Hello all,

I've decided to put a Gen III engine together for my '65 Belvedere and started poking around looking for a block. I want to use someone's stroker kit with a 4.050 crank, h beam 6.125 rods, 12:1 + comp pistons retaining a hyd. roller cam and stock rockers. I'm hoping to make 700ish hp. I was shopping for a block and found a 2013 5.7 long block that supposedly had 110k and was running when replaced in his Charger. This has the Eagle heads and is complete minus the intake (don't care, using carburation) and I can pick it up reasonably. Is the 2013 block useable for this or do I have to find a older block minus the MDS/VVT? I'm unsure about this and don't want to waste money buying the wrong block. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

The 5.7 Eagle is a good package , but you'd need to spend around $400 extra for the vvt cam and you'll have no other choice (at this time) but a single row timing chain.
An earlier 5.7 or a 6.1 would eliminate those things.
Or you could look for a 6.4 long , which comes with great heads and the largest bore size, it still has the same vvt caveats as the eagle , but with a stroker crank you could let the cubes help you achieve your HP goals.

So I'm guessing that there's some difference with the cam snout and the block? I see mostly older 5.7 blocks or aftermarket blocks being used for these types of builds, and that concerns me. When you say I'll need to spend an extra $400 for a VVT cam do you mean to replace the existing cam with a non-VVT cam? Are cam companies regrinding the OE roller cams for these builds? Is the VVT rocker gear different than the non-VVT rocker gear? I'm putting off picking this engine up until I'm sure it's right for what I'm trying to do, and right now I just don't know. I believe a lot of the reason these engines are so underused is the lack of available information regarding parts interchangeability and combos that work.

I would second the 6.4 long block. It is cheaper than buying the better heads (not that the eagle won't do 700 but the apache will do it easier) and a stroker crank to get the same cubes, also the bigger bore of the 6.4 makes it easier. Add a tall drag pack intake, long tube headers a bigger cam and your most of the way there. They are making about 500 HP the way old schoolers measure HP, and that is with an emmission friendly cam, exhaust, intake, NVH requirements, tune...

I’ve been told the main caps are the weak link with the 5.7 unless it’s been addressed with the later models.putting any serious power to those motors is asking for problems.

people are turning the hell cats and demons over 1000hp with the same caps and bolts so I don't think they are a big problem.

Yes the cam phaser for the vvt required block and cam changes that only left room for a single row chain , the cheapest performance vvt cam price i hve seen $750.
There are lots of high power vvt builds out there , but i thought it worth a. mention.

I've spent many hours going back through the posts here, I recomend it, theres a lot of knowlage from people with first hand experiance, eventually it will all get clearer and you'll be able to put a plan together.

Thanks a lot for the help, appreciate your posts. It may not matter as I haven't heard back from the seller so he could give me the address. It was a great deal, almost too good to be true, which I think it may be . We'll see what happens, I'm supposed to pick it up tomorrow. Just the heads and rocker gear are worth more then I'll pay if it happens, so it's all good either way.

The long block deal fell thru, but I did end up getting a very nice pair of low mileage Eagle head assemblies with all rocker gear for next to nothing. To the naked eye they appear to be in great shape, no valves hung open on dropped seats, no scorch marks on the deck and no visible cracks. Not sure if I'll use them or find a pair of new Apaches, but it was nice to find good parts so cheap that have such great potential!

Hard to resist a bargin , might be able to flip them , and put the proceeds towards a nice set of THITEK,s

One other thing on the vvt engines. You had mentioned putting a carburetor on it. There is no simple option for standalone ignition control on the vvt engines like the earlier ones with the MSD 6 Hemi box or the distributor conversion. You will essentially need the full EFI setup minus the injection. At which point you might as well just stay fuel injected.

Yeah, that was really the kind of information I was after. Looks like a 2003-8 is what I'm after.