I bought this 472 Hemi crate engine in 2005 as I stated, it was built by Cummins for Mopar Performance at the end of 2004. As anyone who bought a new Mopar Performance crate Hemi between when they were introduced to the public, and up until Mopar Performance switched vendors from Cummins knows,that these engines should be dismantled by a competent machine shop and gone through to check for subpar parts and assembly issues. I have seen and heard horror stories about them. When I bought my engine, my friend had just finished installing his first 472 Hemi crate engine in his car, and his second 472 Hemi crate engine was still in the crate, and the car it was going into was still under construction. When I started hearing that his first engine was leaking coolant and oil shortly after he started running the engine, and the fact that Cummins put head gaskets for a 528 Hemi engine on his 472 Hemi engine, and then he found out that the rear main seal was installed backwards, I started wondering what I got myself into! Then after my friends first engine started breaking the rocker arm adjustment studs, which wiped out one rocker arm, and fortunately with the use of a telescopic magnet we were able to retrieve the broken pieces of the adjustment studs before they caused catastrophic engine failure, I was starting to panic about the possibility of major issues with my engine. It only got worse when my friends second 472 Hemi engine lunched the camshaft due to an improperly hardened camshaft for Comp Cams. Soon after that I started reading other horror stories of major issues and catastrophic failures with the Cummins assembled Mopar Performance crate Hemi engines, I was sick! I paid 13 grand for an engine that I was afraid to even run! When we pulled the oil pan on my friends first engine, we found out that it didn't even have a windage tray in it. To me a windage tray is very important to the survival of a second generation Hemi engine, as they are known for top end oiling issues at high RPMs. The windage tray helps keep the oil in the pan,where it has access to the pickup for the pump,instead of the oil balling up around the crankshaft caused by centrifical force,causing possible oil starvation issues. So after seeing and hearing the stories, I just let the engine sit in the car and never ran it for the last 13 years, only rotating in occasionally to keep it turning freely. I am looking forward to having my machine shop completely going through the engine, and upgrading it with the Edelbrock top end kit, Fitech dual quad fuel injection system, and running it on the dyno. I will finally be able to use the engine for its intended purpose.


70 Charger R/T SE 472 Hemi 70 Charger R/T convertible 70 Charger R/T V Code Sixpack 69 Charger R/T SE Sunroofcar 68 Charger 383 68 Charger 318 71 Charger R/T 70 Challenger convertible 71 Challenger convertible 71 Cuda 340 09 Challenger R/T Classic