2006 Magnum SRT8 - Vortech, H/C/I, Arrington Trans + more... only 56k miles

Teal Terminator

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SOLD!!!


Up for sale is my 2006 Dodge Magnum SRT8 with 56,000 miles (61.5k as of 10/1/15) on it. Let me start by saying if you are looking for a stock, or mostly stock, vehicle this is probably not the car for you. But if you are looking for a badass, unique, super clean, low mileage, quality-modified, wagon that you can reliably daily drive, pull 20 mpg on the highway, and rip off mid 11 second quarter mile passes, then I’ve got just the car for you!

Let’s start with the history of the car. I bought this car about 18 months ago from the 2nd owner with 32k miles on it. The second owner (Robert) bought the car less than a year before that from the original owner (Rene). Robert had put less than 3,000 miles on the car since purchasing it from Rene when it only had 29k miles on it. It was just a secondary/play vehicle for Robert and while he took care of the car he didn’t do much to it other than drive it every now and again. Due to some life circumstances Robert had to sell the car though. I tracked down Rene after purchasing the car because I’m the kind of guy that likes to know as much as I can about when and what has been done to a car and who overall just likes details. I’ve since had multiple “conversations” (emails) with Rene and have greatly appreciated his willingness to fill me in on any detail I was curious about.

The original owner, Rene, bought the car new from Palm Chrysler Jeep Dodge in Punta Gorda, FL and kept the car for 7 years before selling it to Robert (who also lived in FL). Rene was the person who had nearly all of the power mods done to the car. He was very meticulous and I have a 2” thick folder of receipts totaling over $20,000 of nearly everything that was ever done to the car. I even have the original window sticker and paperwork that went along with the dealer purchase. And I’ve added probably another $8,000 worth of receipts to that folder. Ouch that hurts to write, lol.
The car has always been garaged by all three owners and it shows. The paint on this car might be the best paint I’ve ever had on a used vehicle before. There is not a single dent on the car and that’s saying a lot because there are some large body panels on this vehicle. The interior still looks brand new. And other than a few minor flaws that I will detail below the car as a whole is in incredible condition for being nearly 10 years old and having 56,000 miles on it.


The factory options include:
SRT Option Group 1 – Rear cargo organizer, Dual climate control, “Air filtering”, and heated front seats
SRT Option Group 2 – 276 Watt Kicker amplifier, 100 Watt Kicker sub, 11 Kicker high-performance speakers, and a security alarm
It does NOT have a sunroof (which I was a fan of), Navigation, or the RES (rear entertainment system)


Now onto the aftermarket goodies! The following mods were put on in various stages by the original owner:

-Indy CNC cylinder head package with beehive springs, titanium retainers, and hardened pushrods
-Indy CNC port matched intake plenum
-Comp Cam XE 268 camshaft
- (installed at ~20k miles) Vortech V-3 intercooled polished supercharger kit with pulley for ~8 lbs or 9.5 lbs of boost and a custom grill mounted intake
-60 lb/hr flow matched injectors
-Billet high flow fuel rails
-Modern Muscle modified fuel bucket with twin Walbro 255 lph high output fuel pumps
-Dynatech Supermaxx stainless steel long tube headers
-Alkycontrol.com progressive methanol injection kit with dash mounted controller unit
-Autometer boost & fuel pressure gauges mounted in an A-pillar pod
-XM Satellite Radio (integrated via hardwired FM modulator). XM control unit is mounted in ceiling mounted sunglasses “cubby” (still opens & closes). Also has a remote control.


The below mods have been added since my ownership:

-Arrington Performance Stage 4 transmission with a Stage II valvebody (good for 750 rwhp) and a 2012 SRT TQ converter (had approximately 15k miles on it)
-Z-Automotive Tranzformer
-BilletTech oil separator
-Kenne Bell Boost-A-Pump w/ adjustable voltage dial (bought new approx. 1 yr ago). The car had an MSD voltage booster box on it when I bought it.
-The entire exhaust was/is 3” diameter. The x-pipe was on the car when I bought it and I changed everything rearward of that… Borla ProXS mufflers, Vibrant Performance SS resonators, and Magnaflow 3.5” exhaust tips. The X-pipe has the “bulges” for cats but they have been gutted. So you will be able to pass a visual state inspection if need be.
-Hotchkis front & rear sway bars w/ upgraded bushings
-Bwoody endlinks (front & rear)
-Stoptech R1 cross-drilled/slotted front rotors
-All interior bulbs swapped to LED’s
-“SRT” embroidered Llyod floor mats (like new, hardly ever used… I also have the original factory mats)
-One piece Gorilla lug nuts
-A new windshield (at 55k miles)
-Replaced several pieces of chrome or black trim that weren’t up to par with the rest of the car’s condition
-New headlight assemblies with true HID headlight conversion (low beam & high beam) w/ yellow fog lights
-Added "SRT" badge to front grill and removed "Hemi" emblem from fenders and Dodge/Ram emblem from liftgate
-And the top half of the motor was just gone back through by Arrington Performance less than 2000 miles ago and all of the following was done: New lifters, new chromoly pushrods, new Cometic head gaskets, new intake & exhaust gaskets, new head bolts, new header bolts, new thermostat, and mostly new coolant.



I have meticulously maintained this car, as I do all of my cars. The oil has been changed every 5k miles with Mobil 1 only (as was the case with the previous two owners as well). The Vortech oil has been changed every 8k – 10k miles with Vortech/Paxton specific supercharger oil. The car has never seen a car wash, at least not under my ownership. I only hand wash my vehicles, I clean the wheels and door jams every time, and I do my best to do that at least 2-3 times a month. And the car has been waxed at least three times in the 15 months I’ve owned it.

The car has brand new BFGoodrich g-force sport comp-2 tires on the rear. The front tires are Nitto 555’s and have approximately 30% tread left on them. There is not a single curb mark on any of the wheels. I polished and cleaned the surface of the wheels not too long ago. There are spots where brake dust just seems to be imbedded in the corners of the spokes but overall without getting down on your hands and knees and looking very carefully you wouldn’t know they aren’t perfect. The front and rear brake pads have plenty of material left. And the car just recently passed NC inspection. It does have 20% tint on the front windows (the legality of this various from state to state).

I have always tried to be a very honest seller, sometimes to a fault, when it comes to my vehicles. But I hate it when people don’t disclose obvious, or sometimes not so obvious, “issues” with cars they are selling, regardless of how small. But keep in mind I am also a perfectionist when it comes to my vehicles so much of the time the things that I list as “issues” really aren’t that big of a deal. But I want to be completely honest with any potential buyers so there are hopefully no surprises. So below is a list of the few “issues” with the car:

-The underside of the front bumper is scratched… all over. You cannot see these scratches unless you put your head on the ground and look under the front of the car or if you have it on a lift.
-The front lip of the front bumper does have a couple spider cracks in it. They are very tiny and most folks would never see them. And they are not spreading nor is the paint showing any signs of separation.
-There are some scratches just in front of both side mirrors on the front driver and passenger doors. They have been touched up and aren’t noticeable unless you know they are there but none-the-less they are there. The original owner said the dealership actually did this when they replaced the window/door molding. :(
-There are some light scratches and a “scuff” spot under the satellite radio antenna just above the windshield. I think these were either created by dirt that got under the previous sat. antenna and/or when someone tried to fix said scratches. Either way, if you leave the antenna on the car you’ll never see them. But as I said above, I want to be completely up front about any imperfections.
-This one irks me, mainly b/c the wheels and brakes in general otherwise look so good, but the clear coat on the Brembo calipers has started to peel off. From a distance they still look bright red but when you get up close you can see where the clear has peeled away and the caliper has a different shade of red in spots. There is a company that will exchange your calipers for fully rebuilt and repowder-coated ones for $500 but I just never bit the bullet and did it. These might even be able to just be re-cleared as they are and look much better but I never got around to trying that either.
-The paint is not PERFECT… there are small rock chips here and there and possibly a few very small scratches but it isn’t a zero-mileage show car. It’s been driven, as all cars should be, and there are signs of that but overall you’d be hard pressed to ask for much better paint for a car that is 10 years old.
-The car does have one open recall on it and that’s for the driver’s airbag ignitor cartridge. Actually I am unsure if it is confirmed it needs to be replaced or if it’s just on the list to be checked out/verified. But either way I have not taken it in yet. To be quite honest, it’s mostly because I don’t want the yahoo’s at the dealership messing with the car, lol. Also, just trying to find the time to do it. I may find the time to do this before I sell the car but as of me writing this ad it has not been completed.

Back to the good stuff! Since day one of my ownership I have daily drive this car. It has perfect street manners (as long as you keep your foot out of it, lol) and really will get decent gas mileage if you allow it to. I drive a fair amount for work (20k – 25k miles total a year) and very routinely get 17-19 mpg while highway driving, even with a bit of “spirited” driving in there. If you’re really nice to it you will see 20-21 mpg. But even on my daily commute (probably 60/40 highway/city) I still usually at least 15-16 mpg. So while none of those numbers are mind blowing, for the size/weight of the car and the power it has I think they’re pretty impressive. I have coworkers that drive SUV’s and full size pickups that don’t get any better and I have a **** ton more fun than they do!

And while idle characteristics (cam lope) and exhaust tone/loudness are very subjective I will say because I daily drive the car I am much more picky about these things. The way the car sounds b/c of the cam and the exhaust is definitely noticeable but it’s not obnoxious. I purposely changed the components of the exhaust b/c when I got it I would have classified it as just that, obnoxious. And while I enjoy that and can handle that on a secondary vehicle I could not on a DD. As with any catless performance exhaust, it does have some drone but it isn’t “BOOMING” and is only in a very small portion of the RPM band. That is why I had the resonators installed and they did a fantastic job of keeping the aggressive sound but toning down the drone. And when cruising on the highway you won’t even know it has an aftermarket exhaust on it. My wife has no complaints about it at all and we’ve traveled for hours in it as a family. Honestly, if you added cats to it it would probably be pretty subdued. But you don’t usually drive a 650 hp wagon if you want to be “subdued.”

As for the cam, the only time its characteristics require any “special attention” is in cold weather on cold start up. And by this I just mean the car/engine will need to warm up for a couple minutes if you don’t want it to be “jumpy” as you apply light throttle. Honestly it’s not even an issue with me and I take my kid to daycare every morning in the car (don’t worry… no food or drink in the car) but I wanted to describe it just in case someone was curious or knows they are overly sensitive to these types of things. Other than that, your grandma could drive the car and not be annoyed by how it drives. And this is one of the few cars I’ve ever owned that I didn’t feel the need to lower. It’s no Miata but it handles fairly well for the big boat that it is. And while I didn’t want to lower it any I did want to take some of the “slop” out of the suspension so I added the Hotchkis sway bar kit along with Bwoody end links. This in no way negatively affected the ride or handling characteristics… just the opposite actually. The car just feels more responsive and stable in the curves.

And now on to what you really want to know and are hoping it’s worth all the reading you’ve done to this point, lol… The car has put down 550-560 rwhp on the dyno on 93 octane without the methanol injection turned on. I know its rich and I’m fairly certain Johan, the tuner, has left a lot of timing still on the table, mainly b/c I have not wanted to push the limits. It has more than enough power for a DD and I don’t want to risk hurting the short block. But with additional tuning and the meth injection turned on (allowing even more timing) I have no doubt the car/combo is capable of 600+ rwhp. I do have one dyno graph from when the original owner had the car and was running the meth injection and it pulled 575 rwhp in the FL heat/humidity.

I have taken the car to the drag strip once and made probably 6-8 passes with a best of 11.7 @ 122 mph. That was on crappy all-season radials, in cold weather, short shifting 1st, and with a ****ty 2.0 60ft. From the mph it should be obvious this car has easy mid 11’s in it with just a little more traction. I’d really like to get back to the track with my new rear tires (they are much stickier) but with trying to sell the car I figure I probably shouldn’t press my luck. I still may do it though, lol. I’ll update this ad if I do. Ultimately though, this car is a $5000 built short block away from being a reliable 750 rwhp, 10 second beast. I considered it when I did the transmission but ultimately decided that wasn’t my goal for this car. But I’d love to know about it if is for the next owner.

I think that’s about it! I’m sorry for the novel but I’m one who likes to lay it all out on the table. I try and put everything in an ad that I would be looking for or want to know if I were buying the car. Most people fail miserably at this and then they’ll post up two ****ty cell phone pics of the car and ask a premium for it. And on that note, some may think my asking price is over-the-top, and that’s OK, for most people it very well may be. But this is a very well maintained, documented, modified, cared for and unique vehicle. I fully acknowledge it’s going to take just the right buyer and it may take me months to sell the car. That scenario is not one I am unfamiliar with. I am in no hurry to sell the car. And I’ll be honest, the only reason I’m considering selling it is to possibly purchase what I would consider its factory-like, technologically advanced older brother… a Cadillac CTS-V wagon. However, the prices on these are still above my preferred budget so I’m really OK with it taking some time to sell the Maggie b/c I’m hopeful the Vagon prices will continue to fall in that time frame.

So here it finally is… I’m looking to get $23,500 for the car. Clean/clear title in hand. If you think that’s fair, thank you. If you feel it’s close but a little high or you just want to see if I’ll budge, make me a reasonable offer and we’ll see. If you think I’ve lost my mind, I respect your opinion but please refrain from telling me all about it in this post. If you really care that much and feel the need to vent, send me a PM ranting about it (it wouldn’t be the first time, lol).

I do have the CarFax report from when I bought the car that I am willing to share. It just verifies that the car is “clean” and had two previous owners, both whom resided in FL. Nothing has changed since then except the car is now located in the Raleigh, NC area and has more miles on it. That mileage as of now is approximately 56,000. Keep in mind this is my daily driver, I am still driving it, and I do drive 1000+ miles a month. So if you contact me 2-3 months from now don’t freak out when I tell you it now has 59k on it. I will try and update my post as the mileage exceeds 1000 mile increments. ***As of mid-October I will not be daily driving the car any more so the mileage should not increase nearly as fast and it should stay garaged and clean.

Also, I have 5 gallons of Boost Juice that will go with the car. This is for the methanol injection system. The DiabloSport Predator handheld tuner will also go with the car.

OK, I’ve covered a LOT above but it’s certainly possible I missed something. So if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to respond here, PM, or email me ([email protected])

Thanks for taking the time to read all this mess,
Ryan

Below are just a few full sized pics. Please scroll through the PhotoBucket album viewer or click on the link to see all of the full sized images directly from PB. There were just too many to upload directly to this forum. Keep in mind at the time of the photos the odometer read 55k miles and the new BFG tires were not on yet. Also, I forgot to take engine pics at the same time so the ones shown are when I first bought the car. Nothing has changed except it might be a little cleaner and there is now a BilletFlow oil separator (brushed aluminum in color) mounted to the left of the throttle body.

http://s34.photobucket.com/user/CarCrazyRDM/slideshow/For Sale - SRT8 Magnum

Update: Here are a couple of short video clips of the car I shot for an interested buyer a month or two ago. They are the best bet they let you see all around the car and here it idle/rev etc.

https://youtu.be/Fm3c7ONhQ1Y
https://youtu.be/Ki5SlbnTrSM


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Last edited:

trc46

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You can't get rid of it!! They only made 3800 srt8 magnums and even less when you consider the year and color with options, this car is easily a 1 of 500 if not more rare. I'd drop the short block in and fall back in love!
 

Teal Terminator

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Almost did the built short block when I had it at Arrington but ultimately decided I knew I wasn't going to want to keep the car for the long haul and it wasn't worth the $5k. But you're right, that's all this thing will need if someone wants serious power out of it. But quite honestly you can probably crank it up to 600+ rwhp and have it live a long happy life as long as your tune is straight.
 

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