It’s a joke we make often, and maybe even one you’ve made yourself: Chrysler Pacifica Hellcat When? But it’s one thing to engage in a meme, and another entirely to go off and do the thing. Well, goonzquad did the thing, porting a Hellcat powertrain into a van body that looks like it was abandoned somewhere in a Florida swamp after a work trip gone horribly wrong. Think part sleeper, part creeper and you’re basically there.
Like any good Hellcat swap, this one began with a wrecked LX car and a dream. The donor was a green Challenger Hellcat Redeye (meaning it had nearly 800 horsepower as it came from the factory vs. the 707 found in the the “standard” Hellcat) that appears to have spent some time shiny-side down before an uncomfortable introduction to the jaws of life, but as badly rashed as the body is, the engine and gearbox work just fine.
As for the van? Well, that required a bit more creativity. The Pacifica still rides on a (now relatively old) platform that was originally intended for front- and all-wheel-drive minivans powered by a transversely mounted engine. Despite the factory provision for a rear axle, the van’s structure nonetheless needed some pretty serious surgery to accommodate the supercharged V8.
The team’s original plan was to put together a little before/after showcasing the van’s exhaust note. Unfortunately, the van arrived with a cracked oil pan and their efforts at a parking-lot rebuild proved fruitless; the car instead went off for a visit with a chassis surgeon, who actually had some good news: the engine compartment is actually roomier than a Grand Cherokee Trackhawk’s (which was also Hellcat-powered); the only issue was the lack of space for the gearbox in the rear of the bay—nothing a sawzall can’t solve, right?
After cutting the chassis from the firewall back to accommodate the transmission and driveshaft, the Hemi ends up fitting nicely underhood, even leaving enough room for the Challenger’s original cooling components. The interior fit isn’t quite so clean (that center console is a hot mess) but things line up well enough for a start-up and engine rev demo. There’s no footage of it out and about; we suspect they’re saving that for a future video.
Now, if only all Pacificas sounded that good.
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Byron is an editor at The Drive with a keen eye for infrastructure, sales and regulatory stories.
