Luckily for me, and the rest of us here at Mishimoto, my friend Larry has always been a fan of Mopars, and was gracious enough to loan us his modified 2015 Charger R/T in the vibrant B5 blue. Something about the bellow it made on the first start up changed the prejudices I used to have about muscle cars, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t do a search for ‘15+ Chargers that same day. Lo and behold, I get it now.

Upon raising the hood to unveil Dodge’s versatile 5.7 V8, I also get why there is such a market for aftermarket paneling and engine bay accessories. While most of the engine bay is nestled under some sort of cover to keep up the Charger and Challenger’s orderly demeanor, there are a few components that do their best to cause blemishes. For instance, the stock airbox utilizes one of the infamous “waffle iron” induction hoses, attached to a plain polyethylene box. It’s not something that “wows” the crowd, to say the least. Luckily, that is one of the first items replaced in the name of performance and appearance with these cars, on top of covering the nest of ABS lines. Even with those hidden, there’s still one main eyesore left under the hood, the translucent white expansion tank.

There are a few issues with this expansion tank at first glance, the first being that it sticks out like a sore thumb against the rest of the engine bay. Its bulbous shape doesn’t fit in with the rest of the flat and angular surfaces. While the white and translucent polypropylene is the obvious choice for Dodge and most other manufacturers for any sort of reservoir tank, it clashes with Dodge’s current aesthetic. Granted, this construction is vastly popular in the general manufacturing of vehicles because not only is it inexpensive to mass produce, but it also makes for easier monitoring of your coolant level. Those are all valid pros for equipping the flagship full-sized sedan and sports coupe with them, but at the risk of sounding like Regina George (yes, that was a Mean Girls reference), it’s ugly.

Even though Dodge might not be experiencing problems yet with degrading tanks, the constant heating and cooling cycles take their toll on the plastic construction. Cracked expansion tanks are not only the worst way to cut your cruise short, but coolant soaking into your engine bay components looks worse than an unsightly tank.

Keep an eye out for the design plans and strategies to improve the look under the hood of your Chargers and Challengers, and increase the lifespan of your coolant system.

It might have been a little over a year since I started to drift to the dark side after rumbling across the Delaware Memorial Bridge and into our R&D facility in the B5 blue Charger to start on this project, but that doesn’t mean we took any time off. The plan is simple. Create a fresh, new coolant reservoir tank that looks more at home next to the 5.7L or mega 6.4L V8s, all while improving the durability and increasing fluid capacity. The first step to all of this, though, is making sure that our planned design fits properly.

We started by bringing our initial design to life as a 3D print, using our Faro Scan Arm to get us there, but modeling software can only get us so far. To ensure that we’re delivering top-notch components for your Mopar, we created a tangible representation of our initial design to install on the B5 blue Charger R/T.

From our plastic printout, we were able to take measurements to make sure our design nestles in the engine bay as if it came from the factory. We even took our fitment testing a step further with this tank. Since the design of the 2011+ Charger’s and Challenger’s expansion tank is a bit more on the complex side, plus the tolerances on the 3D printer are a little more precise than bending metal, we had our master fabricator piece together our tank’s design from scratch.

Armed with the knowledge that our intricate Mopar tank is more than feasible, and fits like a glove, we went right into mass production in order to improve the styling and durability of your LX chassis Charger/Challenger. Where both of these modern Mopars might have scorching hot looks that are hard to contain, we here at Mishimoto devised the best way to contain your hot coolant while adding to the aesthetic of your engine bay.