NEW Mopar Crate HEMI Engine Kits

Mopar’s Crate HEMI Engine Kits let owners of any 1975-or-earlier Mopar bolt in genuine modern HEMI power — 383 horsepower from the 5.7-liter kit or 485 horsepower from the 6.4-liter version — without chasing down custom wiring or tuning. Each kit ships with an unlocked, pre-calibrated PCM that sidesteps the usual factory security headaches of a late-model engine swap. Debuted on two complete builds at the 2016 SEMA Show, the kits have owners of everything from Dusters to Aspens asking if their own project qualifies. Watch the full rundown of what’s included.

For decades, dropping modern horsepower into a numbers-matching classic meant chasing down custom wiring harnesses, aftermarket ECUs, and a lot of trial and error just to make a late-model engine talk to an old car. Mopar decided to just solve that problem officially. The company quietly released two crate engine packages built specifically to bolt modern HEMI power into anything built in 1975 or earlier — no custom tuning degree required. The catch, and the part that got enthusiasts genuinely excited in the comments, is exactly how far back that compatibility window reaches.

Two Kits, Two Displacement Options

Mopar’s Crate HEMI Engine Kit lineup launched with two distinct packages: the 345 kit built around the 5.7-liter HEMI, rated at 383 horsepower and 425 lb-ft of torque once paired with the kit’s unlocked factory PCM, and the larger 392 kit built around the 6.4-liter HEMI, holding steady at 485 horsepower and 472 lb-ft. Both numbers represent genuine, streetable output levels that would have sounded like fantasy to anyone shopping for a Charger or Challenger when these engines were new. Both kits use a modern coil-near-plug ignition system and sequential fuel injection carried straight over from the donor HEMI’s factory design, meaning owners get genuine late-model reliability and cold-start behavior rather than the compromises that come with running a carbureted engine or a jury-rigged aftermarket injection system.

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Built for Cars That Predate the Emissions Era

The kits were specifically designed to work with any Mopar-era vehicle from model year 1975 or earlier, an intentional cutoff that lines up with when emissions regulations began fundamentally reshaping how engines could legally be modified and installed. That makes the kit a direct fit for the Dodge Charger, Dodge Challenger, and Plymouth ‘Cuda, along with plenty of less glamorous Mopar platforms that never got the six-figure restoration budget those nameplates command.

An Unlocked PCM Changes Everything

Unlike a straightforward engine swap using a stock factory computer, Mopar’s kit ships with the PCM unlocked and pre-calibrated specifically for retrofit installation, sidestepping the anti-theft and factory-specific security measures that make late-model engine swaps notoriously difficult for hobbyists. That single detail is arguably the most significant part of the whole package — it turns what used to be a project requiring specialized tuning knowledge into something a competent home mechanic can realistically complete. Owners who’ve attempted late-model LS or modern HEMI swaps without a factory-backed kit know how much time can disappear into chasing anti-theft immobilizer faults, CAN-bus communication errors, and security-related limp modes that a stock ECU throws when it senses it’s no longer in its original vehicle — problems this kit is specifically engineered to avoid entirely.

Priced Like a Serious Upgrade, Not a Toy

At $1,795 for either kit, layered on top of the cost of the actual 5.7-liter or 6.4-liter HEMI service engine itself, this isn’t a budget bolt-on — it’s positioned as a genuine investment for owners who already have a suitable engine or are willing to buy one alongside the kit. Mopar backs the combination with a two-year, unlimited-mileage warranty, a notable commitment for parts destined to go into decades-old vehicles well outside factory service networks.

Manual Transmissions First, Automatics Second

The kits are explicitly optimized for manual transmission applications, though Mopar notes that automatics like the Torqueflite 727 and 904 can be adapted with additional work. That prioritization reflects who Mopar expects to actually buy these kits: enthusiasts building driver-focused restomods rather than buyers looking for the easiest possible installation, a distinction that shows up repeatedly in the comment section from owners asking about transmission compatibility for their own specific project cars. Choosing manual-first support also lines up with where Mopar sees the bulk of this market: builders converting cars that never had an automatic to begin with, like early Darts and Valiants, rather than owners retrofitting a modern engine into a car that already came from the factory with a slushbox.

SEMA Showcases Prove the Concept

Mopar didn’t just announce these kits on a spec sheet — the company built two complete demonstration vehicles for the 2016 SEMA Show specifically to showcase them installed and running: a Dodge Shakedown Challenger and a Jeep CJ66. Putting the kits in front of the industry’s biggest specialty parts audience, installed in finished builds rather than described in the abstract, was a deliberate move to show serious builders exactly what a completed retrofit could look like. SEMA attendees got to see and hear both demonstration vehicles running under show conditions, a considerably more convincing pitch than a printed spec sheet, and photos and video from the show circulated widely enough afterward to drive a meaningful chunk of the interest reflected in this video’s own comment section.

The Compatibility Questions Keep Coming

The comments read almost like an ongoing customer support thread, with owners asking whether the kit will fit a 1978 Aspen, whether it’s compatible with a Torqueflite 727, and even whether it could somehow be adapted to a 1962 Corvette. Mopar’s official cutoff is 1975, which technically excludes several of those specific applications, but the volume and specificity of the questions shows just how much pent-up demand exists among owners of unglamorous, non-Charger Mopars for exactly this kind of factory-backed power upgrade. That mismatch between what the kit officially supports and what owners actually want to bolt it into is common with any factory-backed retrofit product, and it usually resolves itself over time as the aftermarket fills gaps the manufacturer isn’t willing to officially warranty.

A Gateway Into Mopar’s Wider Crate Lineup

Beyond the two headline kits, Mopar’s broader crate engine catalog has continued expanding in the years since this video was published, adding displacement options and drag-race-oriented Hellephant and Hellcrate variants that push well past 800 horsepower for buyers chasing something even more extreme. But the original 345 and 392 kits remain the accessible entry point into that ecosystem — streetable, warrantied, and specifically engineered for exactly the kind of pre-1975 project cars that make up the bulk of the classic Mopar hobby. For a company built on selling factory-warrantied parts, offering a legitimate on-ramp into eight-hundred-plus horsepower territory while still supporting the modest, streetable end of the lineup shows Mopar treating its restomod customer base as seriously as it treats buyers of brand-new performance cars.

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