After the exterior and interior appearances were completed, it was time to customise the engine bay to complete The Batram. There were many things that I never liked about the factory configuration, namely the mess of wires & pipes. Most of them were little annoyances that with a little thought, could and should have been dealt with by the factory. For me, this engine bay build was all about appearance and continuing the Batram's theme. My goals were: keep it clean, simple and subtle, remove what I didn't need or want and re-route or hide wiring. I also wanted to powdercoat or paint black the non-black objects. If they couldn't be painted, wrap or cover them tastefully to make them blend in and preferably become "invisible" to anyone viewing my engine bay. Like the rest of the truck, all it needed was a little vision and attention to detail.

I had intended to supercharge the Batram, which is another reason for going auto; stronger and more consistent. However, after some hard running and launches with the new 4L80E installed, I decided that a supercharger wasn't the way to go. As is, the truck and it's close to 600hp, is a new animal and the kick down is wicked. Off the line in the dry it hooks well, just. Doing 30-40kph and flooring it in slightly damp (morning frost) conditions will cause the rear end to step out quite hard. It will also haze the tyres in those same conditions at 80-100kph when the trans kicks down @ WOT. Adding a supercharger to this truck would be completely pointless. I have always aimed to build The Batram's power plant to be reliable, fun and safe. Not being able to do a kickdown is a waste of one of an automatics fun features. Not being able to do it due to traction issues was not appealing to me at all. It's one thing having big power but another putting it to the ground. You've gotta walk the torque!

The 505ci V10 Viper engine is making an estimated 490-500rwhp (590-600hp at the flywheel). It was 413rwhp stock (500fly). The Batram has every external bolt-on bar new heads. These include: long tube headers, catless mid pipes, full 3" exhaust, cold air induction system with catch can, crankcase breather, custom SCT tune, 170 t-stat, throttle body, coil packs, Iridium plugs and high performance wires. The racing spec automatic trans makes the BATRAM more of a daily driving, straightline brawler. While it was fun with a manual trans in twisty road and power shifting circumstances, I wanted something more consistent and more adept at handling power. Other factors were reliability, straightline performance, the luxury & ease in heavy traffic situations and it's consistency to pull it's best and fastest times, anywhere, any time. Being very happy with the power & performance factors, the following work was all about the visual appearance of The Batram. Now that it's finally complete, I am absolutely over the moon. It's one of the best and most fun vehicles I have EVER had the privilege of owning and driving.