Gen III Hemi - From Junkyard to Dragstrip

I thought I would start a new thread on the latest adventure here at OST Dyno.
I indicated in a few of the current Gen III Hemi threads that I would try to provide some details on a build thread for a junkyard 5.7 and various performance modifications.

I don't actually intend to take the junkyard engine down the track but I will be testing various mods on our chassis dyno for reference.

The primary reason for this endeavor is to test various products we will be selling online for modifying these engines. These product will include: intake manifold flanges, exhaust manifold flanges, drag pack to 90mm TB adapters,
and reselling items like the EFI Source Gen III Hemi gold box, TTI headers, swap kits, front motor plates with waterpump adapters, mid plates etc.

So here we go!

The engine fresh from the boneyard. I have been assured it is a runner. I've purchased quite a few engines from this yard and have yet to have one not run well:




And it says "good" on the valve cover so all should be well!




Next is the test platform. Our recently purchased 23T Altered. This formerly housed a BBC but we're going to change that....






Here's the trans. A powerglide w/straight cuts and a pro brake. This is the biggest hold up in the project right now. I ordered a JW Ultra Bell for it 3 weeks ago and it was supposed to be delivered 2 weeks ago. Now I am told it won't ship until the 2nd week in January
If anyone has a JW Ultra Bell for a glide to a small mopar or Gen III Hemi PLEASE let me know.



First on the agenda was to see if the engine even turned over on the stand. So I pulled all the coil packs and one plug from each cylinder(they looked crappy like most junkyard engines)and spun the engine with a breaker bar. I probably could have turned the pulley with my hands it spun so freely.

I also took my bore scope and checked each cylinder. They also looked typical for a junkyard engine and no broken pistons! A little purple power to wipe down the valve covers and she doesn't look so bad.



Ok, so I wanted to find out if my JW Ultra Bell was really going to be shipped on Jan 16th so I called JW myself. Sure enough the EARLIEST it will ship is Jan 16th

This is really going to cramp my plans to have this car ready for the track in April.

So in the mean time......

I grabbed a couple of timing covers off the scrap trailer so you can see the difference between a 5.7 truck cover and a car cover. THe car cover is much cleaner. I'm going to need to take a sawzall to the truck cover on my "test" engine just because it's so stinking ugly.



Truck cover "protrusion"



Car cover - not as bad




On to another topic. My EFI Source Hemi "gold box" showed up today! So far I am very impressed with the MS3 based product. Nice packaging, good instructions and very easy to install.





It even came with a free T-shirt




Do not be intimidated by all the wires. I have made my own harnesses before and this is one very nicely made, well fitted and clearly labeled. Again, very nice.








I love lots of grounds!




Having worked on and modified Megasquirt units in the past I couldn't resist opening this one up and seeing how EFI Source did the coil drivers. I built an MS3x for a Hemi several years ago and used external coil driver which were cumbersome and ugly. EFI Source did and excellent job of putting these on the board, inside the case and with a good heat sink (those babies get hot).






Very nice soldering too!




One important test I had to try after putting the unit back together. Will all the connectors fit?
I slid the coil back back on the valve covers, grabbed the harness and went to town.

It took me exactly 2 minutes and 30 seconds to completely wire the engine with the EFI Source harness. I wasn't trying to do this quickly. I just happened to look at my phone before I started (thinking it was probably going to take 20-30 minutes). Every single connector plugged right in, was the perfect length/position and was labeled appropriately. Two minutes and 30 seconds! Amazing!





My LS ported throttle body had the proper TPS and IAC connectors as well.



The only problem was that this harness was not designed to work with the MAP sensor on a truck intake manifold. But who in their right mind would run a truck manifold on one of these anyway! I'll be swapping out to a car 5.7 intake and eventually a 6.1 intake. The MAP sensor wire will then work without issue.



Speaking of Gen III Hemi swaps - look what showed up at the shop today. A Bee with a supercharged 6.1

And what year is this and what did it come out of..
I will be following this

This is gonna be cool! Someone give this guy a bellhousing so he can start testing.

Quote:

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And what year is this

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I believe it's 2014 at least for a few more days.....

JK - I have no idea what year the engine is. From the front cover I can tell it's out of a truck, from the coil packs it's 2005 or newer. I also know it's not a VVT engine so that's about as much as I can narrow it down