The number one reason these engine are not being used is no Distributor, it’s not cost effective without another 2 grand worth of electrical stuff, plus the big money for someone to tune it. A real shame since the engine is a great platform.

MSD hemi6 is not $2000

Holley finally came out with a decent looking intake for a carb with a decent price too boot!

Between MSD hemi6, Holley intake and a new carb you can still be under $2000 for all of that combined.

You would spend more on a set of trickflows for a SB and still not make as much power as a JY 5.7 with that set up on top of it.

No, buying all new stuff would put BOTH Gen III and the LA engine in same ballpark BUT there’s tons of cheap good parts out there for the LA or Magnum platform plus one can pick them up from the yards for $100 to $300. The lowest Ive seen for a 5.7 is $1500 then you’ll spend $2000 for all the extras to get it in car and running, very little used stuff out there yet for them. Let alone the 392 engines It’s not a bargain basement engine. Be realistic

Gonna have a real hard time building a $3500 SB that will make the power a JY 5.7 will with that carb and intake. Heck whatever carb you use on the SB would work on the hemi so really you buy the MSD and intake.


PS... I have bought several 6.4s under $1000, you just got to know where to look just like finding real good cheap SB goodies... I just had a long block show up in a crate for $900 total including shipping with just a bad cam, I have never even heard of a pair $900 SB heads that flow 340 CFM much less a long block less cam 392 CID SB for that price.

I have $1100 in a 360-380 that I put together with ported heads, adjustable rockers, better springs pushrods and guide plates, M1intake plus everything new inside that will make more power than a stock 5.7. And it will drop right in any car with no special mounts, oil pan, high dollar headers or special pully brackets etc. All that additional stuff adds up quick. But if ya got deep pockets go for it.

I think it's more the power potential they have with stock parts. A boosted Gen III can make 4 digit HP.

In its first year Chrysler’s press release said the new 5.7 was
“6% more fuel efficient”
than the previous Magnum 5.9V8

a portion of that must have been no distributor drive
another portion 2 spark plugs per cylinder
another portion thinner piston rings
another portion higher dynamic compression ratio

Also much improved windage with the oil from the top end bypassing the spinning crank and a good windage tray. Plastic intake keeping the air going into the engine 100 degrees cooler than the magnum could. Bone stock heads flow as much as a heavily ported SB head. Lighter and lower located weight. Crank driven oil pump instead of gear driven.

Also while a 380 crate 360 may make as much as a stock 5.7 it will be more peaky than the 5.7 and it will not touch a 6.4.

I used to make all the same arguments he is for years and years but stuff has changed, 360s are getting harder to find that are not sacked out and the JY prices are going up, new hemis are getting easier to find and cheaper, good parts are coming out at more reasonable prices like the holley intake I mentioned, eagle heads on an early short block is cheap and it makes a beast of an engine especially if you throw in a 6.1 cam with 100% stock parts, those later heads flow as much as heavily worked W2s at high valve lift and will flat destroy a W2 head at lower valve lifts. You don't need any special pulleys and stuff, I don't know where that idea comes from, it is all in the JY just like SB stuff and even more so.

If you are new to the hobby or starting with a clean slate the bang per buck to go gen III is all there. If you are starting clean it would be smarter to go EFI with a new hemi anyways. You get your fuel system AND ignition system handled in one setup. You can even say that for a old engine platform also.

When you are and ol mopar guy and you have a shed full of parts it makes sense to stay small block.

HotRodDave, you don't happen to have a good 6.4 crank for sale do you?

This is like saying "I'm not buying a model T because it doesn't run on oats and grain like my horse n buggy and this new gasoline stuff is too expensive."

New engines are apples to oranges vs the older stuff. Cam sensors, fuel injection, MAFs, O2 sensors...the list goes on. All of these things are the exact reason why new engines are far and away superior.

That's rather humorous, in hindsight. My last Magnum-powered truck couldn't go 500 km (310 miles) on a tank. My first Hemi easily went 100-150 km further on the same size tank. The Magnum was undrivable in cruise control, as the O/D constantly hunted, even on a relatively flat highway. Hills the Magnum (318) couldn't get up in high gear, with NO load, the Hemi could go up in O/D, with a 3000 lb car on a 2000 lb trailer behind it. I'm now on my 4th Hemi truck. Two weeks ago, I rolled out of Kalispell with a full tank. Drove 65-75 mph all the way home. 665 km. The range indicator showed 224 km to empty when we pulled in the driveway. Same size tank as my old 318 Magnum, in a 4x4 Crew Cab 1500.

Another quote I vaguely remember was a few years later when the 5.7 Hemi V8 got its variable length intake runner manifold and variable valve timing.

The official quote was something similar to:

This new 5.7 version can make more Torque at idle RPM
than the old Magnum 5.9 V8 could make at 3200 RPM

But... that plastic tensioner on the timing chain of the later year 5.7 was not an improvement

I can get 5.7's out of the local pick 'n pull for $250 now.

Mark Z

what pick and pull, I call around and no one ever has a 5.7, 6.1 or 6.4?? I am in Michigan as well.

2001 Ram Van, 360 magnum, cruise never hunts at 45 or 75 up and down hills but it is a gas guzzler, 15 mpg tops, torque out the Ying Yang

My wife has a 2000 Ram 3500 van 5.9 magnum for a daily driver, we drove it 430 miles yesterday and it never hunts for gears like my 5.7 hemi ram. The TQ down low is great but man it has no power at all compared to the hemi when I want to pass someone. I like the new engines but HATE HATE HATE the new transmissions. I think if the transmission was programmed to actually keep the hemi at lower RPM it would be fine, I had one with a 5 speed in a 2500 ram and could lug it down low and it was just fine, the new automatic just wants to downshift for no reason at all at the mear thought of a hill, heck it downshifts going down a hill! Udderly stupid...

Going to look at one with misfire codes. I'm gonna bring my scanner along, how robust are these things internally? I've never dealt with one beyond an oil change. I usually buy 318 powered vehicles.