There’s a reason people swap their car’s original engine for a GM LS V8. They’re reasonable in cost, easy to source, relatively easy to work on, have huge aftermarket support, and they’re infinitely tunable. Engine swaps aren’t as easy to do as the internet may lead people to believe, but, if you have the experience and want something way cooler, (and bigger), you’re in luck. That is, if you can act fast enough to get it.
Someone is selling an honest-to-goodness 8.4-liter ZB II V10 crate engine for a Dodge Viper SRT-10. It’s currently up for auction on Bring A Trailer and with a couple of days still to go, the price isn’t outrageous. If you’re not familiar, the Dodge Viper SRT-10’s engine was factory-rated at 600 horsepower with 560 lb-ft of torque.
Don’t Forget That Sound
If you’re not familiar with this particular mill, the ZB II was used in the fourth-generation Dodge Viper SRT-10 that ended production in 2010. The engine was factory-rated at 600 horsepower with 560 lb-ft of torque, not quite as punchy as the 640-hp version used in the final Viper generation, but still plenty powerful. The Viper V10 has a few bids and, at the time of writing, is sitting at $8,600.
Looking around, we’re seeing them in unused condition for between $20,000 and 25,000. So, whoever has the $8,600 bid might be annoyed we’re shining a light on this one, though the folks at Mopar Insiders already spilled the beans. According to the listing, it’s one of a few that has been sitting in storage with a Dodge dealership in Green Bay, Wisconsin. As far as we can tell, everything is there, ready to fire it up, including the alternator, oil-filter housing, oil pan, flywheel, ignition components, and exhaust manifolds. It even comes in its original crate.
Finding A Home For The Mighty V10
What it will need is an exhaust system, and a car with a hood long enough to fit the V10’s hefty size. That assumes it doesn’t go in as a direct replacement for a Viper with a bad engine, or say, an owner of an earlier generation who isn’t satisfied with anything less than 600 hp. It’s also worth noting the 8.4-liter engine was developed with help from McLaren Automotive and Ricardo Consulting Engineers. This isn’t just some big lump of American muscle.
Considering the Viper’s V10 was originally developed by Dodge and SRT with Lamborghini and based on a Chrysler V8, it has quite the European pedigree. Images in the auction show a tag revealing its build date as 2010. The final version of the 8.4-liter arrived in 2012 and made 640 hp. Of course, all of the Viper V10s sound amazing, with an idle that rumbles like a tank coming down the street. At higher revs, it’s like a Hellcat V8 crossed with an old-school Formula 1 car.
Though synonymous with the Dodge Viper, the V10 found its way into other vehicles. The European Alfa Romeo Zagato TZ3 Stradale and the ill-fated Bristol Fighter are among them, not to mention the GTA Spano and the American Devon GTX. Of course, Dodge couldn’t resist dropping it into a truck, creating the Dodge Ram SRT-10.
While we would understand a collector buying the engine to stare at, we hope it makes it into a tuner car or restomod. These engines are something special, and something we’ll likely not see again. They deserve to be heard.
Source: Bring A Trailer
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