phone call away.

Steve Kaiser Jr.’s Super Stock ‘Cuda carries the dealership’s performance image to the track. The ‘Cuda carries the same paint scheme as the Kaiser Bros. ’70 ‘Cuda ‘Stocker back in the day

Bob Kaiser piloting the Kaiser Bros. Super Stock Eliminator A-body ‘Cuda at Englishtown back in the day.

Bob Kaiser today still wrenches on Steve Jr.’s current ‘Stocker.

DynoJet chassis dyno shows the difference. We dyno’d two basic Mopar Performance bolt-ons to find out how many ponies you can get on a budget.

MP’s Cold Air Intake is a no-hassle 20-minute install that will net you almost 13 rear wheel horsepower.
The current kit has been improved for easier installation.

Remove a couple fasteners and the stock airbox comes right out.

Attach the base.

Pop on the air filter and you’re done. Instant 13 more horsepower.

You’ll get the most bang out of the cold air setup if you match it with MP’s cat-back exhaust. The stock system drops as a unit while the MP kit installs in sections. Total power increase with the new intake and exhaust on a 2-12 392 Challenger SRT8 is 21.43 more ponies and 19.69 lb.-ft. of torque at the wheels over stock.

The Kaiser tea, (front to back) Steve Kaiser Jr., general manager and performance guru, Tim Kaiser, business manager and Steve Kaiser, Sr., who runs the whole show.