Hey guys,

So I have a pre Eagle 5.7 sitting on my garage floor that I bought years ago for $200. Guy was selling it as a core and said that it had a knock, but never took it apart to find out. I would like to build this engine to be something that can run 10.80-10.90 N/A in a 3400lb A-body for a very close person to me who does nothing for themselves, and many things for others, so that they can get their car back on the road and being enjoyed again.

I am fully aware the engine damage could be anything from lifters, rod bearings, or bent rods, and I am prepared to fix any of that. BUT I am hoping its just spun bearings or a cam issue, and if everything checks out, that I can throw the stock bottom end back together with new bearings, rings, and maybe a hone and crank turn IF necessary. And yes, I am well aware that the eagle 5.7 bottom ends are much better, but trying to get this whole drivetrain put together with a budget mindset.

My plan was- Eagle heads (not sure if 12:1 will run on Pump 91 here...if not, then I would go with thicker head gaskets to bring compression down) with a new cam (something that would work with stock pistons and make good power), intake (carb or efi still up in the air, so suggestions for both would be great), headers, coupled with a good converter behind a 727 or 904 (both available for me to build) and a re-geared 8-3/4 (currently has 4.88's, but maybe something more street friendly like 3.73 or 4.10 could get the job done here). Im hoping if it can make 500-550hp that in said A-body it could squeak out a high 10.

So, how would you do it? Or should I say, how have you DONE it? I really would like to avoid strokers and costly machine work like balancing for new pistons, so please, suggestions trying to follow what I am working with are appreciated.

Thanks!

I would run 12 to 1 in a heart beat. I have ran eagle heads bolted directly onto early 5.7 short blocks with stock head gaskets, cam and all and they run great... if your running a longer duration cam even better. This isn't a BB head designed in the 1950s with a spark plug way off to one side of the chamber, iron heads with valve in the wrong spot in the head with a heat crossover and hot coolant running thru the same manifold as the air so they are far better with high compression.

As for your 5.7 it is probably not just a lifter, that problem started out of the blue in 2009.

Definitely use the 904 with low gears, these things can make power over a very broad range of RPM.

Stock 6.1 cam in this engine makes a great budget screamer and works fine with the eagle springs and all but I don't know if it will make quite that much power even with good headers and intake.

12 to 1 w/ 300~cfm eagle heads isn't going to take much to hit 550hp. I'd be paying special attention to the cam and not going with a stock 6.1 unit. To squeak out a 10 NA the cam will have to be spot on for the weight, intake, converter, gear etc.

Thanks for the input guys. We even have pump 94 octane local here, but 91 is more readily available so I want to build around that. But if 12:1 is doable with the modern design and efficiency of these heads, then 12:1 is is!

As much as this is budget, and there may need to be considerable attention or money spent on possibly repairing a bad bottom end, the plan is tentatively to keep it stock, right down to the pistons...Which has me wondering, how much cam can I go with before running into PTV clearance issues? As much as the 6.1 cam is a great budget option, I am definitely not opposed to spending on a bumpstick that will definitely get me to where I want to be on this build power wise.

A friend of mine a few years ago took a 200,000 mile 05 hemi out of a truck and built what you are wanting to do. He reused the short block, but he might of replaced the bearing and maybe the rings. I will have to ask him if he used the stock 04 truck cam or put a different one in it. But pretty much a stock 04 short block, stock eagle heads and stock thickness head gaskets . Used a Ritter single plane intake, msd hemi 6 igntion box, 650 holley DP carb. Home made headers. 727 transmission , 8 inch 5000 stall converter. 4.30 gears and Mt 275/60/15 drag radials. Stuck the hemi in a 94 dodge dakota extend cab truck. I think he raced it on 93 pump gas. The dakota would run 6.80-6.90 all day long in the 1/8 mile. I do remember him saying he was glad the msd6 had a revlimiter, because he couldn't beleave how fast the hemi would Rev. I watched him race it after he got the truck running and what little he did to the 04 hemi I couldn't beleave how good the dakota ran. The engine before was a 11.1 compression 360 magnum than ran a best of 7.15 inbthe 1/8 mile. It had a lot of stock parts in it bit was built pretty good. Also with the magnum it ran 7.15 at 95/96 mph and with the 04 hemi he ran 6.80/6.90 at 99.8 mph. I think he ran 101 mph a couple of times.

Thats awesome! Yea, if you don't mind asking him what cam he ended up with, that would be helpful in getting the bigger picture on it, but nonetheless that's awesome- simple and quick!

Why not build a turbo engine? A little bit more work and it would fly. There was a budget built single turbo'd 5.7 in Dayton ohio running mid 8s in a Volare a few years ago.

Not it but others...

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=5.7+Hemi+turbo+Volara

Its not just building a turbo engine. Its the building of the turbo hot and cold side, its the fuel system upgrades, engine management changes, converter changes, etc.

There is a reason I want this to be N/A with stock bottom end, and its not because I am against power adders. One of my own cars is currently a G3 hemi, Procharger, Terminator x efi that is almost complete.

I don't know why there is so few people building N/A combos out of these, it is so easy to run faster than most guys cars are legal for. When I was big into small blocks it was crazy to get heads that flowed as much as even a run of the mill eagle 5.7 head not to mention a 6.4 or professionally ported 6.4 head... those flow numbers were untouchable and now there are 340CFM heads for $600 in the junk yard and everyone suddenly thinks they need to cram 20 feet of air tubes, 5 feet of oil lines, oil coolers, intercoolers, coolant lines, vacuum lines, custom exhaust piping, fancy MAP sensors, blow off valves, wiring, catch cans, computers... to make any power. An SRT8 6.4 with 950HP carb, drag pack intake and good long tube headers (they were open headers) can make 580 HP at the flywheel without even pulling the valve covers off! A good cam, a little port work, mill the block and head a little and N/A power can be killer on these things. Most cars especially swaps into older lighter cars can't even handle 600 real HP.

I have an email from the Dakota guy somewhere regarding this. He told me he tried a drag pak cam and it wouldn’t clear with the stock head gaskets and 12:1. So he settled on a OE 6.1 cam. Pretty impressive time slips for such low $$$!

Did he also have a Duster he put a Hemi in? There was a "Stock Block" class here locally and some Missouri boys wrecked the class with Gen III hemis. I think at some point they had a real hefty weight penalty on them but it didn't matter lol.

Definitely impressive for an OE 6.1 cam! Thanks for digging a bit on that for me, appreciated!

That would be me! LOL. But mind you, I am trying to build it for a small tire (albeit slower) local class, and N/A, unless all out, would not cut it. But I do agree, these engines seem to run HARD with not a lot of exotic stuff in N/A trim.

They are good for 600 hp combos. Its just when you want more and need adj. rockers, solid lifters etc.... prices get stupid.

Thats the thing... everyone is so used to running LA and B RB engines where the stock rockers HAVE to be upgraded in any kind of big HP engines people can't wrap their mind around how good the stock rockers and lifters are. They can easily handle 7000+ RPM, they can handle .650 lift witch don't sound like it is huge but the flow on these is so good at low lifts (already flowing 300 cfm by around .400 lift) you really don't need huge lift for some really big power. And since when is 600 HP possible with a cam upgrade in any small block or even big block mopar? A 6.4 can do 600 crank HP with a cam upgrade and long tube headers, imagine what a stroker version with 426 CID, a little porting and some real compression and cam? Compression is another peeve of mine, these things are totally fine with 12 to1 on pump gas... we have been handed early 2000s NASCAR quality parts for building power in bone stock cars.

I just sold a 40 Dodge Business coupe , weighed about 3600 with my 120lbs butt in it , 08 long block , heads had 2.02 intake, 1.6 exhaust my uncle ported the heads, Intake ports were opened up to P7 gasket dim, Cascar Single plane intake from PreFix,welded up to match the P7 dim, , Howards 786155-14 .575/.575 213/2192.050 110CL ,114 LSA . was a solid 10.90s with a best of 10.78 best MPH was a scary 126 (once, only once) ran the car at Cecil, Numidia and Maple groove. it LOVED 6200 shift point, TH400( not my choice , it was in the car when I bought it) Chrysler 9.25 with 4.56s,
Before the 40coupe I had 55 Chevy 210 2dr , that I pulled the Ls out of and replaced with an 09eagle block with Icon 2.5cc dome pistons( in know you don't want new pistons, but hear me out) with 6.1 heads that came out of the Moparperformance system the CNCd heads , I think they were 2.10/1.60 , ran a Holley Sniper Race manifold with a Hellcat TB and PCM/ECU from a 2014 ram along with a HP80trans car weighed 2700/2900 depending on fuel and how many months pregnant I was at the time., that would run low 10s(10:12-10:20s) around 130's, really constant set up. solid 500-530Hp set up , Had a few cams in it , Texas Speed stage 4NA , .585/.585 I forget the Duration, car ran the best with the old hated 274 Comp cam, thing was a pain to tune but once it was right , I ran a 9.99 once with it once , forget the MPH but it was over 130, that run had the best 60ft. the hold back on that set up was the Sniper intake , I think Drag pak, or Cascar would of put it in the high 9s on a regular basis.

550 Hp out of a 5.7 is not hard, biggest issue is intake manifold, most out there sux , Holley's new single plane is a weak excuse of a intake with a carburetor, works better in EFI, same with the Old XV and Indy Mod man, Holley's HI ram is pure No holds bar Max effort with a carb , as an EFI intake it's another "also ran" OCP's dual plane is hands down the best all round driver Intake with a carb, I think Joe's ran into the high 9s with it, I know he's been well in to the low 10s with it, I ran a 10:15 @ 126 in a 72Duster 407CI stroker and Howards .600.600 cam Joe's intake and a 950 holley with a MSD Hemi 6 box. A833 and D60. Big thing to keep in mind with the Eagle heads on the 03-08 short block is timing, 20* max unless you roll back the quench area, my Daily drive is a 04 SLT 4x2 rcsb ram 4450lbs race weight , 125k mile short block, Eagle heads, stock on the intake side, 1.625 exhaust valve, bowl blending up into the exit of the port , Prefix cascar intake with a hellcat TB on a custom Tb to 4bbl adaptor, 6.1 injectors , old 273XFI cam, stock 125k mile lifters , RH46 trans 3k stall 4.56s runs 11.90s , drive to maple groove, go through tech run a 11.90 @ 112/114 MPH ...All on 93 pump.
My experience has been , if the short block is in great shape, with Eagle heads(2.05 stock intake valve) you can run .600 lift, 235 @ .050 and not worry about valve clearance, problem with that type of set up is it wants to run at 6500-7200 RPMs ........... All the OEM intakes fall off where this combo wants to run, big oil pan (7qt+) and extra capacity oil filter you can run these up to 7300 before the pump has issues, OEM rockers 7500 is not un heard of, , just remember to banana grove the shafts if you plan on going over .575 lift, I've read lots of stories of people burning rocker tips with .600 lift cams.....really pay attention to the oil holes in the shaft.