nyone running aftermarket heads or ported OEM heads on their 5.7l Hemi?

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michaelrc51

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Anyone running aftermarket heads or ported OEM heads on their 5.7l Hemi?

Looking for input on how they perform and how much you spent.



I have a tick/squeak in the top end of my motor and plan on installing some upgrades that I have amassed. While doing such upgrades I feel the need to make sure I find and fix this noise. Its pretty apparent it's in the valve train. Instead of pulling the heads and sending them out I am thinking that maybe I will buy a set of performance heads to install in place of the old ones, so it's really just a swap.

Of course, I would probably add a cam to this package. No reason to put performance heads on with a stock cam.....



I know Moe's sells their package and honestly, it's just to much money for me to justify right now. I have found a few other heads out there. Edelbrock is coming out with some and an intake manifold. Their performer series is decent and from the price of other Make/Model in that series, they should be below or around $1k which I can live with.



Any input is appreciated.



Link to a review of the Edelbrock head and IM:

First Look: Edelbrock's Gen. III HEMI Cylinder Heads and Intake Manifold - OnAllCylinders
 
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charonblk07

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There are no aftermarket heads available at this moment that bolt directly to the 5.7L. Edelbrock hasn't released their heads for sale yet but they've said that they will be comparable to a ported set of heads, just like their intake manifold will be comparable to a ported 6.1L manifold. You can pick up a set of Thitek heads which are the best on the market but there's issues with bolting them directly to the 5.7L block, some machine work is required to do it. Most of us are running ported stock heads and unless you're running a healthy cam or a stroker you won't see significant gains from porting to justify the cost.

There are guys running the Thitek heads on 6.4L based strokers, but that's definitely out of your price range since it's about an $11,000 engine.
 
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michaelrc51

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There are no aftermarket heads available at this moment that bolt directly to the 5.7L. Edelbrock hasn't released their heads for sale yet but they've said that they will be comparable to a ported set of heads, just like their intake manifold will be comparable to a ported 6.1L manifold. You can pick up a set of Thitek heads which are the best on the market but there's issues with bolting them directly to the 5.7L block, some machine work is required to do it. Most of us are running ported stock heads and unless you're running a healthy cam or a stroker you won't see significant gains from porting to justify the cost.

There are guys running the Thitek heads on 6.4L based strokers, but that's definitely out of your price range since it's about an $11,000 engine.



Guess I should clarify my post. I meant aftermarket heads or OEM heads that are ported.
I have seen lots of different prices on OEM ported heads. Of course I understand there are differences and different levels of modification.

What did you guys spend and what was done?


The Edelbrock heads and intake manifold are supposed to be released this first quarter.

Yeah, I'm not looking to spend $11k. I did that plus some for the 2.3l shortblock and GSC CNC head in my Evo last year. I like my truck, I don't need a race truck.


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charonblk07

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Guess I should clarify my post. I meant aftermarket heads or OEM heads that are ported.
I have seen lots of different prices on OEM ported heads. Of course I understand there are differences and different levels of modification.

What did you guys spend and what was done?


The Edelbrock heads and intake manifold are supposed to be released this first quarter.

Yeah, I'm not looking to spend $11k. I did that plus some for the 2.3l shortblock and GSC CNC head in my Evo last year. I like my truck, I don't need a race truck.


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There are plenty of options for porting the Eagle ('09+) heads; the basic jobs are just a simple port which will clean up the flow path, especially around the intake valve guide boss. You can get the 5-axis CNC port job which will normally open up the ports to match the gasket size and if you can flow enough air into it it's good for about 10hp over the basic port. The best upgrade is the big valve and port job but you need to have a lot more air demand to take advantage of the bigger valves properly and unless you're running a healthy cam I wouldn't recommend the big valves. In stock form the Eagle head will flow 331cfm, ported you can see up to 360cfm which far outstrips the engine's demand.

I'm running a set of ported big valve heads with PSI 1511 springs, Comp locating spacers, sodium filled exhaust valves, and titanium keepers. My heads have about $3000 in work and upgrades. Arrington did the initial port and valve work, I've done all the valve and spring upgrades myself. The intake ports were opened up to match my ported 6.1L intake manifold and I tapered my exhaust ports to perfectly match the exhaust gaskets so I have no perturbations in the flow.
 
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Jwithing

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There are plenty of options for porting the Eagle ('09+) heads; the basic jobs are just a simple port which will clean up the flow path, especially around the intake valve guide boss. You can get the 5-axis CNC port job which will normally open up the ports to match the gasket size and if you can flow enough air into it it's good for about 10hp over the basic port. The best upgrade is the big valve and port job but you need to have a lot more air demand to take advantage of the bigger valves properly and unless you're running a healthy cam I wouldn't recommend the big valves. In stock form the Eagle head will flow 331cfm, ported you can see up to 360cfm which far outstrips the engine's demand.

I'm running a set of ported big valve heads with PSI 1511 springs, Comp locating spacers, sodium filled exhaust valves, and titanium keepers. My heads have about $3000 in work and upgrades. Arrington did the initial port and valve work, I've done all the valve and spring upgrades myself. The intake ports were opened up to match my ported 6.1L intake manifold and I tapered my exhaust ports to perfectly match the exhaust gaskets so I have no perturbations in the flow.

Sounds like great info, but can you dumb it down for us simple folks that may be interested and not know as much :)
 

Andrew09HEMI

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Basically what he's saying is a basic port job is what most common folks would benefit from as once you step up to doing bigger valves, you won't be able to flow that much air into the motor to benefit and you'll need a cam to match and things get pricey from there. I shouldn't you won't be able to but you'll need to do math and flow numbers to figure out how to get enough air into the motor to take full advantage of the bigger valves and as you can see, it gets complicated and expensive.
 
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michaelrc51

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Sounds like great info, but can you dumb it down for us simple folks that may be interested and not know as much :)



There's a few things you can do with heads.
It's usually a benefit to put larger valves in the head if possible but that requires new valve seats and they have to be lapped and cut plus any valve job. This tends to be a little pricey.

A port and polish is blending and opening up of the intake and exhaust chambers. The goal is to make the chambers larger and also keep everything flowing smoothly. There are other parts like the bowls that can be ported. When porting the head it's good to get the manifold openings large enough to match the gasket and manifold. The best results will come from having everything the same size and no restrictions.

Then, you have the valve springs, keepers, retainers, and locks. Upgrading the springs may be necessary if you are going with a higher lift cam. Also, they need to maintain pressure when the valves are closed. They other parts just hold the spring onto the valve stem.

As mentioned in here it looks as though our motors already have enough flow, so the big benefits would be made if installing some type of forced induction.
Kind of makes me question messing with them, if it would only net a 10-15hp gain.


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