HeckCat: Leveling Up the Widebody Scat Pack Challenger

• June 21, 2022
• Story By
  Andy Carter

Take a look at Dodge’s lineup for their muscle cars and you’ll see an offering at nearly every level of enthusiast. From the humble 300hp V6 to the 800+hp of the Demon and Super Stock, Dodge has established steps along the performance ladder that increasingly lead to a more powerful, more unique modern muscle car. 

When owner Bryce Damnjanovic set out to find his Challenger, he wanted the model that came the closest to the pure driving experience of a classic RWD V8 sports car. For anyone paying attention to muscle cars for the past couple of decades, the Challenger presents some interesting challenges, mainly weight. Although the modern era has found a few ways to offset that, Bryce wanted to keep the solutions fairly simple.

Widebody Body Scat Pack

When Dodge released the wide-body version of their mid-level performance offering, the 392 Scat Pack, Bryce realized that this one might be the Challenger he was looking for. Easily written off as an aesthetic package to the un-informed, the Widebody package brings some of the lessons and advancements learned by the HellCat and Demon cars to the naturally aspirated cars in the lineup.

Bring on the Meats

Most obviously, the car benefits from significantly larger 20x11-Inch Devil's Rim wheels at all four corners. Originally fitted with 305/35/20 tires from the factory, Bryce upgraded to a larger set of 315/35/20 Nitto NT555 G2s. Inspired by the match-made-in-heaven of the Dodge Demon and NT05R combo from the factory, the NT555 G2 summer ultra high performance tire is the perfect tire upgrade for the Scat Pack Widebody.

“I’m glad I went with 315’s all around because I finally think that the car truly has a look that fits it now,” he said. “Widebodies always have an issue on whether to put spacers on it or not, but with these tires I found the perfect match.”

Balancing the demands of performance and reliability equally, the NT555 G2 gives the Challenger grip in real world driving scenarios on the street. While track time isn’t out of the question for this car, Bryce’s focus is the everyday driving experience. Nitto designed the tire for exactly that, with a tread design that works to offer better handling capabilities in both wet and dry conditions.

Putting a Stop to the Madness

Along with the larger wheels and tires, the Widebody package also includes Brembo Six-Piston fixed front caliper brakes. Bryce admitted, “I hate to say I got the Widebody mostly due to the braking system, but truly it's what my focus was on, with the suspension a close second.” With muscle cars, it is easy to get caught up in the “go” side of the equation, but stopping is crucial to confidence in driving. 

Turning the Challenger into a Driver

For the suspension, Bryce recognized the value of the adaptive damping suspension offered on the Widebody package, but wanted to stiffen up the car a bit more than the OEM settings. A set of H&R springs bring the car closer to the pavement while stabilizing the overall feel of the big coupe. He also added a strut brace from BMR. After installation, he noticed that “this flattened the car travel greatly and you didn’t seem to be thrown around on left to right pivots as much through front ground impact.”

One advantage of the Challenger was the availability of a TREMEC 6-speed manual, an absolute must for Bryce in his driver’s car quest. He admits, “The shifter travel is the biggest gripe in these cars so of course I replaced it with a Barton short throw shifter which has probably been my favorite upgrade so far on the car.” We see this over and over that shifter upgrades are one of the best investments for an enthusiast’s car. As one of the physical connections between the driver and the engine, shifter upgrades are a mod that are felt on every single drive, regardless of purpose.

More NA Power to Come

Upgrading the engine has not been a priority for Bryce yet. He did swap in a “Hellcat front light box intake to grab some more of that lower front ground air temperature while using natural physics to force air up to the throttle body the faster I go.” Looking into the future, he does plan to do a more intense build on the naturally aspirated motor, but for now the 485hp works.

While a Challenger is never going to fit into the mold of a traditional sports car, Bryce’s Widebody Scat Pack strikes a compelling balance of affordability, aesthetics, and drivability. While a Hellcat will never be completely out of a Challenger enthusiast’s vision, this combo draws both inspiration and actual hardware from Dodge’s top shelf.

And if a pure muscle car experience is the goal, a naturally aspirated V8 is never going to disappoint. If all-out performance is the only thing that will satisfy, the Hellcat is obviously there, but for a select type of enthusiast, the Widebody Scat Pack provides a compelling experience in a more tame package relative to the Hellcat.