Heads, intake, cam, springs, forged crank and rods instead of cast are the biggest differences. The block is supposed to be a little stronger but looking at them side by side....I dunno if that's really true.

The thing is, everything mentioned above will swap on to a 5.7. The crank for example literally drops right in. You can make darn near the same power with a 5.7 for alot less money, but it'll never be considered the crown jewel like the 6.1.

The 6.1 is larger CI to begin with and has more potential for bigger displacement via the plethora of stroker kits out there..... But again the 5.7 isn't far behind and is dirt cheap in comparison.

I'm more than likely picking up a 5.7 today to mess with and it'll be the second one I've rebuilt. The first one was bone stock, just needed bearings, but this one is in rougher shape. Mopar has forged .020 over pistons for only 200 bucks right now (see my post in the new product area) so those will likely go in it, and I'm thinking about a 6.1 crank and rod upgrade also. Low buck forged bottom end. I'm thinking about running this one on carbs instead of FI just to be different.