We discuss small blocks on here all day, and nobody mentions my favorite, the P5 Hemi......What happened to all of those, and who was making them?

Hell if they actually made that head fit the current Ritter blocks, I might be interested in going back to a small block, but it is so hard to come by any real knowledge on them .....At 358 cubes, those things made north of 1100hp! Can you imagine a 440 P5 Hemi small block and an F2 on it?

So where did those go? Why isn't anyone interested in those engines? I am sorry, but I am not a NASCAR fan, and its one of the reasons I do not want one of the current offerings. All you have to say is its a NASCAR engine, and I just cringe.....Apparently they do make a good drag car engine when built right, but what about an engine designed for drag racing?

https://www.mbellc.com/p5-dodge-hemi

Don't they run the P-5 down under in Pro Stock?

That is not the standard Mopar P5 head used in NASCAR racing, me thinks I remember hearing about the R3 blocks with the P5 heads use din NASCAR racing and the later R5/P7 block and heads that replace the R3/P5 parts.
I don't think it is the old NHRA Mopar Pro stock truck head either I think those where the later W7 and W9 heads that some racers on here are still using on the R block SB race motors

I guess you guys have heard of Eatmon>

http://www.eatmonraceparts.com/categories/Engines/

but these are only a mere 850hp, here's a vid of a Dart running 1 at 2019 Drag Week.. 9.39et.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT3...DnbbNdX2UL1pHUwvrmPnYLm0ngs5-K3AsgcWuMno

how long would 1 of those motors last 1/4 mile at a time.....

Didn’t think Brad Bowers 9.09 was too shabby for a drag week car with a W8 mill.

All the Aussie Pro Stock stuff has a billet head, Slawko or VED from what I've seen. The cast stuff from the early days would crack in the intake bowl from what I've been told. Mopar did a revision and called it the P9, I think aimed more so at the dirt track Midget 4 cylinder racing. Brett Miller had a set a while ago for something, no idea what came of that project.

There are some guys running the cast heads on some Super Stock cars. Elite Motorsport have done a few 358 cube engines that made a lot of power. Bob Book has done several of the 400 cube versions for Aussie P/S.
Main issue is getting blocks, a lot of the R4 stuff that is getting raced with these engines has 8 sleeves and an almost complete fill on the block.

Marshall Pearcy is still racing one in his Challenger, I think that has a large single turbo on it now? Hopefully he chimes in.

They're not at all a cheap exercise, and the very limited number of blocks available makes it even worse, that and most people don't want to build 2.8-3hp N/A engines

Yep. https://www.enginelabs.com/news/video-book-racings-aussie-pro-stock-small-block-mopars-crank-it-up/
This was a few years ago. IDK, Might be different now

The R5/P7 engine is a great combo. A local has one, and said he can't break it. Leaves the starting line at 7500, and shifts the Lenco at 9500.

yah with nascar and WoO you think their be stuff

I’m not sure Woo ever went R5/P7.... pretty sure that and late model racing is where the W9 came into play due to its weight advantage over the W8.

Tom Mettler runs the P5 hemi small block in Comp Eliminator with their PS Truck. Elite Motosport has taken over the R&D on the engine.

Isnt Marty Pearcy running a hemi headed P5 in the challenger? big A$$ turbo...

Actually I think it is Patterson-Elite out of Augusta, Kansas. I have seen his engines in crates there.

In my opinion the fastest drag race small block Mopar or perhaps any small block is an engine running the P5 Drag Race heads. I think the original heads are hard to find and of questionable quality but Slawco makes a very good, and probably very expensive replacement.

Scott Gove runs a P5 Daytona in NHRA Super Stock (SS/AM) and most of the time he will be the quickest and fastest (7.80s)(170s) Super Stock car on the property. I have seen his engines at Patterson-Elite also. If anything is faster it will be supercharged.

I have always been intrigued by the old NASCAR R5/P7 engines. They seem to be a very good value and you see a lot of them run very well with great durability on the drag strip. However I have never seen one in NHRA Comp Eliminator and I think if they were that great for drag racing we would see at least one or two there. Of course unless you are there or the announcer says something it is hard to know what flavor of small block is in a car.

As mentioned a R5/P7 Drag Week this year and did well. It was a nice looking stick shift car with engine setback. However I was more impressed with the Brad Bower / Brett Miller W8 that was faster both days and maybe overall. I don't think the Bower Dart can be called a max effort yet.

The P5 stuff is almost unobtanium, the reason you don't hear or see much about them. Blocks are almost non existent, heads if they are cast are basically sprinklers so you are kind of forced into billet for both anymore. The folks who have good blocks certainly wont let one go. I spent a fair amount of time at RWR and saw all that stuff first hand. Waters was part of the original development of the head for PST, he also was there doing them for Aussie Pro Stock until someone "stole" his customers. Now that RWR is gone its not important but Rick is a wealth of knowledge about the stuff. At one point he did most all of them. If they were available and out there one would find its way into a certain red car.

It's a real shame that Rick Watters is no longer in business, he really did a lot of the ground work with the P5 stuff.

The reality is with this platform is they will run out of blocks for them, and it would be why, as Al stated, you don't see many of these engines. The most recent release of them, they were too thin in the bores, so everyone is trying to find the early blocks.

I know a ex Comp Eliminator racer that started looking at doing a R5/P7 engine for Comp Eliminator (A/EA) about 10 years ago, he didn't feel there would be enough interest in them, so he pulled the pin on the project. He has CFE do a top end and Comp do a camshaft for it.

Does Rick work for the McGaha's Southwest Machine in Odessa, TX? I have always thought they did outside work but it might be limited to ProStock.

Al, do the Slawco heads leak? I thought that is what was being run.

Is there a Ritter Block that can be used or adapted to a P5 head?

Yes Rick works for Mcgaha now, on the pro stock stuff and other family racecar and hot rod stuff primarily. Keeps him plenty busy. I don't think enough folks are aware of how much Rick had to do with the beginnings of the entire Mopar Pro Stock truck program and the design of the P5 stuff. He is a very smart guy when it comes to engine devlopement and when it comes to a dyno operator/tuner I have never met a better one.

The Slawko stuff IS the standard, but not for the faint of wallet. Yes they ALL leak when he gets them. A lot of time goes into fixing those issues. IMO there is NO ONE better than Slawko when it comes to cylinder heads development and work period. He even has some CNC programs for Mopars if you like, even the Predator head

Yes I talked to Rick once when he still had his own shop.

I was having some issues with the first low deck R3 block I ran (RIP).

I was a total stranger and just cold called him.

He was very friendly and helpful.

He seemed like one of the good guys.